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Past exam of the materials science course of the University of Cambridge 2016 Paper 1 7 c Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-20 Updated 2026-10-20
At height above the free lower end, a uniform vertical filament carries the weight of length . With cross-sectional area ,The maximum stress is at the top and is independent of diameter. The diameter cancels because both mass and load-bearing area scale with . Neglecting self-heating gradients, evaporation and initial fabrication stress, this top point sets the first creep-strain limit.
For a clearly labelled external reference estimate, take . Then ; the area is and the total suspended mass is about . The density is independently tabulated, not invented as a supplied 2016 value.[ref]
Atomic and nuclear properties of tungsten by the Particle Data Group. 2009 table, density entry
Use the original map's top temperature axis at and its right-hand tensile-stress axis, so no uncertain shear-stress conversion or additional shear modulus is required. The point lies in C, between the and contours, nearer . A logarithmic interpolation of the scanned contours gives about , with only graphical precision. Thusor of order three months in this steady-rate, reference-density map estimate. Reading only the bracketing contours gives the appropriately broad interval to ; the graph does not support an exact service-life number.
For the exact prescribed input, the answer remainsThis estimate uses the cited reference density and the grain-size assumptions of the supplied map. Thermal expansion lowers density, and an evolved area or tertiary material creep changes the rate; a steady initial-rate estimate is not a guaranteed lifetime. In particular, a different filament grain size could require a different map. Other failure mechanisms could shorten useful life.
Past exam of the materials science course of the University of Cambridge 2016 Paper 1 7 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
Lower the operating temperature or stress, suppress diffusion, and remove or stabilize the paths that accommodate material creep. Increasing the melting temperature can reduce at a specified operating temperature. Chemistry that reduces diffusivity or impedes dislocation climb can reduce the material creep rate; stable precipitates or dispersoids can resist glide and climb, provided they do not dissolve or coarsen rapidly in service.
Large grains reduce both Nabarro-Herring and Coble creep, according to their and dependencies. Directional solidification can reduce boundaries normal to the dominant tensile stress, while a single crystal removes grain-boundary transport and sliding from the ordinary polycrystal mechanism inventory. It does not remove bulk diffusion or dislocation material creep.
This is why room-temperature grain-refinement strengthening is not automatically a high-temperature material creep strategy: fine grains create more boundary transport paths. Any protective microstructure must remain stable at the service temperature, and the design must also avoid stress concentrations and unwanted thermal loading.
Past exam of the materials science course of the University of Cambridge 2016 Paper 1 7 a Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
Material creep is time-dependent permanent deformation under sustained stress. Its rate is often appreciable at a large homologous temperature , because diffusion and obstacle-escape processes become rapid. In an activated regime a useful form iswith additional elastic, geometric and temperature prefactors absorbed into for the chosen approximation. The activation energy belongs to the rate-controlling process: bulk diffusion, grain-boundary diffusion and dislocation motion need not have the same value.
- A: power-law dislocation material creep. Dislocations glide and climb around obstacles; vacancy transport enables climb and recovery. The rate is strongly stress-dependent, typically with several times greater than one. It dominates the higher-stress, hot field below the glide-strength boundary.
- B: Nabarro-Herring creep. Stress-directed vacancy diffusion through the grain interiors transfers material between differently stressed boundaries, extending grains along tension. In the simple equiaxed-grain model . It occupies the high-temperature, low-stress field.
- C: Coble creep. The analogous transport runs predominantly along grain boundaries. The characteristic scaling is , where is an effective boundary thickness. The lower activation cost of boundary diffusion makes it competitive at lower temperature than bulk-diffusion material creep.
Boundary sliding can accommodate grain-shape changes during diffusional material creep; it is not a reason to identify either diffusion field as dislocation glide. The supplied map's A/B/C placement, including the boundary between B and C, determines these assignments. Its numerical contours apply to the material state used to construct that map, not to arbitrary grain sizes.
Past exam of the materials science course of the University of Cambridge 2016 Paper 1 6 c Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
Past exam of the materials science course of the University of Cambridge 2016 Paper 1 6 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
TODO: user-deferred biology. No biological nucleation-agent calculation or biological interpretation has been researched or supplied.
Past exam of the materials science course of the University of Cambridge 2016 Paper 1 6 a Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
For a spherical homogeneous nucleus, the capillarity approximation givesThe first term penalizes creating an interface; below the melting point the bulk free-energy change per volume is negative and favors growth. Near , neglect the temperature dependence of the latent heat. Since the free-energy difference vanishes at ,Set the radius derivative to zero:The nonzero stationary point is a maximum, since . Subcritical nuclei lower free energy by shrinking; supercritical nuclei lower it by growing. The positive radius and its inverse-supercooling dependence follow from the negative freezing enthalpy. This derivation assumes an isotropic, size-independent interfacial energy and a bulk-like spherical nucleus; it is not a molecular-scale kinetic theory.
Past exam of the materials science course of the University of Cambridge 2016 Paper 1 5 d Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
The printed numerical ratios are about , not about :The qualitative contrast is nevertheless meaningful. FCC aluminium has close-packed glide planes and relatively mobile dislocations. Magnesium also has easy close-packed basal glide, although it lacks enough equivalently easy slip systems for arbitrary room-temperature polycrystal deformation.
BCC iron has no close-packed plane. Its screw-dislocation cores and lattice-friction barrier give much stronger resistance to glide; thermally activated kink motion makes the critical stress particularly temperature- and rate-sensitive. This is the relevant Peierls-stress explanation. A high polycrystal constraint factor cannot explain the supplied contrast, because the data are already critical resolved shear stresses. Neither the precise factor35 nor a universal BCC/FCC ratio follows from crystal packing alone: purity, dislocation structure, temperature and testing conditions also matter.
Past exam of the materials science course of the University of Cambridge 2016 Paper 1 5 c Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
A second slip system begins to operate as the tensile-axis rotation makes its resolved shear stress comparable to that on the primary system. Dislocations on intersecting planes interact much more strongly, giving the transition from easy single slip to rapid work hardening. The standard geometric estimate neglects differences between the evolving critical stresses of the two systems.
The primary direction is . Single-slip shear carries the line joining the specimen ends, expressed in crystal coordinates, alongThe initial fundamental sector has . Its first reached boundary is , at , giving . At that orientation and have equal Schmid factors. Since the component perpendicular to the primary slip direction is unchanged by that shear, the length ratio follows directly:ThereforeThe corresponding logarithmic strain is . This is an ideal equal-critical-stress geometric onset estimate. Real secondary slip can start earlier or later because of latent hardening, nonuniform deformation and grip constraints; the problem supplies no hardening law that would determine that shift.[ref]
Applied Mechanics of Solids by A. F. Bower. §3.12.2, points10–12: tensile-axis rotation, secondary slip and stages of hardening
Past exam of the materials science course of the University of Cambridge 2016 Paper 1 5 a Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
The alloy shear yield stress can be roughly times the stated pure-aluminium critical resolved shear stress. Strengthening raises the stress required for dislocation glide rather than requiring homogeneous shearing of a perfect crystal.
- Solid-solution strengthening: substitutional solutes create elastic and chemical disturbances that interact with dislocations. A moving dislocation must escape or drag these disturbances.
- Precipitation hardening: suitably spaced second-phase particles obstruct glide. Small shearable precipitates resist cutting; larger nonshearable obstacles require dislocation bowing and bypass. Particle spacing and coherency matter, so overaging can reduce strength.
- Work hardening: prior plastic deformation increases dislocation density. Intersections, junctions and forest dislocations impede subsequent glide; a common scaling is .
- Grain boundary strengthening: smaller grains shorten the distance over which dislocations can pile up and make slip transfer across differently oriented grains more difficult. In its ordinary regime, the Hall-Petch relation is .
These mechanisms can coexist. The numerical comparison is an order-of-magnitude comparison of shear strengths; it is not a conversion of the alloy's shear yield stress directly into a tensile yield stress.
Past exam of the materials science course of the University of Cambridge 2016 Paper 1 4 e Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
At equilibrium at room temperature the phases are pure Ag and pure Cu, with mass fractions and . A representative solidification structure contains primary Ag-rich grains or dendrites surrounded by a finer two-phase eutectic aggregate. Subsequent equilibrium solute rejection modifies both constituents as they cool.
Original schematic primary-silver and lamellar eutectic arrangement; geometrical drawing areas do not assert mass or volume fractions
. Details. The primary- and eutectic-constituent fractions calculated at the eutectic arrest describe how the liquid froze. They are not the final pure-Ag and pure-Cu phase fractions. For example, just below the arrest the total copper-rich phase fraction is ; it rises to as solubility is lost on further equilibrium cooling. The distinction separates a microstructural constituent from a thermodynamic phase.
Faster solidification usually refines the dendrite and eutectic spacings. If solid-state diffusion cannot keep up, composition gradients, supersaturated solids and delayed precipitation can persist. Their exact fractions then depend on the thermal history; faster cooling does not change the alloy's overall copper inventory. Complete long-term equilibration would restore the same equilibrium phase compositions and mass fractions.
Past exam of the materials science course of the University of Cambridge 2016 Paper 1 4 d Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
The cooling curve first falls in the entirely liquid field. On crossing the liquidus, primary Ag-rich begins to grow. Latent heat release makes the descent shallower; the remaining liquid becomes richer in copper and approaches the eutectic composition.
At , the remaining liquid solidifies as , giving an isothermal arrest under the ideal equilibrium, heat-extraction model. After the liquid is exhausted, temperature falls through the two-solid field. Continued loss of solid solubility causes additional redistribution and precipitation; it does not require another invariant liquid-freezing plateau.
Original schematic cooling curve for Ag-20 wt% Cu, with an unspecified liquidus kink and a labelled eutectic arrest
. Details. Immediately before the eutectic reaction, the remaining liquid fraction isThe arrest represents freezing of roughly of the sample by mass. Its duration cannot be calculated without the heat-extraction rate and latent heat, and the onset temperature cannot be calculated exactly from the supplied phase-diagram points alone.
Past exam of the materials science course of the University of Cambridge 2016 Paper 1 4 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
Original schematic Ag-Cu phase diagram constrained by the supplied endpoints and eutectic tie line; unprovided curve shapes and intermediate temperatures are illustrative
. Details. The horizontal axis is copper mass percentage. The two liquidus branches meet at and connect to pure silver at and pure copper at . The terminal solid-solution boundaries at the eutectic temperature are Cu for and Cu for . Label the single-phase fields , the two liquid-plus-solid fields , and the lower two-solid field .
The solidus boundaries link the pure-component melting points to their terminal solubility limits; the eutectic isotherm spans the three-phase tie line. Below it, the solvus branches approach pure Ag and pure Cu at room temperature. The supplied data determine this topology and the marked points, not the exact shapes of every boundary. The drawing therefore does not invent a numerical liquidus temperature for an intermediate composition.
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