Materials Science and Technology PDF
Materials Science and Technology PDF
Materials Science and Technology PDF
Contents
Introduction to Materials Science and Technology
What is Materials Science? ......................................................... 1.1
The Relationship of Science and Technology ............................... 1.5
How is Basic Science Linked to Everyday Materials .................... 1.7
A Short History of Materials Science ........................................... 1.8
A New Scientific Frontier ............................................................ 1.11
Looking at MST as a Career—“The Field of Dreams” ................... 1.13
Experiments/Demonstrations
Introductory ................................................................. 4.1
Introduction ............................................................................... 4.1
Water Lock ................................................................................ 4.2
Classification of Materials ........................................................... 4.4
Material Systems ........................................................................ 4.6
Crystal Study .............................................................................. 4.14
Iron Wire .................................................................................... 4.22
Paper Clip Destruction ................................................................ 4.30
Ceramic Mantle .......................................................................... 4.34
Light Bulb Filament .................................................................... 4.39
Thixotropy and Dilatancy ............................................................ 4.44
Vocabulary ................................................................................. 4.50
Metals .......................................................................... 5.1
Introduction ............................................................................... 5.1
Properties of Metals ................................................................... 5.3
Alloying Copper and Zinc .......................................................... 5.7
Alloying Tin and Lead ................................................................ 5.10
Drawing a Wire .......................................................................... 5.16
Aluminum-Zinc Solid-State Phase Change in Metals ................... 5.20
Caloric Output of Al-Zn:
A Solid-State Phase Change in Metals ...................................... 5.27
Alloying Sterling Silver ............................................................... 5.31
Lost Wax Casting: Investment/Centrifugal Casting ..................... 5.35
Making a Light Bulb ................................................................... 5.42
Vocabulary ................................................................................. 5.46
Ceramics ...................................................................... 6.1
Introduction ............................................................................... 6.1
Thermal Shock ........................................................................... 6.3
Glass Bead on a Wire ................................................................. 6.10
Glass Bending and Blowing ........................................................ 6.13
Standard Glass Batching ............................................................. 6.17
Glass Melting ............................................................................. 6.27
Dragon Tears/Dragon Dribble ..................................................... 6.32
Glass Coloring ............................................................................ 6.38
Glass Fusing ............................................................................... 6.42
Stained Glass ............................................................................. 6.46
Making Raku .............................................................................. 6.49
Ceramic Slip Casting .................................................................. 6.60
Making Glass from Soil ............................................................... 6.66
Making and Testing Superconductors ......................................... 6.70
Vocabulary ................................................................................. 6.76
Resource Appendix
Vendors .................................................................................... A.1
Materials/Equipment Price List .................................................. A.5
Printed Materials ....................................................................... A.9
Business Resources ................................................................... A.18
Videos ...................................................................................... A.19
Ordering the Space Shuttle Tile ................................................. A.21
Innovative Materials, Process, and Products
Developed by Battelle Memorial Institute ................................ A.22
Introduction to
Materials Science
and Technology
What is Materials Science?
Materials make modern life possible—from the polymers in the chair
you’re sitting on, the metal ball-point pen you’re using, and the con-
crete that made the building you live or work in to the materials that
make up streets and highways and the car you drive. All these items
are products of materials science and technology (MST). Briefly
defined, materials science is the study of “stuff.” Materials science is
the study of solid matter, inorganic and organic. Figures 1.1, 1.2, 1.3,
and 1.4 depict how these materials are classified.
Briefly defined, materials
science is the study of
“stuff.”
Physical Classification
of Materials
Crystalline Amorphous
(Glass)
Physical Classification
of Materials
Crystalline Amorphous
(Glass)
Physical Classification
of Materials
Amorphous
Crystalline
Some Metals
Ceramics and Polymers Glass
Metals and
Polymers
Composites Composites
Materials
Science
Chemistry
Chemistry Physics
Physics
The Relationship of
Science and Technology
In the MST classroom, the boundaries are blurred between science
and technology. It is not easy to know where one ends and the other
begins. In this way, the learning environment of MST reflects the sci-
entific and technical enterprise where scientists, engineers, and tech-
nologists work together to uncover knowledge and solve problems. In
the school environment, these overlapping and complementary roles
of science and technology are found most often in courses called
“technology education.”
Some confusion exists between the labels “technology education”
and “educational or informational technology.” Educational technology
refers to delivery systems for teaching and tools for instruction such as
computers, satellite television, laser discs, and even chalk. It refers to
laboratory equipment such as microscopes, telescopes, and calcula-
tors. These tools can access and process information and perform
numerical calculations that describe physical phenomena—but they
are not technology education in the sense we describe.
In a technology education course, technology is treated as a substan-
tive content area, a subject with a competence or performance-based
curriculum involving learned intellectual and physical processes and
skills. As such, technology is viewed as a part of the essential curricu-
lum content in mathematics and science, and understanding of the
principles and practices of mathematics and science is viewed as
essential to effective technology curricula. Science and technology
as it is practiced in the real-world supports this relationship.
Even though the activities in an MST classroom may not call out the
difference between science and technology, it is important to know
that they are fundamentally different from each other (see Figure 1.6).
Knowing the difference can assist you in designing and delivering the
curriculum and in assessing and reporting learning attained by stu-
dents. The National Center for Improving Science Education makes
the following distinction:
Science proposes explanations for observations about the natural
world.
Technology proposes solutions for problems of human adaptation
to the environment.
In science, we seek the “truth” about, for example, the basic constituents
of matter or the reason why the sky is blue. Inherent in the pursuit is
the sense that scientific explanations are tentative; as new knowledge
is uncovered, the explanations evolve. But the desired goal of this pur-
suit is an answer that explains the scientific principle (the physics and
chemistry, for example), behind the phenomenon.
A Short History of
Materials Science
Humans have been using materials for at least 10,000 years of
recorded history, but the real beginning of materials’ use was long
before recorded history. The first materials scientists may well have
been Grog or Grogette (a fictional character of caveman origin) as
Table 1.2 shows. In an initial, or “first,” materials science era, men
and women used materials just as they found them, with little or no
modification. Even in these early times, though, they had reasons
for choosing wood or stone objects for certain purposes.
In more recent times, during what is called the second era of materials
history, humans learned enough chemistry and physics to use heat
and chemicals to process natural materials to obtain what they needed.
For example, researchers learned how to separate metals from ore
by heat and reduction. These processes made available whole new
classes of materials, most of them metals. Table 1.3 shows a longer
listing of materials discovery through history (compiled by the EPRI
Journal, December 1987).
Grog/Grogette—
The First Materials Scientist
8000 BC Hammered copper Using things as found or with
6000 BC Silk production slight adaptation
Second Era
5000 BC Glass making Changing things with heat or
3500 BC Bronze Age chemicals to improve properties
1000 BC Iron Age
About the time early polymers were introduced in the late 19th cen-
tury, we had learned enough about organic chemistry to manipulate
materials at the molecular level. At this point, it became possible to
design specific materials to fit specific needs.
Designed materials constituted much of the accelerating pace of
materials science. This has launched us into the third and final era
of materials history, which began its accelerated pace in the 1950s.
Today, we hear about newly designed materials daily as the demand
for new and better materials gives rise to these new products.
Designed materials are probably best illustrated by composites, which
allow us to reinforce materials at the right places and in the right
amounts to minimize weight and produce the desired mechanical
properties. The graphite tennis racquet, golf club shaft, and fishing rod
are all products of this designed materials revolution, as are the wings
of new high-performance aircraft such as the Harrier.
Advanced materials developed by Battelle and researchers at Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory are described in the Resource Appendix.
Mike Schweiger
As I was growing up, I had
an innate curiosity about
bugs, animals, trees, plants,
and most anything in nature.
I loved incubating eggs and
raising chicks. My heart was
always broken the day the
chicks were taken away to
a farm because they had
grown too big for the house
we had in Idaho Falls. I
raised other animals more
acceptable to a city environ-
ment when I had time, such
as ants, frogs, bunnies, snails, caterpillars, and water striders.
“There is something As a vivid memory of these years, I retain a large scar on my arm from
intriguing about making when I excitedly raced down the hall of our home with a 3-pound glass
glass out of common, peanut butter jar full of the latest collection of ants for my ant farm. I trip-
dull elements of the ped on some toys and fell on the shattered jar, severely cutting my left
earth and having it arm. This incident had no effect on my love of living things.
melt and then cool I liked biology and chemistry throughout school. I graduated from college
into a material that as a teacher with a major in natural sciences. As I taught grade school,
students enjoyed learning science, and it was one of my favorite subjects
can be clear and to teach. I found out I wasn’t teacher material, and after 5 years in the
smooth.” education field, I joined the Materials Science Department at Battelle as a
technician.
—Mike Schweiger
I was assigned to the glass development laboratory in the basement of
Battelle’s Physical Sciences Building. I was determined to take this posi-
tion so I would have an easier time transferring to the Biology Department.
The in-depth study of glass intrigued me, however, and I turned some of
my love of nature into studying inorganic materials. There is something
intriguing about making glass out of common, dull elements of the earth
and having it melt and then cool into a material that can be clear and
smooth. This same material can also be heat treated and crystallized,
and these crystals are a unique world of their own and a part of nature
not readily seen or understood.
My 14 years at Battelle have been involved with this small area of materi-
als study. The field is so vast I know I could spend the rest of my life
studying glass and still only have understood some of the science of this
material. I look forward to the interesting career ahead of me.
Roy Bunnell
I was raised in Pocatello, Idaho,
and developed a keen early
interest in chemistry and phys-
ics, particularly as they apply
to explosives and rockets. I still
have 10 fingers and two function-
ing eyes, through either incred-
ible luck or divine intervention.
“I have learned enough
After I obtained a bachelor’s
about metals and poly- degree in ceramic engineering
mers to be considered from the University of Utah in
a materials engineer.” 1965, I came to Battelle. By
working on a wide variety of
—Roy Bunnell projects, ranging from nuclear reactors for space propulsion to materials
compatibility in high-temperature sodium to amorphous carbon to high-
temperature properties of zirconium alloys to nuclear waste glass to new
composite materials, I have learned enough about metals and polymers
to be considered a materials engineer.
Ross Gordon
Ross attended schools in Richland,
Washington, from the 4th grade
through high school at a time
when scientific education was a
priority for the community. He
decided in the 9th grade that he
was going to become a chemical
engineer, even though he wasn’t
sure what a chemical engineer
did. Ross attended Brigham Young
University where he received a
bachelor’s degree in chemistry
and a bachelor of engineering degree in chemical engineering. During
Ross’ last quarter in school he had an open slot for a class in either
metallurgy or plastics. He asked his major professor which would be best.
The professor recommended that Ross take metallurgy because he would
probably never get involved in plastics. Ross followed his advice and
learned a little about metals, which has been a great benefit, even though
the professor’s prediction was completely wrong. Ross’ first job was for
Boeing as a plastics’ engineer. He worked for 8 years in the aerospace
industry in plastics research then came to Battelle where he has spent
the last 29 years solving problems and doing research related to plastics.
Ross has learned through the years that the best way to solve a problem
is to start with the basic scientific principles (mathematics, biology, chemis-
try, and physics) that he learned in high school. When these principles are
combined with additional education and experience, even “impossible”
things can be accomplished. He’s also learned that approaching a prob-
lem with the assumption that it can be solved is the most effective way to
be happy and successful.
MST Curriculum
Philosophy/Rationale
The philosophy that underlies this introductory materials science and
technology (MST) curriculum has as much to do with how things are
taught as with what is taught. The instructional approach is based on
the idea that students cannot learn through talk or textbooks alone. To
understand materials, they must experiment with them, work with their
hands to discover their nature and properties, and apply the scientific
concepts they learn by “doing” to designing and creating products of
their own choosing.
Learning comes, as it has for humankind for generations, from the
active pursuit of solving problems. In this case, students learn from
solving problems using the scientific process, which is speeded by
“A combined emphasis scientific knowledge. Students get a chance to use and build their
on “know-how” and mechanical skills as well as mind skills. We call this approach hands-
on/minds-on learning.*
“ability to do” in carrying
out technological work Learning by doing is not a new or complicated idea, but it is not com-
mon in today’s classrooms. Unlike many mathematics and science
transforms mathematical
classes, students enrolled in MST classes are excited instead of
and scientific principles bored. They ask “What happens if ...?” instead of “What’s the right
into reality.” answer...?” Instead of sitting at a desk reading about science and
technology, they work on science and technology activities. They’re
—International Technology not memorizing facts about mathematics and science, but using the
Education Association thinking processes of scientists and mathematicians to become better
reasoners, and learning facts and concepts while solving problems
relevant to them as they create their projects.
The MST course can only be fostered by good teachers, those who
are a regular part of the school system and community members who
have mastered their skills and are willing to pass on what they have
learned. Teachers must create a learning environment where students
are willing to risk and are willing to learn from mistakes they make.
Beyond MST’s basic project approach, other fundamental elements
of the program include fostering student creativity, developing journal
writing skills, and teaching in teams (science and technology teachers).
Peer teaching also plays an important role. Students who have just
mastered a skill or gained an idea can be the most convincing teachers.
* “Hands on/minds-on”: this phrase originated with Herb Thier, Lawrence Hall
of Science, and refers to experiential learning that physically and intellectually
engages the student.
MST Multi-Instructional
Approach Multi-Instructional
• Solving Problems
• Creating Student Projects
Approach
• Using the Laboratory Journal Because this MST course is designed to be taught to a wide range of
• Working in Small Groups students, we use a multi-instructional approach that includes elements
to appeal to many learning styles. In general, we describe the instruc-
• Developing Handiness tional process shown in Figure 2.1 as “observe, correct, and create.”
It works something like this: Students ponder, plan, experiment,
• Fostering Creativity GOOF UP, correct, discover, and learn in a laboratory setting. These
• Teaching in Teams concepts are the principles of the scientific process.* As part of the
process, students experiment individually or in groups, record their
• Using Community Resources observations in a journal, and discuss the experiments and their
observations in class or small groups. In addition, students read and
research, using periodicals and other library resources in relation to
the unit of study or their selected project. Students are encouraged
to gather information by interviewing or working with those who are
familiar with the materials or are experts in the field of study.
The multi-instructional approach focuses on solving problems, creating
student projects, working in small groups on open-ended experiments,
writing as a means of learning, participating in high-interest demonstra-
tions and activities, using community experts in materials, showing
videos, and using a host of written resources. These approaches
reach many minds and learning styles, and can interest many students
in the learning process.
➤ observe
➤
experiment
➤ record
➤
➤
➤
➤
tinker
➤
reflect
➤
➤
➤
apply to
project read
➤
➤
➤
test
correct ➤
➤
➤
ponder ➤ goof up
* The process may be recursive, allowing students to cycle back to gain additional
information, even as they move forward.
Course of Study
Four major units of study form the basis of the MST curriculum. Each
unit typically includes the following activities as shown in Figure 2.2.
Note the approximate percentage of time required for each activity.
Student Experiments—Students conduct experiments individually
“As children we were and in groups (35%). The experiments feed student projects.
fascinated with ‘tearing’
Student Projects—Students design, research, create, and build indi-
things apart. As we vidual or group projects (35%).
matured and went
Instructor Demonstrations and Presentations—One day per week (20%).
through the educational
system, the desire or Films, Videos, Guest Speakers, and Visits to Industries and
fascination somehow Laboratories—Fostering creativity, developing handiness, and using
community resources are also major elements of the MST multi-
died or was stuffed until instructional approach. These elements are integrated into the curricu-
only those who could lum through student projects and the instructor’s ability to promote
memorize written data these concepts (10%).
and regurgitate it were Reading, Writing, and Discussion—These activities are integrated
recognized as being throughout. Students 1) write and sketch in a journal to record obser-
smart or gifted. The so vations, procedures, experiments, and progress on projects (informa-
called ‘handy’ student tion from presentations, guest speakers, tours, readings, and films
also is recorded); 2) read and research (through interviews, periodi-
was lost or ran out of
cals, and library resources) in relation to the unit of study or the
places where their skills students’ selected projects; 3) participate in journal writing activities
could be evaluated and to practice and enhance student writing skills; 4) explore through dis-
appreciated.” cussion, writing, and applying the process of creativity, innovation,
and scientific inquiry; and 5) study specific occupations that require a
—Andy Nydam, MST Teacher special understanding of material characteristics and how these occu-
River Ridge High Schol pations can change as a result of technological change in materials.
Student
Exp eriments -
35%
Reading,
Writing, and
Discussion
Instructor
Demonstrations
and Presentations -
20% Student
Projects -
35%
Films, Videos,
G uest Sp eakers,
and Visits to
Industries and
Lab oratories - 10%
Solving Problems
Engineers and scientists approach materials and materials processing
by attempting to solve problems important to society or industry. One
good example of a current materials research problem is how cars are
“By taking [the MST] designed and built. Right now in the United States materials scientists
class I have really and engineers are working on how to build a lighter car that will be
more fuel efficient and constructed of recyclable materials. This “new”
learned a lot. Last year
car must have a frame and body as strong as current automobiles.
I took a chemistry class The materials used in its design and manufacture will be revolutionary.
and stumbled my way That’s a problem. A big problem!
through it. I read the How do they go about solving it? First, the auto industry has called in
book and did the prob- materials experts. In the past, the auto industry’s research labora-
lems and never really tories have based most of their research around metals, because they
understood any of it. always built cars from metal; but now, to design future cars, the lab-
After taking MST, I oratories have had to recruit scientists and engineers who are experts
in working with ceramics, polymers, and composites. These experts
understood ionic bond- gather together and brainstorm over what kinds of new materials they
ing and vanderwalls might be able to fabricate, what new processes they need to manu-
forces because this class facture the new materials, and what kind of new procedures they
allowed me to take what need to test new materials.
I learned last year and From this “pool of ideas” created by brainstorming the auto industry
apply it. Now when I decides which materials to research, fabricate, and test. These are
think about chemistry not all new and revolutionary ideas, however, because some scientists
and engineers have been working on similar problems with aerospace
and math I know there
crafts for many years. Their expertise proves invaluable in hastening
is more to it than just some new materials that will be integrated into future cars.
numbers, because I can
apply this knowledge to
real world every day A Technique Scientists Use to Solve Problems
problems.” As materials scientists approach a problem involving new materials,
they use statistically designed methods to acquire as much informa-
—Tom Gannon, MST Student tion as they can from a minimal number of experiments. Of course,
Richland High School before doing any experiments, which tend to be expensive and time
consuming, they conduct a literature search to look at the reports of
the extensive research already done on many materials.
Scientists acquire valuable information from reading what already has
been published in scientific and technical journals and reports, which
aids them in their research. In some cases, by reading the literature,
scientists find that the research they planned to do already has been
conducted. The experiment is then designed to aid scientists in nar-
rowing their area of focus to the desired properties and materials they
will examine and to learn more detailed information as they study the
materials.
The MST course uses problem solving as the foundation of its approach
to studying science and technology. One way the course accomplishes
this is by having students experiment with materials as scientists do.
“Journal Write” Prompts • After a journal write, have students exchange notebooks with a
partner. Partners read each other’s journals and make comments
1. What did you see?
on the page about the writing (i.e., “Looks good!” or “I wish I
2. What did you read that you could organize my thoughts as well as you did,” or “I found the
didn’t know or understand? answer to your question a little later in the article”).
3. If you had one question to • Have partners discuss the article or their writing for a short time.
ask the author, what would These partner activities allow students to learn from other students’
it be and why? strengths and insights as to how they accomplished the task.
4. Why were particular materi- • Have the whole class discuss the article and writing experience.
als used to construct this
Students could be inspired by the article, and learning about a
product?
scientific concept or technological process would be a group
5. Write down what is bugging motivator.
you.
• Use questions evolving from the journal write for student research.
6. What things have you seen Have students find a resource in the community to answer a
around you that remind you particular question, or invite a local “expert” to come to class
of this product? and talk about the question.
7. What did this article make • To vary the journal write activity, have students jot down what
you think of? they already think they know about a topic or article they will
8. What did you learn from this read. They can also write questions they hope the article will
article that you didn’t know answer or predict the author’s major points. After reading the
before? article, students can then respond to what they wrote.
9. Do you agree or disagree Daily Write. The purpose of this activity is to get students to write
with the article? their thoughts and ideas in the journal. It is also an activity for teach-
10. What would you have done ing “thinking on paper,” so students become aware of thoughts that
if you had discovered this occur to them day to day and the thought patterns that might be
product? forming.
11. What was the most useful • Ask students to answer the following questions: 1) What did I do
thing you heard in the last in class last time we met? 2) What did I see or learn about MST
30 minutes? since the last time we met? 3) If I could ask only one question
related to MST, what would it be? Challenge students to find
12. Why do you suppose
answers to their questions by talking to a local expert or by con-
society wants you to know
sulting a resource book such as an encyclopedia, or watching
this stuff?
periodicals for a topic on the subject. When the question is suf-
13. What puzzles you about this ficiently answered, have students write this information in their
article? journal.
14. What made sense to you Weekly Summary. During these weekly reviews, students may
about this article? discover what learning is taking place over time or what process
continues to be a problem. They can sort out some variables of a
recurring problem and refocus on a specific answer to a problem
(i.e., my glass process continues to be plagued with cracking. I
need to learn more about annealing so I can pour uncracked glass).
These summaries can also zero in on specific item(s) that may
warrant teacher attention.
• Have students spend 10 minutes each week summarizing their
week’s work. Use the following journal prompts:
Building Teams
Bill Howl, an MST student from Olympia, Washington, has had
minimal success in school. He still does not read, and he cannot
write. Bill chose to make metallic parts from powdered metals as
his MST project. He learns best by working with his hands and
learning from his mistakes as he worked through the press and
sintering processes of making powdered metal parts. When the
MST class began working on the powdered metal unit, Bill
already knew the process well. So, the students looked to him
for help and advice as they learned the procedure. Pretty soon,
other students began to recognize Bill as the powdered metal
expert, which boosted his self esteem to a level he had never
encountered in his school career.
Developing Handiness
“Handiness,”* as we define it, is the ability to solve materials-related
problems with available or limited resources. When presented with a
problem, without the usual materials to solve it, “handy” people can
use their creativity, imagination, and problem-solving skills to come
up with a solution that allows them to get a job done.
Handiness is an important component of the MST course. Today,
many students are not handy. They lack the ability to solve develop-
mental problems because they don’t understand how to use alterna-
tive materials if what they need is not available. The MST course
helps students overcome these obstacles by systematically examining
many diverse materials, their characteristics, properties, and subse-
quent uses. By working hands-on with the materials in classroom
experiments and on projects, students learn not only about materials,
but also techniques to manipulate them—handiness.
A Success Story
The term handiness was coined by Eugene Eschbach, Manager of
Innovation and Technology at Battelle. Gene learned to be handy
growing up on the family ranch near Yakima, Washington. Gene’s
father raised cattle on the open range and was not at home with
mechanical things. So, when ranch work was automated, Gene’s
brothers had to buy and repair all the machinery.
In the late 1920s, the Eschbach family developed part of their ranch
as an amusement park. But Gene’s brothers left the ranch for the
military, so Gene had to shoulder many of the responsibilities for
fixing things. The park was isolated, a long way from a repair shop,
so Gene learned to repair electro-mechanical and electronic devices
of all sorts—automated violins, automatic phonographs, and later,
the slot machine. He says, “. . . I had an outlet for my creativity, and
I was able to reinforce it because the equipment had to work. I was
able to implement my ideas, and if I made a mistake, I could fix it
without feeling badly because no one noticed my mistakes.”
Gene kept the equipment running, sometimes under much duress,
but the work motivated him to be the first in his family to attend
college. Even before Gene finished his degree, RCA Laboratories
hired him. At RCA, he intensely studied the properties and forming
of glass, metals, and ceramics. He was associated with developing
what then were highly novel methods of fabricating components. He
also helped develop the first large-diameter television picture tube
envelope that could be made through mass production techniques.
Later, this same design was the foundation of the color television
industry. Over the years, Gene has accumulated several patents
and hundreds of invention reports. These successes come, in part,
from the handiness skills he learned on the ranch as a young boy.
Fostering Creativity
Setting up a classroom/laboratory environment where the focus of
learning is discovery and exploration provides a unique opportunity for
students to develop and enhance their creativity. The MST course’s
inquiry approach to problem solving, the experimental design model
You learn to work with with open-ended experimentation, and projects all help students use
what you get. Sometimes their creative skills.
the ‘lemonade’ is a lot All students are capable of being creative, but their creativity generally
better than the result has not been tapped and at times has been stifled by our formal edu-
you planned. Glass- cational process. The standard learning approaches—passively read-
ceramics were an acci- ing textbooks, listening to lectures, and doing cookbook-style labs with
dent. An annealing “set” results that guarantee the right answer—have created “fearful”
students, who are not willing to take risks because they might get the
furnace did not turn wrong results.
off as programmed.
Part of fostering the creative process is letting students make mistakes.
Instead of throwing it
Because the MST program emphasizes the learning process over
away, Donald Stookey right answers, it takes the pressure off students of always having to
asked himself, “What is be right. The learning environment provides them instead a freedom
this stuff anyway?” This to experiment with their own hypotheses, make some mistakes, and
led to a whole new field learn from their failures. Making mistakes means acknowledging
unexpected results or unpredicted scientific outcomes. It doesn’t mean
within glass making.
sloppy experimentation or poor safety practices, ignoring materials or
—Mary Bliss, processes that would lead to an injury, fire, or explosion.
Materials Research Scientist Learning from mistakes is key to the scientific process. Battelle’s Gene
Battelle Eschbach is first to admit and reinforce this concept. In an article Gene
wrote about his early work experience at RCA Laboratories, he describes
his experience related to making mistakes (see box, next page).
An Honor to Err
That it’s OK to err during an investigation or during a learning proc-
ess was brought home to me again and again by my most illustrious
mentor, Dr. Lloyd Preston Garner of RCA. The laboratory by his
design was indistinguishable from its support function, namely: the
instrument makers, tool and die makers, electricians, and electron-
ics experts, who were all housed among aspiring scientists.
“Several years ago,
Dr. Garner told all of us on many occasions not to hide our errors
a chemistry teacher but to share them with others because he believed that “our errors
stopped by the auto are our greatest teachers.” One day he found in a wastebasket a
shop to ask if I would part from an experiment that was damaged. He grabbed the part,
give a demonstration called everyone to an informal meeting, and asked who had thrown
the part away and why? Then he asked why the rest of our group
on the operation of an was not made aware of the error and the mistake. Dr. Garner went
air conditioning system on to say that an error was, first, an opportunity to learn, and second,
to sophomore chemistry an indication of a possible shortcoming. Moreover, that it was usually
students. “Sure! What a manifestation that “Mother Nature was trying to tell us something,”
and not an oversight to be covered up. From then on, Dr. Garner said
for?” I said with moder- it would be an honor to err. A 20-ft-long trophy case was placed in
ate suspicion. (After all, his office exhibiting all errors and surprises after they were analyzed.
how often do science I was privileged to be with Dr. Garner for 4-1/2 years. And during
teachers mix with shop that time I filled 4 of the 5 shelves with errors, unusual events, and
teachers? The science an occasional triumph. “Errors” included events where an experiment
teacher’s response to my did not “come out” as we expected or predicted. Many such “errors”
became “happy accidents.” A few years ago I visited Dr. Garner (in
question was the gen- his late eighties now), and within 5 minutes of our visit he said (and I
esis of a new direction was after all in my sixties), “Gene, errors are our greatest teachers,
in philosophy and cur- don’t hide your errors, and more importantly, run fast enough to still
make them.”
riculum in our school
toward technology.)” —Eugene Eschbach,
Manager of Innovation and Technology, Battelle
—Robert Gauger, Chairperson,
Technology Department
Oak Park and River Forest
High School, Oak Park, Illinois Teaching in Teams
Combining science and technology is an integral element of the MST
program. So, we recommend the course be taught by both a science
and a technology teacher. Because materials science and technology
is a new field of science, bringing with it some unexplored areas in
traditional science and technology education, the combined expertise
of two teachers enhances student learning, particularly where science
concepts are heavily combined with materials processes and applica-
tion (technology per se).
Students learn from the diversity of teaching styles and from the
strengths of each teacher. Teachers also benefit from the interaction,
learning from each other’s strengths. We have found that some of the
most successful MST courses have been taught with this combination.
Community Mentor
About 1985 while teaching in the laboratory a man walked in and
very casually asked, “Can I be of any help to you or your students?”
The man turned out to be local goldsmith Paul Howard. Paul is an
artisan who now volunteers his time in the MST laboratory. He
arrives at school without standard teacher attire, attendance respon-
sibilities, or grading responsibility. He looks at each student as an
individual who is motivated to create a precious metals project
(metal alloys) and experience the feeling of accomplishment and
success. Paul requires that each student record questions, ideas,
and information in a learning log and that each question be the
result of a previous application of research. Paul does not fall into
the “tell me what to do next” trap. Each student’s question is
followed with, “What do you have in your log,” “Have you checked
this reference,” or “What do you think would work?” Students
quickly learn that Paul does not regurgitate the answer but makes
them derive their own individual solutions and apply their ideas as
a solution. Every community has businesses that would provide a
mentor, if asked. Try calling artisans, rock hounds, model airplane
builders, dental technicians, American Society of Materials mem-
bers, and members of the Society of Mechanical Engineers, Society
of Plastics Engineers, junior college or university artisans, boat
builders, ceramic and stained glass businesses, and other local
businesses.
—Steve Piippo, Richland High School MST teacher
Building a School/Community
Advisory Committee
An ideal MST advisory committee membership comprises teachers,
administrators, curriculum directors, vocational directors, and repre-
sentatives from local MST-related industries, who meet monthly to find
out such things as 1) what is happening in the MST course, 2) what
equipment might be needed, 3) ways local business/industry can assist
teachers/students in laboratory activities or arrange field trips to their
businesses, 4) and future activities in which students will be involved.
Advisory committee members can help students understand MST and
also help teachers stay current in MST by sharing experience, knowl-
edge, journals, information, and videos. Meetings can be held either
at a place of business or in the MST lab.
A Storage
B Hood
C Desk
D Sink
E Work station
F Counter
G Burn out oven
H Furnace
I Sander
J Plastic injection molder
K Dremel table saw
L Dremel drill press
M Rolling mill
N Rockwell tester
O Grinder
P Buffer
Q Drill press
R Glass grinder
Laboratory Safety
Before beginning any experiment/demonstration, you must discuss
safety with students and establish laboratory rules. To perform labora-
tory procedures without considering student safety can endanger
all people in the laboratory. For some students, the MST experiments
are their first experience working with testing materials, using
laboratory tools, and working in the same space with other students.
You must be aware of your state’s safety rules or guidelines for labor-
atory safety. Training students in how to safely perform laboratory
procedures and operate tools and equipment used to conduct experi-
ments and complete their projects is of utmost importance. Please
consider the following items when developing laboratory rules.
• Protect your eyes and students’ eyes. Whenever the classroom
is set up in a working (laboratory) mode, or your facility has a dedi-
cated MST laboratory, the first thing students should do is put on
their safety glasses—even before setting up the experiment. Those
visiting or walking through the laboratory must also wear safety
glasses. At first, some students may feel awkward about wearing
the glasses, but once everyone wears them, they feel more com-
fortable and learn the importance of protecting their eyes. Getting
into the habit of wearing safety glasses also reminds students to
be more safety conscious.
• Ensure that other body parts are protected from possible hazards.
Wear gloves, aprons, chemical goggles, and masks, when neces-
sary. Use tongs and other protective equipment, when necessary.
Wear long pants (i.e., blue jeans) and leather shoes while working
with molten material.
• Students need to know the differences between safety glasses and
chemical goggles and use them appropriately. This means they
need to to have access to both kinds of eye protection.
• Adequately ventilate the laboratory. Make sure vents are not near
building intakes.
• Most vaporized metals are health hazards, and exposure should be
limited.
• Ensure correct safety labels are attached and safety signs posted
in appropriate places. Explain all signs and emergency equipment;
do not assume they are self-explanatory.
• Be aware and have a working knowledge of materials safety data
sheets (MSDS) reports for materials used in the laboratory.
• Ensure that students working in the laboratory give each other con-
sideration and distance. Make sure students moving from one work
area to another are conscious of their surroundings and avoid
bumping into other students.
Standards, Learning
Goals, and Assessment
This section reports on the development of national education stan-
dards in mathematics, science, and technology education. It also
provides an overview of the MST course with learning goals for stu-
dents and suggested strategies for assessing student learning. An
overview of the national school-to-work legislation also is provided.
Introduction
• Materials - The basic nature and properties of materials
• Solid state - Materials divided into two categories: crystalline
and amorphous
Body of Course
• Nature of metals - Properties and characteristics of metals
• Nature of ceramics - Properties and characteristics of ceramics
• Nature of glasses - Properties and characteristics of glasses
• Nature of polymers - Properties and characteristics of polymers
• Nature of composites - Properties and characteristics of
composites
Topics to be Integrated
• Physical Properties
- Thermal properties of materials
- Electrical properties of materials
- Strength of materials
- Optical properties of materials
• Chemical properties
• Periodic table of elements
• Methods of scientific inquiry
• Significant developments in the history of materials
• Application of materials
• Systems of technology development
Learning Goals
Possible learning goals related to the example content outline are
highlighted in the box below. The goals are not meant to be tied to
specific units of the MST course.
Assessment
Assessing student learning and instructional quality is an important
part of the MST course as it is for all science, mathematics, and tech-
nology education. And for MST, assessment means more than just
testing. You would be hard pressed to design a multiple choice or
short answer test to measure the outcomes of this course. MST’s
activity-oriented approach requires that you look at assessment
differently.
Because the instructional approach focuses on hands-on/minds-on
processes, assessment also should focus on evaluating these proc-
esses and thinking skills. Assessment techniques should emphasize
asking students to generate their own answers and measure scientific
thinking and laboratory skills.
Some common characteristics of this kind of assessment, called
“authentic” assessment, include the following:
• asking students to perform, create, produce or do something
• tapping higher level thinking and problem-solving skills
• using tasks that represent meaningful instructional activities
• invoking real-world applications
• using people, not machines, to do the scoring, using human
judgment
• requiring new instructional and assessment roles for teachers
(Herman et al. 1992, p. 6).*
Using authentic assessment, which mirrors MST’s problem-solving
approach to teaching, you can assess both product and process. You
might ask students, for example, to perform a laboratory experiment
or solve a real-life problem, using the equipment, materials, and pro-
cedures as they would in class. By observing and asking questions,
you can evaluate both the process students use and their understand-
ing of the major concepts involved.
Other approaches you might use to assess process include clinical
interviews, documented observations, student learning logs and jour-
nals, student self-evaluation (oral or written), debriefing interviews
about student projects (where the student explains what, why, and
how and reflects on possible changes), and student think-alouds in
conjunction with standardized or multiple choice tests.
To assess products, you may use essays with prompts, projects with
a rating scale, student portfolios with a rating scale, posters/presenta-
tions (which mirror the way scientists often present results), student
demonstrations of paintings, drama, dances, and stories with a rating
scale, and standardized or multiple choice tests, perhaps with a sec-
tion for explanations (Herman et al. 1992, p. 7).
Assessment Techniques
In designing assessment strategies you should keep in mind that the
keys to assessment are defining goals to be assessed and the criteria
used to assess them. As with other formal assessment, you should
ensure that the strategy you use specifies the 1) nature of the skills
and accomplishments students are to develop, 2) illustrative tasks that
would require students to demonstrate these skills and accomplish-
ments, and 3) criteria and standards for judging student performance on
the tasks. You also need to develop a reliable rating process and use
your results to refine assessment and improve curriculum and instruc-
tion (Herman et al. 1992, p. 8). Some example techniques that have
been developed to rate student performance are highlighted below.
Task Sheet
One team of MST teachers developed the task sheet shown in Fig-
ure 3.1 to track student progress. All projects and experiments on
which students work are listed on the sheet. A five-point rating
system is defined for the tasks. When a student completes a task, you
check the appropriate column. The point values have criteria assigned to
them, which the students should know. One point means the task was
completed; three points means the task was completed, and the
student can explain the process; and five points means the task
was completed, and the student was capable of teaching another
student how to do the task.
Scoring Guide
The California Assessment Program 1990 developed a Scoring Guide:
Group Performance Task form that can be adapted for the MST evalu-
ation. Figure 3.2 shows the four components and five levels of accom-
plishment. Each level has been defined so you, the student, and others
know the assessment criteria. Figures 3.3 and 3.4 show a CAP gen-
eralized rubric and an objectives rating form.
Figure 3.2. California Assessment Program 1990 Scoring Guide (from Herman et al.1992, pp. 46, 47)
Figure 3.3. CAP Generalized Rubric (from Herman et al. 1992, p. 56)
Figure 3.4. Connecticut Department of Education 1990 Objectives Rating Form (from Herman et al. 1992, p. 56)
Water Lock
Instructor Notes
Reliability
This demonstration always works.
Teacher Tips
1. Source of sodium polyacrylate: Flinn Scientific
2. Sodium polyacrylate (water lock) is a superabsorbent polymer.
This powder can instantly absorb more than 800 times its weight
in deionized water. The more ions present in the water, the more
sodium polyacrylate will be needed to absorb the liquid. This
material is commonly used as the absorbent material in dispos-
able diapers. It is also used in potted plants to help the soil store
water.
3. The quantity of sodium polyacrylate needed to demonstrate the
application of this material depends on the size of the beaker of
water. Before the demonstration, determine the amount of water
lock necessary to perform this demonstration. Simply add known
amounts of water lock, and stir until the liquid gels.
4. Note how such a simple idea is of such large commercial value.
You could include a discussion of the economics of engineering,
i.e., how much money was spent last year on disposable diapers,
paper towels, and newsprint.
5. You may also want to consider the “cradle-to-grave” history of this
material. Where does it come from? How do we dispose of it? Can
it be recycled?
6. Use this as a journal write activity. Have students write possible
uses they think this material is good for.
7. In a class or small group discussion, have students share their
ideas about this material. They can hypothesize about how the
water lock works. Have the students compare their hypotheses
to what actually happens when you explain the scientific principle
that applies to this demonstration in a classroom discussion at the
end of this activity.
Materials
• Water
• 400-mL beaker
Equipment
• Spoon or scoop
• Sodium polyacrylate
Procedure
1. Show the class the beaker of water and have someone verify that
it is water.
2. Take a small amount of sodium polyacrylate (Use about 1/2 tea-
spoon for a 400-mL beaker of water) and stir it quickly into the
water.
3. Almost immediately, invert the beaker to show that the water is “all
tied up.” (You might even try inverting the beaker over a student
once you have developed some confidence in the demonstration.)
4. Pass the beaker around the classroom to allow students to
observe and/or touch. Record their observations and thoughts
in their journal.
Classification of Materials
Instructor Notes
Reliability
This activity involves all students and will begin to establish students’
concepts of materials, their characteristics, and how this relates to
function.
Background
1. There are many places to get samples of materials. You can use
old appliances, or go to junk yards, flea markets, or various
industries. Materials are all around us. Know what the samples
you have selected are. Be sure to include fibers like Kevlar, glass
wool, fiberglass, and composite materials. Mylar and reflective
mylar can be used to give students something to think about in
classifying them.
2. Metals have identifying characteristics such as shine, hardness,
ductility, and they conduct heat and electricity.
3. Ceramics tend to be hard, but brittle, stiff, and do not conduct heat
or electricity as a rule.
4. Polymers are usually flexible, have a low density, are insulators,
and burn.
5. Composites are combinations of any of the above materials. In
some cases, no material by itself (metal, ceramic, or polymer) has
the characteristics required for a particular use, so a combination
of materials (composite) is used.
6. Classification is a higher level thinking skill. As students justify their
placement of materials into certain categories, it gives them a
chance to reinforce their ability to think critically about choices.
7. If you use pieces of glass or other objects with sharp edges, it may
be wise to dull the edges using an abrasive. Warn students to be
care-ful of sharp edges.
8. Once you have gathered samples, keep them in a box to ensure
you retain good samples for next year. As you obtain different
material samples, you can add them to the box, as appropriate.
Materials
• An assortment of different materials taken from various sources in
the environment. Examples include parts of appliances, fabrics,
bottle fragments (both glass and plastic), nails, wires, fiberglass,
and insulating materials. Be sure to include a few items that are
composite materials so students will have to ponder where to
place them. It is best to have at least one sample per student.
Procedure
1. Display the materials on a table or desk in front of the classroom.
2. On the table or desk, set aside space for three areas labeled
metals, polymers, and ceramics where students may place an
object after they have identified the material.
3. Have students, one at a time, select an object of their choice and
place it in the category they feel is appropriate.
4. After students have categorized all objects, select various samples
and have the students who classified those objects justify why
they were placed in certain categories.
Material Systems
Instructor Notes
Teacher Tips
1. This activity may seem very elementary, but it is designed to
stimulate the students’ thinking in areas of handiness, creativity,
and the knowledge of materials.
2. Stress and strain are two terms that are often confused. Stress
is defined as the resistance offered by a material to an external
force. Although this is correct, stress is usually defined as the
applied load. It is measured in terms of force exerted per unit
force (N/M2 or Pa in the metric system or lb/in2 in the English
system). Strain is the amount of deformation (binding, twisting,
stretching) resulting from the stress. When a stress-causing
force is applied, a strain results. If the strain exceeds the elastic
limit of the material, the material has permanent deformation
(bends, stretches, breaks).
3. Appliances of 20 or 30 years ago can be compared to modern
appliances to evaluate changes in equipment design. One way
to do this is to disassemble appliances that have 20- to 30-year
differences in manufacturing time, and then compare the materi-
als categories for any changes in types of materials used. You
Safety
See individual activities.
Equipment
• Old appliances such as toasters, irons, hair driers, wind-up toys,
clocks, curling irons, cameras, mechanical or electrical toys,
• Screwdrivers, Phillips and straight edge (Most screws can be
undone with mini-screwdrivers, but you will want to have some
large-handled screwdrivers to loosen hard turning screws.)
• Pliers
• Wire cutters
• Candle
• Containers (plastic or paper bags)
• Permanent marker pens
• Ohm meter or continuity device
• Safety glasses
Procedure
1. Dismantle the appliance using the tools needed to remove the
appliance’s casing and inner parts.
2. Place disassembled parts into containers labeled metals, ceram-
ics, polymers, and composites.
3. Discuss the quantities of materials gathered in each container.
Name some reasons certain materials are more commonly used
than others. Could there be a better material to use than what is
found in your appliance? Why do you think the manufacturer
decided to use the material currently used in the appliance?
4. Record observations about the disassembled appliances in the
laboratory record book. Is there a particular part or mechanism
that could be drawn to show special details of this appliance?
Record your observations in your journal. Details could include
the following
• drawings of appliances or specific parts
• type of appliances worked on
• types of material the major parts of the appliance are made
from (What parts are made of metals, ceramics, polymers,
composites?)
• reasons why materials were chosen for specific purposes of the
appliance
• possible reasons the inventor or manufacturer used some
unusual materials to make some parts of the appliance.
Additional Activities
The following suggested projects could be “springboard” activities to
allow some students to spend extended periods of time testing and
discovering different areas of materials science.
Strength
A crude test for strength would be to lodge the material to be tested
between two bricks and then to stack six to eight bricks on the mate-
rial and measure how much it deforms the original shape (see Fig-
ure 4.1). There are other ways of doing strength tests too.
Hardness
From a measured height, drop a steel ball or a large marble on differ-
ent materials obtained from the appliances. Observe and record the
height the ball rebounded and the size and depth the ball dented the
material being tested. Be sure the test sample is resting flat on a hard,
solid object (i.e., a concrete floor) so you are truly testing the hardness
of the material and not some other property.
Electrical Conductivity
Using a flashlight bulb, a battery, and three pieces of wire, measuring
about 6 in. per wire, set up an electrical continuity device to check if elec-
tricity will conduct through some materials (see Figure 4.2). The light will
Thermal Effects
Obtain several liters of liquid nitrogen. Dip the dismantled materials in
it and see if or how the cold temperature affects their strength. Poly-
mers and composites will be most affected by the temperature; metals
and ceramics will experience the least amount of change. Wearing
leather gloves, flex the material being tested to observe if cold has
changed the strength and flexibility of the material.
Heating material will provide valuable information about many materi-
als. Using a burning candle, Bunsen burner, or propane torch, pass
each material slowly through the flame, and determine the effect of
heat on the material. Most polymers can be identified by burning
them and observing their smoke, smelling the fumes (carefully), and
observing how it burns in the flame. Use caution because some
materials will melt, drip, and splatter hot liquid. Other materials may
oxidize and some materials may not be affected at all.
Activity: Magnification
To greatly enhance the students understanding of some materials,
examine the materials using a microscope—a dissecting microscope
that can magnify up to 50 times is more than sufficient. Many things
can be learned from observation under magnification.
Additional Activities
While students are dismantling appliances, they could also try to figure
out how an appliance’s electrical wiring works or how certain mechani-
cal devices operate as they are pushed or turned. While they are work-
ing, students could also consider if they would like to make something
like an appliance, boat, or automobile as a job or career. Would stu-
dents like to be one of the engineers, inventors, manufacturers, or
workers that helped make these appliances?
Crystal Study
Instructor Notes
Reliability
This experiment consistently works. The only drawback is the possibil-
ity of breaking the glass squares by dropping them or when dismantl-
ing the glass-stuff-glass “sandwich” while the stuff is still molten (easily
repaired though).
Teacher Tips
1. The purpose of this lab is to provide students an opportunity to
1) observe macro crystalline growth, 2) observe how crystals grow
together and form grain boundaries, and 3) compare various kinds
of crystals. This knowledge can then be transferred to metals and
ceramics, which form crystalline structure in the same manner as
observed except on a micro scale.
2. It is recommended that the teacher prepare the glass slides for
this activity. The instructions for doing this are given below. The
student activity includes only the procedures for warming and
cooling the plates once they are made. Once these glass sand-
wiches are made, they can be re-used many times and stored
from year to year.
3. Suggested materials that may be used to crystallize include the
following:
• phenylsalicylate, also called salol
• thymol, strong “listerine” odor
• benzoic acid
• urea, crystal growth is very small, but large grains appear,
(teaches grain boundaries and grains)
• naphthalene
• naphthol (also may want to use magnification to study crystals
and boundaries)
• p-dichlorobenzene (fumes).
Figure 4.4.
Figure 4.5.
4. If we could get some light waves all lined up in the same direction,
some neat things could be done with them. This effect can be
accomplished by using a polarizer, which is a material that looks
like a picket fence to a light wave. Only the light waves oriented
parallel to the picket fence are able to pass through it, and if a
second polarizing filter is held with its axis perpendicular to the
first, no light can pass through the pair.
5. Polarizing films can be made by heating a sandwich made from
needle-like crystals of iodoquinine sulfate between two sheets of
plastic. As it cools, the plastic sheets are pulled in the opposite
direction to line up the crystals. This alignment produces the
picket-fence effect as described above.
Extension Activity
1. This would be an opportune time to invite a “rock hound,” jeweler,
geologist, mineralogist, or earth science teacher to visit your
classroom to discuss and show various crystalline materials.
2. Other variations to this lab follow.
a) As the glass slides are cooling, and crystals have not yet
formed, place an aluminum rod on the top glass plate. The
aluminum acts as a heat sink. Observe how this changes
previously run samples.
b) Have a sample in a glass sandwich where one surface of the
glass is scratched. Observe how this scratch affects results of
crystal growth.
c) On a single plate of glass, melt a small pool of suggested mate-
rial. As this molten pool cools, drop a small “seed crystal” of the
same material into it. Observe how the seed crystal affects
crystal growth.
Safety
1. Use Pyrex or other thermal shock-resistant lab glass for glass
plates. Thin plates (1/8 in. or less) are better than thicker plates.
Microscope slides work well.
2. Prepare these plates in advance. This is most easily done by
placing the glass plate on a hot plate set on low temperature in
the hood, melting the chemical on the warm glass plate, and
placing the second plate on top. To reduce breakage of the glass
plates, warm all the plates slowly on the hot plate, and handle
them with tweezers.
3. You need to consider ventilation. Some substances produce
irritating fumes; others produce slightly toxic fumes or fumes
that will make many light-headed. Note: thymol, naphthalene,
and naphthol produce fumes and strong odors. Benzoic acid
has very irritating fumes, phenylsalicylate has toxic fumes. Use
these chemicals cautiously! Don’t spill them on the hot plate’s
surface. Handle only small quantities around the hot plate.
4. Hot plates can cause burns.
Materials
See Instructor Notes
Equipment
• Prepared glass plate sandwiches, 5 cm x 5 cm, 2 ea.
• Colored pencils
• Polarized film, 5 cm x 5 cm
• Magnifying lens
• Hot plate
• Tweezers/tongs
Procedure
1. Obtain two different glass plate sandwiches, one marked “A,” the
other marked “B.”
2. Obtain two pieces of polarized film.
3. Place glass “A” on a cold hot plate and turn on hot plate to a low
setting (“2” is typical). (DO NOT TURN TO A HIGHER SETTING.)
4. Carefully observe the crystal formation between the two pieces of
laminated glass. When the crystals START to melt, immediately
remove the glass from the hot plate using tweezers. Turn off hot
plate. Continue observations.
5. Record observations in your journal. Include sketches of crystals.
6. Place glass between polarized film with a light source behind it.
Turn or rotate pieces of the film 90° and observe (see Figure 4.6).
The two pieces of film can be arranged to either transmit or block
light. View the glass plate with the film in both positions and with-
out the film. Illustrate what you see in your journal using, if
needed, colored pencils.
Bright
Light
Polarized Film
(2 in. sq.)
Glass Sample
Glass Sandwich
(with stress cracks)
Rotate
90°
Polarized Film
(2 in. sq.)
Additional Activities
1. Cool the plates slowly, and sketch what you see.
2. Cool the plates rapidly, and compare to the slow-cool method.
3. Observe other materials and light sources using the polarized film
to better understand polarized light.
Iron Wire
Instructor Notes
Reliability
This experiment works every time if wire is of high enough iron con-
tent and is heated enough for it to get above phase change tempera-
tures. You may have to try several kinds of wire to see which gives the
best results. It will not work if iron is not nearly pure, wire is not heated
enough, or wire is not long enough to expand and contract to observe
phase change.
Teacher Tips
1. A local hardware store is a good source of iron wire.
2. The iron wire will smoke temporarily as it is first heated because
of oil and grease introduced during the manufacturing process or
subsequent handling. Do not worry about this.
3. The wire will oxidize as it is heated. The oxide will cause the wire
to become increasingly brittle if the heat cycling is repeated many
times. Also, if the wire is heated repeatedly, most of the cross
section of the wire may become oxidized, and the wire may break
under the gravitational force of the weight. The oxide is an insula-
tor, and the wire will stop conducting when it has oxidized all the
way through (if it has not broken before that). Check to see if
tempering is also occurring.
4. This lab uses electrical resistance to heat the wire. Electrical engi-
neering and physics can be introduced with this lab. The wire’s
resistance varies with the diameter. Smaller wires will heat faster
to higher temperatures. Have someone from a stereo store come
and talk about how to select the gauge of stereo speaker wires
or have a household electrician come to talk about overloaded
circuits and how electrical fires can happen.
5. A regular, repeating three-dimensional alignment or arrangement
of atoms defines what is called a crystal structure. The types of
“crystal structure” that a material has depends on many factors,
such as temperature, atom size, and types of atoms making up
the crystal.
6. Many crystalline materials have the same crystalline structure
over the entire temperature range from room temperature to the
material’s melting point, i.e., aluminum.
Wire
Magnet
Iron Wire 50-100
5 oz. g
Weight
Yardstick
Attached
to the
Table
"C" Clamps "C"
Clamps
°C °F
Melt 1539 2802 Body-centered cubic
Point δ (delta) iron
1400 2552
γ (gamma) iron
α (alpha) iron
Body-centered cubic
–273 –460
Safety
1. Use extreme caution because an electrical shock can occur when
contacting the clamps, stands, alligator clips, or wire when elec-
trical source is plugged in. Be certain electrical source is discon-
nected before working with equipment.
2. The equipment may be very hot on completion of the experiment.
Use caution. Wear leather gloves, to avoid burns.
3. If heated high enough, the wire can melt and splatter to the ground.
This can be a fire and burn hazard if not safely set up over a
cement floor or an insulated ground cover such as a ceramic fiber
blanket or a sand trap. This also will prevent the hot magnet from
scorching the floor when it falls off the wire at about 770°C.
4. Students should be a minimum of 8 ft from the experimental
equipment at all times to ensure their safety.
5. Be prepared! Sudden surges of electricity from turning the variac
too quickly can cause circuit breakers to fail. Be familiar with the
janitor’s whereabouts during this demonstration or where the
breaker can be reset if the need should arise. By slowly increas-
ing the power through the variac, this problem can be avoided.
Disposal
Make sure all wire is cool before throwing it in the trash.
Materials
• Iron wire (18 - 24 gauge, 12 - 15 ft long). Inexpensive wire works
best, generally of a high iron content.
Equipment
Power source:
A.
• A 110-volt, 15 amp, or larger, variable transformer, commonly
called a “variac.”
• 10-ft power cord (which has been split to reach to both ends of the
iron wire), with an AC male plug on one end (to connect to Variac)
and alligator clips on the split end, one for each end of the iron wire.
or
B.
• 2 well-charged 12-volt batteries (connected in series)
• Rheostat rated at 25 volts and 15 amps or more
• Single wires, each equivalent in weight to one side of a power cord,
to connect the batteries to one side of the rheostat and the other
side of the rheostat to one end of the iron wire, with an alligator clip.
The other end of the iron wire is connected to the other side of the
pair of batteries. See Figure 4.9.
Ring Stand
(not part of circuit)
24 V Rheostat
Procedure
1. Mount the two ring stands on the tables(s) far enough apart to make
the wire between them taut (See Figure 1). Attach the wire to the
ring stands, and adjust the distance between stands as needed to
stretch the wire. For greater safety, to prevent energizing the ring
stands, the ring may be wrapped with insulating tape where the
wire is to be attached.
2. Hang the weight on the wire in the center between the stands.
3. Attach the electrical leads (alligator clips) to the two ends of the wire
near the ring stands. Do not attach the alligator clips to the ring
stands, as the paint and oxide on the rings are non-conducting
and will prevent good connections.
4. Dim the lights in the room.
5. Slowly increase the voltage to the wire until the wire glows bright
orange. Observe the movement of the weight.
6. Reduce the voltage rapidly while again carefully observing the
weight.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 and measure the wire displacement with a
rule next to the weight.
Caution: The wire, when hot, can cause burns, shocks, and
even start a fire!
Reliability
This experiment works all the time.
Teacher Tips
1. This experiment is designed to show that materials will fatigue and
fail when distorted. It is also intended to show that not all objects
fail equally, but failures can be plotted, and the probability of fail-
ure can be predicted. The experiment is also a good introduction
to destructive testing compared with non-destructive testing.
2. Heating, cooling, and areas of impurities within a batch of paper
clips will cause them to have different kinds of failures and varied
rates of failure even though the paper clips may have been man-
ufactured with the same quality assurance, procedural specifica-
tions, and from the same batch of material.
3. Quality control is a major concern in mass production. When a
typical sample is taken from a batch of materials and tested for
fatigue failure, the samples do not fail under equal stress or num-
ber of deformations. This distribution of failure may be used to
predict product reliability.
4. When making parts from a particular material, the degree of form-
ing is limited. Severe forming requires material with adequate
ductility or formability. Tests for failure distribution functions help
establish bounds of expected formability with a particular batch of
material. Analysis of forming operations and degrees of shape-
changing provide data about the ductility/formability needed for
each particular part. Conditions of actual material ductility and
specific shape-forming severity need to be adjusted to produce
parts that can be joined together as component of a total product.
Production limitations necessarily enter into the details of product
design; one aspect is wrapped up in the other. Designing and
manufacturing a new product is costly!
5. Formability is only one example of metal failure by fatigue or
(usually) overload. Examples more applicable to paper-clip
bending would be axles or crankshafts on cars. Other practical
examples include airplane propellers and highway bridges.
6. Students need to share their data and make a bar graph for each
type of paper clip. These graphs can be used to discuss reliability
and safety.
7. Direct students in a classroom discussion on destructive testing.
Areas to consider in the discussion follow:
• How can you use your data to estimate the strength or reliability
of the untested paper clips?
• Since testing destroys the clips, how many can you afford to
test? People who crash test cars and airplanes can’t test each
one. There wouldn't be any left to sell!
• How sure do you need to be about the strength of your clips?
• How would you design for a larger safety factor if designing an
airplane?
• Think of other situations where testing is important.
• Discuss why the paper clip finally broke. Did anyone notice it
got harder and harder to bend the clip? What was happening
inside the material?
Extension Activities
1. Take a shoe box lid and put enough marbles in it to cover one
fourth of its surface area. Tilt the lid so all the marbles move to
one corner. Note the arrangement of the marbles, the rows, layers
and areas of dislocation where the marbles lose their patterned
arrangement. Tap the side of the lid, and note how the marbles.
The ways the marbles move in “steps” or “bumps” are how atoms
move when metal is bent or deformed.
2. In school each student is tested. This is not destructive (or shouldn’t
be!) Imagine if one student was tested and that was the grade for
the class! Ask a quality control engineer to come and talk about
sampling and testing, or ask someone from an advertising agency
to talk about market research.
Materials
• Paper clip, standard size (10 ea.), 2 different brands or styles of
paper clips (there are various types of clips that can be used,
smooth, ridged, small diameter, large diameter) or other suitable
material.
Equipment
• Twister, heavy card stock (approximately 1 in. x 2 in. folded in half
into 1 in. x 1 in. square to help protect the fingers while twisting the
paper clip)
• Safety glasses
Safety
No safety problems are apparent with this activity. However, it is pos-
sible that broken clips might be sharp or have rough edges, which can
cause cuts.
Depending on the speed of the twist, the broken end might be hot.
This would not be hot enough to hurt anyone. If it hurts a little, one
more thing has been learned.
Procedure
1. Lay a paper clip flat on bench, and hold the smaller loop with your
left hand. Grab the larger loop with your right hand, and rotate the
clip open, one quarter turn, keeping it flat the entire time to form
an L-shape (see Figure 4.10).
2. Grasp the larger loop between the thumb and index finger of your
dominant hand, and fold a piece of card stock over the smaller
loop to hold it firm and provide a cushion.
Paper Clip
3. Twist the larger loop with the thumb and forefinger of your domi-
nant hand, keeping the small loop at a right angle to the larger
loop.
4. Count each half turn in the same direction. Record in your journal,
to the nearest quarter-turn, the number of twists you made to
break or fracture the paper clip.
5. Repeat with a different brand of paper clip.
6. Share data with other students.
7. Make bar graphs as directed.
Ceramic Mantle
Instructor Notes
Reliability
This demonstration always works.
Teacher Tips
1. This demonstration is designed to help students become aware that a
lantern mantel is made of a ceramic material. The mantle possesses
properties of ceramics such as a high melting point and brittleness.
The demonstration is used also to help show that compromises must
be made when selecting materials for a specific application.
2. Contained in the mantle is a material consisting mainly of yttrium
oxide. This material can withstand temperatures of up to 2400°C
(4352°F). Yttrium oxide is a ceramic and very brittle as a mantle
material. For shipping and handling purposes, the yttrium oxide is
impregnated in a lacy sock of rayon. When placed in the lantern
and ignited, the rayon burns off, leaving an ash of yttrium oxide
that is so brittle, a fly could pass through it.
3. The lantern operates on hydrocarbon fuels (white gas, propane,
etc.). The higher the temperature you heat this material, the more
light it will emit. Energy deposited on a small amount of material
produces a concentration of heat and light. Reducing the size of
the material and holding the energy constant produces a brighter
light. This is why the mantle fibers are so thin.
4. Very few high temperature materials can be used as mantle material.
Most materials do not produce visible light at these temperatures.
Instead, they emit in a very narrow wavelength of light in the infrared
or ultraviolet range.
5. In the past, thoria was used at the lantern mantle. It is radioactive.
A choice was made to use it because it was relatively inexpen-
sive, could withstand high temperatures, and produced the best
quality light. If you have an old thoria mantle you may want to
demonstrate the radioactivity of this mantle using a Geiger counter
or other radioactivity detector (see description in box on following
pages.)
Safety
1. Thoria, if used, is radioactive.
2. Use safety gloves and glasses.
3. Lanterns and fuel can be dangerous. Use proper igniting tech-
niques recommended by the manufacturers.
Actually, one mantle measures less than 0.1 millirem/hr or 1/3000 to 1/7000 of the value reported in
Milwaukee.
The box of 1000 mantles is less than 0.5 millirem/hr.
If we remove the beta shield, the value increases 0.9 to 1.35 millirem/hr on the 1000 pack.
If we were to use a Geiger Counter, the alpha radiation measures about 4,500 counts/minute. This is
counts of particles, not millirems. Alpha radiation from thorium and its daughters are very weak. In fact, an
inch of air, a sheet of paper, or the dead cells of the skin (the epidermis) is enough to stop them.
We can conclude the following from experts in the field such as Robley Evans, Frank O’Donnell, and
Theodore Fields:
1. Thorium and its daughters are naturally occurring radioactive materials. They were formed when the
earth was made. In fact, about as much thorium found in a mantle is also found in every cubic foot of
rock, soil, dirt, concrete, etc.
2. A commercial jet airplane will increase the exposure of each passenger in one flight from New York to
Los Angeles to the same dose received by an average camper using one mantle.
3. Moving from the first floor of a dwelling to the third floor will increase the exposure of the occupant to
the same dose received by an average camper using one mantle.
4. The natural radiation per year from the earth, air, and from outer space is at least 50,000 times more
than from a mantle.
5. A camper who received the greatest expected dose from using one mantle would have to camp for
4000 days per year to equal the average annual medical dose.
Therefore, we have a long history of safety with the mantle. And, we have shown that even an unrealistic
exposure (such as camping 4000 days per year) will make only a fraction of the annual dose we receive
every year from the earth, the air, outer space, and medicine.
Materials
• Coleman lantern mantle
Equipment
• Pyrometer at least 3300°C (optional)
• Lantern, Coleman type, fueled either with propane or white gas
3750°C
Procedure
3500°C
1. Show a Coleman lantern mantle to students (Teacher Tip 2).
3250°C Thorium
Thoria oxide
(α 3200°C)
(α 3200°C) 2. Light the lantern and measure the mantle’s temperature using a
3000°C
pyrometer (Teacher Tip 3) (see Figure 4.11).
2750°C
3. Turn off the lantern.
2500°C
Yttrium oxide
2250°C (2400°C)
2000°C
1750°C
Iron
Iron(1535°C)
(1535°C)
1500°C
1250°C Standard
classroom
Glass (1050°C)
1000°C
Silver (962°C)
750°C
500°C
Lead
Lead(328°C)
(328°C)
250°C Wood (250°C)
Reliability
This experiment always works.
Background
1. Since about 1730, serious experiments have been conducted
in developing the electric light bulb. Thomas Edison’s work in
the 1870s contributed to the development of the filament. He
used carbonized thread to make an incandescent light bulb that
burned for 40 hours. Currently, the filament is made of tungsten
because this filament may reach a temperature of 2500°C, which
enables it to glow white hot. Incandescent means glowing with heat.
2. The glass envelope is the part of the bulb that prevents the filament
from oxidizing (see Figure 4.12). When the light bulb is manufac-
tured, the envelope is filled with a non-reactive gas to prevent the
tungsten from burning (rapid oxidation-the tungsten combining
with the oxygen in the air to form tungsten oxide). Even in the
envelope the filament does not last forever because as it reaches
its high temperature some of the tungsten vaporizes (changing from
a solid to a gas or vapor which is called sublimation), and the fila-
ment gets thinner. Eventually, the filament gets so thin it breaks.
3. Filaments also exhibit thermal shock, breaking because they are
heated too fast. This is why lights usually burn out when you first
turn them on.
4. When electricity is run through the filament after the envelope is
removed, the metal oxidizes and forms tungsten oxide. Tungsten
oxide, a ceramic, exhibits characteristics that are common to
ceramics, many of which are unlike those of a metal, including
brittleness, non-metallic color, and poor electrical conductivity.
5. Smoke is observed as the tungsten is burning (oxidizing). This
occurs because one of the oxides of tungsten has a very low
melting point and is being vaporized from the hot filament.
6. Distribute copies of light bulb diagram—one per student (see
Figure 4.13).
7. You need one bulb and socket for each student group.
Extension Activity
1. Compare this lab to the previous lab. Lantern mantles can burn in
air because they are ceramic, but they are very fragile (brittle).
Materials
• Light bulbs, standard base, 110 volt
• Water
Equipment
• Hammer
• Towel
• No. 10 can
• Safety glasses
• Safety face shield
• Leather gloves
• Glass cutter or file
• Bunsen burner
• 110 volt socket with plug (see Figure 4.12)
Procedure
1. Study Figure 4.13, which is labeled with the correct terminology
for a typical incandescent lamp.
2. Carefully remove the glass bulb (envelope) from the lamp using
one of the following methods:
a. Wrap the bulb with a towel and hit it with a hammer lightly to
break only the glass envelope.
or
b. Use a glass scriber to etch around the base of bulb. Tap
etching to crack open the bulb.
or
c. Heat bulb in bunsen burner flame. When it is hot, plunge into
No. 10 can of water.
Tungsten Filament
Tungsten Filament
Glass Bulb
Glass Bulb
(Envelope)
(Envelope)
Screw Base
Screw Base
Caution: Be sure you wear safety glasses, a safety face shield and
leather gloves to protect yourself from being cut by broken glass.
3. Identify the parts of the dissected light bulb using Figure 4.13.
4. Observe the tungsten filament. Note its color and flexibility. Most
filaments are coiled, and many even have two coils, an outer coil
and a tightly wound inner coil. (Today’s technology uses the terms
1st and 2nd generation coils for these types of coils.)
5. Analyze the tungsten filament and glass bulb to determine why
and how those materials were combined for a light source.
6. Screw the base of light bulb into the unplugged electric socket.
Bulb
Soft glass is generally used. Hard glass
is used for some lamps to withstand Gas
higher bulb temperatures and for added Usually a mixture of nitrogen and argon
protection against bulb breakage due is used in most lamps 40 watts and
to moisture. Bulbs are made in various over to retard evaporation of the fila-
shapes and finished. ment.
Button
Glass is heated during manufacture
Lead-In Wires and support and tie wires placed in it.
Made of copper from base to stem
press and nickel-plated copper or nickel
from stem press to filament; carry the Button Rod
current to and from the filament. Glass rod supports button.
Wires
Heat Deflector
Molybdenum wires support lead-in
Used in higher wattage general service
wires.
lamps and other types when needed to
reduce circulation of hot gases into
Stem Press neck of bulb.
The lead-in wires in the glass have an
air-tight seal here and are made of a
combination of a nickel-iron alloy core Fuse
and a copper sleeve (Dumet wire) to Protects the lamp and circuit by blow-
assure about the same coefficient of ing if the filament arcs.
expansion as the glass.
Figure 4.13. Typical incandescent lamp bulb. This type produces a high lighting level over a relatively long period of time.
Longer lasting lamps can be produced but the light output is lower. Additional light is produced at the expense of lamp life.
Modern incandescent lamps strike a balance between light intensity and lamp life. Bulb blackening is the result of deposit-
ing of tungsten particles on inner surface of the bulb. (Sylvania)
Reliability
These experiments work all the time. The mixed quantities of water
and cornstarch can and do give varying results, though. A rule of
thumb that appears to work well is to have a ratio of about 5:2 parts
cornstarch to water by volume.
Teacher Tips
1. Viscosity, thixotropy, and dilatancy are three closely related terms
that describe the flow behavior of liquids and mixtures of liquids.
2. Viscosity measures the force required to make a material flow.
Fluids that have a high resistance to flow are said to have a higher
viscosity than those that flow more easily. For example, honey
and molasses have much higher viscosities than water. We are
describing viscosity when we use words like “thick,” “thin,” “runny,”
“gooey,” and “syrupy” to describe liquids and mixtures. The scien-
tific unit for measuring viscosity is the poise, which is kilograms
per meter per second.
Water has a viscosity of 1.005 centipoise at 20°C. Motor oil is
approximately 1 poise and honey about 100 poise at room tem-
perature. A display of common fluids could be easily made for the
classroom to illustrate this. Several variables affect the viscosity,
including temperature, concentration (for solutions, size of the
molecules or particles, and shape of the molecules or particles).
The viscosity of most pure fluids is not changed by the physical
energy that is applied to the fluid to get it to flow. Doubling the
force applied to the liquid doubles the velocity or flow rate. This
simple relationship follows the equation given above and is called
Newtonian because it was first described by Isaac Newton.
Some liquids and mixtures do not do as predicted according to
Newton’s Laws. These liquids exhibit non-Newtonian behavior.
One example is catsup. When catsup is mixed or stirred, its
viscosity becomes lower, and it flows more easily. This is an
example of what is known as thixotropic behavior. Thixotropic is
derived from the Greek words “thixis,” meaning “the act of han-
dling” or touch, and “trope” meaning “change.” Therefore, thixot-
ropy means to change by touch.
Suggested Questions
7. What other fluids are thixotropic? Dilatant? Test them.
8. Under what circumstances would you want a material to be
thixotropic? (Hint: house paint)
9. When would you want a fluid to be dilatant?
Activity: Dilatancy
Materials
• Cornstarch
• Water
Equipment
• 100-mL beaker
• Ring stand with small ring
• Mirror
• Steel ball, approximately 6 mm in diameter (marbles)
• Stirring stick
• Watch, stop watch, or timer
Procedure
Note: It is up to the student to experiment with the amount of corn-
starch to add to water.
1. Put cornstarch into the 100-mL beaker.
2. Put water in a 6-oz cup, and add it to the cornstarch.
3. Stir mixture until a runny, putty-like material develops.
4. Let the mixture sit for 30 sec, then stir rapidly.
5. Observe and record results in your journal.
6. Set the beaker on the ring stand, and place the mirror under it so
you can see the bottom of the beaker.
Extension Activity
1. Before the cornstarch mixture is cleaned up, you may want to take
1 or 2 spoonfuls of it in your hand, roll the mixture into a ball, and
then let it rest in your open palm so you can observe it.
Activity: Thixotropy
Materials
• Catsup, 500 mL
Equipment
• Beaker, 600 mL
• Ring stand with small ring
• Mirror
• Steel balls, 10 each, approx. 6 mm in diameter (marbles)
• Stopwatch
• Stirring stick
• Course sieve
• Container for used catsup
Procedure
1. Pour the catsup into the 600-mL beaker.
2. Set the beaker on the ring stand, and place a mirror under the
beaker so the bottom of the beaker can be seen.
3. After at least 5 min, drop one of the steel balls into the catsup
from about 3 cm above the surface. Time how long the ball takes
to touch the bottom of the beaker.
4. Repeat with four more balls. Compute the average of the five data
points. Be sure to drop balls into different areas of the catsup to
avoid the balls traveling down same paths.
5. Stir catsup for 1 min.
6. Drop ball number 6 and time its travel. Continue to drop and time
balls 7 through 10 at 1-min intervals.
7. Pour catsup through coarse sieve into container reserved for used
catsup.
8. Wash steel balls, beaker, stirring stick, and any other equipment
that has been used with catsup. Dry thoroughly.
9. Return all equipment to its proper place, and clean your working
area.
10. Graph the change in time traveled versus minutes after stirring.
11. If you have conducted the dilatancy lab, compare the results with
this lab, and record your notes in your journal.
Vocabulary—Introductory*
Allotropy
Amorphous(x)
Atomic weight(x)
Atoms(x)
Chemical compounds(x)
Chemical formulas(x)
Continuity
Crystal(x)
Crystalline(x)
Dilatancy
Electromagnetic field
Element(x)
Filament
Glass envelope
Grain(x)
Grain boundary(x)
Incandescent
Melting point(x)
Mole(x)
Molecule(x)
Newtonian
Oxidation
Oxide(x)
Phase change(x)
Poise
Polarized
Polymorphism
Shear
Thixotropy
Thoria
Viscosity
Properties of Metals
Instructor Notes
Reliability
This lab will work very well and is an excellent introduction to metals.
Teacher Tips
Note: This lab is meant to be set up at stations or tables. Students in
small groups can spend a designated amount of time at each station
and then rotate to the next station. The following lists are items needed
at each station.
Safety
1. Station #7: Use caution with open flame to avoid burns. Also, the
metal ball remains hot; be careful with it. Quench it in a can of
water to cool.
Materials
• Assorted metals and other materials
Equipment
• Electrical continuity tester
• Magnet
• Burner
• Ring and ball device
Procedure
You and your lab partner will rotate among eight different stations and
perform a variety of activities. You may start at any station and rotate
to any other one. Write observations that you make at each station in
your journal. Be sure to note in your journal at which station you are
working, and clearly indicate what you have observed.
Station #1: Use the conductivity device to determine if the materials
at this station conduct electrically.
Station #2: Test the different types of metals at this station for electri-
cal conductivity.
Station #3: Test the different types of metals to see if they are
magnetic.
Station #4: Compare the color and appearance of the pieces of metal.
What differences/similarities do you observe?
Station #5: Compare the three pieces of metal. Are they the same
type of metal?
Station #6: Compare the cans. How do they differ? How were they
made? Were the manufacturing processes different?
Station #7: Pass the metal ball through the hole and remove it. Then
heat the ball with the burner, and attempt to pass the ball
through the hole again.
Station #8: Bend the wire until it breaks.
Reliability
This lab works very well. It is a real excitement generator for students.
Teacher Tips
1. Before 1982, pennies were made of copper. Since 1982, pennies
have been made of zinc with a thin copper foil covering them.
2. This lab demonstrates diffusion of a metal. The plated zinc on the
penny’s surface diffuses into the copper and forms a brass surface.
Safety
1. Hot NaOH solution is very caustic. An appropriate “caution” note is
added to the activity sheet.
Disposal
1. If NaOH is not reused, react it with HCl to neutralize the solution,
then dispose by pouring down a drain. React slowly and carefully
to avoid getting solution hot.
2. Once the lab has been done you can keep the beakers of NaOH
and store for use again. This eliminates disposal problems.
Materials
• Pennies, pre-1982 and post-1982, 3 ea.
• Zinc (Zn), 1 g, granular
• Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution, 3M, 25 mL
• Distilled water, 75 mL
• Tarnish remover solution, 10 mL, or steel wool
Equipment
• Safety glasses
• Chemical goggles
• Hot plate
• Bunsen burner
• Striker
• Beaker, 250 mL
• Beaker, 100 mL
• Tongs/forceps
Procedure
1. Obtain three pre-1982 pennies and three post-1982 pennies.
Clean the pennies by dipping in tarnish remover or rubbing with
steel-wool. It is very important that all tarnish be removed so the
metal is in direct contact with the NaOH solution.
5. Using tongs, carefully add two pennies from each of the two sets
to the hot solution. Do not drop the coins so as to cause a splash.
Set the third penny aside for comparison. Be sure to remember
which set the coins came from.
6. Observe and record any changes in the appearance of the coins
in your journal until no further changes are noted.
7. Place 75 mL of distilled water into a 100-mL beaker.
8. With forceps or tongs, remove the pennies from the solution.
Place them in the beaker of distilled water. Turn off the hot plate.
9. Using forceps or tongs, remove the coins from the beaker of
water. Rinse them under running tap water. Dry the coins with a
paper towel.
10. Gently heat one set of treated coins in the outer cone of a Bunsen
burner flame, holding it vertically with the forceps or tongs as
shown in Figure 5.1.
11. Continue heating the coin for 1 to 3 seconds after its appearance
changes. DO NOT OVERHEAT. Immediately plunge the coin into
the beaker of distilled water. Record your observations in your
Tongs
Tongs journal.
Penny
Penny 12. Remove the coins from the beaker of water. Dry them with a
paper towel.
13. Repeat steps 5-12 for the other set of coins.
14. Arrange the coins back into their pre- and post-1982 sets and
observe the appearance of the three pennies from each set.
Record your observations.
Bunsen Burner
Bunsen Burner 15. When finished, clean up your work station following the instruc-
tions given to you by the teacher.
Reliability
This experiment works 90% of the time, but it could work all the time if
students measure correctly.
Teacher Tips
1. Most vaporized metals are health hazards, and exposure should
be limited. Use ventilation and minimum melt temperatures to
keep metal volitilazation low.
Safety
1. Safety glasses must be worn.
2. Masks must be worn. Note: The masks are not meant as dust or
particulate eliminators, but are used as a tangible reminder to stu-
dents not to breathe directly over the hot plate. You must make it
clear to students that the masks do not stop fumes.
3. Molten metal can cause severe burns.
4. Do not breathe directly over evaporating dish when molten metals
are present. Ventilate room!
5. Do not allow any food into the room; leave lunches outside.
Disposal
1. Product will be used for soldering projects.
Liquid
Temperature, °C
Solid &
Liquid
Solid
Weight Percent
Temperature, °C
Materials
• Lead (Pb) (50 g max per group depending on mix ratio)
• Tin (Sn) (50 g max per group depending on mix ratio)
• Water (tap water for quenching alloy into beads)
• Paper cup (3), 6 oz.
Equipment
• Balance/scale (which ever is available)
• Porcelain evaporating dish (or any assay container that will tolerate
400° C)
• Thermometer (at least 400° C), alcohol type or electronic
• Hot plate (at least 400° C or Bunsen burner)
• No. 10 can/stainless-steel beaker (or any container that will tolerate
400° C)
• Magic marker or high temperature china marker
• Tongs (small ones for picking up evaporating dish)
• Safety glasses (important that they be worn)
• Mask (important that it be worn)
• Fish weight mold
• Metal plate with ledge (1 ft x 4 in. x 1/2 in.)
Procedure
Part I
1. Your group will be assigned a particular weight percentage mix for
your tin-lead alloy. See Table 5.1. Record this in your journal.
Part II
1. Pour all the molten metal from your evaporating dish into a 1-1/2-oz
fish-weight mold. You will be able to make one complete weight
and one partial weight. The mold is used to reduce oxidation dur-
ing the pour process; other processes have been used to do this
same experiment. Be creative.
2. Place weights back into evaporating dish, and mark dish with alloy
percentage.
3. Place on hot plate in order of percent (see Figure 5.5). Heat the
hot plate to 200°C. Slowly begin to raise the temperature of the
hot plate. Watch for indications of an alloy melting. Hold the temp–
erature steady when melting begins to occur with any sample.
4. Measure the melting point of the melting sample with a thermom-
eter. Record melt temperature in your journal.
1 ft x 4 in.
metal plate
with 1/2 in.
deep lip
Hot Plates
Part III
1. Add or subtract 6 to your group number and get together with that
group. There is no group number higher than 12.
2. Combine the alloy made by each group into one evaporating dish
and melt. Allow it to cool. Calculate the lead-tin weight percent of
the new alloy.
3. Remelt the alloy. Measure the melt point temperature. What
should the melting temperature be? Record in your journal. Clean
the thermometer.
4. Once your alloy just melts (Do Not Overheat), pour it very carefully
and slowly from a height of approximately 2 ft. into a No. 10 can
half full of cold water.
5. Retrieve your droplets of lead-tin alloy from the can and dry.
6. Weigh your droplets and record. What should the weight be? Did
it weigh what it should have? If not, why not?
7. Turn in your 50/50 alloy to the instructor for use in a future student
project.
8. Clean and return equipment to its proper place.
Drawing a Wire
Instructor Notes
Reliability
This lab will work very well. However, as the wire gets smaller some
students will experience some difficulty (with breaking, getting started
in draw plate, work-hardening, etc.) based on their abilities to work
with their hands and with tools.
Teacher Tips
1. The process of drawing a wire (making it smaller in diameter) is
a common practice in the manufacture of various types of wire.
Whether the purpose of the wire is conducting electricity, bailing
hay, or fencing, the process is basically the same. For all of these
types of wire, a large diameter (approximately 5/16 in.) metal rod
generally in a coil is pulled through a series of continually smaller
dies (holes) until the desired diameter is obtained.
2. In the process of going through the dies, certain changes take
place in the metal. The crystal structure of the wire changes, and
the diameter decreases, but the length increases proportionally,
while generating heat because of friction (see your text for in-
depth study or Jacobs, pages 158-165).
3. As the wire is formed into a taper by peening, it becomes work-
hardened, and therefore, brittle and tends to split or break.
4. Because of friction caused by the wire going through the draw
plate and the crystal structure being reshaped, heat is generated.
5. As the wire decreases in diameter, the length of the wire in-
creases inversely proportional to the square of the diameter.
6. The density of the material remains the same.
7. As the wire gets smaller, it gets stiffer, but this is hard to tell
because of the smaller diameter.
8. When the wire was annealed it was easier to bend and to form the
taper on the end.
9. If you use the lead/tin solder as a drawing activity, be sure you do
not transfer materials to other wires drawn with the same plate.
This is especially true if you are going to draw silver wire for a later
project. Using a suitable lubricant will help prevent problems.
Suggested Questions
10. What happens to the wire as you peen the end?
11. How did the wire feel after immediately pulling it through the die?
12. Explain the changes in the wire’s dimensions.
13. What conclusions did you arrive at because of the lab?
14. Did the density change during drawing? Why?
15. Was the wire stiffer after drawing?
16. What changes took place when the drawn wire was annealed?
Safety
1. Be sure no one is standing behind the person pulling the wire.
Pliers could slip or the wire could break, and someone could get
hit by an elbow.
Materials
• Copper (Cu) wire 12 ga, 6 in., or solid core tin/lead solder wire or
silver wire
• Lubricant (grease)
Equipment
• Safety glasses
• Vise grip pliers/draw pliers
• Bench vise
• Draw plate
• Micrometer
• Ruler
• Tape measure
• Balance
• File
Procedure
1. Measure the length of your wire using a rule, and the thickness
using a micrometer. Weigh the wire. Record the data in your journal.
2. Clamp draw plate with its long edge going horizontally in the
bench vise. (Be sure the small openings of the draw plate are
on the side from which the wire will be pulled, see Figure 5.6.)
3. Taper one end of the wire using either a ball peen hammer or a
file (see Figure 5.6).
4. Pass wire through the largest hole in the drawplate that the taper
will go through. Apply lubricant to the wire and friction area of the
drawplate.
Copper Wire
(Without
Insulation)
with Leading
End Tapered
Drawplate
5. Grasp the tapered end of the wire with vise grip pliers. Pull the
wire smoothly and completely through the drawplate without
jerking, if possible.
Note: After a few passes, wire may work-harden. Annealing wire may
be necessary.
6. Repeat drawing process until you have drawn the smallest wire
possible. Do not hurry the process; reduce wire through gradually
smaller gauge holes.
7. Measure the wire’s final length, thickness, and mass. Record data
in your journal. Calculate the percent change for all dimensions.
Aluminum-Zinc Solid-State
Phase Change in Metals
Instructor Notes
Reliability
This lab works as far as making an alloy. A problem may occur when
making a noticeable phase change; this works only about 90% of the
time. Increasing the annealing temperature about 25°C may make this
experiment work 100% of the time (see Teacher Tip 5, for more details).
Teacher Tips
1. This experiment demonstrates the concept that certain metals
and alloys undergo a structure change while in the solid state,
with a consequent change in their properties. When the structure
changes, heat is discharged.
2. Experience indicates that annealed ingots may spontaneously
transform back to their stable state. It is recommended that ingots
not be stored while in their metastable state; anneal the ingots,
do the phase change experiment, then store the ingots.
3. Have oven and furnace at operating temperature to save time.
4. Metals that have the same crystal structure (like silver and gold)
are usually completely miscible (they don’t separate into two or
more phases* upon cooling). When alloys are made from metals
with different crystal structures, a tendency usually exists for dif-
ferent phases to form in the alloy upon cooling. The aluminum
(Al)/zinc (Zn) alloy studied in this experiment is an example of a
material that undergoes a phase transformation upon cooling or
heating (see Figure 5.7). Aluminum has a face-centered cubic
crystal structure, and zinc has a hexagonal-closest packed crystal
structure (see Figure 5.8).
The alloy composition used in this experiment (22 weight percent
Al, 78 weight percent Zn) is called an eutectoid composition. Eutec-
toid means that one solid phase transforms to two solid phases
x (a)
x
(b)
a3
a2
a1
(c)
Figure 5.8. Crystal Structure of Metals: (a) Face-centered cubic, (b) Body-
Centered Cubic, (c) Close-Packed Hexagonal
Suggested Questions
10. Did crucible gain, lose, stay the same? Why?
11. Did total weight gain, lose, or stay the same? Why?
Safety
1. Do not use aluminum or zinc powder. The powders can be
explosive. Use sheet or shot material.
2. Use extreme caution with molten metal alloy. Especially do not
overheat zinc because poisonous zinc fumes are created.
Disposal
1. Keep alloy for Caloric Output Lab.
Materials
• Clay crucible, numbered
• Water (H2O), ice water recommended
• Aluminum, 22.0 g
• Zinc, 78.0 g
• Paper cup, 3 oz.
Equipment
• Safety glasses
• High temperature hot plates (2)
• Oven (for annealing)
• Furnace (for melting)
• Crucible tongs (large)
• Crucible tongs (small)
• Gloves, leather
• Gloves, heat resistant
• Casting sand mold or sinker mold
• Scale (balance)
• No. 10 can or stainless steel-beaker
• File
Procedure
1. Preheat furnace to 500°C (932°F).
2. Obtain materials, numbered crucible, zinc, alumina, and paper
cups. Label the crucibles.
3. Weigh the crucible, and record its mass in your journal.
4. Tare weight of paper cup. Add 78.0 g +/- 1.0 g of zinc. Pour zinc
into crucible.
5. Using tongs, place crucible in furnace at 500°C for 15 min.
Note: Whenever you put materials in or take them out of ovens and
furnaces, always use correct tongs and gloves, and have your partner
operate the door. Door should be opened for as little time as possible.
(If underglaze pencil is used, steps 2 and 5 may be omitted. These
steps are needed to bake on heat-resistant glaze markings.)
6. Tare weight of paper cup. Add 22.0 g +/- 1.0 g of aluminum.
7. Remove crucible from furnace (zinc should be in a liquid state,
if not, return crucible to furnace for an additional 5 min). To
keep the molten zinc from splattering, add the aluminum VERY
CAREFULLY.
8. Return the crucible to the furnace, and increase the temperature to
725°C. Allow the two metals to become an alloy by soaking for 15 min.
9. Prepare casting mold by cutting three holes, 2 in. deep in the cast-
ing sand with a 3/8-in. hole-cutting tube. Identify your holes by
writing your number in the sand with your pencil.
10. Remove crucible from furnace, and quickly pour molten metal into
the mold. Place crucible on a surface intended for hot crucibles.
Allow the ingots to cool to room temperature, then remove them
from the mold.
11. Using a file, remove any rough surfaces from the ingot and make
ends smooth. Remove as little as possible. Add pieces of filed
metal to the crucible.
12. Identify your ingot by stamping or engraving your number and/or
initials in the end of the ingot.
13. Anneal the ingot by using small tongs and placing the ingot in the
oven at 370 – 380°C for 1/2 hour.
14. Fill a No. 10 can with cold water (ice water works even better) and
place near the oven.
15. Using small tongs, rapidly remove one of your ingots from the
oven and quench it in water using a figure 8 motion for 15 sec to
ensure rapid cooling. Then drop the ingot to the bottom of the can.
Repeat until all ingots have been quenched.
16. Remove ingots from the water and handle carefully (DO NOT
BANG OR DROP). Squeeze the cold (annealed) ingot in the palm
of your hand (see Figure 5.9). Squeezing the ingot allows better
surface contact, which gives more heat transfer from your hand to
the ingot. This heat transfer is what will trigger the phase change.
In less than 2 min, a transformation will occur accompanied by
the discharge of heat. This excess energy released by the ingot
will cause its temperature to rise to as high as 60°C (140°F).
(Caution—this may be hot enough to burn your hand.)
17. Annealed ingots must be stored in a cool place or the transforma-
tion may occur on its own. This is not recommended, though,
because many of the ingots will change to a more stable state
on their own.
18. Once an annealed ingot has undergone transformation, it can
be reused by repeating the heat treatment in steps 13 – 15.
19. Weigh crucible and record results in your journal. Compare
weight in step 3.
20. Weigh ingots and record. Add weight to crucible weight and
compare to total weight in steps 3, 4, and 6 .
Reliability
If the ingots made in the Aluminum-Zinc Solid State Phase Change
lab work, this measurement routine has produced numbers by stu-
dents ranging from 2 - 25 cal/g, but the accumulative and average
has been around 8 cal/g.
Teacher Tips
1. Once the ingots of Al-Zn have been made and tested, it is pos-
sible to measure the approximate amount of heat given off by the
phase change. This change is observed in other ways than just
heat. For example, visually, the original annealed ingots have a
shiny appearance. This changes to a dull gray following the
phase change. Also clicking sounds and faint high-pitched whin-
ing sounds have been heard during the phase change. It may be
interesting to listen to the transforming alloy using a stethoscope
2. A simple calorimeter may be constructed with an 8-oz styrofoam
cup, a measured mass of water, and a fairly sensitive thermom-
eter (digital, or mercury, sensitive to the nearest 0.1°C).
The calculation is described in the activity procedure, step 13.
Suggested Questions
5. Why did the ingots change to dull gray?
6. Why do the ingots make clicking and whining sounds?
7. What does squeezing the metal do to the ingot?
Safety
1. Wear safety glasses.
2. Handling the ingots while they are being annealed could burn you
because of the heat in the ingots and the temperature of the oven
or furnace.
3. Overheating the ingots can cause the material to vaporize creat-
ing poisonous zinc fumes.
Disposal
Water can be poured down drain.
Materials
• Styrofoam cup, 8 oz.
• Plastic cup, 8 oz.
• Cold water
• Al-Zn alloy ingot
• Permanent marker
Equipment
• Safety glasses
• Thermometer
• Furnace
• Crucible tongs (small)
• Graduated cylinder
• No. 10 can or stainless-steel beaker
• Balance
Procedure
1. Preheat furnace to 350°C.
2. Place ingot into furnace for a minimum of 60 min.
3. Obtain styrofoam cup (8 oz), plastic cup (8 oz). Write your work-
station number or name on both cups with a permanent marker.
Then place the plastic cup inside of the styrofoam cup.
4. Weigh both cups together and record the results in your journal.
5. Using a graduated cylinder, measure 50 ml of water and pour it
into the plastic cup.
6. Weigh both cups together with water, and record the results in
your journal.
Reliability
This lab works very well.
Teacher Tips
1. Silver is most economically purchased in 1 troy oz (1 troy oz. =
31.1035 g) silver pieces at a local coin store. It is less expensive
there than through a mail order catalog.
2. The alloy, when removed from water at the end of the experiment,
may be discolored by oxidation. The oxidation may be removed
using a pickling solution as discussed in the lost wax casting lab.
3. Sterling silver is an alloy that contains 92.5% silver and 7.5%
copper (by legal definition).
4. The melting point of sterling silver is approximately 962°C
(1764°F).
5. To anneal (soften) sterling silver, you heat it to 770°C (1418°F)
and quench (cool) it quickly.
6. To temper (harden) sterling silver, it can be heated to 300°C
(572°F) for 30 min and then cooled by either quenching it in
cold water or just cooling it in open air. By heat-treating sterling
silver, the hardness of the metal can be doubled.
7. Students need to calculate the amount of alloy needed (after
sprued model weight is obtained) before this lab if they are going
to do a project.
8. Phase diagram and information on copper/silver alloy start on
page 200 of Jacobs’ text.
9. Student questions are discussed in Jacob’s text also.
Suggested Questions
10. Why does copper make silver harder?
11. How could you determine if heat-treating the alloy makes it
harder?
12. If you doubled the heat-treating temperature what do you think
would happen? Why?
13. Why does the sterling have to be water-quenched after melting?
What happens if the sterling is allowed to cool slowly? How hard
is it when cooled slowly compared to quenched alloy?
Safety
Caution: Watch for splattering hot water and steam as you pour
the alloy into the water-filled beaker.
Materials
• Silver (Ag), 99.9%
• Copper (Cu)
• Sodium borate/boric acid (flux)
• Water
Equipment
• Oxyacetylene torch, propane, or natural gas
• Crucible with handle
• Carbon stir stick
• Stainless-steel beaker or No. 10 can (2/3 full of cold water)
• Balance
• Tin snips
Procedure
1. Determine the amount of sterling silver alloy needed for your
project (See steps 4 through 6 of the “Lost Wax Casting” lab).
2. Calculate the amounts of silver and copper needed by:
a. Multiplying the amount in step 1 by 0.925 to get the amount of
silver.
b. Multiplying the amount in step 1 by 0.075 to get the amount of
copper. (The amounts of silver and copper added together
should total the amount of sterling silver needed in step 1.)
3. Weigh out the amount of copper and silver needed to alloy your
sterling silver. (You may need to trim a piece or two from metal
chunks to achieve desired weight.)
4. Cut silver and copper into small pieces (1/4-in. chunks are
sufficient).
5. Preheat and flux crucible. Put the copper in the crucible and cover
it with the silver metal chunks. (The silver on top helps prevent the
copper from being turned into a metal oxide during the heating
process to melt the metals.)
6. Adjust torch to a neutral or carbonizing (yellowish) flame and
apply constant heat in a circular motion directly onto the material
in the crucible.
7. Sprinkle a small amount of flux onto the alloy to inhibit oxidation.
8. Use the carbon rod to stir mixture once it has melted entirely. The
carbon rod also helps to reduce oxides. The metals are now being
mixed into an alloy known as sterling silver.
9. When the alloy is thoroughly homogenized and lump free, pour it
into the stainless-steel beaker of water.
Use caution when pouring hot metal into water. When pouring
more than 30 g of alloy, pour slowly to prevent danger of a steam
explosion.
10. Extinguish torch. Be careful when removing the silver as the water
may be quite warm.
Reliability
This is a complex procedure, and might have to be repeated more
than once. Results are often a boost in students’ pride and provide
a sense of success and accomplishment.
Teacher Tips
1. The creative design of the wax model takes time. Assorted wax
forms can be purchased commercially, if desired for test runs.
2. The instructor should allow the student 1-2 weeks of class time
to complete the casting. Model design or student creativity will
lengthen the time required to accomplish this lab (see Figure 5.10
for topics and activities related to lost wax casting.)
3. The project can be completed by pairs of students.
4. Refer to Bovin and Murry, Centrifugal or Lost Wax Jewelry Cast-
ing, for additional background.
5. Show films on the following: wax casting, wax set-up, centrifugal
casting, and vacuum casting.
Deformation
Safety
1. Students should wear gloves, aprons, and safety glasses.
2. Torch can be hazardous. Follow proper procedures with this
equipment.
3. When adding flux, make sure students work in a vented area.
4. Use a shield when doing centrifugal casting (this usually is a part
of the centrifugal equipment).
5. Burnout program must have cycled.
6. Flask should be 900°F ± 8° (422 – 477°C)
7. Check for cracking of investment. Exit of sterling at high speed in
liquid form is not desired. Review vacuum procedure for cracked
flask recovery technique.
Materials
• Investment plaster
• Wax, modeling and sprue
• Sterling silver
• Debubblizer (no bubble solution)
• Sodium borate (Na2B4O7) or boric acid (H3BO3)
• Pickling solution
Equipment
• Gloves and safety glasses
• Burn-out oven
• Wax-forming tools
• Oxyacetylene torch or propane/oxy or natural gas
• Beaker (for pickling solution) (crock pot is safer)
• Centrifugal or vacuum casting apparatus
• Tongs, flask, and copper tweezers
• Rubber mixing bowl (1.5 qt)
• Plastic spatula (wood absorbs water)
• 5-gal bucket
• Jeweler saw
Procedure
1. Sketch in your journal preferably three variations of a design of a
wax model you want to make.
2. Fabricate a wax model using techniques demonstrated by
instructor with material that leaves no debris. Paraffin is not
recommended.
3. Attach sprue to the wax model with inlay, sticky, or welding wax.
If you are going to do centrifugal casting, follow steps 20a - 20l, then
skip to step 22. If you are going to do vacuum casting, skip to steps
21a - 21i.
20. If casting with a Centrifugal Casting Machine, follow this procedure
a. Put your flask in the machine and balance with counter weights.
Return flask to oven.
b. Wind casting arm and lock on stop rod.
c. Preheat and flux crucible; add metal.
d. Remove flask from furnace and place in cradle with open cone-
shaped sprue end toward crucible.
e. Push crucible carrier tight against flask with tongs. If the
machine is a broken arm horizontal centrifugal caster, move
arm back away from direction of travel.
f. Melt metal as directed, fluxing lightly when necessary. Stir with
carbon rod.
g. When metal “rolls,” have another person hold counterweight
arm firmly from above while releasing stop rod. Continue
heating the metal.
h. Simultaneously raise the torch heat from the metal, and release
the casting arm.
i. Allow machine to spin to complete stop. Do not stop it.
j. Remove flask with tongs. Hold until button loses glow (~5 min),
or set down for 5 min.
k. Remove flask with tongs and quench in a bucket of water,
wearing glasses. Observe thermal shock.
l. Clean off investment residue with brush and water.
21. If casting with a Vacuum Assist Machine, follow this procedure
a. Connect vacuum pump and casting unit. Turn on vacuum
pump. Check vacuum setting with finger.
b. Preheat and flux long-handled crucible or electrically heated
graphite crucible. Add metal melt, flux, and stir with carbon rod.
c. Remove flask from furnace and place on casting table, sprue
hole up.
d. Turn on vacuum pump: verify full reading on gauge.
e. Pour molten metal into sprue hole.
f. Direct flame on sprue button for several seconds, when using
gas torch.
g. Release vacuum and turn off machine.
h. Remove flask, and set on fire brick until button loses glow, or
5 min.
i. Clean off investment residue with brush and water.
22. Let cool in air for 5 min after making casting, then submerge into a
bucket of water.
23. While water is bubbling, reach in with your hand and hold onto the
flask. Keep flask under water. You will be able to feel the thermal
shock of the investment material.
24. Break up investment and remove casted part. Discard investment
material into appropriate waste container and clean up your
mess!!
25. Place casting in pickling solution with copper tweezers to remove
oxidation. Caution: Be sure to follow directions for pickling safety.
26. Remove sprue and button from casting using a jewelers saw or
diagonal cutters.
27. Return sprue and button to instructor.
28. Rough casting procedure complete.
Science of Burnout
Several scientific facts about burnout are described in the following
paragraphs. This is general information. Burnout will vary based on
investment furnace temperature.
The flasks are heated slowly to 400° F. Why? The investment is mixed
with water and water turns to steam at 212°F. The water as moisture
can escape through the pores of the investment if heated slowly; if
heated very quickly, the formed steam expands before it can escape
and some of the investment around the cavities formed by wax eliminat-
ing may be loosened, resulting in damaged castings.
Water that is chemically combined with some of the chemicals in the
investment as water hydration will be driven out at approximately 375°F.
Flasks should never be allowed to sit in a cold burnout furnace for an
extended period of time or else they will dry out. If the investment is
Note: Casting process can heated dry, it can act as a sponge and draw the wax into its pores. It is
recommended that the burnout furnace be preheated to 300°F before
take place in 1 hour; how-
placing the flasks inside the chamber. At 200°F to 300°F, most of the
ever, burnout must go wax immediately melts and flows out through the sprue openings. The
according to the schedule steam from the water in the heated moist investment helps to push the
of the specific investment. wax off the walls of the pattern cavities in the investment. Most commer-
cial burnout furnaces do not have to be preheated since they are still
warm from the previous day.
It takes approximately 1 hour for the wax to burn out and become “lost.”
The wax will crackle and sizzle as it melts. Smoke and steam escape
through the furnace’s vent.
Wax that does not flow out turns to carbon (a black powder) at 1000°F.
The carbon is completely eliminated above 1400°F by combining with
oxygen in the air to form the gas carbon dioxide (CO2). The carbon
dioxide is eliminated through the sprue opening and also through the
pores of the investment.
Some of the carbon probably is not completely oxidized and turns into
carbon monoxide (CO). This odorless, poisonous gas ignites and burns
with a blue flame.
Note: The furnace temperature will rise faster (be hotter) than the tem-
perature of the wet investment in the center of the flask. The difference
in temperature can be more than 100°F. To permit the furnace tempera-
ture and flask temperature to equalize, the furnace temperature, when it
is dropped to casting temperature, should be held for at least 1/2 hour.
If the flask is heated over 1500°F., the gypsum binder (calcium sulphate,
2CaSO4 • H2O) begins to break down into sulfur dioxide (SO2) and sulfur
trioxide (SO3) and, if a casting is made over 1500°F., these gases will
discolor (form sulfides with) the cast metals. (Source: Bovin, M. Cen-
trifugal or Lost Wax Jewelry Casting. Bovin Publishing New York.)
Reliability
This experiment always works.
Teacher Tips
1. Electricity flowing through the filament encounters resistance, just
as water flowing through a pipe. The resistance causes an energy
loss, which appears as heat, and the heat makes the filament glow.
2. Incandescent can be described as the property of producing light as
a result of heat. The word incandescent means “glowing with heat.”
3. A filament can be described as a high-resistance wire that glows
yellowish-white to produce light and/or heat. The filament is a coil of
thin wire made from a strong metal called tungsten. This metal can
withstand high temperatures without melting. The filament reaches
the temperature of about 4500° F (2482° C). Each time the filament
gets hot enough to glow, a little bit of the metal evaporates.
4. Some lamps have more than one filament. These filaments may
be turned on individually so that the lamp produces different
amounts of light (3-way bulbs).
5. By looking at a few numbers for electrical resistance and melting
point; students get a sense of why tungsten is used as a filament
material instead of nichrome or copper.
Metal Melting Pt, °C Electrical Resistance, ohm-cm
Copper 1083 ~2 x 10-6
Nichrome (80 Ni - 20 Cr) 1500 100 x 10-6
Tungsten 3400 6 x 10-6
Although nichrome has high resistivity, it wouldn’t be very useful
as a filament because we couldn’t use it much above 1200°C. The
light would be red-orange, not very intense.
6. Odd Facts: One of the tiniest bulbs ever produced was called the
grain-of-wheat bulb because it was about the size of a single grain
of wheat. It was 0.33 in. long and weighed 0.05 g. Doctors used
the grain-of-wheat bulb to help them perform delicate surgical
operations on children.
The world’s largest bulb never had practical use. It was created
for display in 1954, in honor of Edison’s development of the first
practical incandescent bulb. It weighed 50 lb. The tungsten fila-
ment uncoiled was 12.5 ft. You could not safely look at the bulb
directly. To view it, spectators had to turn their backs on the bulb
and look at its reflection in a special window. This single bulb gave
off as much light as 2,875 sixty-watt bulbs burning simultaneously
and enough heat for almost 20 houses.
Suggested Questions
7. How long did your three filaments burn?
8. What color does the filament glow?
9. How does the brightness differ from the incandescent lights in
your home?
10. Why does the brightness differ with home lights?
11. Besides light, what other kind of energy did the bulb produce?
12. How can you prove the answer to question 3?
13. Why do you think the filaments burn out so much faster than
commercial light bulbs do?
14. What would happen if you changed the length of the filament?
15. Does it make a difference if you do not coil the filament?
16. Why do they coil the filaments in commercial bulbs?
17. What happens if you change the size of the baby bottle (bulb)?
12. Will the light still burn if you remove the bulb?
18. Why do light bulbs have glass envelopes?
19. How can you make a longer burning light bulb?
20. How many different types of light bulbs can you think of that might
be in the average home?
21. What do you think the total number of light bulbs you have in your
house?
22. How many watts does a light bulb use?
23. How many light bulb watts do you think your home has?
Safety
1. Students should not touch the filament when connected to the
battery. It can cause serious burns.
Materials
• Nichrome wire, 32 ga, 3 ea.
• Modeling clay, silver-dollar size
• Insulated copper wire, 18 ga, 20 cm, 2 ea.
• Standard size pencil
Equipment
• 12-volt battery
• Small baby food jar
• Cutting board
• Wire cutter/stripper
• Needle nose pliers
Procedure
1. Mold modeling clay into a flat shape approximately 10 mm larger
than the diameter of the baby food jar.
2. Remove 2 cm of insulation from each end of both pieces of 18 ga
copper wire.
3. Form a 4-mm loop on one end and an 8-mm loop on the other end
of the two wires.
4. Form a 90° bend 2 cm from the end of the 4-mm loop.
5. Stick the two 4-mm looped ends of the wires through the center
area of the flattened clay, approximately 3 cm apart, to the bend in
the wires (see Figure 5.11).
6. Press the wires flat into the clay and seal the clay around the wire.
7. Wrap a single strand of nichrome wire around a standard size
pencil to form a coil (now called the filament). Leave 2 cm of
straight wire at each end.
Baby Food
Jar Pushed
Down Into
Clay Base
12V
Dry Cell Copper
Battery Wire
Soft Clay
12. Repeat steps 8 - 10 with the other two nichrome wires. Note: the
nichrome wire length should be a constant length and diameter so
results can be compared.
Vocabulary—Metals*
Alloy
Annealing
Burnout
Centrifugal
Creep
Drawing
Fabrication
Flux
Gauge
Grain
Heat treating
Investment
Liquid
Melting point
Noble metals
Oxidation
Phase
Phase diagram
Pickle (boric acid)
Plastic deformation
Sintering
Slurry
Solid
Super alloys
Surface tension
Tempering
Volume
Work hardening
The bonding is usually ionic and is very strong, making ceramics com-
paratively stable chemically. (Ionic means the joining of a positively
charged atom to a negatively charged atom, usually metal atoms to
non-metallic atoms.) This ionic bonding occupies the outer electrons
of the metal, making the electrons incapable of moving in an electric
field; thus, most ceramics are poor conductors of electricity. Ceramics
also include glasses, which are composed of metals, oxygen, and
silicon. By their nature, glasses do not crystallize as other ceramics
do. As they cool from the liquid state, they become progressively
stiffer until they are solid, which gives them different properties from
other materials, such as not having a definite melting point.
Where resistance to extreme temperatures or molten metals is desired,
ceramic materials emerge as extremely important. Without ceramics,
it would probably be impossible to melt or cast metals; other materials
will not resist the heat or chemical environment, and other materials
allow heat to leak away, because they are not effective insulators like
ceramics.
The powerful bonding forces in ceramics have some negative fea-
tures, one of them being brittleness. Ceramics cannot be bent like
metals or most other common materials, and they tend to break with-
out warning. Tiny surface defects, too small to cause much of a prob-
lem with a metal, can greatly reduce the strength of a ceramic mate-
rial. In a metal, flow at the defect location would reduce the effect of
that defect; this flow is not possible in a ceramic. So cracks stay sharp
and ceramics break instead of bend. (Metallic flow is the movement of
one plane of atoms over another.)
Humankind first made ceramics in ancient times. Fire, probably at that
time a relatively new discovery, was used to make clay vessels less
likely to revert to a gooey mess when contacted by water. During this
firing process, materials in the clays reacted, forming small amounts
of glass that cemented the rest of the materials together. Glass was
born in similar fireside experiments, and in Roman times, was more
precious than gemstones and used similarly for decoration.
The future of ceramic materials is even more interesting. Scientists
have created ceramics that, while not as tough as metals, are many
times tougher than those made just a few years ago. These tough
materials are being used increasingly as parts in automobile engines
because of their lightness and resistance to wear.
Other ceramics have been made electrically conductive or able to
allow oxygen ions to penetrate them. Both of these characteristics are
Oxygen atoms (-) negative charge needed for high-temperature fuel cells that can convert fuels such as
flow through ceramic to combine natural gas directly to electricity more efficiently then any other
with (+) positively charged particles.
An electric potential is created and
method (see Figure 6.1).
electricity is “birthed.” Ceramics are being formed by methods similar to those used for mass
Figure 6.1. Electrically Conduc- production of plastic parts, so that increasingly intricate parts can be
tive High-Temperature made cheaply. All these developments combined ensure that ceram-
Fuel Cell ics will continue to play important roles in modern life.
Thermal Shock
Instructor Notes
Reliability
This experiment works well if the materials are the same as what is
described herein.
Teacher Tips
1. Thermal shock is a mechanism often leading to the failure of
ceramic materials. Many uses for ceramics involve high tempera-
ture. If the temperature of a ceramic is rapidly changed, failure
may occur. Thermal shock failures may occur during rapid cooling
or during rapid heating. As an example, consider rapid cooling,
which is easier to visualize. If a ceramic material is cooled sud-
denly, the surface material will approach the temperature of the
cooler environment. In doing so, it will experience thermal contrac-
tion. Because the underlying material is still hot, the skin material
stretches and so experiences tensile stress. If the resulting strain
is high enough (0.01% to 0.1% for most ceramics), the ceramic
will fail from the surface, and cracks will propagate inward. Even
if these cracks do not cause immediate failure, the ceramic will
be severely weakened and may fail from mechanical overload
of forces it would normally withstand.
2. When comparing different ceramics for thermal shock applications,
it is common to use a figure of merit or index of thermal shock per-
formance. This is a number (ratio) that is useful for both choosing
materials and for visualizing the thermal shock process. Because
the index should be high for a thermal shock resistant ceramic, its
numerator should contain properties that are numerically large
when good thermal shock performance is exhibited by a material.
Tensile strength (S) and thermal conductivity (K) are therefore
placed in the numerator, the former for obvious reasons and the
latter because a high value of thermal conductivity tends to decrease
thermal gradients, other factors being equal. The denominator of
the thermal shock index is composed of the thermal expansion
coefficient (A) and Young’s Modulus (E), which is a measure of
Table 6.1. Thermal Shock Index (TSI) for Some Common Ceramic Materials
K,(1) A, °C-1,
Material W/cm-°C S, MPa x 10-6 E, GPa TSI
Soda-lime-silica 2E-2 68(2) 9.2 69 2.1
glass
Borosilicate glass 2E-2 68 3.3 63 6.5
Fused SiO2 6E-2 68 0.6 72 94
Aluminum Oxide 3E-1 204 5.4 344 33
Graphite(3) 1.4 8.7 3.8 7.7 416
Extension Activity
A similar thermal shock experiment to demonstrate follows:
Place about 10 aluminum oxide rods, 3 mm x 10 cm in length, into
a stainless-steel beaker or a small metal pan and heat to 500°C in a
suitable furnace. Remove the container from the furnace, and quickly
quench the rods in a bucket of water. Dry them overnight at about
100°C. The following day, dip the rods in ink, which acts as a crude
dye penetrant to make any cracking visible. Wipe excess ink from the
rods, handling care-fully to avoid breaking. Note, if broken, the partial
penetration of the ink shows that the cracks do not extend into the
centers of the rods. This is because the cracks start at the surface in
a tensile stress area, but propagate into regions of lower stress until
they stop. When a quench is performed on rods heated at lower tem-
peratures (down to about 300°C) crack density is lower and crack
depth is shorter (see attached Figures of Al2O3 rods). A quench tem-
perature that is lower still will not result in any detectable damage.
This temperature is not a constant, but is a function of both configura-
tion and material heated at designated temperatures and quenched).
The alumina should be >95% dense, but can be of any purity greater
than 95%.
Materials
• Pyrex glass
• Window glass
• Corning ware
• Fused silica glass (optional)
• Water
Equipment
• Lindberg furnace
• Tongs, long-handled
• Bucket
• Safety glasses
Procedure
1. Cut equal sized pieces of each of three or four materials.
2. Preheat Lindberg furnace to 800°C. Place pieces of materials into
the oven.
3. About 5 min after the pieces become luminous, quickly remove
them with tongs, and plunge them into a bucket of water.
4. Observe each material’s reaction to the quench. Record your
observations in your journal.
5. On the blackboard or overhead, diagram the formula for TSI:
TSI = KS
aE
Definition of symbols.
K = thermal conductivity
S = strength
α = coefficient of expansion
E = Young’s modulus
6. On the blackboard or overhead define:
a. Thermal conductivity—How well a material transmits heat.
High number—better thermal conductivity.
b. Strength—How well a material resists being broken. Expressed
in load bearing capacity as pounds per square inch (PSI) or
pascals (Pa), using international units for measurement.
c. Coefficient of expansion—The ratio of the change of length per
unit length, or change of volume per unit volume, to the change
of temperature.
d. Young’s modulus—Stress divided by strain. How hard was the
material and how far did it stretch?
Reliability
Several problems occur with this experiment: 1) the molten beads fall
off the wire, 2) the wire gets too hot, and it melts, and 3) students do
not melt the crystals completely and, therefore, don’t get the colorful
effects that they desire. All these problems can be overcome by fol-
lowing the directions carefully and trying the process several times.
Teacher Tips
1. The glass bead on a wire test was used by early miners to deter-
mine types of ore found in mineral deposits.
2. The wire used in the “Drawing a Wire” activity can be used to
make a glass bead on a wire. If you do not want to draw copper
wire out, purchase 16-18 gage wire.
3. To get different colors, use dilute solutions of nitrate salts of Ni,
Co, Cu, Fe, or Mn. Make the solutions by adding 5 g of the salt
to 100 g of water Dip the nichrome wire with a glass bead into a
solution and reheat.
Safety
1. Wear safety glasses at all times.
2. Warn students of hot glass beads. They fall off the wire, splatter,
and can cause burns.
Materials
• Nichrome wire (0.81 mm)
• Copper wire, 12 ga
• Borax, 20 Mule Team or sodium borate (Na2B4O7)
• Grease
Equipment
• Propane torch/bunsen burner/oxy-acetylene torch
• Draw plate
• Wire cutters
• Needle nose pliers
• Vise grip pliers
Procedure
Caution: Wear safety glasses at all times. Wear leather gloves
when working with the hot, molten chemicals.
Extension Activity
Using nichrome wire, from a molten glass bead following steps 2-5
above, then dip the hot glass in solutions of metallic salts of nickel
(Ni), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), etc.
Your instructor will assist you with preparing the solutions or let you
know where they are located in the laboratory.
Bunsen Burner
Borax
Reliability
Students really enjoy this experiment, and it works well. The only part
that sometimes causes disappointment is blowing the glass, it is
difficult to do.
Teacher Tips
1. Buy an inexpensive variety of glass rod or tubing such as flint
glass, which has a low melting point. The 6-mm glass tubing
works well. Other types of glass such as borosilicate glass (labo-
ratory glassware) and soda-lime-silica glasses (glass containers
that food products come in and window glass) have melting points
above 500°C and are difficult for most people, except skilled
glassblowers, to work with.
2. Bunsen burners usually do not get hot enough to be successful in
blowing glass. Propane burners are hot enough to do some glass
blowing. If students blow too hard, two things frequently happen,
either they blow a bubble too large and thin that it collapses, or
they blow a hole in the glass.
3. Encourage students to discover that you really don’t “blow” glass.
Professional glassblowers know that hot air expands. They “puff”
air into the tube that has been sealed on the other end and use
their tongues or fingers as plugs. With the volume of the tube
sealed, they reheat a portion of the glass to soften it. The expand-
ing hot air inside pushes out a bubble. They repeat this cooling,
sealing, and reheating process until they get the shape they want.
4. Optical fibers are thin fibers, usually glass or plastic, used to
transmit light. Have the students try making a glass fiber as they
are working.
5. Glass may be remelted and/or recycled.
6. Glassblowers use wooden tools soaked in water. Why?
Safety
See Activity.
Disposal
See Activity.
Materials
• Glass tubing, 5 mm
• Glass rod
Equipment
• Safety glasses
• Burner
• File
• Polarized film
• Light table (or overhead projector)
• Laser or other bright light
• Container for finished glass pieces
Procedure
Observe the demonstrations given by your instructor.
Caution: Wear safety glasses and leather gloves at all times during
this activity. Potential for serious burns exists when working with hot
glass. It cools slowly and cannot be quenched in water like metal.
Keep all hot surfaces on a heat-resistant, ceramic pad until cool.
Reliability
This experiment works well. Students always get some kind of glass. The
quality depends on student accuracy. Encourage students to be patient
when calculating. It takes time to feel comfortable with the numbers.
Teacher Tips
1. Ziplock bags can be used.
2. Washing soda is a cheap source of Na2CO3. Borax can be used for
a boron and sodium source. Both are inexpensive at local grocery
stores in the laundry section. Boric acid is available in drug stores.
3. If you use borax (Na2B4O7 x 10 H2O), you get Na2O + 2B2O3. Be
sure and account for the ten water molecules in each Borax com-
pound that will be driven off when heated. You can heat the borax
in an oven at 80°C overnight to remove most of the water.
4. The silica (SiO2) from Fisher (240 mesh) works very well. Coarser
materials take longer to melt and can cause other problems.
Suggested Questions
Have students show their work where math is required.
5. If each candy bar weighs 2 lb and we have 30 lb of candy bars,
how many candy bars do we have?
6. If a certain size of nail weighs 0.04 lb, and we need 500 nails,
what weight of nails would we buy?
7. How many nails would we have if we had a mole of nails?
8. Your girlfriend calls you “mole breath.” How many breaths would
you have to take to have a mole of breaths?
9. Tell how much a mole of each of the following weighs: uranium
(U), table salt (NaCl), copper (Cu), and carbon dioxide (CO2)
10. Why are chemicals measured by weight?
11. You want 3 moles of silica (SiO2). How much would that weigh?
12. Your friend asks you how many pennies are in a huge pile. How
could you easily determine this fairly accurately?
Safety
1. Be careful when mixing to avoid creating dust. Breathing fine dust
particles of any kind is a health hazard. Ventilation of batching
area is recommended.
Loss on Ignition
In this lab, almost 140 g of source chemicals are required to produce
100 g of glass. When you melt your glass, check to see how close you
come to 100 g, and explain any differences. This loss of weight when
melting material is called “loss on ignition” and must be accounted for
when preparing the glass.
You may want to check to see how this loss on ignition works by perform-
ing a simple decomposition experiment. Gently heat a known amount
of boric acid (H3BO3) or Twenty Mule Team Borax (Na2B4O7*10H2O)
above its decomposition temperature, and then re-weigh the material
after it cools. Compare the loss on ignition you measure to the one you
calculate. If there are differences they may be caused by extra mois-
ture in the sample, impurities in the sample, or vaporization of the
sample. In most cases, the differences will be minor.
Materials
• Periodic chart
• Sample reagents
Procedure
Note: This procedure takes you through the entire process for calcu-
lating a glass composition. As you become familiar with these calcula-
tions, you will be able to quickly extract parts of these calculations to
use in determining a glass composition. Be patient, it may take some
time to understand all the concepts presented. After batching a num-
ber of glasses you will become familiar with these calculations.
1. The desired glass composition to be produced must be expressed
as a mole fraction of each constituent. For example, a simple boro-
silicate glass could be expressed as Na2O • B2O3 • 2 SiO2. This
chemical formula simply states that glass formers will exist in the
glass in the ratio of one mole of Na2O (sodium oxide), to one mole
of B2O3 (boron oxide), to two moles of SiO2 (silicon dioxide or silica).
2. Determine from the periodic table the weight of one mole of each
of the oxide components of the glass expressed as grams per
mole (grams/mole). This is a process for obtaining the molecular
(61.98)
Na2O x (100) = 24.62 weight percent
(251.76)
(69.62)
B2O3 x (100) = 27.65 weight percent
(251.76)
(120.16)
2 SiO2 x (100) = 47.73 weight percent
(251.76)
5. The sum of the weight percentages for all glass constituents must
equal 100%. This is a good double check of the calculations.
6. Many raw materials are available as compounds that decompose
to the desired oxide upon heating. Compounds such as Na2O and
B2O3 are unstable in air and so are almost impossible to obtain as
pure compounds. Na2O, is purchased as Na2CO3 (sodium
carbonate. In the glass-making process, the Na2CO3 decomposes
to form the desired Na2O. Because we will start with Na2CO3, this
The B2O3 component contains two boron (B) atoms, and the source
contains only one B atom. Therefore, we need twice as much source.
The ratio is:
Source 2 H3BO3 2 (61.84) 123.68 = 1.776
Component = 1 B2O3 = 69.62 = 69.62
Materials
• Ice cream carton
• Plastic bags
• Permanent markers
• Spatula/spoon
• Crucible (DFC)
• Silica (SiO2)
• Boric acid (H3BO3)
• Sodium carbonate (Na2CO3)
Equipment
• Top-loading electronic balance with accuracy of ± 0.1 g
Procedure
1. Prepare a glass recipe workup sheet listing your source chemicals
and relative amounts (generally expressed in grams) of each
component to be used in the glass.
2. Collect all source chemicals into a common area (usually some-
where near the balance); clean area to avoid contamination of
source chemicals.
3. Using a permanent marker, record glass oxide composition,
weight percent, and your initials on the plastic bag.
4. Inflate the plastic bag to check for defects or leaks. Place the
plastic bag inside the ice cream container. Replace lid.
5. Tare* the balance, weigh the empty ice cream container, and
record the weight on the container.
6. Place weigh boat onto balance. Tare balance.
7. Carefully clean spatula or spoon with water or ethanol, then dry it.
Be very careful not to contaminate chemical sources with other
chemicals or laboratory grit.
8. Weigh out each of the source chemicals, one at a time. Transfer
from weigh boat to the ice cream container, and check off the
weighed chemical on the workup sheet. Note: Accuracy and
cleanliness are important.
Extension Activities
1. Discuss why a mixture of carbonates and oxides is used. Look up
the melting points and decomposition temperatures for the various
chemicals used (i.e., CRC Handbook; the chemistry teacher will
have reference books like this). To get high melting point com-
pounds [i.e., silica (SiO2) or alumina (Al2O3)] into solution at much
lower temperatures, glass modifiers such as sodium oxide (Na2O),
lithium oxide (Li2O), and calcium oxide (CaO) are used. These
chemicals have a relatively low melting point and are very corro-
sive in solution—especially a molten solution. Boron oxide (B2O3)
is a glass network former as are silica and alumina. These chemi-
cals form the network in the glass and keep the modifiers “locked
up” or chemically stable in the glass.
2. Note that mixtures melt at lower temperatures than the pure com-
pounds. Compare your glasses to more common mixtures like
adding salt to ice water to lower its freezing point (i.e., making
ice cream and clearing icy sidewalks).
Glass Melting
Instructor Notes
Reliability
This experiment works well. The quality of glass produced, though,
depends on the formula, furnace temperature, and time at melt
temperature.
Teacher Tips
1. Preheat furnace to 1050°C. Do not exceed limit on furnace
temperature.
2. Hot plate should be set on “high” and the annealing oven at 500°C.
If the glass sticks to the hot plate or stainless steel, lower the hot
plate temperature to “medium.” This usually alleviates the sticking
problem.
3. A good source for crucibles is DFC Ceramics (see Vendor List in
Appendix). When ordering, ask that the crucibles be shipped UPS;
this is less expensive than freight.
4. If you do not have a ceramic crayon, you can mark the crucible
using a small brush and an iron salt or an iron oxide solution.
Write on the crucible with the solution, and allow it to dry.
5. Stress to students that overfilling the crucible (more than 1/2 full)
is a problem. As the chemicals heat and release gases, foaming
will occur. It is often wise to check the melt about 5 min after it is
placed in the furnace to see if foaming is a problem. This is espe-
cially true if the students are trying different ratios or formulas of
glass that they are not familiar with and do not know how much
foaming to expect. Remove the crucible from the furnace if foam-
ing is excessive. Start the melting over with a new crucible and
even less of a chemical batch so the foam will be contained in the
crucible. If foaming continues to be a problem, check the chemical
formulation; one of the chemicals may have too much water in it
and need to be pre-treated to dehydrate it before further use.
6. First pour powder into a glass beaker. If students pour powder
directly from a plastic bag, heat from the crucible melts the bag.
7. Glass may soak at 1050°C overnight to get good mixing but be
sure your furnace maintains a stable temperature.
8. Students pouring glass for the first time are nervous. They often
lift the pouring glass stream upwards, and as a result, the viscous
glass puddle is pulled off the pour plate.
9. Usually, glass will have some bubbles in it. These bubbles are
usually small and are remains from the foaming stage (decompo-
sition of chemicals). The glass industry uses many techniques to
remove bubbles from the molten glass. The students’ best tech-
nique will be time—lots of melting time if bubbles are not wanted.
10. Watch students as they cut the glass streamer. Sometimes they get
burned, especially if scissors are too small. Cut the glass streamer
close to the crucible to prevent hot “strings” from developing.
11. If spatula for transferring glass bars is not preheated on the hot
plate, the bars will often crack. Keep the spatula hot until the
moment the glass is to be transferred to the annealing furnace,
then move the glass quickly, but safely.
Safety
1. Hot and cold glass are the same color, beware! Move hand slowly
over glass to determine if it is hot.
2. Students must wear safety glasses.
3. Have students wear gloves when handling hot material.
4. Have students remove metal articles from their persons, espe-
cially rings. These materials transfer heat quickly.
5. Have students practice before they do the actual glass pour, using
tongs and moving crucibles while they are cool.
6. Watch out for cracked crucibles, they may break if excessive force
is used while moving or pouring.
Disposal
1. Follow school regulations for normal broken glass disposal.
Equipment
• Safety glasses (to be worn at all times)
• Heat-resistant gloves
• Ceramic crayon
• Tongs and spatula
• Ceramic brick to place hot crucible on after pouring glass
• Furnace
• Hot plate and stainless-steel pour surface
• Annealing oven
• Beaker, 250 mL
• Stainless steel bar
• Stainless steel stirring rod
• Stainless steel beaker
• Polarizing film
Procedure
Warning: Wear safety glasses.
3. In the fume hood, fill the melting crucible 1/2 full with the blended
glass powder. Place the remaining powder, if any, into a Pyrex
beaker, and set it aside.
4. Carefully open furnace door. Using gloves and tongs, transfer
the crucible plus powder to the melting furnace. If oven is too hot,
have your partner shield door with a ceramic heat shield. Close
the furnace door. Allow glass powder to soak heat at temperature
for approximately 20 min.
5. Remove the crucible and observe the melt. Powder should be
molten with a viscosity of approximately 100 poise (consistency
of honey). If it is not molten, increase set point temperature by
50°C and repeat step 4. This step should be repeated as many
times as necessary until the powder melts and resulting glass has
viscosity near 100 poise or the furnace temperature capacity is
reached.
6. Remove the crucible from the furnace and carefully pour the
blended powder from the Pyrex beaker onto the top of the molten
glass until the crucible is 2/3 full. Replace crucible in furnace.
Several powder additions may be required before all glass is in
the crucible.
7. Soak for 1/2 hour at 1050°C. The melt soak time begins after the
last addition of dry chemicals to the melt.
8. At 30-min intervals, stir the melt to ensure homogeneity by remov-
ing the crucible containing the glass and, while holding the crucible
with metal tongs, mechanically stir the melt using a clean, 1/4-in.
stainless-steel rod. This step can be skipped if care was taken
in diligently mixing the chemicals. Note: Bubbling and foaming
during the initial part of the melt also aid the mixing of the batch.
Pour Procedure
10. Using gloves, safety glasses, and tongs, remove the crucible
from the furnace and either 1) air quench or 2) pour glass bars
for annealing, according to the following steps:
a. Air quench - pour the molten material quickly onto a stainless
steel pour plate. You may need to cut the glass from the crucible
using scissors. Allow the material to cool until the glass surface
is no longer dented by a slight tap of a metal spatula. Slide
glass off pour plate into a stainless-steel beaker to contain
flying particles produced when glass fractures upon cooling.
Note: Set hot plate on high (~300°C) and annealing oven at 500°C.
Reliability
Not every tear falling into the water will be whole. Many break upon
cooling. Make many dragon tears, and a few will hold together.
Teacher Tips
1. Heat glass before class period begins.
2. When molten glass is poured into water, the rapid cooling of the
glass exposed to the water and the slower cooling of the glass in
the interior causes severe stress. This result is the glass surface
is placed under compression. This compression may be demon-
strated by taking a piece of the dragon dribble and breaking it.
The stress is released by breaking the glass, which shatters into
very small pieces. Use extreme caution, the flying glass can be
dangerous. It’s safest when done in a plastic bag.
3. The outside surface of the tear (drop) freezes as it hits the water.
4. The outside surface of the tear freezes in a low-density condition.
The inside cools more slowly, resulting in a higher density.
5. The inside material is contracted relative to the outer skin. This
results in a surface in compression (25,000 - 50,000 p.s.i. or much
higher). Ceramics are strong in compression.
6. Cutting the “tail” off the dragon tear upsets the forces of equilib-
rium, which causes the dragon tear to break up into dust!
7. Examine a dragon tear, tempered glass, using polarized film.
Follow step 11 on page 6.36.
8. Industrially tempered glass is air cooled by jets of air.
9. Students may also remove a tear from the water and anneal the
tear to observe the change in the way the face fractures. Follow
Step 12 on page 6.36.
Safety
1. Students must wear safety glasses.
2. Cut tail in a plastic bag.
Disposal
1. Put crucible in normal trash.
2. Put glass in a science department glass disposal container.
Materials
• Plastic bag
• Glass from previous experiment
• Crucible
Equipment
• Melting furnace
• Metal tongs
• Stainless steel beaker
• Safety glasses
• Heat-resistant gloves
• Scissors or diagonal (dike) pliers
• Polarizing material
• Light source
Procedure
Warning: Wear safety glasses at all times.
Materials
• Batch of pre-melted glass [a ratio of 1:1:2 (Na2O, B2O3, 2SiO2)
works well] in crucible
Equipment
• Lindberg furnace
• Tongs
• Leather gloves
• Scissors
• Plastic bag
• Large Can (No. 10), bucket, or stainless steel-beaker
• Burner
• Safety glasses and/or face protection
• Polarized film
Procedure
MeltedMelted
Glass Glass in
in a a Crucible
Crucible
Warning: Wear safety glasses and leather gloves for this
experiment.
1. Use the gloves, tongs, and eye protection to remove the melted
glass from the furnace.
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2. Pour the glass in a small continuous stream into the can, bucket,
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or stainless-steel beaker containing water (see Figure 6.5). (The
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glass should form a continuous ribbon about the thickness of a
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dime or slightly thicker.)
“Dragon
"Dragon
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Dribble"
Bucket Dribble” 3. After the glass has cooled, remove it from the water. (Any long
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Bucket
of
of
pieces may be cut by melting with a Bunsen burner.)
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A
Water
Water
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AAAAAAAA Caution: Make sure everyone in the laboratory is wearing safety
glasses. The tempered glass is dangerous if it shatters.
Figure 6.5. Draggon Dribble
4. Examine the glass with two pieces of polarized film. Orient the
polarized film so little or no light is transmitted through it. Then
place the glass between the polarized film and describe what you
observe. Compare this to glass that was allowed to cool slowly.
Check step 11 on page 6.36 for further details.
5. Place a piece of dragon dribble glass in a transparent plastic bag.
6. Break the glass in the bag. It should shatter into tiny pieces.
7. Record all observations in your journal.
Glass Coloring
Instructor Notes
Reliability
Students love this one! The biggest problem is using too much metal
oxide; it makes the glass opaque.
Teacher Tips
1. This activity generates a lot of enthusiasm. It is a good example
of the multicomponent conceptual learning process students
encounter as they do the stained glass project (see Figure 6.6).
2. Varying the amount of the metal oxide varies the color intensity
and sometimes the color. Color can also be affected by melting
temperature.
3. Having ovens and furnace at operating temperature before class
saves much time.
Safety
1. If crushing glass from previous lab, be careful. Students must
wear goggles.
2. Use caution when pouring and annealing hot glass.
Disposal
1. Normal science department procedures.
Materials
• Glass from Glass Melting experiment or materials for melting glass
from Glass Melting experiment
• Chromium (III) oxide, Cr2O3 (green)
• Neodymium oxide, Nd2O3 (light blue)
• Cobalt (II) oxide, CoO (dark blue)
• Copper (II) oxide, CuO (royal blue)
• Iron (III) oxide, Fe2O3 (brown)
• Crucible
• Plastic bag
Equipment
• Safety glasses
• Face shields
• Gloves
• Annealing oven
• Furnace
• Hot plate and stainless-steel pour surface
• Tongs
• Spatula
• Stirring rod
• Balance
• Weigh boat
• Stainless steel beaker
• Thick metal rod for breaking glass
Procedure
Safety Precaution: Safety glasses, face shield, and gloves
should be worn when crushing glass or handling molten glass.
Extension Activities
1. Observe how color varies with thickness and concentration.
2. Try to identify the elements that color common glass (like 7-Up
bottles, Coke bottles, beer bottles, etc.)
3. Not all the raw materials used to introduce color may be colored.
How can this be possible?
4. Oxidation state will also affect color. (Note: Iron can be green or
brown, depending on its oxidation state.)
5. Anneal the glasses until they crystallize, and examine them for
changes in color and intensity.
Glass Fusing*
Instructor Notes
Reliability
This lab may take some experimentation. The actual temperature of
your furnace, the type of glass used, and where the glass is placed in
the furnace may affect how well the glass fuses. You may have to try
it a few times to determine what gives the best results. Students
appreciate this activity.
Teacher Tips
1. Fusing is the process of placing compatible glasses on a kiln shelf
in a kiln. The temperature of the glass is slowly raised to around
800°C, and the glass is then cooled slowly through the annealing
region.
2. Glasses from different manufacturers frequently have different
ingredients, and this results in different coefficients of expansion.
When this occurs, the glasses are said to be incompatible. Some-
times different glasses from the same manufacturer have different
coefficients of expansion. When glasses have different expansion
rates, they will fuse but then shrink at different rates. This will result
in a high amount of stress, which usually leads to cracks eventu-
ally forming in the project. Some manufacturers sell a type of
glass specifically designed for fusing. (Although it is fairly expen-
sive, dichroic glass gives a nice effect when fused.)
3. Devitrification (forming of crystalline material) may occur as the
fused glass is allowed to cool slowly in the annealing process.
An unattractive change in the appearance of the glass may result
from this. To prevent the formation of crystalline material, an
overglaze is used. You may purchase “Spray A,” or you may make
your own from 20 Mule Team Borax. Mix 5 parts water with 1 part
Borax by volume. Heat this mixture until the Borax dissolves.
The Borax overglaze should be applied when it is hot, and it is
most easily applied by spraying.
Safety
1. Students need to be careful of cutting themselves on the scrap
glass, which is usually used for this activity. Students must wear
goggles.
2. Use caution when heating glass in a furnace or opening furnace
door when hot.
Disposal
1. Place waste glass in a glass disposal container.
Materials
• Stained glass pieces
• Overglaze spray
• Kilnwash
• Ethyl alcohol (optional for cleaning)
Equipment
• Steel wheel glass cutter/tapper
• Self lubricating carbide wheel cutter
• Combination breaker grozier pliers
• Furnace
• Kiln shelf or other high temperature, flat, smooth surface
• Gloves
• Metal tongs
• Safety glasses
Procedure
Warning: Wear safety glasses at all times when working with glass.
*1. Make a sketch of your planned fused glass project. (Your first trial
should be with pieces no larger than about 10 cm [4 inches] square.)
*If your item is much larger than 10 cm on a side, check with your instructor for a
good estimate on programming your furnace.
2. Either find pieces of scrap glass or cut out pieces using a glass
cutter and some pliers. Use the glass suggested by your teacher.
3. Either place kilnwash on the surface you will be using or use a
surface that already has been prepared.
4. Thoroughly clean all glass pieces you will be using with warm water.
If they have oil on them, you may need to use ethyl alcohol.
5. Use overglaze spray to coat all exposed surfaces and edges.
6. Arrange the pieces of glass on the surface which has been kiln-
washed and is ready for the oven. You may stack them 2 or 3
pieces deep, or you may want to place some crushed glass on
other glass pieces.
7. Place the surface holding your project into the cool furnace; set the
furnace for 788°C (1450°F) with a ramp time of 90 minutes, and turn
on the furnace. Your instructor may need to okay this procedure.
8. When the temperature reaches the set point (788°C), let soak for
about 10 minutes (or until it appears well fused). Then turn off the
furnace, open the furnace door for 8 seconds, and then close the
door and let the furnace cool. The opening and closing of the door
is called flash venting.
Extension Activities
Recommended Firing and Annealing Charts for Fusing Glass
(These are suggested by Spectrum Glass for their glass. They are a
good guide, but you may find through experimentation that other possi-
bilities exist depending on the type and size of glass and the appear-
ance of the product you are seeking.)
Fusing project Ramp time Set pt. Soak time
Projects approxi- 1. 90 min 788°C 10 min
mately 10 cm across 2. Flash vent
and 2 layers deep 3. Drift Room temp.
Projects approxi- 1. 2.5 hr 788°C 10 min
mately 30 cm across 2. Flash vent
and 2 layers deep 3. Drift 510° 3 min
4. 3 hr 371°C
5. Drift Room temp.
Projects approxi- 1. 2.5 hr 788°C 10 min
mately 50 cm across 2. Flash vent
and 2 layers deep 3. Drift 510°C 90 min
4. 6 hr 465°C 30 min
5. 3 hr 316°C
6. Drift Room temp.
Note: Drift means to allow the furnace to cool with power off and door
closed until the next set temperature is achieved.
Materials
• Solder 50-50 lead tin alloy
• Flux
• Felt pen (non water soluble)
• Copper foil - copper wire
• Patina
• Finishing compound
• Stained glass
• Glass cleaner
Equipment
• Steel wheel cutter/tapper
• Self lubricating carbide wheel cutter
• 80-100 watt soldering iron - stand
• Sponge
• Combination breaker grozier pliers
• Breaking pliers
• Running pliers
• Glass grinder
Notes
1. Pattern shears reduce 1/32 in. of paper to allow for copper foil and solder.
2. Select colors and grain/pattern of glass, numbering each piece.
3. Keep iron off of foil to prevent cracking (thermal) and damage to
adhesive backed foil.
4. Refer to text for difficult cuts.
5. Visit your local experts.
6. Reference: Wardell, Randy and Judy. 1983. Introduction to Stained
Glass: A Teaching Manual. Wardell Publications, Belleville, Ontario.
Procedure
Warning: Wear safety glasses
1 3
8
7
6
13
9 10
12
11
Figure 6.7. Pattern for a Project from Richland High School MST Student
6. Using the bench grinder, grind the edges of each piece to fit
pattern.
7. Clean glass with glass cleaner.
8. Apply copper foil to each piece of glass with 1/4 in. overlap.
9. Fit pieces to form pattern shape.
10. Apply flux with small brush.
11. Tack with solder.
12. Solder both sides.
13. Clean glass.
14. Attach copper wire ring.
15. Apply patina to the solder to darken it.
16. Apply polishing compound.
Making Raku
Instructor Notes
Reliability
This experiment is very reliable. Students get excited about it. The
only problem occurs when transferring project from charcoal to water.
A piece may break.
Teacher Tips
1. This lab can be done over several days or weeks.
2. If you load the kiln with the pots to be raku fired and turn on the
kiln about 3 hours before class starts, the pots will be ready for the
students to do the exciting part. Once the pots have the character-
istic red color and shiny appearance, they will stay at that state for
quite some time in the hot kiln. Opening the kiln to remove a pot
drops the temperature temporarily and should be done as quickly
as possible to avoid damage to the ware and kiln.
3. An alternate to two separate firings is to use the raku firing to do
both jobs. This is actually the way it was done originally. The prob-
lem is students tend to handle the green pots too roughly and they
get broken before the firing.
4. The clay and glaze are readily available from pottery suppliers.
Often the catalog will state that the clay or glaze is suitable for raku.
5. Have students try using clay from the banks of a river or stream.
6. Some students are very leery of reaching into the hot kiln to
remove their pot because of the extreme heat they experience.
It is best to quickly remove the pot as the lost heat cools the other
pots, and they must reheat. Small kilns recover in about 5 min.
7. An art teacher can be an excellent resource person for this lab.
Have the art teacher do the pinch pot technique teaching for your
students. If that is not possible, try asking if one of your students
knows the technique. Often, this is the case, and it gives that stu-
dent a chance to be “special.”
8. Give students a copy of the paper, using the Raku Glazing Process
to show oxidation-reduction in chemistry. They enjoy the story of
the potter. The recipes for other glazes is included for those that
would like to go further. Other effects than copper and cobalt are
very interesting. Try using those two metals as they are readily
available and give good results.
9. Pottery is significant in many ancient cultures, and this lab can
easily be tied into history and social studies.
10. When the pots come out of the water, they often are crazed.
Because the glaze and ceramic pot cool at different rates the
glaze gets a cracked appearance. This is normal and is consid-
ered part of the aesthetics of the pot. If the pot is not quenched,
the reduction is reversed as oxygen recombines with the exposed
metal. It is nor-mal for the appearance of the pot to change over
the first few days.
Safety
1. Take care when dropping the red hot pot in the sawdust to cover
immediately; it will flare up. Be careful when removing the lid as
the sawdust may burst into flame as oxygen re-enters the pail.
2. Use long tongs to handle all ware.
3. Work in teams where everyone has a job, i.e., 1) open kiln and
close; 2) grab pot and move to sawdust; 3) bury pot.
4. Keep spectators far away.
5. When near an open kiln, remove all metal from your body. Coins,
belts, eyeglasses, and earrings they can get hot enough to burn
you.
6. You may want goggles that filter ultraviolet radiation and visible
light for looking into the hot kiln.
Materials
• Clay, low-fire type
• Glaze, low-fire type
• Copper carbonate or other glaze metals as interest and budgets
allow (see attachment)
• Paper cup or other container for glaze, 6 oz.
• Sawdust
• Nail for scratching initials
• Paint brush for applying glaze
Equipment
• Oven or kiln
• 5-gal metal bucket with lid
• Large pail for water
• Nylon string or wire
• Heat-resistant leather gloves
AAAAAAA AAA
Clay AA AA
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C lay
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AAAAAA AA AAAAAA
AAA
AAAA
AAAA
AAAA
AAAA
• Goggles
AAAAAAA
AAAAAA
AAAAAAA
AAAAAA AA AAAA
AAA
AAAA • Long-handled, 80 cm, tongs
AA
A AAAA
AAAA
AAA
AA Procedure
AA
A
AA AAAAAAAA
AAAA
AAA
AA AA
AAAAAAAA
AA
AAAAAAA
AAAAAAA AAAAAAAA
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1. Cut a softball-sized piece of clay from the brick, and work it into a
AAAAAAA
AAAA
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AAAA AAAAAAAA
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ball shape.
2. Work the clay into a cup (pot) shape as demonstrated by the
Figure 6.8. Pinch Pot (Raku) instructor. Try to make it a uniform thickness (see Figure 6.8.).
3. Set the pot aside to dry over night (or longer).
4. Turn the dry pot over, and scratch your initials into the bottom.
5. Turn the pot in to the instructor to be bisque fired, or bisque fire
the pot at cone 4.
6. Observe and record the differences in the pot after it has been
bisque fired.
7. Fill a 6-oz. paper cup 1/2 full of raku glaze. This is equal to about
100 g of dry glaze. To the glaze, add between 1 and 5 g of either
of the two metal carbonates. Mix thoroughly. If the glaze becomes
too thick, a little water may be added to maintain original consis-
tency. It should be about as thick as heavy cream or cake batter.
8. Coat your pot with the glaze using a brush. Do not coat the bottom
0.5 cm of the pot. Use several thin coats. The glaze should be
between 2 and 3 mm thick. Allow the glaze to dry completely.
9. Place the glazed pot into the kiln. Turn on the kiln, and allow it to
heat until the pot is glowing cherry red and the outer surface is
bright and shiny. The time will depend on the number of pots in
the kiln. It will take about 3 hours. Once the pot is ready, you must
have the pails with the sawdust and water close by and ready
to use.
10. Put on the heat-protective leather gloves. Have a partner quickly
open the kiln. Using the long-handled tongs, quickly grasp your
pot, and immediately drop it into the pail of sawdust. You may
push the pot into the sawdust if you wish. Place the lid on the
pail, and leave it on for about 3 min. As soon as your pot has
been removed, your partner should close the kiln.
11. After 3 min take the lid off of the pail. Watch out for a flare up!
Using the long-handled tongs, remove your pot, and drop it
immediately into the pail of water. Once the pot has stopped
steaming, carefully remove it using a pair of tongs. Be careful,
the water may be quite warm. Take the pot to a sink and clean
it up. Be careful. Gentle scrubbing will remove black carbon
deposits. On the cobalt pots the cobalt appears as a dark metal-
lic coating. Don’t scrub it off.
12. Observe and record the differences in the pot in your journal after
the raku process.
Extension Activities
1. Compare raku pots to conventionally fired pots with the same
glaze.
2. Discuss the terms “oxidized” and “reduced.”
3. Measure pots for firing shrinkage, i.e., measure the diameter of
the pot before firing and after firing. Record the results in your
laboratory notebook. Theorize what is occurring. Discuss these
results in your class or with your teachers.
Introduction
The art of raku was conceived and developed in Japan during the last
quarter of the sixteenth century, specifically for the production of ceramic
wares for use by the Zen Buddhists in the Tea Ceremony. The name
“raku” meaning “pleasure or enjoyment,” was given to the descendants of
the famous sculpture-potters. Raku applies solely to the art and products
of the raku family masters but it has also come to mean a ceramic tech-
nique that has been traditionally used by them. Raku is committed to the
basic premise that the pot is the product of a process of mutual interaction
and refinement between man and nature and that through this involve-
ment man discovers his own significance. Raku places great reliance on
maintaining a close and intimate relationship between the pot and its
maker at all stages of production, and particularly so during the moments
of truth when the pot is subjected to severe and sudden changes (Cooper).
Figure 6.9. Small circular raku kiln burning coke or smokeless fuel. The
saggar is the heart of the kiln and the main wall follows its profile. The walls
may be made of common brick for a temporary kiln or of firebrick for a more
permanent structure. The belly of the kiln is transversed by a number of fire-
bars that both support the saggar and contain the fuel. The rectangular air
intake tunnel may be used to direct fire from a flame gun to the center of the
kiln if fast firing is desired. The kiln may be lit either with wood and the coke
gradually added from above or by means of the flame gun. The chimney is a
commercial chimney pot, and the whole kiln has an insulation of banked earth.
The development of the glazes within the saggar may be observed at intervals
through the viewing tube that may be made of metal or clay. The kiln will
reach glazing temperature in 2 to 3 hours.
Reduction
There is an old Chinese legend that tells of a potter who lived many
centuries ago. One day he was firing his kiln and was having a lot of
trouble. It was one of those days when everything goes wrong. The fire
wouldn’t burn properly, the chimney wouldn’t draw, the place was full of
smoke, and the air was filled with a horrible odor. The potter was afraid
that most of the ware, which he had glazed with a lovely green copper
glaze, would be ruined.
When he opened the kiln he found his fears were justified, for piece after
piece came out blistered, blackened, and dull. But in the very center of the
kiln, there was one vase that was a beautiful blood red. Such a color had
never been seen before on any piece of pottery. The potter’s neighbors
and co-workers marvelled at it. It was so beautiful that it was sent to the
emperor as a gift. The emperor in turn admired the color so much that he
had the vase broken and the fragments set in rings as though they were
precious stones. Then he sent the potter an order for a dozen more red
vases.
The potter’s troubles began. He tried again and again but he could not
reproduce that red color. He checked his glaze formulas carefully and
used exactly the same ingredients that he used that day, but all the pots
came out green. The emperor grew impatient. Messengers arrived from
the palace, saying produce or else! Finally our potter was in despair. He
decided to fire one last kiln and loaded it with vases covered with glazes
as before. But during the height of the fire, his courage failed him. He
opened the door of his kiln and jumped in.
His assistant ran up quickly. The kiln fire was smokey and there was a
bad smell in the air. They shut down the flames and allowed the kiln to
cool, and when they opened it, what did they find? No trace of our poor
potter, but yes, you’ve guessed it—the kiln was full of beautiful red pots.
And there, according to the legend, was discovered the secret of reduc-
tion. The potter’s assistants reasoned that if a human body produced such
results, maybe a dead pig would work and they tossed a pig into the next
fire. Again they got beautiful red pieces. Then they tried substituting such
things as wood and straw, and still the trick worked.
Reduction results when the fire is overloaded with carbon. When this hap-
pens, the green oxide of copper loses some of its oxygen and becomes a
red oxide.
2 C + 4 CuO —> 2 Cu2O + 2 CO2
Likewise, a red oxide of iron loses some of its oxygen and becomes a
black oxide. This reduction process is shown by the chemical equation:
Fe2O3 + CO —> 2 FeO + CO2
Iron oxide exists in several different combinations, and each proportion of
iron to oxygen has a characteristic color as follows:
*Source: Nelson, G.C. 1957. Ceramics Reference Manual, Burgess Publishing Co.
Raku Glazes
Raku glazes are usually better applied thickly, and the relationship to
glazed and unglazed areas carefully considered as the blackened reduced
body can be very attractive. The pots are put into the kiln when it is esti-
mated to have reached a sufficiently high temperature that can be judged
by color—a rich red orange—or measured by a pyrometer. During the
firing, the glazes will begin to bubble as they melt and when they have
settled evenly and have a shiny reflective surface, the glazes have matured.
Depending on the efficiency of the kiln, this will take about 20-40 min.
When the pots are taken from the kiln, they will oxidize as they are brought
into the air, and, if reduction is required, it should take place now. Burying
the pot inside a metal dustbin full of sawdust or other material and then
covering the bin with a reasonably well fitted lid will ensure a well-reduced
glaze. Dark gray acrid smoke will be given off indicating a good reducing
atmosphere. If copper is present in a glaze or in painted decoration, a rich
lustrous surface will result from this heavy reduction. The body will be
turned black by carbon.
After about 15 to 20 min, remove the pot and quench it immediately by
placing it quickly into water to prevent reoxidation in the atmosphere. If
the glaze is still molten when placed into water it will froth to give an
unpleasant surface.
(A frit is a glaze that has been fired in a crucible and once cooled has
been ground into a powder form for use. This process is used to seal in
toxic glazes such as lead because of the high toxicity of this substance.)
Alkali frit, lead frit, and borate frit, can be combined with about 10% whit-
ing and 10% ball clay to give glazes that will work well. Additions of 5-10%
tin oxide will give a rich white glaze that will usually crackle to give a large
network of black lines. This contrasts well with the black matte body.
Additions of coloring oxides will give the following results:
Cobalt 1%
Iron 8% black
Manganese 3%
*Source: Nelson, G.C. 1957. Ceramics Reference Manual, Burgess Publishing Co.
Bibliography
“Chemistry of Art,” in: Journal of Chemical Education, Vol. 58, No. 4,
April, 1980, pp. 255-282.
“Chemistry of Art - A sequel,” in: Journal of Chemical Education, Vol. 59,
No. 4, April, 1981, pp. 291-324.
Cooper, E. and D. Royle, Glazes for the Potter, 1978, Charles Scribners
and Sons.
Dickerson, John, Pottery Making A Complete Guide, 1974, Viking Press.
Fraser, Harry, Glazes for the Craft Potter, 1979, Pitman Press.
Gilman, John J., “The Nature of Ceramics,” in Scientific American,
Vol. 217, No. 3, Sept., 1967, pp. 112-124.
Kenny, John B., The Complete Book of Pottery Making, 1976, Chilton
Book Co.
Nelson, Glenn C., Ceramics Reference Manual, 1957, Burgess
Publishing Co.
Rhodes, Daniel, Clay and Glazes for the Potter, 1957, Chilton Company.
Sanders, Herbert H., The World of Japanese Ceramics, 1968,
Kodansha International Ltd.
Shaw, Kenneth, Science for Craft Potter and Enamellers, 1972, David
and Charles.
Reliability
This lab takes some experimentation. You may have to try it a few
times for experience and best results, but it is worth it.
Teacher Tips
1. The chemical composition of plaster of paris (which the slip
casting molds are made from) is calcium sulfate (CaSO4 • 0.5
H2O). When the plaster of paris is mixed with water, it hydrates
and cures into a solid, hard structure with the chemical composi-
tion CaSO4 • 2H2O. If slip casting molds are heated above 56°C
(135°F), the waters of hydration can be driven off, and the mold
will begin to crumble. Be cautious when drying the mold; 38-47°C
(100-120°F) is hot enough to dry them.
2. Clay used for slip casting is a mixture of components that helps
reduce the firing temperature (see Table 6.5). Compositions vary
slightly, so it’s a good idea to check and see if you have the
proper pyrometric cones for the clay slip you have acquired. More
than likely you will, because most clay slip sold at local ceramic
shops is nearly the same composition.
3. Most slips (slip casting slurry) are sold by local ceramic supply out-
lets as a slurry ready for casting. If you need to buy the ceramic
slip as a powder, then follow the manufacturer-recommended mix-
ing instructions by measuring the appropriate amount of water into
a bucket or pitcher then adding the powder while stirring the water.
Continue to stir the slurry until all lumps are gone.
4. Instead of using rubber bands to hold the slip casting mold
together, old inner tubes from automobiles can be cut into bands
and used to tightly secure the mold.
Safety
1. The kiln or furnace, and its contents, can be hot. Place a sign
(Caution - Hot) to warn students the furnace is being used. Wear
leather gloves and safety glasses when working with a hot furnace
or kiln.
Materials
• X-acto knife
• Clay slip [clay, water, and sodium silicate or sodium polyphosphate
(calgon)]
• Cone stand
• Rubber bands
• Small bucket or pitcher
• Small sponge
Equipment
• Furnace or kiln
• Kiln furniture (shelves and setters)
• Plaster of paris mold
Procedure
1. Separate slip cast mold and clean any dirt; the mold should be
dry. (Your tongue will stick to a dry mold). Molds may be stored at
~38°C (100°F) to keep them dry. Put the mold together by match-
ing holes. Carefully secure mold with rubber bands.
2. Pour ceramic slip into mold slowly and evenly. Fill mold slightly
above the pouring hole to form a sprue.
3. Let the ceramic slip sit for approximately 15 min or until desired
thickness is reached (about 1/8 in.) If you are doing several cast-
ings, monitor the thickness as a function of time.
4. Pour the excess slip out of the mold back into the pouring con-
tainer. Leave the mold inverted to drain.
5. Turn the mold over, and let it sit for at least 1 hour or until firm.
6. Carefully remove the casting from the mold by removing the rub-
ber bands and lifting it out. Try not to twist or deform the casting
as this may cause it to warp as it dries. (Make note of any pieces
that get deformed, so you can observe if they dry or fire differ-
ently.) Put the mold away where it can dry out and stay clean.
[Do not dry or store plaster molds at temperatures above 57°C
(135°F.)]
7. Using an X-acto knife, remove the sprue. Be careful not to dam-
age the ware.
8. Let the casting set for 24 hours before continuing.
9. After the casting is hard and dry to the touch it is still very fragile,
but can be handled.
10. Using an X-acto knife and a damp (NOT WET) sponge, fettle the
casting. Fettling is trimming off any excess clay and removing the
“seam” marks made by the mold. Pay special attention to the rim
and bottom. Rub any chips down with the sponge. Generally,
“patching” does not work, so be careful. (Put your initials and date
on the bottom of the casting.) On test pieces, score registration
lines 1 in. apart in various locations on the ware. Measure the dis-
tance between the lines as accurately as you can.
If the piece is complex it may need some assembly. Attach
handles etc. by making a paste of clay and water (thickened slip
works well), scoring both surfaces to be joined, and covering it
with the paste. Firmly press the pieces together, and wipe away
any excess clay with a damp sponge. Allow the piece to dry over-
night before firing.
11. Set the casting on a clay stilt or other suitable piece of kiln furni-
ture. Place it in the furnace.
12. Place the cone appropriate for the clay composition (#5) on the
cone stand, and place it in the furnace so you can see it without
opening the door. If the furnace is large and there are a lot of
castings, you will want to place several sets of cones throughout
the furnace even if you can’t see them all. This way you can get
an idea of how uniform the temperature is throughout the furnace
and note its effect on the ware.
13. When filled, close the furnace and set the temperature to 750°C.
(This is called the “set point.” It is the temperature you want; it is
not necessarily the temperature the furnace is currently at.) This
is not the firing temperature of the clay. You want to heat the clay
slowly to the firing temperature to allow the water and any organic
material plenty of time to get out of the clay. If you don’t, the cast-
ings will break from the pressure of steam and other gases trying
to escape.
14. Let the furnace sit undisturbed for 45 min. Then check to see if
it has reached 750°C. Wait for the furnace to reach the set point
before continuing. If the furnace is not allowed to reach the set
point it can draw too much power and overshoot the set point by
a large amount, and then you will never really know what tem-
perature the furnace is.
15. Turn the temperature up to 915°C.
16. Wait another 45 minutes to check to see if the furnace has
reached 915°C. Wait for the furnace to reach 915°C before
continuing.
17. Increase the set point to 1075°C and leave for 1-1/2 hours.
18. Once the furnace has reached the set point, check the cones every
15 min or so by looking through the peep hole. If the furnace does
not have a peep hole, you will have to estimate the firing time from
the set points used. When the cones have slumped to the proper
position turn the furnace off. DO NOT OPEN THE FURNACE. Let
the furnace cool down for 24 hours before opening. If you open
the furnace when it is hot, it and the ware inside will cool so fast
it can break (thermal shock).
19. After the cool down period, “crack” the furnace by opening it
slightly. Use a wedge if necessary to keep the door open only
an inch or so.
20. When the ware is cool enough to touch, remove it. Make note
of the location and condition of the cones in the furnace.
Suggested Questions
21. How does the slip flow and handle? Does it respond to stirring,
standing?
22. How long did you leave the slip in the mold, and how thick did the
casting become? Compare you results with other groups. Plot
thickness as a function of time in minutes.
23. Describe the appearance of the casting during the stages of dry-
ing. Did the color change? Hardness? Did any cracks appear?
How much did it shrink? Remeasure the distance between the
registration lines you made on the unfired ware.
24. Did the castings fired in different parts of the furnace look different
after firing? What about the cones? Did any of the castings deform
during firing?
25. Why do you think we used plaster molds? What do you think
the plaster does to the slip? (Hint: Stick your tongue on a clean
plaster mold.)
26. What is the relationship between the set point and the actual
temperature of the furnace?
27. Why do we use pyrometric cones in addition to the set point and
firing schedule?
28. When does the casting shrink? Why does the casting shrink?
29. Explain why any castings deformed during firing.
30. What are the limitations on the shapes of slip cast pieces?
31. Why doesn’t the clay settle out of the slip?
Extension Activities
1. Glazing (see the glazing section in “Making Raku”).
2. Make your own plaster molds and discuss some of the unique
properties of plaster.
3. You may want to heat the cones in the furnace to record the effects
of various time and temperature schedules. Can you find different
schedules that result in the cones having the same appearance?
4. Identify as many slip cast objects as you can at home. (Don’t
forget the toilet!)
Reliability
This activity is an experimental study to develop glass from the soil in
your geographic area. Most soils can be melted into glass.
Teacher Tips
1. Most soils are high in silica (SiO2), the main ingredient in the net-
work of most common glasses. It would be a good experience to
try to make glass from soil.
2. This experiment is designed to let students use a scientific method
to make the best material from given conditions. For example, the
melt temperature will not exceed 1050°C, and the chemical ingre-
dients will be soil and anhydrous borax (Na2B4O7).
3. Students initially will need to try a number of samples. A sug-
gested range would be 30 weight percent (wt%) soil/70 wt%
borax, a 50/50 wt% ratio, and a 30 wt% borax/70 wt% soil ratio.
Depending on how these samples melt, you can narrow the com-
positional range. First you can eliminate samples that do not fully
melt . Likewise, if the glass is very fluid, you can observe some of
the soil settled at the bottom that did not dissolve. You can also
eliminate these samples because they have too much borax and
the crucible may be attacked by the glass and leak before the
settled soil is dissolved. Additional glass compositions (i.e.,
45 wt% borax/55 wt% soil) can be made.
4. When the compositional range of acceptable glass samples (i.e.,
50/50 wt% and a 45/55 wt% of soil to borax ratio) is determined,
test these samples for durability. Break or cut these samples, and
place an approximately 5-g sample in a clean plastic container with
40 to 50 mL of water. Measure the pH of the solution 24 hours
later. If the pH has changed significantly (i.e., <8.5), students may
want to narrow the compositional range even further to make a
better glass. These glasses will need to be tested for durability
to check if they have improved.
5. You can make soil glass by following the procedures for glass
batching and melting found in the Ceramics Section of your MST
handbook, or by experimentally trying it as if it were a new mate-
rial never researched before. In all cases, use caution, knowledge,
and safe practices to perform experimentation.
Safety
Note: Because students are working under experimental conditions,
they need to use extreme caution when initially melting the glass.
Excessive foaming can occur in some chemical reactions.
1. When loading the melting crucible, students should fill it only
about 1/4 full, and then melt it. Watch the initial reaction by check-
ing the melt after 7 to 10 min. If excessive foaming occurs or has
occurred, proceed with extreme caution while melting the remain-
ing glass batch. If foaming is “normal,” follow usual melting
procedure.
2. Use borax anhydrous (Na2B4O7) as a borax chemical additive.
Anhydrous means “without water.” Twenty Mule Team Borax,
which is available at most grocery stores, contains the maximum
amount of water allowed to chemically bond with borax (Na2B4O7 •
10 H2O). If the borax has water, this increases melt foaming and
can lead to crucible spillover. If you use borax with water, drive off
most of the water by pretreating the borax to about 200°C. Borax
has a melting point of 741°C.
3. Follow notes found in the glass batching and melting section of
the MST handbook.
Extension Activities
Students can learn a lot about phase behavior, melting, and phase
dia-grams by doing a series of melts that includes the entire composi-
tion range for borax and soil. This activity is very similar to the Alloying
Tin and Lead experiment in the Metals section of this handbook
except some of the borax/soil compositions will not melt. Table 6.6
provides 11 compositions with a suggested amount of batch size for
this experiment.
1. 50 100 0 0
2. 45 90 5 10
3. 40 80 10 20
4. 35 70 15 30
5. 30 60 20 40
6. 25 50 25 50
7. 20 40 30 60
8. 15 30 35 70
9. 10 20 40 80
10. 5 10 45 90
11. 0 0 50 100
Percent Borax
Teacher Tips
1. Superconductors are conductive materials that have an extremely
low resistance to the flow of an electric current. That is, they have
a theoretical resistance (R) equal to zero ohms. Most materials
that exhibit superconductivity possess this property only at very
low temperatures. Until 1986, these temperatures were close to
absolute zero (0°)K). Superconductivity has been achieved at
temperatures above that of liquid nitrogen (77°K). The race is on
in the scientific community to create a superconductor that can
conduct electricity without resistance at increasingly higher tem-
peratures. Although the new “high temperature” superconductors
are in the developmental stage, some day they may be used in
superfast computers, magnetically levitated trains, high-powered
electric cars, and energy transmission lines that transmit electricity
with virtually no power loss.
2. Follow the procedure described in this section to make a ceramic
superconductor from three metal oxides: yttrium oxide (Y2O3),
barium peroxide (BaO2), and copper (II) oxide (CuO). BaCO3 can
be used in place of BaO2. The molar ratio of the three metals in
the complex is 1:2:3, yttrium to barium to copper. The following is
one way of expressing a molecular formula for this particular
superconductor:
YBa2Cu3O7-x (ideally YBa2Cu3O7)
Materials
• Yttrium oxide, Y2O3
• Barium peroxide, BaO2, (or barium carbonate)
• Copper (II) oxide, CuO
• Solvent: toluene or trifluorotrichloroethane
• Disposable protective gloves (such as PVC gloves)
• Safety glasses
• Zinc stearate
• Alcohol, (C2H5OH)
• Liquid nitrogen, N2(l)
• Samarium cobalt magnet
* Tweezers (non magnetic)
• Oxygen gas (optional)
• Particulate mask
• Polystyrene cup
Equipment
• Balance
• Furnace capable of achieving 950°C
• Furnace controller to ramp temperature at controlled rates
• Hydraulic press
• Grinding chamber (disc mill), rock tumbler, or automated mortar
and pestle (standard, hand-operated mortar and pestle may be
used)
• Die to form superconductor
• Micro-ohmeter (four-point type) (optional)
• Annealing oven capable of achieving 475°C
• Fume hood
Procedure
Making Superconductors
1. Make calculations for the batch using the 1:2:3 ratio. Table 6.7
shows an example for a 0.1 mole batch, which is enough to make
several superconductors. To achieve a ratio of 1:2:3 (Y, Ba, Cu),
use a molar ratio of 1:4:6 for (Y2, Ba, Cu).
Table 6.7.
4. Grind for 1 hour. The smaller the resulting particles, the better.
Grinding the material to the smallest possible size is very impor-
tant in producing this type of superconductor material.
5. Let the toluene evaporate in a fume hood.
6. Place the powdered mixture in the furnace at 900-925°C for
18 hours.
7. Remove from furnace, cool, and repeat steps 3 – 7.
8. After you remove the mixture from the furnace for the second
time, examine the mixture to see if any greenish-colored material
is evident. If so, repeat steps 3 – 7. More than 25% greenish
material indicates an incorrect mixture of chemicals, poor chemi-
cal quality, or improper oxidation. If this occurs, mix a new chemi-
cal batch.
9. Grind again to a fine powder—once again, the smaller the par-
ticles, the better.
10. Weigh out quantities of the material to make pellets. The quantities
are determined by the size of the mold to be used. (12-g and 15-g
quantities have been used to form pellets about 9 x 17 x 42 mm).
11. Clean the die with alcohol. Lubricate with a very light dusting of
zinc stearate used as a mold release agent.
12. Place the superconducting material in the die, and distribute evenly.
13. Press with a hydraulic press.
a. Gradually increase the pressure to 5000 lb (pressure of 5000 to
6000 lb for a 1.0 in2 surface area).
b. Hold the pressure for a couple of minutes.
c. Let the press gradually release the pressure itself.
14. Remove the top part of the die, and extract the pellet.
15. Place the pellets in the oven for sintering.
a. Heat the oven at 300°C/hour.
b. Heat pellets at least 8 hours at 950°C.
c. Cool at 50°C/hour to bring furnace back to room temperature.
16. Place the pellets in the annealing oven at 450°C for 18 hours. If
oxygen gas is available, bubble 02 over the pellets while they are
being annealed. After the allotted time, let the oven cool to room
temperature with the pellets inside.
17. Remove the pellets from the annealing oven. They are now ready
to be tested for superconductivity.
Vocabulary—Ceramics*
Alumina
Amorphous
Annealing
Blowing
Brittle
Casting
Crystal
Crystalline
Drawing
Fiber optics
Fire
Glassy
Inorganic
Meissner effect
Optical
Phase change
Pores
Pressing
Refractory
Resistance
Silica
Sinter
Superconductor
Tempering
Thermal shock
Viscosity
Classification of Plastics
Thermoplastic
Basically, two types of plastics exist, thermoplastics and thermosets.
Thermoplastics can be melted and reformed or reused. Typical ther-
mal plastics include polyethylene, polypropylene, PVC, and nylon.
Thermoplastics are converted to usable products by melt processing,
(injection molding, extrustion, blow molding, and thermofoaming)
which are explained below.
Injection molding forces melted polymer into a cold mold under pres-
sure. When the polymer cools, it produces a part such as a pen barrel,
a comb, a Tupperware container, a garbage can, or a refrigerator
liner. Extrusion forces the melted polymer through a die to form con-
tinuous shapes such as pipe, tubing, sheet, or decorative molding.
Blow molding uses air pressure to blow up the melted plastic like a
balloon inside of a mold. When the plastic cools, it forms a bottle or
other hollow shape. Thermoforming takes heated sheets of plastic
and draws them into a mold with a vacuum to form such things as
butter tubs, drinking glasses, small boats, and pick-up-truck bed liners.
Thermoset
Thermoset polymers “cure” or crosslink by a chemical process to
become a stable material that cannot be melted. Typical thermosets
include epoxy, polyester, phenolic, polyurethane, and silicone.
Thermoset materials are often used with reinforcements such as glass,
Kevlar, and carbon fibers to make strong, lightweight parts such as
fiberglass boats, airplane wing panels, Corvette car bodies, skis, gas-
oline storage tanks, septic tanks, chemically resistant pipe, and many
other things. They are also used as adhesives that can be formulated
to bond almost anything.
Some thermosets are very hard and tough (bowling balls), while
others are soft and pliable (rubber tires, balloons, baby squeeze toys).
Some are used for paints and some for bonding thin sheets of wood
to make plywood.
Slime
Instructor Notes
Reliability
This lab works very well. It does take time for the polyvinyl alcohol to
dissolve. Make sure the solution is clear.
Teacher Tips
1. Polyvinyl alcohol can be purchased as a solid or as a 4% solution
from supply houses. If it is purchased as a solid, you need to get a
99% hydrated, 170,000 + molecular weight variety.
2. Adding the 4% sodium borate causes the establishment of cross
links making the “slime.” To make 100 mL of a 4% solution, add
8 g of Na2B3O7 • 10H2O.
3. To speed the process of making slime, the polyvinyl alcohol can
be dissolved ahead of time. A very quick method with very little
mess is to place the solid polyvinyl alcohol and water in a capped,
appro-priately sized jar or bottle and place it in a microwave. Be
sure the cap is not on tight. Heat in the microwave for about
2 min. This should make the water very warm but not hot. Tighten
cap and, shake for a minute or two. If it has not all dissolved. heat
for an additional minute (loosen cap again) and shake. This
method eliminates the sticky gooey mess of stirring and heating
for a pro-longed period on a hot plate. The solution dissolves very
readily this way and gives a nice clear solution.
4. Adding food coloring is not necessary. It gives color only.
5. If students take the product home, they should realize it does not
keep well. If left uncovered, it dries out. If left sealed, after han-
dling, mold will begin growing on it in a few days.
6. Solutions of polyvinyl alcohol and sodium borate are stable and
can be stored indefinitely.
7. References: Casassa, et al. 1986. “The Gelation of Polyvinyl
Alcohol with Borax.” Journal of Chemical Education, vol. 63, 70.1
pp. 57-60.
Suggested Questions
8. Describe the polyvinyl alcohol solution before the borate (cross-
link) is added.
9. Write a paragraph describing the product.
10. Is it a solid or a liquid?
11. What does “poly” mean?
12. What does “polymer” mean?
13. What does the cross-link do when it is added to the polymer? How
is the viscosity of the solution affected and why?
Safety
1. The polyvinyl alcohol is FDA-approved for indirect food use (food
packaging) and opthalmologic (eye treatment) solutions, i.e., con-
tact lens solutions. A 1959 study determined polyvinyl alcohol was
an animal carcinogen (Flynn Scientific Chemical Catalog, 1992).
Activity: Slime
Materials
• Water, 96 mL
• Food coloring, a few drops
• Polyvinyl alcohol, 4.0 g
• Sodium borate, 4% solution (6 mL)
• Paper cup, 6 oz
Equipment
• Beaker, 250 mL
• Stirring rod
• Thermometer
• Graduated cylinder, 100 mL
• Graduated cylinder, 10 mL
• Plastic sandwich bag
• Hot plate
Procedure
1. Measure out 96 mL of water into a 100-mL graduated cylinder.
2. Carefully pour the water into a 250-mL beaker, and place it on a
hot plate.
3. Heat the water to near boiling (95°C, approximately).
4. Add a few drops of food coloring to the warm water, if desired.
5. Accurately weigh out 4.0 g of polyvinyl alcohol into a 6-oz.
paper cup.
6. Remove the water from the hot plate. Slowly, while stirring, add
the polyvinyl alcohol to the warm water.
Slime 7. Place the beaker back on the hot plate until the temperature
reaches about 90°C. Keep stirring until the polyvinyl alcohol is
completely dissolved. Be patient.
8. Add 6 mL of 4% sodium borate, stirring constantly as you add the
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studying its properties.
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10. Clean your equipment. (Hint: Roll product around in beaker to
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clean out most of the product, then wash.)
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11. As students study the material they enjoy handling it. Have
students try pouring it into their hands (Figure 7.1).
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Extension Activity
Figure 7.1. Slime 1. Try adding more polyvinyl alcohol or a stronger or weaker concen-
tration of sodium borate to the slime. Observe how these chemical
changes affect the properties of the materials. Be sure and record
this information in your journal.
2. Use a funnel or cheap paint “viscosity cup” to note the effect of
changing variables on the viscosity of a product.
Note: Viscosity is an indirect indication of the amount of cross-
linking that has taken place.
Reliability
This lab works every time unless resins are too cold or too old.
Teacher Tips
1. Several different types of foams can be made. When purchasing
the polyurethane foam, obtain two kits at the minimum: a rigid
foam kit and a flexible foam kit. The procedure for each of these
kits is the same as the procedure described for this lab. After the
different foams are made, students can compare the similarities
and differences of the materials.
2. When the two liquids are mixed together, they cause a chemical
reaction that generates heat and carbon dioxide (CO2). The CO2
forms bubbles in the polymer matrix to create a foam.
3. This experiment would be a good group activity, with each group
making one type of foam. This could save time and material and
allow for student interaction as each group compares their poly-
meric foam with others.
4. It is best to refrigerate the liquids if they will not be used for an
extended period of time. Be sure that when they are used that
they have reached room temperature before the experiment
begins; otherwise, the reaction may not occur.
5. One vendor of polyurethane kits is IASCO, 5724 West 36th St.,
Minneapolis, MN 55416-2594 (see Vendor list in Appendix).
Materials
• Polyurethane foam (rigid and flexible types)
• Paper cups, 6 oz.
• Stir stick
• Plastic bag or newspaper to catch spill
• Mold (if desired)
Equipment
• Balance
Procedure
1. Weigh liquids for either rigid or flexible foam into separate cups,
following the directions found on back of polyurethane containers.
2. Pour both liquids into a third, preferably larger, cup when you are
ready to observe the experiment. The liquids will not degrade or
react when kept in separate cups, but once they are combined
they need to be stirred vigorously to mix the liquids as thoroughly
as possible. Stir for 30 sec ± 5 sec (see Figure 7.2.) Be sure to stir
the contents at the walls and bottom of the cup too.
Note: Stirring too long will collapse the foam as it reacts. Not
stirring thoroughly will leave areas of stickiness; this is unreacted
liquid.
3. Place stir stick and stirred liquid on the plastic bag or newsprint,
and observe the chemical reaction.
4. The reaction begins quite slowly at first, generating only a few bub-
bles. If your hand is wrapped around the cup you will feel heat
being generated from the exothermic reaction that is occurring.
Wooden
Tongue
Depressor
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This exothermic reaction generates gas within the liquid that will
form the few bubbles you will see at first. The reaction will evolve
into a rapid eruption as heat , gas, and some odor are increasingly
generated.
5. The polymeric foam that has been created will be sticky until it
cures. It can then be handled.
6. Be sure to discard the cups, stick, and spilled material as they
tend to be very sticky. Fantastic works well for cleaning up sticky
messes.
7. Repeat with the other type of foam(s).
Nylon 6-10
Instructor Notes
Reliability
You always get nylon, but its strength is poor.
Teacher Tips
1. The name “nylon” is used to represent a particular type of syn-
thetic polymer. Different nylons can be made, and they are
identified by a numbering system that indicates the number of
carbon atoms in the monomer chain. Nylons made from diamines
(1,6 hexanediamine) and dibasic acids (sebacoyl chloride) are
designated by two numbers. As Table 7.1 shows, the number 6
represents the number of carbon atoms in the diamine (1,6
hexanediamine), and the number 10 represents the number of
carbon atoms in the acid (sebacoyl chloride contains 10 carbons).
The nylon formed from these is called 6-10 nylon.
Safety
1. 1,6 hexanediamine irritates skin, eyes, and respiratory tract.
2. Sodium hydroxide is very caustic and can cause severe burns.
The solid will absorb moisture from the air and make puddles that
could cause burns. Be sure to clean up any sodium hydroxide that
is spilled.
3. Sebacoyl chloride irritates skin, eyes, and respiratory tract.
4. Hexane is very flammable. The vapor may irritate the respiratory
tract.
5. Do not allow chemicals to touch skin. Wear plastic or rubber
gloves during this experiment.
6. Wear chemical goggles for eye protection.
Disposal
1. Mix any remaining reactants thoroughly to produce nylon. The
nylon should be washed thoroughly in running tap water before
being discarded in a solid waste container.
2. Any remaining liquid should be neutralized with either sodium
bisulfate (if basic) or sodium bicarbonate (if acidic) and washed
down the drain with water.
Materials
• 1,6 hexanediamine. Be aware that this chemical can also be found
as hexamethyldiamine or 1,6 diaminehexane.
• Hexane or cyclohexane
• Sebacoyl chloride
• Plastic or rubber gloves
• Phenolphthalein or food color (optional)
• Sodium hydroxide
Equipment
• Beaker, 250 mL
• Graduated cylinder, 100 mL
• Stirring rods
• Graduated cylinder (2), 10 mL
• Balance
• Forceps or tweezers
• Safety glasses/chemical goggles
Procedure
Safety Precautions: Use a well-ventilated room or an exhaust
hood or canopy for the experiment. Wear plastic or rubber gloves
and chemical goggles. The instructor needs to inform you of all
hazards associated with this experiment before you begin.
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Tweezers
Membrane
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Liquid
Reliability
This experiment works very well. Make sure the surfaces that will be
contacted by the rubber are clean. Curing of silicone rubber is inhib-
ited by oil, pressure sensitive tape adhesive, and many other things.
Teacher Tips
1. Room temperature vulcanization (RTV) silicone rubber is a versa-
tile molding material. It is a white pourable liquid that cures at
room temperature without exothermic heat. Figure 7.4 shows
the chemical process that occurs when rubber vulcanizes.
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(b) Vulcanized (cross-linked) rubber - thermoset
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Hydrogen atom
Sulfur atom
Weak secondary bond
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8. In the next activity, Epoxy Resin Casting, the molds will be used to
mass produce objects.
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AAA • If they spill the RTV while performing the lab, allow the spills to
cure and they will easily peel from the contact surface. Trying to
clean up wet silicone is very messy; it smears.
• They shouldn't mix more than 1/4 the volume of the cup
because overflow may occur at the time the vacuum is applied.
Figure 7.5. Vacuum Chamber for The silicone tends to expand rapidly as it releases bubbles.
De-Airing RTV
• The part they are reproducing should have a flat surface that can
be put flat against the bottom of the paper cup used in step 7.
Safety
1. Materials used in this experiment can irritate the eyes. Use
ventilation.
Materials
• Silastic “E” RTV silicone rubber, 15 g
• Silastic “E” curing agent, 1.5 g
• Paper cups (3), 6 oz
• Stir stick
• Mold release
Equipment
• Balance/scale
• Part (object to be reproduced in mold)
• Vacuum chamber
Notes
1. If you spill while conducting this lab, just allow the spills to cure,
then they will easily peel off. Trying to clean up wet silicone is very
messy; it smears.
2. Do not mix more than one-fourth of the volume of the cup because
overflow may occur at the time the vacuum is applied. The silicone
tends to expand rapidly as it releases bubbles.
3. The part you reproduce should have a surface that can be put flat
against the bottom of the paper cup (or dam) used in step 7.
Procedure
1. Measure out 15 g of silicone rubber into a 6-oz paper cup.
2. Measure out 1.5 g of curing agent into a 6-oz paper cup.
3. Pour the 1.5 g of curing agent into the 15 g of silicone rubber.
Scrape the curing agent container clean with the stir stick.
Reliability
If resin instructions are followed, no problems occur with this lab. It is
very straightforward.
Teacher Tips
1. This activity can be done after the RTV activity or as a stand-
alone activity.
2. The resin dye is not necessary. It is used to add color to the
object.
3. The resin will shrink as it cures. It usually adheres to the sides of
the mold so that shrinkage is only in one direction, from the top.
4. When debubbling, do not allow the resin to spill over into the
vacuum chamber. The cup used for mixing should be about one-
third full so when the vacuum is applied, and the bubbling resin
rises, it will not overflow. The vacuum should be kept running
even after the resin subsides, until all the bubbles have burst or
about 5 min has elapsed. It may continue to “boil” or bubble after
5 min, but this is long enough.
5. A safety cup or pan larger than the mixing cup can be used to
catch overflow in the vacuum chamber.
6. Have acetone available to clean up spills. It has been found that
Fantastic household cleaner does as well as acetone and is much
safer.
7. Other resins and low-melt metals can also be used for casting
materials provided the correct type of RTV is used. The IASCO
catalog lists different types of RTV with suggested casting materials.
Safety
1. Wear safety glasses. Plastic gloves can be helpful in keeping the
sticky epoxy off the skin.
2. Do not use polyester resin. Its fumes are repulsive and irritating.
The catalyst, methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (MEKP), can cause
blindness if it comes in contact with the eyes.
Materials
• Epoxy Resin (Two-part kit)
• Color dye, 4 drops (optional)
• Paper towels, 20 cm x 20 cm (8 in. x 8 in.) and 30 cm x 30 cm
(12 in. x 12 in.)
Equipment
• Safety glasses
• Plastic gloves
• Silicone rubber mold
• Paper cup (3), 6 oz.
• Stirring stick
• Vacuum chamber
• Balance/scale
Note: Wear safety glasses. Plastic gloves can be helpful in keeping
the sticky epoxy off the skin.
Do not allow the resin to spill over into the vacuum chamber. When
mixing the resin, only fill the cup 1/3 full so when a vacuum is applied,
and the bubbling resin rises, it will not overflow. Keep the vacuum
going even after the resin subsides until all bubbles have burst or
5 min has passed.
Procedure
1. Place silicone rubber mold on a piece of folded paper towel.
(Be sure mold is laying flat.)
2. Cut a 20 cm x 20 cm (8 in. x 8 in.) piece of paper towel, and place
it on balance to protect it from spills.
3. Measure liquids from the epoxy kit into separate cups, following
the directions found on the back of resin containers. Use only the
amount needed for your mold. Be careful not to fill each cup more
than 1/6 full (see foaming notes in this procedure).
4. Add 1 to 4 drops of resin dye if you desire, your choice of color.
5. Pour one cup into the other, scraping as much of the liquid out
with the stirring stick as the cup is draining. The liquids will not
degrade or react when kept in separate cups, but once they are
combined, they need to be stirred vigorously to mix the liquids as
thoroughly as possible. Be sure to stir the contents at the walls
and bottom of the cup too.
6. Mix the resin for a minimum of 3 min.
7. Place blended resin into the vacuum chamber to remove bubbles.
Caution: Do not let resin foam over the top of the cup; it can
damage the vacuum apparatus.
Project: Nightlight
Materials
• Neon lamps, Radio Shack, Part No. 272-1100B (includes two
lamps with resistors per package)
• Copper strip, 16 ga x 1/4 in. x 3 in.
• Plastic cup #6 or paper cup (6 oz)
• Epoxy resin
• Solder
• Flux
Equipment
• Safety glasses
• Drill press
• Drill bit, 1/8 in. diameter
• Welding rod, 1/8 in. x 2 in.
• Tin snips
• Soldering iron
Procedure
1. Using 1/8-in. drill bit, drill a hole 1/4 in. from the end of each
copper strip.
2. Cut copper strip in half using tin snips making two 1-1/2 in. pieces.
3. Poke welding rod horizontally through sides of plastic cup 1 in.
above the top of the planned resin pour (see Fig. 7.6).
4. Solder the neon lamp with resistor to the two copper strips.
5. Suspend copper strips, centered 1/2 in. between strips, inside cup
on welding rod. Be sure no part touches sides or bottom of cup.
6. Weigh out the necessary amount of resin needed to cover the
nightlight as shown in Figure 7.6.
7. Add drops of color as desired to the resin.
8. Add appropriate drops of catalyst to the resin as recommended
by manufacturer, and stir for 3 min.
9. Pour resin carefully into the cup. (Do not get any resin on the
welding rod).
10. Allow resin to cure for 24 hours. Remove welding rod, then peel
cup from resin and you have a nightlight.
11. Clean off any flashing of resin, and plug the light into a wall socket
to check that it works correctly.
12. Before plugging in, check for short circuits. (Ask Ed, one of last
year’s summer institute teachers. His nightlight was very intense,
but did not last very long.)
AAAAAA
AA
AAAAAA
AAAAAA
AA Coating Resin
Resistor
AAAAAA
AA
AAAAAA
AA
AA
AAAAAA
AA
AAAAAA
Neon Light
Paper Cup
Polymer ID
Instructor Notes
Reliability
Students will get results with common plastics.
Teacher Tips
1. The term plastics is used to describe a variety of substances that,
although may feel and look different, all share the fundamental
characteristic of moldability. Some plastics are molded by the
action of heat and/or force while other plastics are fluid enough
to flow into a desired shape. Substances shaped by heat and/or
force behave partly as solids, flowing and changing shape like a
liquid under the action of the molding force, but having enough
rigidity of a solid to remain in the new form once the force and
heat are removed. Other plastics are much more fluid and require
time for the action of cross-linking between molecules to hold the
plastic in the desired shape as a solid.
2. Plastics come from materials that are found in nature—petroleum,
natural gas, coal, resins, air, and salt—but require less energy to
manufacture than equivalent products made from alternative
materials (currently, the manufacturer of plastic resins uses less
than 5% of U.S. petrochemicals). To make plastic, compounds
containing basic elements such as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen,
chlorine, and nitrogen are first extracted from the natural source
material in a refining process. The compounds (called feedstock)
are then converted into small molecules called monomers. The
monomers are then linked together using heat, pressure, and the
addition of various chemicals to form longer, larger molecules
called polymers. Polymers have the property of moldability; they
are plastic in its most basic form.
3. Polymers (plastic materials) are sold to manufacturers in the
form of granules, powder, pellets, flakes, or liquids for eventual
processing/manufacturing. Approximately 45 different “families”
of plastics exist, and some 30 different techniques are used to
manufacture plastic objects. Some of the most widely used pro-
duction techniques include blow molding (used for solid objects
such as toys, cd’s, and appliances) and casting (used for objects
made from liquid resins, such as jewelry and sink bowls).
Activity: Polymer ID
Materials
• Samples of plastic from home, work, or environment
• Aluminum foil
Equipment
• Bunsen burner
• Safety glasses
Procedure
1. Select as many samples of plastics as you can find.
2. Observe and record in your journal their color, feel, flexibility, and
odor, if any.
3. Identify the materials as thermosetting or thermoplastic by heat-
ing a stirring rod in a Bunsen burner flame for 3-5 sec. Do not get
the stirring rod red hot! Press it against the plastic sample being
tested. If it softens, it is a thermoplastic. If not, it is probably a
thermosetting plastic.
4. Perform flame test using identification chart in Table 7.2. Record
results.
Here is a preliminary guide that will help you to identify many of Next, hold the sample to the edge of a flame until it ignites. (Hold
the basic types of plastics using simple techniques and readily in the flame for about 10 sec if no flame is produced immedi-
available tools. Naturally, these tests should be used only for ately.) If the material bums, note the color of the flame, the nature
tentative identification because some complex plastic compounds of the smoke, the presence of soot in the air and if in burning the
require a rigorous analysis for identification. sample drips. Next, extinguish the flame and cautiously smell the
fumes. (In identifying odor, a known sample is most helpful for
To initially determine whether a material is thermoset or thermo- comparison.) Finally, check your observations against the known
plastic, heat a stirring rod (to about 500°F) and press it against characteristics of each plastic given below. Once you have made
the sample. If the sample softens, the material is thermoplastic; if a tentative identification it usually is desirable to make one addi-
not, it is probably thermosetting. tional test to confirm the results of the original identification.
THERMOPLASTICS
ABS — Acrida Yellow, Noa Acrid Yellow, Yes Slow Black smoke with soot in air
blue edgesa, blue edges
Acetals — — — — Formalde- Blue, no Yes Slow —
hyde smoke
Acrylics — — — — Fruity Blue, yellow No Slow Flame, may spurt if rubber
tip (cast) modified
Yes
(mold-
ed)
Cellulosics
Acetate — Vinegarc Yellow with Noa Vinegar Yellow Yes Slow Flame may spark
sparksa
Acetate Butyrate — — — — Rancid butter Blue, yellow Yes Slow Flame may spark
tip
Ethyl Cellulose — — — — Burnt sugar Yellow, blue Yes Rapid —
edges
Nitrate — — — — Camphor White No Rapid —
Propionate — — — — Burnt sugar Blue, yellow Yes Rapid —
tip
b
Chlorinated Polyether — Green, No — — — — Black smoke with soot in air
yellow tip
Fluorocarbons
FEP Faint odor of — — — — — — — Deforms; no combustion, but
burnt hair drips
PTFE Faint odor of — — — — — — — Deforms; does not drip
burnt hair
CTFE Faint odor of — — — — — — — Deforms; no combustion,
acetic acid but drips
PVF, Acidic — — — — — — — Deforms
Nylons
Type 6 — Burnt wool Blue, yellow Yes — — — — —
tip
Type 6/6 — Burnt wool or Blue, yellow Yes — — — — More rigid than type 6 nylon
hair tip
Phenoxies — Acridc Yellowc Noc Acridd Yellowd Yesd Slowd Black smoke with soot in air
THERMOPLASTICS
a b c d
Flame retardant grade. Nondescript. Inorganic filler. Organic filler.
Vocabulary—Polymers*
Amorphism
Blowing agent
Cellular foam plastic
Cross linking
Crystallinity
Elastomer
Elastomers
Exothermic
Inorganic polymer
Natural polymer
Organic polymer
Plasticity
Polyamide (nylon)
Polychloroethene
Polyester resin
Polyethylene
Polymer
Polymerization
Polyphenylethene
Silicone rubber
Thermoplastic
Thermosets
Vulcanization
At the heart of any composite, a strong fibrous material bears the load.
The fiber is constrained by the second material in the composite (the
matrix) such that it takes the desired shape. Modern fishing rods are
almost universally made from composites, whether the reinforcing
fibers are glass, graphite, boron, or a mixture of these materials. The
fibers, although strong, are not very stiff because they are very small
in diameter, less than one-thousandth of an inch. By adding a matrix
material, which is usually some type of epoxy in the case of the fishing
rod, the fibers are tied together so that stress can be transferred from
one fiber to another and so the fibers share the load. To further lighten
the rod, it is made with a hollow core and is tapered so that the handle
is thicker than the tip.
Most composites are used to make “things” that require high values of
mechanical properties such as strength (resistance to breakage) or
stiffness (resistance to bending) at a minimum weight. In these roles,
composites can be made superior to structures made from any single
material.
Modern composites use started with fiberglass in 1930, which is made
from fine glass fibers bonded in most cases by polyester resin. The
glass fibers are very strong in tension, and the resin helps to define
the shape, bonds well to the fibers, and prevents the fibers from
damaging each other by rubbing against their neighbors. Currently,
many different types of fibers are available; the fibers are often quite
expensive but are worth the price when the alternatives are consid-
ered. As more and more composite materials are used, the price will
drop or become more compatible. Example: Some racquets, when
they first came out, were $280 and now sell for $35.
A few years ago, composites were used only in parts of airplanes
where their complete failure would have caused no serious problems.
As confidence and reliability continues to increase, composites are
being used in increasingly critical applications. Currently, several criti-
cal parts of passenger airliners are made from composites; some mili-
tary airplanes are made largely from composites. Building the Voyager,
the airplane that flew around the world without refueling in 1986,
would have been impossible without modern composite materials.
Making Concrete
Instructor Notes
Reliability
This lab is designed to be experimental with lots of room for making
mistakes and changes and testing the effects these cause. The
success rate is determined by the care used in measuring and mixing
ingredients.
Teacher Tips
1. Concrete is a composite material made from sand, rocks (aggre-
gate), and cement. Students are familiar with this material but
many have never made concrete and may not know how it
cements itself together. Thousands of different kinds of concrete
are used for many different applications. It would take much study
to understand the many different compositions, reactions, and
applications of this material.
2. Portland cement forms hydration bonds as it is setting in the con-
crete matrix. This means that the water added to the cement takes
part in a reaction with the cement particles. The water forms a
strong bond with the cement, and the cement particles are locked
together in an intertwining matrix. Cement does not dry, it cures.
Another way to put it is that the water does not evaporate, it
becomes part of the concrete composite. Once concrete is formed
it is very difficult to break and impossible to reverse the process
back to the original materials. Hydration in concrete forms very
strong bonds.
3. This lab is divided into two parts: First, have all students make
cement so they become familiar with the material. Second, allow
students to vary compositions to determine how these changes
affect the concrete. Students can begin by making a common
concrete from Portland cement. The composition of concrete
made from Portland cement can vary also, so first try a common
composition of 40/60 weight percent sand to rock ratio and a 45/
55 weight percent water to cement ratio.
4. Once students have learned how to work with concrete, they can
do some scientific exploration. By altering the composition of con-
crete, the properties of the material will also be altered. Testing
and evaluating these changes is part of the work of a scientist.
Encouraging students to follow the scientific process will help
them learn, explore, evaluate, and be creative as they work with
materials.
Suggested Questions
6. What strengthens this material?
7. Are there other materials which could be added to concrete to
strengthen it? Try your theory by making and testing it.
8. Is there a better way to test concrete?
9. What is the best use for concrete materials?
Materials
• Portland cement
• Water
• Sand
• Gravel or small rock
Equipment
• 1- to 2-gallon plastic container
• Mold or dam (see #1 of procedure in Making Concrete or #1 under
Testing Materials)
• Scale
• Stirring stick (strong wooden dowel would work)
• Clamp for securing concrete for testing
• Weights for testing strength of concrete
Procedure
1. Make a mold or dam into which the concrete can be poured. A
dam could be as simple as placing 2- x 4-in. pieces of wood
together to create a 4- x 4-in. square. A rectangle of larger dimen-
sions also could be made. An appropriate mold could be a plastic
glove or a silicone mold for shaping a part.
2. In a 1- to 2-gallon plastic container, thoroughly mix 258 g of sand,
404 g of rock, 93 g of water, and 118 g Portland cement.
3. Pour the mixture into the mold or dam.
4. Let the concrete cure over night before handling it.
Procedure
Other concrete components—like sand or cement—can be varied,
tested and the results compared. More sophisticated tests can be
made by add-ing two component variables such as water and sand to
the matrix.
1. Using the composition from step 2 in Making Concrete, change
a single component in the composition, and test and evaluate how
this variable will affect the material. An example would be to add
5% more water to a concrete batch. Try another sample with an
additional 5% water, and analyze the material. A suggested test
for your samples is found below (see Testing Materials).
2. Now reverse the process, and see how less water (5% and 10%
less) affects the concrete. Test and record these results in your
journal. Can the strength of these materials be evaluated from
the results of these tests?
3. Another variation to the composition would be to replace rock with
other materials, and investigate the results. Our garbage landfills
are rapidly filling up. Are there some materials that could take the
place of rock? Try ground-up milk jug parts or pieces of metal or
ground automobile tires, and test the results of these concretes.
Testing Materials
1. To establish consistency in the data, you must establish a stan-
dard method to test each concrete sample. An example would be
to make a standard size mold (i.e., a wood mold 1 x 1 x 10 in.).
Each concrete sample could then be poured into the mold and
cured for the same length of time (i.e., 3 days or maybe 7 days—
just be consistent). A simple procedure for testing the strength
of concrete could be applied as follows. The set up is shown in
Figure 8.1.
2. Secure each sample with a “C” clamp 2 in. in from the edge of a
table. On the end of the sample suspended over the edge of the
table, add a device (basket or hanger) from which weights can be
added.
3. Obtain weights of approximately the same mass. Weights could
be small blocks of concrete you can make and weigh or blocks of
metal weighing approximately the same.
4. Add weights one at a time to the basket until the sample breaks.
5. In your journal, record the weight necessary for failure to occur.
Composite Experiments
Instructor Notes
Reliability
All these experiments work well. Some experiments may require
several trials if they have never been tried before.
Teacher Tips
1. These experiments help familiarize students with the processes
and materials used to make common composites.
2. The experiments demonstrate the relationship among materials,
weight, design of structure, and cost by taking students through
building and testing different materials, doing a simple and crude
strength-to-weight comparison, or a cost analysis of material types.
3. The experiments can also be highly detailed exercises in build-
ing and testing several identically sized test samples exposed to
identical test conditions (See Young’s Modulus Testing of Beams).
Students can observe vastly differing results because of different
material characteristics, even though objects are built to the same
design. To accurately test materials this way, it is important that
dimensions of each sample be identical.
4. Good examples exist of cross-linkage, types of fiber orientation,
matrix formation, and stress/strain matrix curves in the Jacobs’
textbook.
5. Epoxy curing time can be decreased by heating the epoxy in a
furnace. Do not overheat the epoxy; it will burn. A suggested
temperature of 50°C will dramatically decrease the curing time.
6. Fantastic household cleaner is an excellent substitute for cleaning
sticky epoxy messes. We recommend this product (over acetone)
because acetone has some health hazards associated with it.
7. Honeycomb is a difficult product to obtain. Boeing Surplus in
Seattle, Washington, has been the main supply source. Contact
a mentor teacher or PNL staff if additional material is needed.
8. Kevlar is made from fibers that are strong and thin. Special
ceramic scissors from Jensen Tools, Inc. (See Vendor List in
Appendix) are needed to effectively cut the fabric. These scis-
sors are quite spendy. Use only as directed by manufacturer.
9. Tacky tape (zinc chromate) for the honeycomb composite project
(#4) is supplied by Schnee-Morehead, Inc. (See Vendor List in
Appendix). Some teachers have used molding clay with success.
Group A
1a Fiberglass cloth with epoxy resin hand laminated
1b Fiberglass mat with epoxy resin hand laminated
1c Fiberglass cloth with epoxy resin vacuum bagged
1d Fiberglass mat with epoxy resin vacuum bagged
1e Fiberglass cloth with epoxy resin hydraulic press
1f Fiberglass mat with epoxy resin hydraulic press
Group B
2b Kevlar with epoxy resin hand laminated
2b Kevlar with epoxy resin vacuum bagged
2c Kevlar with epoxy resin hydraulic press
Group C
3a Honeycombed composite with hand laminated
glass cloth
3b Honeycombed composite with vacuum bagged
glass cloth
3c Honeycombed composite with hydraulic press
glass cloth
Group D
4a Honeycombed composite with hand laminated
Kevlar cloth
4b Honeycombed composite with vacuum bagged
Kevlar cloth
4c Honeycombed composite with hydraulic press
Kevlar cloth
Materials
• Fiberglass
• Epoxy resin (two-part kit)
• Paper measuring cup, 4-6 oz
• Brush (1 in.)
• Polyethylene, 8 x 36 in. (clear plastic bags)
• Acetone or Fantastic
• Tongue depressor or disposable stirring sticks
• Eye dropper
• Plastic gloves
• Wax paper or plastic for table cover
Procedure
1. Cut five to six 3- to 4-cm x 30- to 40-cm fiberglass strips (mats) with
scissors. Weigh the batch of strips to be used in the composite.
2. Approximately 2 oz of epoxy resin is needed for this experiment.
Follow the directions on the back of the resin can, measuring the
ingredients into a paper cup. Thoroughly mix contents with tongue
depressor for 3-5 min.
3. Place polyethylene sheet on table top to protect the table.
4. Pour a small amount of resin onto the polyethylene surface.
Note: resin does not stick to polyethylene. Spread to 4- x 40-cm
area with brush.
5. Place one fiberglass 3 to 4-cm x 30 to 40-cm mat onto the resin.
6. Dip brush into resin. Paint the resin into the fiberglass mat by
gently stroking the brush over the fiberglass. Begin brushing in
the middle, and stroke toward the outer edges. The fiberglass will
absorb the previously poured resin. Apply only enough resin with
the brush to saturate the fiberglass.
7. Place second fiberglass mat (dull side up) onto the first layer.
Apply resin with brush, working from the center out to prevent air
bubbles. Add only enough resin with the brush to wet or saturate
the fiberglass.
8. Repeat process with each additional fiberglass laminate.
9. Upon completion, place brush into empty cup.
10. Cover the fiberglass laminate with a polyethylene sheet. Apply a
flat weight (i.e., books, wood, or metal slab).
11. Observe the contents of the cup and brush to verify that the resin
is curing. The cup will feel warm from an exothermic reaction that
is taking place. An odor will be increasingly noticeable as a chem-
ical reaction occurs.
12. Clean the brush with acetone or Fantastic. Discard the cup and
clean the table top if necessary.
13. Let the composite cure until rigid.
14. Take a final weight of the composite.
Extension Activities
1. Test the sample by breaking it. Determine the force necessary for
the composite to break.
2. Make additional samples of this same composite using more
epoxy. Be sure to weigh the fiberglass before and after making
the sample. Test the sample as in 1 above. Record observations
and test results in your journal. Also be sure to record any differ-
ences in processing the materials (i.e., change in size of fiber-
glass mats, seepage of epoxy from mat, etc.). Does additional
epoxy strengthen the composite?
Materials
• Kevlar
• Epoxy resin (two-part kit)
• Paper measuring cup, 4-6 oz
• Brush, 1 in.
• Ceramic blade scissors
• Polyethylene 8 x 36 in. (clear plastic bags)
• Acetone or Fantastic
• Tongue depressor or disposable stirring stick
• Eye dropper
• Plastic gloves
• Wax paper or plastic for table top cover
Procedure
1. Follow the same procedure used in Project 1, but use Kevlar
instead of fiberglass.
2. Kevlar is very difficult to cut with conventional scissors. Ask your
teacher for ceramic scissors to cut the Kevlar fabric.
Materials
• Fiberglass
• Epoxy resin (two-part kit)
• Hydraulic press with a minimum 3-in. x 12-in. pressure loading
surface area
• Paper measuring cup, 4-6 oz
• Brush, 1 in.
• Polyethylene, 8 x 36 in. (clear plastic bags)
• Acetone or Fantastic
• Tongue depressor or disposable stir stick
• Eye dropper
• Plastic gloves
• Wax paper or plastic for table cover
Procedure
1. Prepare mats as in Project 1, using fiberglass and epoxy resin. Be
sure to weigh the batch of mats before applying the epoxy.
2. Cover the laminate (your composite matrix) with a polyethylene
sheet. Place the laminate on a 3-in. x 12-in. metal plate and cover
with a matching metal plate.
3. Place the plates in the hydraulic press and apply enough pressure
to force the excess resin from the composite. It would be wise to
have a catch basin of aluminum foil or plastic to catch any resin
that might run over the edge of the pressure plates as the resin is
extruded by the pressure.
4. Let the composite cure.
5. Clean the brush with acetone or Fantastic. Discard the cup and
clean the table top if necessary.
6. Trim excess resin from the edges of the composite.
7. Weigh the composite after it has been peeled from the polyethyl-
ene cover.
8. A comparison can be made at this point of the amount of resin it
takes to make a hand-laminated composite versus a pressure-
compressed composite.
Materials
• 3-5 mil polyethylene sheet (20 x 20 in.)
• Zinc chromate tape (tacky tape) or clay
• Honeycomb
• Fiberglass cloth
• Epoxy resin (two-part kit)
• Osnamburg-bleeder cloth (throw-away fabric to absorb excess resin)
• Paper cup
• Stir stick
• Paint brush, 1 in. wide
• Perforated Teflon or perforated polyethylene
• Silicone mold release
Equipment
• Aluminum vacuum plate
• Vacuum pump
Note
1. Use a minimum of the epoxy resin on the fiberglass as the resin
will bleed out as a vacuum is applied.
2. Cover vacuum hole in aluminum plate with a gauze pad or folded
bleeder cloth to prevent resin from plugging vacuum pump/line.
Procedure
1. Apply silicone mold release to an aluminum plate (see Figure 8.2).
Rub or spray on silicone, and gently wipe off excess. Silicone pre-
vents the composite from sticking to the plate.
2. Cut polyethylene sheet at least 2 in. larger than the honeycomb
piece to be made or processed.
18
18 in.
in.
1/4
1/4in.
in. diam.
diam.
copper
copper
tubing
tubing Aluminum Plate
Aluminum Plate
18 in.
18 in.
Threaded
Threaded
1/4 in. thickness
1/4 in.
Fitting thickness
Fitting
3. Cut four pieces of fiberglass 1 in. larger than the honeycomb piece.
4. Mix resin and catalyst at appropriate ratio, as instructions direct.
5. Place fiberglass cloth onto polyethylene sheet, and carefully work
resin into cloth with a 1-in. brush, from the center to outer edges.
6. Repeat for second layer of fiberglass, working resin in with brush.
7. Place honeycomb onto fiberglass.
8. Place next layer of fiberglass cloth on top of the honeycomb.
9. Repeat steps 5 and 6, working resin into fiberglass.
10. Lay perforated plastic or Teflon on top of final fiberglass layer.
11. Place bleeder cloth over the composite laminate.
12. Apply zinc chromate tape (tacky tape) around outer edge of
aluminum vacuum plate. This creates an air-tight barrier.
13. Cover with polyethylene sheet being careful that a seal is formed
as the polyethylene contacts the tacky tape.
14. Pull a vacuum of 20 in. of mercury on the vacuum plate until
laminate has cured.
15. Shut off the vacuum, and unwrap composite from vacuum appara-
tus. You now have a honeycomb composite material.
16. Discard materials that cannot be reused.
17. Check for defects where epoxy did not laminate the honeycomb
and fiberglass skin. It may take several tries to obtain a well-
laminated composite.
Reliability
These demonstrations work well.
Teacher Tips
1. The experiment outlined is designed for minimal expense per con-
cept learned. If students are interested in exploring the capabilities
of different reinforcement fibers, such materials as Fiberglass
cloth, woven Kevlar, or woven graphite fibers can all be used to
make additional beams that can be evaluated by the cantilever
beam test (see Young’s Modulus Testing of Beams). Additionally,
other fabrication techniques such as vacuum bagging may be
used to achieve better bonding while using even less epoxy. To
save on supplies and time, the instructor may wish to prepare
demonstration beams using the more exotic materials rather than
having each student make all the beams. These demo beams
may then be measured nondestructively for stiffness using the
cantilever beam apparatus.
Prerequisite: The student should understand the concept of
Young’s modulus of elasticity, a measure of a material’s stiffness.
The Jacob’s textbook is a reference for this information.
Demonstration
The following two demonstrations are a lead-in to the next activity.
Procedure
Demonstration 1:
1. With a dark ink marker, draw on one face of a foam-rubber beam
evenly spaced (i.e., 1 cm) lines (Figure 8.3).
2. Demonstrate by bending the foam rubber beam that the initially
parallel lines get farther apart on one side (the tensile side) and
closer together on the other side (the compressive side, see
Figure 1).
3. Introduce the concept of stressed-skin composites by stating that
a strong and stiff material, if attached to these faces, will provide
substantial reinforcement to the structure by resisting such tensile
or compressive forces.
Before Bending
Tension
Compression
Bent
Demonstration 2:
Bend precut pieces of polyurethane foam insulation (8 cm x 8 cm x
30-40 cm) with vertical lines 1-cm apart on all 8-cm faces. Students
will soon note that the beam is not very stiff and will not bend very
far before breaking.
Materials
• Foam rubber beam about 8 cm x 8 cm x 30 cm, with vertical lines
on all of the 8-cm faces
• Polystyrene or polyurethane insulating foam, cut into 3 x 3 x 18 cm
strips
• Heavy paper such as construction paper
• Waxed paper or polyethylene
• Slow-setting (>3 h) non-allergenic epoxy resin, curable at room
temperature
Equipment
• Cantilever beam-loading device (See Young’s Modulus Testing of
Beams in this section)
• Known weights of about 100 g
• Dial-gauge indicator capable of measuring to 0.025 mm (although
most will measure in thousandths of an inch)
• Calculator
Procedure
1. Prepare stressed-skin composites as follows: leave one beam as
is; bond one 3 x 18 cm face of a second beam with construction
paper; bond both 3 x 18 cm faces of a third beam with construc-
tion paper; make the fourth beam the same as the third, but make
an intentional disbond by placing a piece of waxed paper or
polyethylene 3 cm x 6 cm at the midpoint of one of its paper-
reinforced faces. To achieve the best possible bond, use minimal
epoxy, but be certain of complete coverage. Weight the beams
Material E, GPa
Aluminum 69
Steel 207
Many solid polymers 3
Glass 69
Note: 1 GPa = 109 Pa.
Materials
• Prepared sample or beam
Equipment
• Apparatus for testing Young’s Modulus (Figure 8.5)
• Dial indicator
• Support for dial indicator
• Weights
• Calculator
Procedure
1. Clamp material (test specimen or sample) to be tested to the
upright 2 x 4 in. wood beam.
2. Adjust the dial indicator so it just touches the bottom of the
specimen or sample.
3. Zero the dial indicator.
4. Place 50-g weight into paper cup placed on top of the specimen
(see Figure 8.5).
5. Record deflection of dial indicator.
6. Continue adding weights if desired to get measurable deflection.
7. Calculate Young’s Modulus using the following equation:
Young’s Modulus (in Pascals, Pa) = 4(98) WL3/DBH3
where W = weight in g; L = unsupported length of sample in cm;
D = deflection of unsupported sample in cm; B = width of sample
in cm; H = height of sample in cm; and 98 = conversion factor to
change g/cm2 to Pascals, the international unit for elastic modulus.
Paper Cup
Clamp
Specimen H
Dial
Indicator
2x4
(wood)
Steel Base
Base (Wood)
Airfoils
Instructor Notes
Reliability
This experiment will work well. The airfoils produced will have measur-
able lift and give measurable differences in weight to strength ratios
for the various airfoil designs.
Teacher Tips
1. Balsa sheets are available from hobby supply stores and some
scientific supply catalogs. Total cost for this activity is approxi-
mately $200.00 for a class of 25 students.
2. Transparent polyester (monokote) is available from model air-
plane hobby shops.
3. The glue to bond the balsa is cyanoacrylate (Superglue). Common
brands used in model airplane building are Zap and Hot Stuff.
4. The special iron designed for use in model construction and the
high-temperature heat gun used in model construction are avail-
able from hobby stores.
5. The various parts of the wing are illustrated and labeled for orien-
tation in Figure 8.6. Figure 8.7 gives the actual size for the airfoil
used in the project. If you wish to do a larger or smaller version of
the airfoil, it can be enlarged or reduced on a photocopier.
6. In testing the airfoil, the free-end length needs to be carefully meas-
ured as load deflection is a cube function. Figure 8.8 shows a
possible test system.
7. When students are testing airfoils for failure, it is wise to check the
approximate distance they have placed their weighing container
from the floor: If the container is placed more than 5 cm from the
supporting surface, the airfoil will be totally destroyed when it fails.
Materials
• Balsa wood, sheet 1/16 in. x 3 in. x 36 in. (36)
• Balsa wood leading edge 3/8 in. x 5/16 in. x 36 in. (18)
• Balsa trailing edge 1/8 in. x 3/4 in. x 36 in. (16)
• Balsa 1/8 in. x 1/4 in. x 36 in. (12)
• Spruce 1/8 in. x 1/4 in. x 36 in. (9)
• Bicarbonate of soda, Na2HCO3 (baking soda)
• Transparent polyester covering material, Monokote or equivalent
(2 sq yd)
• Glue, cyanoacrylate (Zap or Hot Stuff)
• Wax paper
• Sand paper, 150 grit
• Strong string or duct tape
Equipment
• T head pins (1 box)
• Heat gun (high temperature) used in model construction
• Electric iron, designed for model construction
• Plastic or cloth bag (or plastic pail)
• Meter stick
• Steel templates, cut to Clark Y airfoil shape, with notches for spars
• X-Acto knives or equivalent hobby knives with straight point blades
• 60 x 120 cm fibrous ceiling tile, flat finish (building board)
• Trays (6), approximately 5 x 15 cm long for sodium carbonate
• Vacuum cleaner with brush
Procedure
1. Use Table 8.2 to select the balsa and/or spruce your group will
use to construct the airfoil. Cut the pieces slightly larger than the
templates from the 1.6 mm (1/16 in.) sheets of balsa. Drill holes in
the balsa to accommodate the posts of the template.
Table 8.2.
Variation Description
BW Ribs 6 cm apart, balsa spars
BN Ribs 3 cm apart, balsa spars
BWS Ribs 6 cm apart, balsa spars, shear webs
SW Ribs 6 cm apart, spruce spars
SN Ribs 3 cm apart, spruce spars
SWS Ribs 6 cm apart, spruce spars, shear webs
BW = balsa with wide spars; BN = balsa with narrow spars; BWS = balsa with
shear webs; SW = spruce with wide spars; SN = spruce with narrow spars;
SWS = spruce with shear webs
11. Apply the cyanoacrylate to the junction of the spar and rib. The
bond will secure this junction in 2 to 3 seconds.
12. Set the top spar securely in place, and apply cyanoacrylate to the
joints.
13. Pin leading edge and trailing edge in place. Under the leading
edge, use a 3-mm (1/8-in.) shim to hold it up, since the airfoil is
not quite flat.
14. Bond with cyanoacrylate.
15. If shear webs are to be attached to the spars, cut the webs so the
grain of the wood is perpendicular to the building board, then bond
to the front and back surfaces of the top spar with cyanoacrylate.
16. Remove the wing, turn it over, and then bond the bottom spar and
shear webs together with cyanoacrylate.
17. The outer ribs on each end of the wing need to be strengthened
to prevent warpage as the wing-covering material shrinks. To
strengthen each end rib, glue a piece of scrap spar material onto
the outer ribs.
18. Carefully sand the wing as necessary. Use a vacuum cleaner with
brush to remove dust. Set aside wing while you prepare the trans-
parent polyester covering material.
19. Cut a piece of covering approximately 1 cm larger on all sides
than the wing. Follow manufacture’s instructions for applying the
cover-ing, first tacking it in place using an iron, then use a heat
gun to shrink the film.
Testing
1. Record the weight of each wing to be tested for strength and
stiffness.
2. Using a clamp that fits the shape of the airfoil’s top profile, fasten
the wing to the edge of the workbench, allowing approximately
35 cm of the airfoil to hang free like a cantilever (see Figure 8.8).
Because the deflection under load is a cube function, the free
length should be carefully controlled.
3. Suspend a container (plastic or cloth bag or small plastic pail) from
the top spar using a strong string or duct tape. Weight will be added
to the container that will cause deflection. This container should
be about 5 cm from the floor. Can you think of a reason why?
4. Using a meter stick fixed to the base, measure the distance to
the nearest millimeter from the lower wing surface to the floor.
5. Place weights in the suspended container until a defection of
1 cm is attained.
6. Weigh the container and weights, and record the value in your
journal.
Making Paper
Instructor Notes
Reliability
This lab works very well with any plant material. However, it is not
recommended that students use wood as it takes too long and can be
hard on the blender. Leaves, straw, rice, and grasses work well. You
may want to experiment and use cardboard, used paper, construction
paper, or blue jeans in making paper.
Teacher Tips
1. Using the borates for pulping is much safer than using sodium
hydroxide. All work well however. Care should be taken when
heating so the solution does not boil over. The solution is hot
and caustic. If students get splashed, rinse off immediately.
2. Screen door screen works well for the deckle (screen). Do not
use fiberglass screen as it is too flexible.
3. The size of the screen is not important. Use a size that will fit in
the tray you will use to hold the pulp mixture.
4. Often the pulp sticks to screen a little, a gentle pry at a corner
will release the pulp from the screen.
5. When ironing the paper, turn the cloth over to speed drying. The
cloth will come off easier if the paper is not dried to a crisp.
6. Stopping at any point where indicated will not change the end
results. This lab can be done over several weeks, if the need arises.
7. For students who want to go farther, they can add potassium alum
to make the paper waterproof or add a piece of thin wire or thread
to the screen before pressing to make water-marked paper.
8. To get a whiter paper, the pulp can be bleached with ordinary
household bleach. Simply add about 50 mL of bleach to the
mixture after boiling and before blending. Allow to set overnight.
Rinse bleach out the next day, and then continue with the pulping
operation.
9. Paper is made from cellulose fibers. Although many different
types of plants are used to produce paper in the United States,
most paper is made from trees.
10. The Egyptians used papyrus to create the first paper-like writing
surface. Paper as we know it today was probably invented in
China. Papermaking was for centuries a slow and difficult pro-
cess. In the early 1800s, the continuous roll method of making
paper was developed so paper could be mass produced.
11. Recycled paper is now being used to create “new” paper. Waste
paper is dumped into a large mixing machine called a pulper pit.
Here the paper is mixed with water, heated, and becomes “pulp.”
The pulp is forced through screens of smaller and smaller mesh
to remove foreign objects. To remove the ink the pulp goes
through several tanks where it is bleached to form a white pulp.
Paper that is not “de-inked” is considered “minimum impact
paper”. The bleached, cleaned pulp is spread on large rolls of
screen and is pressed and dried to form paper.
12. References: Burdette, Conway and Ernst. 1988. The Manufacture
of Pulp and Paper: Science and Engineering Concepts, Tappi
Press; American Paper Institute. 1972. The Statistics of Paper,
New York.
Materials
For making pulp:
• Dried plant material
• Cheese cloth
• String
• Pulping chemical (borax or sodium borate, sodium pyroborate,
sodium tetraborate, or sodium hydroxide)
• Red litmus
For making paper:
• Pulp
• Wire screen (screen door screen 10 cm x 10 cm or to fit tray)
• Masking tape or plastic tape
• Plastic tray (for wire screen to fit into)
• Cookie sheet
• Sponges
• Pieces of cloth (cotton is best)
• Blocks of wood to fit wire screen
• Micropipette
• Spatula
• Stirring rod
• Electric iron - to be shared
• Chemical goggles
Equipment
• Balance
• Scissors
• Hot plate or other source of heat
• 600 mL beaker or suitable container
Cheesecloth • Blender
Cheesecloth
Procedure
1. Preparing the plant material: Cut two pieces of cheesecloth into
25-cm x 25-cm squares. Lay one piece of cheesecloth on the other.
Cut the dried plant material into the center of the cheesecloth.
Make the pieces less than 1 cm in length. Gather the cheesecloth
to make a large “tea bag” with the cut plant material inside. Write
your name on a tag and attach to a string to identify your tea bag.
(You may stop at this point if time runs out)
2. Boiling: Place your tea bag in the 600-mL beaker. Add enough warm
water in 100-mL increments to cover your “tea bag.” Add 10 g of
pulping chemical for each 100 mL of water you used. (Note if you
are using sodium hydroxide use 5 g for each 100 mL of water used.)
Place the beaker on the hot plate. Adjust heat to gently boil the
contents for 45 min to 1 hour. Add hot water as the water in the
beaker boils away. If time allows, boiling can continue for several
Cheesecloth Bag
Cheesecloth Bag
hours. (Note: Boiling plant material in pulping chemical creates a
smell some people find unpleasant. Do this activity in a well-
ventilated area.)
(You may stop at this point if time runs out. Just leave the tea bag
in the beaker with the pulping chemical. Turn off the heat!)
AA
AA
3. Washing: Carry the beaker carefully to a sink. Turn on the cold
AA
water, and empty the beaker into the sink. Note the color of the
liquid. Fill the beaker with cold water and dip your “tea bag” in and
out of the water several times. Empty the pot. Refill the beaker
with water and repeat dipping process. Continue to wash your “tea
bag” in this manner until the water rinse is uncolored. Test a few
drops of this water with red litmus paper. Wash your “tea bag”
Cold Water until the rinse water will not turn red litmus blue. When the litmus
Litmus
Litmus stays red you have removed all the pulping chemical.
Paper
Paper
(You can stop at this point. You can store your rinsed tea bag in a
tightly sealed container at room temperature for a day or two.
Refrigerate if storage is for a longer period.)
4. Pulping: Squeeze your “tea bag” to press out most of the water.
Cut open the bag. Put a handful of your plant material into a food
blender (save the rest in a covered container). Add 20 to 30 mL of
water, and place the cover on the blender. Turn on the blender for
about 10 sec. If the blender does not mix the material smoothly,
turn it off. Add another 20 mL of water and try again. Continue
adding water until the mixture blends smoothly. Blend for 1 min at
medium speed. Stop the blender and look carefully at the pulp.
Blend for another minute and look at the pulp again. Continue
until the pulp stops changing in appearance. You now have pulp
to make paper. Pour your pulp into a storage container; put a lid
on it.
(You may stop here. Pulp can be stored at room temperature for
a day or two or in the refrigerator for several weeks.)
5. Making paper:
A. Making a screen
There are several ways to add an edge to the screen. These
edges make it easier to remove the paper from the screen later.
AAA
Your screen can be used over and over again. The easiest way is
to place masking tape all the way around the four edges of your
AAA
screen.
AAA
Screen
Screen B. Loading the screen
AAA
AAA
Cake
CakePan
Pan Soak the sponge and the pieces of cloth in water. Squeeze out as
much water as you can, then place the sponge on the cookie sheet.
Just before you begin, plug in the iron and turn it on medium heat.
Pour 1 to 2 cm of water into the plastic tray. Add some of your
pulp to the water. Stir the mixture well to separate the fibers of the
Pulp Mixture
Pulp Mixture
pulp. Add pulp until the mixture is a little too thick to see through.
Slide the wire screen into the pulp mixture from one end, and let it
rest on the bottom. Do not drop the screen in the mixture as it will
trap the fiber below the screen. Move the screen around and stir
AAAAAA
Screen
Screenwith Pulp
With Pulp
On Top
on Top up the mixture to get an even layer of pulp above the screen. Lift
AA
AAAAAA Sponge
Sponge
the screen out of the pan, and place it on the damp sponge. The
AA
AAAAAA
AAAAAAA pulp side should be up. Use your finger to push any tufts of pulp
AAAAAAA
AAAAAA
AAAAA
that hang over the border of the screen onto the open meshwork.
This will make it easier to pull the paper off the screen later. Check
Cookie
Cookie SheetSheet
the pulp visually for bare spots. Use a micropipette to add a few
drops of undiluted pulp to fill in any bare spots.
C. Pressing the pulp
Wood
Wood
Place a piece of damp cloth over the pulp on the screen. Place a
Screen
Screen
with
on Top
Pulp
With Pulp AAAAA
AAAAAA
AAAAAA
AAAAA
AA
AAAAA
Felt
Felt
Sponge
Sponge
block of wood over the cloth. Press down on the wood as hard as
you can to squeeze most of the water out of the pulp. Lift off the
AAAAAA
AA
AAAAA
On Top
block of wood, and set it aside. Lift the sandwich of cloth, pulp,
AA
AAAAA Cookie
Cookie Sheet Sheet
and screen off the sponge. Turn the sandwich over so the screen
is on top. Lift one corner of the screen so you can see the pulp.
Use a thin spatula (or the blade of a knife) to peel the sheet of
pulp off the screen. Work slowly and carefully. Don’t worry if you
tear the sheet of pulp. To repair tears, use a micropipette to put
Cloth
Cloth a few drops of pulp mixture over any tears.
D. Drying the paper
Pulp
Pulp
Cover the sheet of pulp with another sheet of damp cloth. Iron this
Wood
Wood sandwich (cloth, pulp, cloth) until it is completely dry. You may
Cloth
Cloth
turn the sandwich over once or twice as you are ironing to speed
drying. When the sandwich is completely dry, carefully peel the
two pieces of cloth away from the paper. Examine the paper that
you have made.
(You can make as many sheets of paper as time permits now.
Just remember to add undiluted pulp as you remove more sheets
of pulp.)
Cloth
Cloth
Pulp
Pulp
Cloth
Cloth Extension Activities
Wood
Wood
1. Compare different types of paper (look at fibers under a micro-
scope).
2. Research the current technology being used to recycle paper and
produce “new” paper.
Cloth 3. What is dioxin? Why is/could it be a problem? How is it used in
papermaking?
Paper
Paper
Cloth
Cloth 4. What do wasps have to do with the topic of paper?
5. What is a watermark? Create your own paper that has your own
watermark.
6. Investigate the history of rice paper.
7. Create masks using paper.
8. Use various materials to create paper, or add flowers or fabric to
your pressed pulp to make designs.
Peanut Brittle
Instructor Notes
Reliability
This activity works well if directions are followed, but success will vary.
It is an excellent activity before winter break.
Teacher Tips
1. This lab’s origin is unknown, but it is a well-known and much
appreciated (delicious) experience.
2. It is important that you protect the students and yourself from
harmful chemicals by
• making sure the equipment is clean (beakers, thermometer,
stirring rod). Purchase and dedicate the equipment for only
this lab. You don’t want contamination. Washing and sterilizing
equipment at the end of the lab and storing it for next year will
help ensure cleanliness.
• making sure the materials are new and fresh
sucrose is table sugar
glucose is corn syrup
mixed esters are margarine
protein pellets are peanuts
sodium bicarbonate is baking soda
4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde is vanilla
(artificial OK, real is better)
3. Students may over heat the sugar solution and burn it (Yuk!).
4. When adding vanilla and baking soda, the beaker should be held
with a hot pad.
5. It is recommended that raw spanish peanuts be used, but this is
definitely not necessary. They cook as the brittle is formed.
Safety
1. Be careful of flames and hot surfaces, burns are possible.
2. If glass rods or thermometers break, discard the batch.
3. Do not use mercury thermometers.
Materials
• Sucrose, 75 g
• Glucose, 3M, 60 g
• Water, 20 mL
• Mixed esters, 19 g
• Protein pellets, Spanish, 50 g
• Sodium bicarbonate, 4 g
• 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde, 1.0 mL
• Paper towels, 30 cm x 30 cm
• Plastic cup (5), 3 oz.
• Aluminum foil, 30 cm x 30 cm
Equipment
• Safety glasses
• Beaker, 400 mL
• Beaker tongs
• Stirring rod
• Bunsen burner/hot plate
• Ring stand and ring
• Wire gauze (ceramic centered)
• Graduated cylinder, 25 mL
• Thermometer (candy)
• Scale/balance
Procedure
1. Clean laboratory. Wipe down balance/scale and areas surround-
ing it with a damp cloth. Wash any other surfaces that will be use
for this experiment. Wash your hands too!
2. Keep an accurate record of the process you followed in your
laboratory journal.
3. Weigh out 75 g of sucrose into a plastic cup.
4. Weigh out 60 g of 3M glucose solution into a plastic cup.
5. Measure out 20 mL of water into a plastic cup, using graduated
cylinder.
6. To a 400-mL beaker add steps 1-3.
7. Heat this mixture of saccarides slowly. Stir constantly. Bring to a
boil. Use as cool a flame or heat that will maintain boiling. Avoid
burning the saccarides.
Note: Never stir solution with your thermometer; always use a
stirring rod.
8. Weigh out 7 g of solidified mixed esters in a plastic cup. Add 6 g
of the solidified mixed esters to the boiling glucose-sucrose solu-
tion. Take the remaining 1 g of solidified mixed esters, and lightly
coat a 30-cm square of aluminum foil.
9. Continue to heat and stir. Use beaker tongs to stabilize the beaker
while stirring.
10. Weigh out 50 g of Spanish protein pellets on a piece of 30-cm-
square paper towel.
11. When the temperature reaches 138°C, add the Spanish protein
pellets (containing arachin, conarchin, and oleic-linoleic glycerides.)
12. Continue to stir.
13. Weigh out 4 g of NaHCO3 into a plastic cup.
14. In a 25 mL graduated cylinder, put 1.0 mL of 4-hydroxy-3-
methoxybenzaldehyde.
15. Prepare a pad by folding a paper towel into fourths.
16. When the temperature reaches 154°C, remove the beaker from
the heat source. Place the beaker on the paper pad near the
aluminum foil. Remove the thermometer.
17. While one partner holds the beaker and is prepared to stir, the
other adds the 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde and NaHCO3.
18. Stir vigorously. When the rising mixture slows, pour the mixture
on to the aluminum foil.
19. When the mixture has cooled, break up the new product, submit
a small sample for judging, and consume the rest at will.
20. Thoroughly clean all equipment and the laboratory; remember,
this experiment is edible, so make sure to clean all equipment
so the next group can use it. Dispose of paper towel and plastic
cups.
21. Finish writing observations in your journal. Write a summary report
of this lab to include generic terms for ingredients and the product
you made.
Vocabulary—Composites*
Advanced composites
Cermets
Composites
Curing
E-glass
Fatigue
Fiber
Filament
Carbon black
Epoxy
Laminated composites
Sandwich composites
Glass fibers
Kevlar
Laminate
Matrix
Nondestructive evaluation
Pre Preg
S-glass
Whisker
Specific stiffness
Other Contributors
In addition to the major sponsoring organizations, many individuals
from industries, businesses, laboratories, professional societies, and
academic institutions have contributed information, material samples,
ideas for demonstrations and experiments, handouts, financial sup-
port, advice, and recommendations and encouragement. Among them
are the following.
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory; Larry McClure
(Director, Education and Work Program)
Washington Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction;
David Kennedy, Director of Curriculum; Jay Woods and Buck Evans,
Vocational Technical Education
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Washington State Curriculum Directors Association
Washington State School Directors Association
National Association for Science, Technology, and Society
American Ceramic Society
Society of Plastic Engineers
Washington Technology Education Association
Associated Western Universities
Washington MESA, Mathematics, Engineering and Science
Achievement; Patricia MacGowan, Director
American Society of Materials (ASM) International
American Chemical Society
Stained Glass Association of America
Institute of Electronics Engineers, Glass Industry Committee
Frey Scientific
905 Hickory Lane
P.O. Box 8101
Mansfield, OH 44901-8101
1-800-225-3739
Gesswein
1540 West Glen Oaks Blvd.
Suite 104
Glendale, CA 91201
1-800-232-2311
IASCO
5724 West 36th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55416-2594
1-800-328-4827
Fax (612) 920-2947
Lindberg
275 Aikens Road
Asheville, NC 28804
1-800-438-4851
(Replacement furnace parts only)
Rex-Roto
5600 East Grand River
Fowlerville, Michigan 48836
(517) 223-3787
(Source of GH board for furnace—minimum order $100)
Rio Grande
6901 Washington N.E.
Albuquerque, NM 87109
1-800-545-6566
Sargent-Welch
911 Commerce Court
Buffalo Grove, IL 60089
1-800-727-4368
Fax 1-800-676-2540
Schnee-Morehead, Inc.
111 N. Nursery
Irving, Texas 75060
(214) 438-9111
(Supplier of Tacky tape – minimum order $250)
Swest
26017 Huntington Lane #F
Olencia, CA 91355
1-800-527-5057
Vesuvius-McDaniel Company
P.O. Box 560
Beaver Falls, PA 15010
(412) 843-8300
(Source of alumina rod—minimum order $150)
Vigor
Habsons Jewelry Supply
1424 Fourth Ave., Suite 303, Fourth & Pike Bldg.
Seattle, WA 98101
1-800-678-7759
Note:
A. Silica may be picked up cheaply at local art supply stores
B. Materials for vacuum bagging are not readily available. One
possible source is Molen Co., Inc., 22651 83rd Ave. S. Kent,
WA, (206) 872-6877
C. Stainless steel molds are not very common, but local metal
working shops are possible. A source is Alaskan Copper &
Brass, 3223 6th Ave. S, Seattle, WA 98134 (206) 623-5800.
They have
• 1 in. square stainless bar in 12 ft sections (41 lb) at $3.06/lb
• 1/4 in. round rod in 12 ft sections (2 lbs) at $3.28/lb
• 1/2 in. stainless plate at 22 lb/ft2 for $1.70/lb plus cutting
(minimum cutting charge is $18)
Printed Materials
Possible Texts
Ellis, A.B., M.J. Geselbracht, B.J. Johnson, G.C. Lisensky, and W.R.
Robinson. 1993. Teaching General Chemistry: A Materials Science
Companion. American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C.
McCabe and Bauer. 1964. “Metals, Atoms and Alloys.” NSTA, Vistas
of Science, No. 9. Washington, D.C.
Journals
Boyer, H., and T. Gall, eds. 1985. Metal Handbook. American Society
of Materials, Materials Park, Ohio.
Boyd, D.C., and D.A. Thompson. 1980. Glass. Corning Glass Works,
New York. Reprinted from Kirk-Othmer: Encyclopedia of Chemical
Technology, Volume II, 3rd Edition.
Kudar, L. Clock Making for the Woodworker. Tab Books Inc., Blue
Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania.
Additional Resources
Gauger, R.C. 1990. "Chem Tech and Physics Tech: Parallel Teaching
Strategies." The Science Teacher. December
Hays, I.D. 1993. “Twisting the Dragon’s Tail.” MRS Bulletin, Decem-
ber, pp. 68-69.
Fortenberry, R. 1987. “Leaders for Writing Know the Whys, Hows, and
Dos.” The Clearing House, vol. 61, October, pp. 60-62.
Business Resources
The following businesses have supported the MST program with free
information.
ALCOA
Spokane, Washington
(509) 663-9278
Publication:Company Brochures
Bethlehem Steel
(215) 694-5906
Publication: Company Brochures
Cab-o-Sil
Cabot Corporation
Tuscola, Illinois
(800) 222-6745
Publication: Company Brochure
Product: Cab-o-sil
Corning Incorporated
Corning, New York
(607) 974-8271
Publication: Glass Brochures
Compressed Air
A Division of Ingersoll-Rand Co.
Washington, New Jersey 07882
(908) 850-7817
Publication: Compressed Air Magazine
Dow-Corning
Midland, Michigan
1-800-248-2481
Publication: Materials News
Videos
This brief list of videos have been used in the MST classroom. Many
other excellent videos may be available from your school media
center, local libraries, and local industries.
Lost Wax Casting with Kerr, order no. 260-3210 ($57.25), Gesswein,
10031 South Pioneer, Santa Fe Springs, California 90670, 1-800-949-
5480, Facsimile (310) 942-7308.
To order the space shuttle tile send a letter, like the sample below
I understand that our school can receive space shuttle tiles from your
office for educational purposes. I am sure these items would instill an
interest in science and the space program in our students. If these are
available please send them to the address below.
Thank You,
Lynn B. Jones
Principal
Lincoln Community High School
Before NASA will ship the space shuttle tile, they will call your school
principal to ensure the request is legitimate. The tile will become
school property and be used for school functions only. It generally
takes 6 to 8 weeks for the entire process to be completed. If you
encounter problems or need some questions answered call Eileen
Bellmyer at (713) 483-7965.
*Battelle Memorial Institute operates Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for the
U.S. Department of Energy.