What is Materials Mentor?

Materials Mentor is a set of 10 computer tutorials that provides a simple, highly-visual overview of topics typically covered in an introductory course on materials science and engineering. The tutorials utilize a combination of text, interactive graph ics and review questions to provide a good introduction to each topic. The tutorials are intended to be used individually by students as part of their homework assignments, to supplement the lecture and readings. Each tutorial will typically take students 30-60 minutes to review, depending on whether they read part or all of it. A clear table of contents makes it easy to jump to topics of interest


The tutorials were developed by Prof. James Adams and students at the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign to supplement traditional lectures. The tutorials proved very popular with students, and we are offering them as freeware. All we ask is that yo u send us your comments after you have had a chance to use the tutorials.

How do I go about getting Materials Mentor?

The tutorials require a Macintosh with at least 4 megs of RAM. The Windows version of the tutorials may be available in the future. Listed below are the 10 tutorials which may be downloaded individually.


Atomic Bonding

(AtomicBonding.sea.hqx 732 k) Review of the atom, primary and secondary bond types, determining the bond type, effect of bonding properties

Structure of Crystals

(Crystals.sea.hqx 924 k) Structures, densities, crystal planes, diffraction, polymorphism, defects

Structure of Polymers

(Polymers.sea.hqx 732 k) Synthesis, molecular weight, tacticity, crystallintiy, crosslinking, temperature effects

Mechanical Properites I

(MechPropI.sea.hqx 732k) Stress-strain curves, elasticity, plastic deformation in metals, ceramics and polymers, deformation mechanisms, viscoelasticity

Mechanical Properties II

(MechPropII.sea.hqx 655 k) Fracture, Fatigue, Creep

Phase Diagrams I

(PhaseDiaI.sea.hqx 616 k) Interstitial and substitutional solubility, alloys and binary phase diagrams

Phase Diagrams II

(PhaseDiaII.sea.hqx 693 k) Solid solutions, eutectics, lever law, precipitation, cooling simulations

Phase Diagrams III

(PhaseDiaIII.sea.hqx 886 k) Eutectoid (Fe-C), peritectic, peritectoid, monotectic, dendrites, cooling simulations

Phase Diagrams IV

(PhaseDiaIV.sea.hqx 770 k) Non-equilibrium cooling and coring, precipiation hardening (Al-Cu alloys), martensite

Steel Processing

(Steel.sea.hqx 655 k) Blast furnace, oxygen furnace, continuous casting, hot rolling, cold rolling

Prof. Jim Adams email jim.adams@asu.edu
Department of Chemical, Bio, and Materials Engineering
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85284
(602) 965-3316


web page created by Brad Linville (Brad.Linville@asu.edu)