21-Mat-A4 Deformation Behaviour and Properties of Materials, December 2017: worked solutions

Paper format. National Exams, December 2017 — 10-Met-A4, Structure of Materials. Three hours, closed book, one approved calculator (Casio or Sharp). Seven questions of 20 marks each (Roman numerals I–VII); the rubric asks for any five, with only the first five in the answer book marked. All seven are solved here, because this set is a study resource rather than an exam script. All necessary equations, constants and an error-function table are provided in the exam's own appendix (reproduced where used below).

Note on the exam title. The printed exam header reads 10-Met-A4, Structure of Materials. Only parts of Question VI (grain-size strengthening) touch mechanical properties directly; the paper as a whole is a broad introductory materials-science survey — electron structure, bonding, crystal structure, crystallographic planes, solid solubility, XRD, diffusion and phase diagrams — and is answered as such below.

Reference texts. The answers below are keyed to the works normally recommended for this syllabus code:

W. D. Callister and D. G. Rethwisch, Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction, 10th ed. — atomic structure and bonding (Ch. 2), crystal structure and Miller indices (Ch. 3), imperfections/solid solubility (Ch. 4), diffusion (Ch. 5), mechanical properties/Hall–Petch (Ch. 6–7), XRD (Ch. 3), phase diagrams (Ch. 9).
G. E. Dieter, Mechanical Metallurgy, 3rd ed. — grain-boundary strengthening and grain-growth kinetics.

21-Mat-A4 Deformation Behaviour and Properties of Materials: December 2017