Course syllabus for Strength of materials and material science

Course syllabus adopted 2026-02-20 by Head of Programme (or corresponding).

Overview

  • Swedish nameHållfasthetslära och materialteknik
  • CodeMEE101
  • Credits7.5 Credits
  • OwnerTKTDE
  • Education cycleFirst-cycle
  • Main field of studyIndustrial Design Engineering
  • ThemeEnvironment 1 c
  • DepartmentMECHANICAL ENGINEERING
  • GradingTH - Pass with distinction (5), Pass with credit (4), Pass (3), Fail

Course round 1

  • Teaching language Swedish
  • Application code 70121
  • Open for exchange studentsNo

Credit distribution

0126 Examination 6 c
Grading: TH		 6 c
0226 Written and oral assignments 1.5 c
Grading: UG		 1.5 c

In programmes

Examiner

Eligibility

General entry requirements for bachelor's level (first cycle)
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements

Specific entry requirements

The same as for the programme that owns the course
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements

Course specific prerequisites

MMS330 (Mechanics and strength of materials)

Aim

The course aims to provide a basic understanding, concepts, and tools for describing and evaluating a product’s load-bearing shape in interaction with the properties of different materials, to assess and judge its function in relation to service life and environmental impact.

The course addresses two (product form and material properties) of the three corners of the evaluation triangle (product form, material properties, and manufacturing methods) that require an integrated assessment to take products from functional ideas to manufacturable concepts. The course focuses on understanding the consequences of varying different parameters within two of these dimensions and their interaction.

Learning outcomes (after completion of the course the student should be able to)

L1. Explain fundamental concepts in solid mechanics and materials engineering

 1. Define stress, strain, shear, elasticity, plasticity, thermal expansion, Poisson’s ratio
 2. Describe one‑dimensional material models such as Hooke’s law, the elastic–ideal plastic model, and their areas of application

L2. Describe general stress states

 1. Explain the meaning of principal stresses and equivalent stress models, and how these are applied
 2. Explain the meaning of Hooke’s generalized law for describing the behaviour of anisotropic materials

L3. Stress concentration and fracture mechanics

 1. Explain the concepts of stress concentration and stress intensity factor, and determine these using tables

L4. Describe life‑limiting mechanisms

 1. Fatigue, buckling, brittle fracture, yielding, and identify when each mechanism dominates
 2. Describe high‑cycle fatigue, fatigue limit, and use SN‑diagrams and Haigh‑diagrams to prevent fatigue

L5. Describe different material families and their fundamental properties

 1. Describe how materials are characterized and structured—what material data is and how it is graphically compared for both the technical functionality of the material and its design‑related “personality”
 2. Describe differences and similarities between the material families and explain what enables and limits their use: metal, polymer, ceramic, glass, elastomer, and hybrid materials
 3. Explain and evaluate a material’s most important mechanical properties
i. Explain the difference between brittle and ductile materials based on the tensile test curve, and the consequences for material selection
ii. Describe standard testing for mechanical characterization and what the data is used for: tensile test, hardness test, impact test, fatigue test

L6. Perform material selection

 1. Describe the workflow in structured material selection
 2. Describe the concept of merit index and use these to perform material selection
 3. Analyse a requirement profile and use selection charts
 4. Estimate environmental consequences of different material choices in the concept phase

L7. Describe which material properties can be modified and how, and understand why a material’s properties depend both on chemical composition and on how it has been processed, for example through plastic deformation, heat treatment, or fibre reinforcement

L8. Dimension simple load‑bearing structures based on load and stiffness

 1. Be able to determine stresses and deformations in basic structural mechanical elements such as bars, shafts, and beams (elementary cases)
 2. Describe the concepts of axial stiffness, torsional stiffness, bending stiffness, and determine these for homogeneous cross‑sections and composite cross‑sections
 3. Perform rough calculations using elementary cases

L9. Assess uncertainties

 1. Identify uncertainties in data and assumptions
 2. Motivate conservative choices (true stress versus engineering stress, ideal plasticity)

L10. Perform basic FEA with industrial software

 1. Perform elastic analysis in 2D/3D and interpret results
 2. Verify the model against hand calculations and/or elementary cases

Content

The course is an introduction to strength of materials and materials engineering, including materials selection with environmental assessment in the early concept development phase.

Organisation

Lectures, tutorials, labs, computer classes, hand-in assignments.

Literature

M. Ashby, H. Sherecliff, D. Cebon: Materials engineering, science, processing and design 4 ed. Complementary literature in strength of materials will be provided on the course homepage.

Examination including compulsory elements

Written exam and hand-in assignments.
Exam, Grading TH (U,3, 4, 5) 6,0 HEC
Assignment, Grading UG 1,5 HEC

The course examiner may assess individual students in other ways than what is stated above if there are special reasons for doing so, for example if a student has a decision from Chalmers about disability study support.

Strength of materials and material science | Chalmers