Enhanced Learning of Mechanical Behavior of Materials via Combined Experiments and nanoHUB Simulations: Learning Modules
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Enhanced Learning of Mechanical Behavior of Materials via Combined Experiments and nanoHUB Simulations: Learning Modules for Sophomore MSE Students Aisling Coughlan1, David Johnson1, Heidi A. Diefes-Dux2, K. Anna Douglas2, Kendra Erk1, Tanya A. Faltens3, and Alejandro Strachan1,3 1
School of Materials Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.A. School of Engineering Education, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.A. 3 Network for Computational Nanotechnology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.A. 2
ABSTRACT Undergraduate materials engineering students have difficulty conceptualizing the atomiclevel processes responsible for plastic deformation. To aid in developing this conceptual understanding, interactive molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were introduced into the sophomore-level materials curriculum, integrating simulation with the traditional tensile testing laboratory. Students perform a tensile test using MD simulations on nanowire samples, and then compare these results with those from the physical tensile tests to develop a visual and more intuitive picture of plastic deformation of crystalline materials. INTRODUCTION Moving away from traditional modes of teaching undergraduate materials science lecture and laboratory classes, where students are often passive recipients of information, can be a challenge. One way to enhance student learning by actively involving students in the learning process is through simulation. Using simulation tools to improve students’ understanding of materials science concepts has advantages for both educators and students. For educators, simulation provides a new teaching tool to educate students without the need to implement the ‘teaching by telling’ approach that is all too common in classrooms. For the students, simulations can provide visualization of things that are generally not visible, as well as opportunities to investigate the effects of changing model input parameters, in a virtual exploration of the underlying physics. This paper outlines the use of a molecular dynamics (MD) simulation in a sophomore materials science and engineering tensile testing laboratory that introduces students to the atomic-level processes that are responsible for plastic deformation. By performing standard tensile tests on a ductile metal in conjunction with MD simulations, the goal is to help students understand the relationship between macroscopic plastic behavior, in which deformation has historically been known to proceed by shear, and the underlying atomic-level mechanisms that involve dislocation motion to facilitate slip along closely-packed planes. A challenge with incorporating a simulation tool that was designed for research in an educational environment is to ensure that students view the MD simulation as a research tool and not simply as a “black box” or a “canned” exercise. In the Materials Laboratory course (MSE 235) at Purdue University, students use standard equipment to perform experiments and measure mechanical, microstructural, t
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