Center for Advanced Materials Research

Teacher Training Program

Spring 2000

**Composite Materials - Cool Stuff
Dan Ewing

The module will be about composite materials. These are products that are made from two different materials that combine to give superior properties, such as strength and heat resistance. Examples such as graphite shaft golf clubs, fiberglass, the Space Shuttle tile, and bulletproof glass will be discussed. Many demonstrations will be done

**Another Phase that Matters- Molecules at Work!
Jose Vedrine

Nearly all secondary school students have heard about liquid crystal displays, or LCDs, because of their wristwatches or calculators, but very few know what a liquid crystal is. The module will introduce students to liquid crystals and how they are used in laptop computers. They will have the opportunity to learn some basic properties of matter, optics, and electricity. The students will learn how to apply electricity to a real liquid crystal display that they can take home, to create a series of letters and/or numbers. In addition, they will fabricate their own liquid crystal sample and apply electricity to it they will visually observe dramatic optical effects, which will be linked back to the nature of the molecules.

**Home insulation
Clyde Briant

Insulating materials are used in many ways in daily life. However, some materials are much better insulators than others because they transfer heat much less effectively. This module presents the basic principles of heat transfer, allows students to perform simple experiments to measure heat transfer, and describes the difference between heat and temperature. The module has been performed effectively at both the middle and high school level.

**Materials Processing (from spaghetti to the Space Shuttle)
Shavan Kumar

This demonstration will present an important aspect of Materials Engineering -- Materials Processing. From the giant steel columns and I-beams used in structural applications such as bridges to lightweight advanced aluminum alloys used to carry cryogenic fuels for the Space Shuttle to miniature chips used in fabricating semiconducting devices prevalent in the electronic industry, Materials Processing plays a central role., In fact, Materials Processing is vital to the economy and the well-being of a nation. In this module, several examples of Materials Processing will be highlighted, and one simple process, Extrusion, will be discussed at some length. A demonstration of extrusion of Play-Doh will illustrate the important parameters that designers use to successfully "extrude" materials. The concept itself is as simple as "squeezing tooth-paste out of a tube"!!!!

** Full Teacher Training modules are also available through Brown University's Institute for Elementary & Secondary Education Workshop "Thinking with Stuff", Spring 2000.

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