This document contains a 20 question qualifying round for the 2015 TMS Materials Bowl. The questions cover a wide range of topics in materials science including minerals, units and measurements, polymers, semiconductors, physical metallurgy, materials processing, crystallography, chemistry, mechanical behavior of materials, acronyms, the periodic table, thermodynamics, orders of magnitude, progress in materials science, imaging of materials, extractive metallurgy, pyrometallurgy, environments, kinetics, and composite materials. The document provides multiple choice answers for each question to test the understanding of fundamental concepts and topics across materials science.

1. 2015 TMS Materials Bowl
UBC Team Qualifying Round
Tuesday November 18, 2014

2. 1. Mining and Minerals
• Mines near Santiago and in
the Atacama Desert make
this country the world's
leading copper producer.
• Over two-thirds of the
world’s cobalt supply comes
from Katanga province,
located in the southern part
of this country.
• Chile • Democratic Republic of
Congo
LEFT RIGHT

3. 2. Units and Measurements
• How much charge (in
Coulombs) do the electrons
carry during the electrolysis
of 1 mole of sodium ion
following this reaction?
Na+ + e-  Na
• Photovoltaic cell with a
band gap energy of 1 eV can
still efficiently absorb
photons. How much is this
band gap energy if
expressed in J/mol?
Rounded to 3 significant figures
• 96,500 C
Rounded to 3 significant figures
• 96,500 J/mol
LEFT RIGHT

4. 3. Polymers
• Polymerization can occur by
condensation reaction.
What is lost when two
monomers join together via
such a reaction?
• ASTM D-2857 is a standard
method of test for this
property of polymeric
solution, describing the
“thick” response of the
solution upon shear stress
application.
• Water molecule • Viscosity
LEFT RIGHT

5. 4. Semiconductors
• What are indicated by labels
A, B and C in the energy
band diagram of a p-n-p
transistor below?
• Solar cell technologies are
traditionally grouped into 3
generations (i.e. 1st, 2nd, 3rd).
Label the following
technologies based on the
category to which they belong:
A. Boron-doped Ge cells
B. Dye-sensitized solar cells
C. Copper indium diselenide cells
A. Conduction band;
B. Fermi energy;
C. Valence band
A. First generation;
B. Third generation;
C. Second generation
LEFT RIGHT

6. 5. Physical Metallurgy
• A solid-state phase
transformation may require
the nucleation stage. Which
energy balances with the
interfacial energy, both of
which determine the critical
radius for nucleation?
• What is the name of crystal
purification technique
where a narrow part of a
crystal is molten and the
molten part is moved along
the crystal? It is practical
only if the segregation
coefficient of the impurity is
less than 1.
• The change in the bulk
volumetric free energy
• Zone refining, or float zone, or
zone melting
LEFT RIGHT

7. 6. Materials Processing
• Gorilla Glass, used
primarily in tablets and
smart phones, is this type
of glass, having been
treated by putting its outer
surface into compression
and its inner into tension. It
shatters into small chunks
when broken.
• Name one of the two types
of carbon anode technology
used in a Hall-Héroult cell
for extracting aluminum
from alumina.
• Toughened glass, or tempered
LEFT RIGHT
glass
• Söderberg and prebake anode

8. 7. Crystallography
• If the lattice constant is a,
what is the atomic radius r
of the following crystals?
A. Simple cubic
B. Face-centered cubic
• Name the crystal structure
of the following materials at
room temperature.
A. Cu-40at%Ni
B. Po
LEFT RIGHT
A. r = ½ a
B. r = ¼ a2
A. Face-centered cubic (FCC)
B. Simple cubic (SC)

9. 8. Chemistry
• If the reaction below is
balanced and all coefficients
are integers, what are the
values of a and b?
a CuSO4(aq) + b H2O(l) →
c Cu(s) + d H2SO4(aq) +
eO2(g)
• If the reaction below is
balanced and all coefficients
are integers, what are the
values of a and b?
a Cu(s) + b HNO3(aq) →
c Cu(NO3)2(aq) + dNO2(g)
LEFT RIGHT
+ e H2O(l)
• a = 2; b = 2 • a = 1; b = 4

10. 9. Mech. Behaviour of Materials
• Name two strengthening
mechanisms that are likely
to occur when a solution-treated
aluminum-copper
alloy is cold-rolled at room
temperature and then
annealed at 200C for 2
days.
• Surface treatments may
improve the fatigue
behaviour of materials.
What is the name of a
treatment involving small
hard particles being blasted
onto a material’s surface,
creating a thin layer of
residual compressive stress?
• Solid-solution strengthening;
Strain (work) hardening; age
(precipitate) hardening
• Shot peening
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11. 10. Acronyms
• As a materials engineering
student, becoming a CIM
member costs you $0.
Signing up would be a
logical thing to do,
considering the professional
network that comes with it.
What does CIM stand for?
• While “Disney World” may
sound fun and all, some of
you prefer the idea of
attending a variety of talks
in the 2015 TMS Annual
Meeting.
What does TMS stand for?
• Canadian Institute of Mining,
Metallurgy and Petroleum
• The Minerals, Metals &
Materials Society
LEFT RIGHT

12. 11. Periodic Table
• Name the elements with the
atomic numbers below.
LEFT RIGHT
A. 6 =
B. 30 =
• Write down the atomic
numbers of the elements
below.
A. Fluorine =
B. Iron =
A. Carbon
B. Zinc
A. 9
B. 26

13. 12. Thermodynamics
B
Tm
A
Tm
• The phase diagram of a
binary system A-B is shown
above. What is the heat of
mixing of an alloy indicated
by the point C?
• In the free energy diagram
above, which point
indicates the chemical
potential of B in -phase at
equilibrium?
• Zero • Point U
LEFT RIGHT
0.5
C
G [J/mol]
XB
G
G
T [C]
XB
P
Q
R
S
T
U
L
S
L+S

14. 13. Orders of Magnitude
• Three thousandth
milliseconds is equal to how
many nanoseconds?
• Five hundred Ångstroms
equals how many microns?
• 3000 ns • 0.05 m
LEFT RIGHT

15. 14. Progress in Materials Science
• A unique electrical property
in this class of materials
was predicted by theory in
2005 before its
experimentally materialized
in 2008. Simply put, the
material does not conduct
current through its bulk but
can do so along its surface.
• This year’s Nobel Prize in
Physics was dedicated to the
development of blue LEDs,
which came about only 20
years ago, and has enabled
highly efficient LEDs to
produce virtually any colour
within the visible spectrum.
To the nearest hundred of
nanometers, what is the
smallest wavelength visible by
an average human eye?
• Topological insulator • 400 nm
LEFT RIGHT

16. 15. Imaging of Materials
• The left and right panel of the
image below show an example
of this optical aberration,
exhibiting a false directionality
due to under focus or over
focus. The middle panel is the
corrected view.
• In an optical system such as a
microscope, what characterizes
the range of angles over which
the system can accept or emit
light?
• Astigmatism • Numerical Aperture
LEFT RIGHT

17. 16. Extractive Metallurgy
• Name the metallic element
of which the following
minerals are the source ore.
A. Ilmenite
B. Chalcopyrite
• Name the metallic element
of which the following
minerals are the source ore.
A. Pyrolusite
B. Galena
LEFT RIGHT
A. Titanium
B. Copper
A. Manganese
B. Lead

18. 17. Pyrometallurgy
• What is the type of furnace
that isolates the material
being processed from
contact with the fuel but not
from contact with
combustion gases,
commonly used in Cu, Sn
and Ni production?
• A textbook example of this
thermal decomposition
process is when carbon-dioxide
gas is being driven
off from limestone in the
absence of oxygen at
around 850C.
• Reverbatory furnace • Calcination
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19. 18. Environments
• Primarily used in consumer
electronics, this type of
battery enjoys a growing
popularity in electric
vehicle applications, over
7000 cells of which making
up the battery pack of the
2013 Tesla Model S 85 kWh
unit.
• Although controversial, the
extraction of precious
metals using this toxic
reagent is highly popular,
used in about 90% of the
metal production due to its
cost-effectiveness and
recovery efficiency.
• Lithium-ion battery • Cyanide
LEFT RIGHT

20. 19. Kinetics
• Some kinetic processes may
involve an uphill diffusion,
where matters flow from
low-concentration regime to
high-concentration regime.
What is the driving force for
diffusion in such cases?
• The climb motion of edge
dislocations is controlled by
this same atomic-scale
mechanism that underlies
the diffusion of
substitutional atoms,
operating with great
rapidity at high
temperatures.
• Chemical potential gradient • The motion of vacancies
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21. 20. Composite Materials
• Due to its simplicity, the
slump test is a popular
choice of empirical test to
measure the workability
and consistency of this
composite material.
• What is considered as the
most predominant failure
mechanism of fibre-reinforced
composites
under tensile loading, since
the mechanism involves
additional work for
frictional sliding?
• Concrete • Fibre pull-out
LEFT RIGHT

22. That is all!
Thank you for attending and good luck 
Writers: TegarWicaksono, Michael Mahon