3.171 / 3.371 / 2.821 Structural Materials and Manufacturing

Professor Thomas W Eagar ScD PE

This undergraduate (3.171) and graduate (3.371/2.821) class combines online and in-person lectures to discuss structural materials selection, design and processing using examples from deformation processes, casting, welding and joining, non-destructive evaluation, failure and structural life assessment, and codes, standards and intellectual property law. The class emphasizes the underlying science of a given process rather than a detailed description of the technique or equipment. It is presented in modules to be selected by student.

An overview of the course can be seen here.

Current handouts can be found by enrolled students on Canvas and selected handouts can be found here. Links to online lectures videos (grouped by module) are found below.


To receive credit for course, students are required to:

• Attend or watch 36 lectures. Links to videos of current and past lectures are below, arranged in topical modules of 6 or 12 lectures. Any lecture for the 3.171 / 3.371 / 2.821 course that you find interesting can be watched, in any module and in any order.

• Prepare a brief outline of each of the 36 lectures that you watched. The outline should consist of one or two lines describing the 2 or 3 themes of that lecture. For all 36 hours of lecture, the outlines will sum up to about three pages of writing.

• Prepare and deliver a ten minute presentation (sources referenced) on a materials topic that interests you. Avoid being broad or general or covering too much. Include your own analysis and opinions.

• Attend/watch and critique/question presentations of at least 6 other students.

• Explore topics of interest on the web and ask questions.


  • Current Lecture Videos (Spring 2022)

  • Deformation (Baskin)
  • Law and Technology (Lyons)
  • Recitations (Eagar)

  • Past Modules

  • What is Engineering - Eagar

    Fall 2015
    Definition of Engineering and what it seeks to accomplish. Contrast with science.
  • How to be a Successful Engineer - Eagar

    Fall 2015
    Qualities of good engineer. Recognize how such qualities are taught explicitly or implicitly.
  • Structural Materials Selection Principles - Eagar

    Spring 2016
    Externalities, cost and abundance, properties and limits, and productivity.
  • Structural Materials Selection Examples - Eagar

    Spring 2016
    Examples of selecting materials for structures with focus on steel, stainless steel, aluminum and composites.
  • Structural Materials Selection (Double Module) - Eagar

    Fall 2013 / Fall 2014
    Externalities, cost and abundance, properties and limits, and productivity. Focus on steel, stainless steel, aluminum, and composites.
  • Materials Selection - Properties, Costs and Externalities - Eagar

    Fall 2016
    Focus on the economic aspects of materials selection, reviewing externalities, cost and abundance, and productivity.
  • Materials Selection - Weighing Trade-Offs - Eagar

    Fall 2016
    Examples of selecting materials by evaluating phsyical properties and all applicable externalities.
  • Materials Selection and Economics - Eagar

    Fall 2017
    Political, social, environmental and economic constraints of selecting structural materials. Why traditional structural materials are so widely used. Case studies from steel, glass and composites industries.
  • Lightweighting and Structural Optimization - Baskin

    Spring 2020 / Fall 2020 / Spring 2021 / Fall 2021
    Lightweighting vehicles is critical to fuel efficiency and environmental friendliness. Fundamentals, methodologies and tools behind lightweight design from perspectives of both materials and mechanical engineering. Which materials offer most weight savings given their properties and considering realistic processing.
  • Structural Materials in Service (Double Module) - Bellemare

    Spring 2015 / Spring 2016 / Fall 2017
    Materials and process specifications, emphasizing quality control test technologies. Materials demand versus capacity. Use of factors of safety in various industries.
  • Materials Processing in Practice (Double Module) - Bellemare

    Fall 2015 / Fall 2016
    Overview and examples of various processing techniques as used in industry, including castings, deformation, heat treatment, joining, protective coatings, advanced manufacturing.
  • Casting (Double Module) - Eagar

    Summer 2011
    Structure, properties, shape in metal solidification. Heat flow, solute redistribution, nucleation, growth.
  • Deformation Processing (Double Module) - Eagar

    Spring 2012
    Shape change and property control by plastic deformation. Yield behavior and plasticity, anisotropy, upper bound forces, friction, flow instability and superplasticity.
  • Additive Manufacturing - Eagar

    Fall 2019
    Additive Manufacturing, aka 3-D Printing or Solid Free-Form Fabrication, is creating near-net shape parts by aggregating & fusing powders or wires. Descriptions of competing processes with strengths and weaknesses, business value, application criteria, economics, and design rules.
  • Welding: Past, Present, Future - Eagar

    Fall 2016
    A four-part lecture on the past, present and future of welding.
  • Solid State Welding (Double Module) - Eagar

    Spring 2013
    Fundamental physical and chemical properties of solid-state joining processes, including cold welding, adhesive bonding, diffusion bonding, soldering, and brazing.
  • Fusion Welding (Double Module) - Eagar

    Summer 2013
    Fundamental physical and chemical properties of fusion welding processes, including flames, arcs, high-energy density heat sources, solidification, cracking resistance, shielding methods, and electric contacts.
  • Welding Metallurgy (Double Module) - Eagar

    Spring 2014 / Summer 2015
    Melt pool fluid flow. Solidification, solute redistribution, phase formation, grain structure. Work-, precipitation-, transformation-hardening in heat-affected zone. Residual stresses, distortion, cracking.
  • Non-Destructive Evaluation (Double Module) - Jenkins

    Spring 2015
    Non-destructive / non-invasive evaluation in materials and medicine. Ultrasound, electrical, x-rays, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging. Focus on critical materials properties.
  • Non-Destructive Evaluation - Hohmann

    Fall 2019
    Principles of long-term structural maintenance. Visual, ultrasonic, radiographic, electromagnetic, magnetic particle and penetrant testing for rail, maritime, oil/gas, military and nuclear industries.
  • Failure Mechanisms - Bellemare

    Fall 2013
    Fracture, fatigue and environmentally-assisted failure.
  • Corrosion - Eagar

    Summer 2016
    Corrosion, with focus on the marine environment.
  • Corrosion, Cracking and More - Eagar

    Summer 2014
    Failures with a focus on corrosion and cracking.
  • Welding Quality - Eagar

    Summer 2014
    Evaluation of welding quality, including common failure modes and effects.
  • Total Quality Improvement- Eagar

    Spring 2018
    Evolution of TQI from shipbuilding, textile manufacture and Model T to ISO 9000, Good Manufacturing Practices, Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma and others. Core principles of modern manufacturing and buzzwords of marginal content.
  • Structural Life Assessment (Double Module) - Bellemare

    Spring 2012
    Structural design for life, key life-limiting factors, probabilistic and deterministic approaches
  • Codes and Standards - Eagar

    Summer 2012
    Historical development by governments, non-profit groups and professional societies. Interpretation and force of law. Limitations, conflicts, competition. Accuracy and precision of seven fundamental quantities. Design at conceptual, architectural, detailed, erection and as-built levels. Safety factors.
  • Codes and Standards - Definitions and History - Eagar

    Fall 2012
    Historical development by governments, non-profit groups and professional societies. Definitions of what constitutives a standard and how their use has changed.
  • Codes and Standards for Safety - Eagar

    Fall 2012
    How codes and standards are used to prevent unsafe failure, successes and limitations.
  • Law and Technology (Double Module) - Lyons

    Spring 2015 / Spring 2017 / Spring 2018 / Spring 2019 / Spring 2020 / Spring 2021
    Origins of law. Legal impact on technology based on current events and landmark Supreme Court decisions. Intellectual property, copyright, trademark and patent law.
  • Innovation via Tech Start-ups - Bellemare

    Spring 2018 / Fall 2018 / Spring 2019 / Fall 2019
    Building a company with idea incubation, team assembly, prototyping, validation, commercialization and sales.
  • Leonardo da Vinci - Hohmann

    Spring 2020
    The mechanics and materials used by Leonardo da Vinci.
  • Recitations - Eagar

    Fall 2018 / Spring 2020 / Spring 2021 / Fall 2021
    Freewheeling discussions about lecture topics, student questions or anything that comes up.
  • Special Topics

    All Years
    Unique presentations and lectures, e.g. TWA Flight 800 crash investigation.