| name | materials-and-engineering |
| description | Use for materials and device work: structure-property-processing reasoning, characterisation (XRD, SEM/TEM/EDS, AFM, DSC/TGA), mechanical testing and Weibull statistics for brittle failure, FEA mesh convergence and material models, SPICE and CFD sanity checks, tolerances and GD&T, ASTM/ISO/IEC method numbers, datasheets and derating, measurement uncertainty and calibration traceability, and open materials data.
|
| version | 1.0.0 |
| author | Remedy |
| tags | ["research","materials","engineering","characterisation","simulation","standards"] |
| requires | [] |
| tools | ["analysis_env","analysis_run","analysis_ledger","data_profile","data_diff","stats_assumptions","stats_effect_size","power_analysis","manuscript_build","lit_search","lit_fetch","cite_add","cite_check","skill_activate","file_read","file_write"] |
| triggers | ["\\b(stress[- ]strain|Young.?s modulus|yield strength|fatigue (?:life|limit|test)|fracture toughness|hardness test)\\b","\\b(\\bSEM\\b imaging|\\bTEM\\b imaging|\\bEDS\\b|\\bEBSD\\b|nanoindentation|tensile test|creep test)\\b","\\b(finite element (?:analysis|model|mesh)|\\bFEA\\b|ASTM [A-Z]?\\d{2,4}|ISO \\d{3,5})\\b","\\b(microstructure|grain (?:size|boundar\\w+)|sintering|anneal(?:ing)? (?:step|temperature)|phase diagram)\\b"] |
Materials and engineering
Activate research-method first: skill_activate(skill="research-method").
It owns question framing, evidence standards, citation honesty and how to say
"we do not know". Do not restate it. This pack is what materials and device
work does differently.
The spine: processing - structure - property - performance
Every claim sits somewhere on that chain, and a claim only travels one link
at a time. Processing history (composition, thermal path, deformation,
atmosphere, cooling rate) produces a structure; structure produces
properties; properties, plus geometry and loading, produce performance. A
result reported without its processing history cannot be reproduced, and a
property measured on one geometry does not transfer to another without an
argument. Write the processing history into the methods section first, then
the characterisation, then the property.
Measure with a named method
Give the standard's number, its issuing body and its year in the methods:
ASTM International, ISO, IEC, ANSI, DIN, JIS, NIST. The number tells a reader
the specimen geometry, conditioning, strain rate, fixture, sample count and
reporting format in one token — which is exactly why it belongs in the paper
and why "a tensile test" does not. Standards are revised: quote the edition
you followed and check the issuing body's catalogue for the current one
rather than trusting a remembered designation. If you deviate from the
standard, say which clause and why.
Characterisation: match the technique to the claim
Each technique answers a bounded question, and a claim beyond that bound
needs a second technique. XRD gives phases and lattice parameters, not
morphology. SEM gives surface morphology; EDS gives semi-quantitative
composition with poor light-element sensitivity and a micron-scale
interaction volume, not trace analysis. TEM gives local structure at the cost
of a thinned, possibly damaged, and certainly unrepresentative sample. AFM
gives topography convolved with the tip. DSC/TGA give transitions and mass
loss at a stated ramp rate and atmosphere. See
references/characterisation-methods.md. Report instrument, settings and how
many regions or specimens; one micrograph is an anecdote.
Statistics of failure
Strength of a brittle material is a distribution, not a value — the
weakest-link statistics mean the mean alone is misleading and the size of the
specimen matters. Fit Weibull, report the modulus, the characteristic
strength, the confidence intervals and the number of specimens, and state the
estimator. Use power_analysis to size the sample before testing and
stats_assumptions on the data before choosing a test.
references/mechanical-testing-and-weibull.md.
Simulation is a claim until it is validated
Verification asks whether the equations are solved correctly; validation asks
whether they are the right equations for this system. Both are required, and
they are separate statements. For FEA: mesh convergence with the observed
convergence rate, element type and order justified, boundary conditions and
contact stated, and the material model named with its validity range —
linear-elastic results past yield are not results. For circuits: SPICE model
provenance, corner and Monte-Carlo runs, convergence settings. For CFD: y+,
turbulence model, grid-convergence index. Validate against a measurement or
an analytic case and show the comparison.
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