ESO214: Nature and Properties of Materials

Semester 2011-2012-II
Assignment #3
Due Date: January 24, 2012
Submit only even number problems for grading. Rest are for discussion during the
tutorials.
1. Ionic sizes of Mg2+ and O2- ions are 0.078 nm and 0.132 nm respectively. Predict its
crystal structure. Calculate its (a) theoretical density, (b) linear density of Mg2+ ions per
nanometer along [110] direction and (c) the planar ionic density of the crystal in ions per
square nanometer on the (111) plane. Atomic masses of Mg and O are 24.305 g/mol and
16.0 g/mol respectively.
2. A cubic form of crystalline silica is of density 2.32 gm/cc. If the lattice parameter is 0.7
nm, how many ions of silicon and oxygen are in the structure?
3. Calculate the values of x, y and n in (SixOy)n for a silicate made up of two dimensional
network (sheet) of (SiO4)4- tetrahedra.
4. Explain why SiO2 melts at a much higher temperature than SiF4.
5. Explain why some metals have BCC structure.
6. A glass contains 80 wt% of SiO2 and 20% of Na2O what fraction of the oxygen ions is
non-bridging (with another tetrahedra)?
7. Densities of two batches of Teflon polymer are found to be 2.144 g/cm3 and 2.215 g/cm3
respectively. The percentage crystallinity in them are 51.3 and 74.2 respectively.
Calculate (a) the densities of totally crystalline and totally amorphous Teflon and (b) the
% crystallinity of a specimen having a density of 2.26 g/cm3.
8. Molecular weight data for a batch of PTFE is shown below. Compute (a) the weightaverage molecular weight, (b) the number-average molecular weight, (c) the weightaverage degree of polymerization, (d) the number-average degree of polymerization.
Molecular Wt. Range
(g/mol)
10,000-20,000
20,000-30,000
30,000-40,000
40,000-50,000
50,000-60,000
60,000-70,000
70,000-80,000
80,000-90,000

Number Fraction

Weight Fraction

0.03
0.09
0.15
0.25
0.22
0.14
0.08
0.04

0.01
0.04
0.11
0.23
0.24
0.18
0.12
0.07

9. A polymeric chain of a vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer has a ratio of 10:1 vinyl
chloride to vinyl acetate mers and a molecular weight of 16,000 g/mol. What is its degree
of polymerization?

10. Write down the mer formulae of Nylon 6,6 polymer. Calculate (a) the maximum chain
length and (b) root mean square length of a chain of Nylon 6,6 which has the degree of
polymerization of 1000.
11. Determine which polymer between the two choices is more likely to crystallize and why?
If you are unable to make this decision, state the reason.
a) Linear and syndiotactic PVC; linear and isotactic polystyrene
b) Network phenol-formaldehyde; linear and heavily cross-linked cis-isoprene
c) Linear polyethylene; lightly branched isotactic polypropylene
12. A butadiene-acrylonitrile rubber is made by polymerizing one acrylonitrile monomer
with three butadiene monomers. How much sulfur is required to react with 100 Kg of
this rubber to cross-link 20% of the cross-link sites.