Universitat Internacional de Catalunya - Barcelona

Advanced Materials and Material Selection

• code 12484
• course 2
• term Semester 1
• type OB
• credits 6

Module: ADVANCED TRAINING

Matter: MATERIALS II

Main language of instruction: Spanish

Other languages of instruction: Catalan, English

Head instructor

Dr. Emilio CASTRO - ecastro@uic.es

Office hours

Appointments for face-to-face tutoring, both to resolve doubts about theoretical or practical aspects of the subject and to prepare individual assignments, are organized by e-mail (ecastro@uic.es), giving priority to consultations at the times agreed with the teacher at the beginning of the academic year.

Technological innovations are often the result of the intelligent use of advanced materials, but also many disasters in bioengineering are caused by their misuse. That is why it is vital that the professional bioengineer knows how to select the materials which adjust to the demands of a particular design; that is, considering economic, aesthetic, environmental, regulatory, resistance or durability demands.  The bioengineer must understand the properties of the materials and their limitations.

Subjects: Materials, Biomaterials and biocompatibility.

• To know advanced materials with special applications in the area of
bioengineering.
• To promote a positive and open attitude towards new materials.
• To understand the basic principles involved in the selection of materials by establishing methodologies (design, costs, functionality, role of the specifications, and quality demand by the industry) that allow the selection of the ideal material for each particular application.

• CB2 - Students must know how to apply their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and have the competences that are demonstrated through the creation and defence of arguments and the resolution of problems within their field of study.
• CT3 - To know how to communicate learning results to other people both verbally and in writing, and well as thought processes and decision-making; to participate in debates in each particular specialist areas.
• CE19 - To know how to select and apply material based on its properties and electric, magnetic, mechanical and chemical behaviour
• CG7 - To analyse and evaluate the social and environmental impact of technical solutions
• CB4 - Students can transmit information, ideas, problems and solutions to specialist and non-specialist audiences.
• CE17 - To be able to identify the engineering concepts that can be applied in the fields of biology and health.
• CG4 - To resolve problems based on initiative, be good at decision-making, creativity, critical reasoning and communication, as well as the transmission of knowledge, skills and prowess in the field of Bioengineering
• CT5 - To use information sources in a reliable manner. To manage the acquisition, structuring, analysis and visualisation of data and information in your specialist area and critically evaluate the results of this management.
• CB3 - Students must have the ability to bring together and interpret significant data (normally within their area of study) and to issue judgements that include a reflection on important issues that are social, scientific or ethical in nature.
• CT2 - The ability to link welfare with globalisation and sustainability; to acquire the ability to use skills, technology, the economy and sustainability in a balanced and compatible manner.
• CE6 - To incorporate the foundations of science and materials technology, while taking into account the relationship between microstructure, synthesis or process and the properties of materials.
• CE9 - To apply the basic foundations of elasticity and the resistance of materials to the behaviour of actual volumes.

At the end of the course, the student:

• Know the fundamentals of science and technology of material. It includes the relationship between microstructure, synthesis or processing and the properties of the materials.
• Discern and relate the structure of materials with their properties and applications. 
• Interiorize, understand and give explanations related to the selection of materials, their conformation, their treatment, coatings and modes of use.
• Select the most suitable material for each application in bioengineering.
• Writes technical reports and makes technical oral presentations related to them.
• Find useful information and use it autonomously.
• Learn to design materials with specific requirements that can mimic the tissues of the human body.
• Learn the possible fields of action of bioengineers outside the medical field.

Active teaching methodologies in small groups such as the case method, problem-based learning (ABP), computer simulation, classroom gamification, flipped classroom, Peer instruction, etc. The theory classes will be an introduction to the different topics discussed, to make available to the student everything related to the materials used in advanced bioengineering. The classes considered practical will be eminently problem solving and study of practical cases of selection and application of advanced materials in the field of bioengineering. The practices will be to search for information and applications of specific advanced materials.

In theory and practice classes, the use of information and communication technologies (ICT), such as audiovisual media (videos, computer presentations, ...), is offered when this improves the clarity of class exposure, and the use of the virtual campus in Moodle will be promoted as the main way to manage student work, communicate with them, distribute study material, etc. During the course, students will be asked to complete the following training activities:

Peer Instruction - Short questions thrown by the teacher at the beginning or end of the virtual or face-to-face class on the subject being treated in the subject at that time to which students must answer individually through a forum of Question and Answer (Q&A) evaluable enabled for it in Moodle, in such a way that among the students cooperatively construct the correct answer to the short question (which may fall in the examination of the subject) - the teacher will indicate the answers of those students That they are correct and this will allow them to score points for the evaluation of active participation.

Modelling (Do it yourself - DIY) - Construction of models and models in a group, during a practical seminar-type classroom, allowing students to learn by doing (such as a materials cube) in a Lego Serious Play type learning methodology. Once the model or model has been built, students will be asked to use that model or model to carry out an activity that allows them to deepen their knowledge of the technology, technique or modelled material following a script provided by the teacher.

Treasure Hunt (Reading Promotion) - Divide the classroom into two groups, each with a spokesperson who goes to the library to look for a book indicated by the teacher (different for each group), in such a way that each one of the groups, look for a series of data or explanations requested by the teacher in the indicated book and cooperatively build a document with those data and explanations taken from the book and to be delivered, through the spokesperson, via the Moodle task, to the teacher at the end of class. The teacher will give points of active participation in the evaluation of the subject to the group that does it best.

Flipped Classroom - The teacher will post a link to a YouTube video in the Moodle about some aspect of the subject's syllabus that the students will visualize either as homework before the corresponding non-face-to-face class or during the break of the face-to-face class projecting it on the class screen. After viewing the video, the teacher will propose to the students to take a quiz through a tool like Socrative or Kahoot using their mobile phones, tablets or computers to check the assimilation of the concepts covered in the video. The teacher will give active participation points in the subject to students who answer correctly and more quickly to the quiz questions.

Solving problems and study cases - Carry out numerical exercises in class for the practical application of the laws, equations and concepts seen in theory, both by the teacher and by the students on paper and on the board. A bulletin of additional problems will also be hung from the Moodle so that the student can train for the practical part of the exams. The delivery of the problem bulletin to the teacher through a Moodle task in the stipulated time, as well as volunteering to solve problems on the board will score in the evaluation of active participation in the subject. Carry out simulation exercises and practical cases, using the CES EduPack material selection software, individually or in groups (choosing a spokesperson) in practical or seminar class. The evidences of the realization of the practical cases and simulation exercises will be collected through a portfolio in Moodle.

The structuring of the subject in theoretical and practical sessions involves the evaluation of the knowledge and skills acquired in a differentiated and complementary manner. In the case of the contents of the theoretical sessions, they will be evaluated in a partial test and in a final test, both written and that will take into account both the ability to relate the contents of the different topics in a transversal way, as well as the development of one´s own thinking. Regarding the practical part of the subject, the evaluation will be continued, considering the following aspects with different relative weight: active participation in class, final course work and peer evaluation, laboratory practices and debate after the reading of the complementary bibliography. In order for both parts of the course to be able to take an average and thus obtain the final grade for the course, it will be necessary to pass them independently.

The student´s qualification will be:

 1st call

 2nd call

Important considerations:

1. Plagiarism, copying or any other action that may be considered cheating will be zero in that evaluation section. Besides, plagiarism during exams will mean the immediate failing of the whole subject.
2. In the second-sitting exams, the maximum grade students will be able to obtain is "Excellent" (grade with honors distinction will not be posible).
3. Changes of the calendar, exam dates or the evaluation system will not be accepted.
4. Exchange students (Erasmus and others) or repeaters will be subjected to the same conditions as the rest of the students.

(1). Callister, W. D., Rethwisch, D. (2016). Ciencia e ingeniería de los materiales. Reverte.
(2). Smith, W. (2014). Fundamentos de la ciencia e ingenieria de materiales. McGraw-Hill Interamericana.
(3). Puértolas Ráfales, J. A., Ríos Jordana, R., Castro Corella, M. (2016). Tecnología de los materiales en ingeniería, Volumen 1. Sintesis.
(4). Puértolas Ráfales, J. A., Ríos Jordana, R., Castro Corella, M.  (2016). Tecnología de los materiales en ingeniería, Volumen 2. Sintesis.
(5). Ashby, M. F., Shercliff, H., Cebon, D. (2019). Materials: Engineering, Science, Processing and Design. Butterworth-Heinemann/Elsevier.

E: exam date | R: revision date | 1: first session | 2: second session:

• E1 11/01/2021 12:00h P2A02