Relationship Of Chemistry With Mechanical Engineering

Relationship of Chemistry with Mechanical Engineering

First, chemistry is the science that studies the composition and properties of matter, knowing that matter is everything that has mass and occupies a certain space. As for its relationship with mechanical engineering, chemistry is present in everything, it is the basis of any project. Whenever we are going to develop any object, we need to know what materials are more efficient, that is where chemistry enters.

An example in which we can see it is on competition motorcycles. When manufacturing a motorcycle, many factors must be taken into account, for example, the weight, since every kilogram that we manage to lighten the motorcycle, more speed and acceleration, so the motorcycle is mostly composed of aluminum andcarbon fiber, which are light materials. If we focus on the brakes, we must use a material that has great heat resistance since, being constantly in friction with the pill, the disc reaches a large temperature.

As for the engine, all components are studied to be light and resistant, that is, they endure the passage of use and have a long shelf life. Treatments are also studied for maintenance, so they are washed with water, oil or air, depending on the piece.

Another point is the tires, specifically in the compound of the tires, being hard or soft depending on the temperature of the asphalt, the speed in the race and the wear that produces the track, there are tires that even depending on the profile have a composition or compositionAnother, for example depending on the number of right or left -wing curves that has a circuit, if it has more left -wing curves, the compound of the left wheel profile will be harder than the compound of the other profile, since hard compounds take longerIn spending and enduring more temperature, the inconvenience is that they grab less.

Instead, soft ones are spent before, but they take less to reach the optimal temperature and have more adherence so in that same circuit, which has more curves to the left than to the right the compound in the left profile will be harder and thecomposed on the right side will be softer.  

And there are many more fields in which we can apply chemistry, and many more examples. Another example could be the airplanes, the first step is to know the characteristics that the materials that we will use need depending on the efforts and the exposure to which the plane will be subjected, which in this case are resistance, durability, elasticity andAnticorrosion.

The main material with which airplanes are built, from World War I, is aluminum, since it offers lightness, resistance and high electrical and thermal conductibility. The manufacture of airplanes requires several alloys;For example, in the areas of the device that work by traction, as in the coating of the wings, an aluminum and copper alloy is used.

Titanium is another important material on the plane. Motor propellers are built with an alloy of this material, aluminum and vanadium;Similarly, the black box is produced with titanium.

Ferrous materials, such as steel and their alloys, are indispensable for the creation of bars, rods and forged pieces. Chrome and nickel alloys provide hardness and avoid corrosion of parts that need heat treatment.

When needing lightness, airplanes also have magnesium, the lighter metal in the world, in aluminum and aluminum alloys. The wings panels are manufactured with magnesium alloys. In the following figure we can analyze the distribution of the materials used for the construction of a plane.  

Knowing all this we can deduce that chemistry is involved in any job of a mechanical engineer, from a motorcycle you have an airplane, since it has to be able to analyze what is the appropriate compound or material for each component of each piece of each project,and you must have the ability to analyze the efforts and energies to which this project will be exposed and thus choose the material that suits you.

As for the future of chemistry regarding mechanical engineering, there are researchers who are constantly working by analyzing compounds and lookingTake advantage of new capacities that are necessary for future inventions, whether compounds capable of resisting higher or lighter materials to optimize vehicles, another very important issue is cost, that is, finding compounds whose elaboration is cheaper to reduce the costof the products, such as suppose that researchers discover a new compound which offers a material that is lighter, more resistant and cheaper than carbon fiber, then that material will begin to be used by replacing carbon fiber. One of the last discoveries has been graphene a material that is light, stronger than steel and harder than diamond, flexible, transparent and abundant in nature. With this material there are already mattresses, bulletproof vests, headphones, batteries, etc., And it is expected to have valuable applications in automotive, construction and aeronautics, among other areas. It is even used to desalinize water.

Nowadays the problem of new materials is that they are increasing. But there are still many centers that are dedicated to manipulating the size of the particles to modify their properties which allows to produce materials with innumerable applications.

Regarding its relationship with mechanical engineering, it is a fundamental process to find new components to evolve and be able to advance technology, for example, vehicles achieving greater security or efficiency. Although not only is it applicable to transportation, it can influence most products, another example can be the new phones and tablets that are capable of being rolled, or compounds that provide greater protection to devices with respect toFalls and a long etcetera.

Regarding my opinion, the continuous study of materials is necessary to develop new technologies, since the innovations of chemistry regarding mechanical engineering start from the discovery of new materials as I have mentioned above that allow the evolution of technologies,Another example can be the new aluminum batteries that have managed to develop researchers from the Technological University of Chalmers in Sweden, and the National Institute of Chemistry of Slovenia. Batteries which have twice as density of energy than the previous designs. These new designs, in addition to having double energy density regarding their predecessors, are more ecological. The batteries are more ecological thanks to the use of more sustainable materials. The trick of these new aluminum batteries lies in the replacement of the usual graphite cathod.

In conclusion, chemistry is constantly connected to mechanical engineering to be able to produce the most efficient product at a lower price, and chemistry innovations will have proportionally impact on mechanical engineering since the new advances made in chemistry will be appliedIn mechanical engineering, so if chemistry progresses, the projects developed by mechanical engineers will advance.