Background

This project delivers browser-based interactive teaching tools for materials engineering students taking APSC 278 (Engineering Materials) and APSC 279 (Engineering Materials Laboratory). This includes connecting how the atomic properties of a material (bonding types, crystal structure) affect the macroscopic properties of a material (tensile strength, elasticity).

Objective

The team is aiming to develop a web app containing four modules:

1. An explorable periodic table interface where students can select different elements and visualize the likely bonding mechanisms between them.
2. An interactive unit cell visualizer that allows students to manipulate and expand crystal structures to explore atomic arrangements, and crystal properties like coordination numbers.
3. An interactive defect model in which students can visualize atomic-scale defects such as vacancies and dislocations.
4. An interactive testing simulation where students can select between a few predefined materials, initiate a virtual test, and observe macroscopic changes like deformation.