Home Education
The following is not from Prof. Wei Xiong, but an interesting dialogue heard from somewhere:

If you expect to learn everything just from the class lectures without your self-study and hard work, you are expecting too much.
If you want to receive a high score but do not care what you have learned, you are wasting your time and invests.
If you do not show up in class and just complain about teaching quality in the anonymous survey, who cares? FYI, it is common to find one or two does this in many courses. Understandably, you may miss some classes due to conflicting schedules, but if you do not try to inform the professor in advance, you are not doing something correctly.

Course MEMS1063: Phase Transformations and Evolution of Microstructure

Spring semester 2023, University of Pittsburgh
Introduction

This is a core course open to juniors and seniors who have taken the courses MEMS 1059 Materials Thermodynamics and MEMS1053 – Crystal Structures and Diffraction as the prerequisites. It is given every spring semester.

Topics covered in this course
Lecture content
  • Thermodynamics and driving force for phase transformations
  • Diffusion kinetics
  • Crystal interface and microstructure
  • Nucleation and growth, precipitation kinetics
  • Phase seperation, spinodal decomposition
  • Diffusionless phase transformations

Course MEMS1059: Phase Equilibria in Multicomponent Materials

Fall semester 2018-2022, University of Pittsburgh
Introduction

This is a core course open to juniors and seniors who have taken the courses: (ENGR 0022 or MET 1162) and (ME 0051 or MEMS 0051 or MET 1110 or BIOENG 1210) as the prerequisites. It is given every fall semester.

Topics covered in this course
Lecture content
  • Thermodynamic Laws and Relationships
  • Partial and Relative State Functions
  • Thermodynamics of Phase Transformations
  • Thermodynamic Functions and Properties
  • Thermodynamic Properties of Solids, Liquids and Gases
  • Behavior of Solutions and Theoretical Models
  • Phase Equilibria: Multicomponent and Multiphase Systems
  • Unary, Binary and Ternary phase diagrams
  • CALPHAD Method: Thermodynamic Modeling
Content covered in three computer Labs
  • Introduction of CALPHAD method and its applications
  • Calculation of unary phase diagram
  • Calculation of property diagrams
  • Calculation of binary phase diagrams
  • Calculation of ternary phase diagrams
  • Calculation of multicomponent phase diagrams

Course MSE2041: Advanced Physical Metallurgy I

Fall, 2020, 2022, University of Pittsburgh
Introduction

This is a course open to graduates who took the course on phase transformations and energetics. We plan to teach this course every other year in the fall semester. There are three computational labs for this course. This will help the student to understand better regarding alloy thermodynamics, diffusion, and rapid solidification processes.

Topics covered in this course
Physical Metallurgy
  • Materials thermodynamics
  • Diffusion kinetics
  • Nucleation, growth and coarsening
  • Interface and imperfections
Property and Applications
  • Strengthening mechanisms of advanced alloys
  • Mechanical performance of materials
  • Engineering alloys

Course MSE2046: Physical Metallurgy for Modern Engineering Alloys

Spring, 2019, University of Pittsburgh
Introduction

This is a course open to both graduates and undergraduates who took the course on phase equilibrium, phase transformation and macro/micro-structure. We plan to teach this course every other year in the spring semester.

Topics covered in this course
Physical Metallurgy
  • Crystal structure and imperfections
  • Phase diagram and alloy thermodynamics
  • Diffusion kinetics
  • Phase transformations and alloy microstructure
Property and Applications
  • Mechanical properties of alloys
  • Application of Physical Metallurgy
  • Case study of some alloy systems and manufacturing processes

Course MSE2055: Principles of Solidification Engineering

Fall 2017, Spring 2020, University of Pittsburgh
Introduction

This is a course open to both graduates and undergraduates who took the course on phase equilibrium, phase transformation and macro/micro-structure. We plan to teach this course every other year in the fall semester.

Topics covered in this course
Fundamentals
  • Introduction, history of solidification and its applications
  • Thermodynamics of solidification
  • Heat transfer and kinetics in solidification
  • Phase transformations in solidification
  • Segregation in solidification (Micro and Macro)
  • Computational thermodynamics for solidification
Applications
  • Casting
  • Rapid solidification
  • Additive manufacturing
  • Metallic glass
  • Alloy production

Course MSE2067/ME2007: Elements of Materials Science & Engineering

Fall semester 2016, University of Pittsburgh
Introduction

This course is designed for graduate students entering the MEMS program without a degree in a field of materials engineering. More information can be found in courseweb system, no textbook is required for this course.

Topics covered in this course
Fundamentals
  • Chemical bonding in materials
  • Crystal structure and defects
  • Thermodynamics, phase diagrams
  • Diffusion and phase transformation
  • Mechanical and physical properties
  • Phase transforamtion diagrams
  • Mechanical properties
  • Materials processing
  • Computational thermodynamics
  • Applications of materials science with case studies