Bases of Existence of Properties in Materials
The properties of material changes from matter to matter. Basically the properties of a material depends on their chemical composition, electron configuration, atomic structure, impurities / imperfections, manufacturing process and mechanical heat treatment process. Chemical composition of a material represents the elements which consists a material. The chemical composition decides whether the material is organic or inorganic, acid or alkaline etc. Electronic configuration represents the distribution of electron in atom over various shells and subshells.
The electronic configuration decides the conductivity of a material, which decides whether the material is good or bad conductor of electricity. Magnetic properties of materials also depend on electron configuration of atom.
The magnetic properties of material are very much affected by the distribution of electrons in subshells and their spin direction. Atomic structure of material indicates the manner in which the atoms are connected to each other such as crystalline or amorphous structures. The relationship between properties and atomic structure exists within material such as Metals, Ceramics and Polymers, is shown in table below.
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| Sl. No. | Atomic Structure | Metals | Ceramics | Polymers (Plastic & rubber) |
| 1 | Crystallinity | Crystalline |
|
Non crystalline |
| 2 | Bonding | Metallic | Ionic and Covalent | Covalent plus secondary |
| 3 | Important properties |
|
|
|
Moreover, in bulk material the properties of materials are also affected by the nature and distribution of impurities or imperfections, either chemical or architectural. The impurities or imperfections affect the strength of material very much. The conductivity of metals is affected very much by impurities in a metal. These impurities disturb the crystalline structure of metal and make it irregular. This irregularity in crystalline structure disturbs the movement of electrons through metal. Which results in reduction of conductivity of metal. A small level of impurities results in considerable reduction in conductivity of metal. The properties of material are also effected by manufacturing process as well as mechanical heat treatment processes i.e. Hardening, Annealing, age hardening, quenching, hot rolling, cold rolling etc. These mechanical heat treatment processes not only affects the mechanical properties of material but also electrical properties also.