Expert: Daniel Mazur - 11/22/2005

Question
What structural factors influence on young modulus of a material network? (Please refer me to some online references)


Answer
Hi,
I apologize for the delay, the email notification of your post didn't find me.

Factors influencing young modulus of materals are numerous, naming them requires closer specification of your area and how in-depth expertise you need.

In ideal solid state structures (something you can assume to have no defects of any sort)the main contribution to Young modulus comes from the strength of chemical bonds between atoms and atomic density. For any direction in the material these give you the number of bonds you are stretching, times the average strength of a single bond => total strength.

In every class of real materials, though, there are different factors that influence the Y.m. For example: polycrystalline metals and alloys have grains, while plastics have macromolecules organized in fibers and/or networks. In the groups I just named it is pretty much impossible to define the "ideal" structure, so you will have to look into completely different directions to find answer to your question.

I cannot really recommend an online source for this, I am afraid. Pages I have seen were either very basic, telling how Y.m. works, or they were serious reffereed scientific journals, in which case you'd have to read dozens, maybe hundreds, to get your answer. Again, I don't know, what field you are in, nor how detailed information you are looking for. From the way you asked I feel that some semi-popular article like some of those in Physics Today or Times would be a good resource, but I have no idea, if any likely paper has been published on the topic of your interest. If you are looking for a comprehensive article more on the scientific side, I would recommend you looking for so called "review articles", the Physical Review journal being a starting point. And finally, I have tried to put "Young modulus" into Amazon.com book search and got around 9800 results. If you have enough determination, I am sure you'll find a book or books there that will give you the answer.

I hope my anwer was of some use to you.
Good luck!
Daniel