Material Selection Case Studies from Granta Design released

A set of seven interactive material selection case studies, which use performance indices, has been just released. They are based on projects in the book "Materials Selection for Mechanical Design" by Mike Ashby, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge and the CES EduPack, a materials education resource created by Granta Design Ltd. The animations are available under a Creative Commons Attribution -NonCommercial - ShareAlike license.

Two modules from OpenLearn released

"OpenLearn: Manufacturing Processes" and "OpenLearn: Introduction to Polymers" packages have been released.  

All OpenLearn packages are released under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike license. OpenLearn gives you free access to learning materials from The Open University.

Teaching Engineering textbook by Peter J. Goodhew now released

We have now released Teaching Engineering textbook by Peter J. Goodhew under a BY-SA Creative Commons license.

This book is aimed at practising teachers of engineering and physical sciences at undergraduate or taught postgraduate level. It is intended to be based on clear research evidence and to explain as clearly as possible what the educational terminology actually means for the lecturer.

The book can be also viewed on Scribd and in the UKCME site.

Embed code for aluMATTER Flash movies

We have added a new feature that allows you to <embed> individual aluMATTER Flash movies in your own websites, blogs, VLEs and PLEs.

All you have to do is simply copy and paste a block of code from the relevant resource detail page on CORE-Materials. For an example of this, go to this page and click the <Embed> button near the bottom. Try copying the code and pasting it into your website or blog. It should appear at the correct size.

Here is an example of an embedded movie...


...and here is the embed code:

<object height="300" width="330"><param name="movie" value="http://core.materials.ac.uk/repository/alumatter/processing/forming/sheet-formingProcSpringB.swf"></param><param name="base" value="http://core.materials.ac.uk/repository/alumatter/processing/forming/">
</param><embed width="330" height="300" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://core.materials.ac.uk/repository/alumatter/processing/forming/sheet-formingProcSpringB.swf" base="http://core.materials.ac.uk/repository/alumatter/processing/forming/"></embed></object>

Embedding resources from third party sites is already a popular feature on YouTube (videos), Flickr (images) and Scribd (documents), but until now has not been possible for our interactive Flash content. Enjoy!

Materials breakthrough - resources on graphene added

We have added resources on a graphene, a one-atom-thick film of carbon whose strength, flexibility and electrical conductivity have opened up new horizons for high-tech applications. The ultra-thin material could help develop super fast electronics. It was first discovered by scientists  in Condensed Matter Physics Group, The University of Manchester, who received yesterday the Nobel Prize in Physics for this new class of materials.

Steel Plate Rolling for Engineering Students @ Liverpool University

A short video has been added describing how an interactive plate rolling simulation, freely available at steeluniversity.org, was used with 2nd year Engineering undergraduates at the University of Liverpool.

The students, working in groups, had to compete to supply plates for three sections of an offshore wind turbine tower at the correct specification and at the lowest possible cost. From the customer's specification, the students had to:

• calculate the required plate sizes for each section of the tower
• select an appropriate steel grade (composition) and rolling schedule to achieve the required mechanical properties
• work out the suitable slab sizes, bearing in mind that some end and edge trims must be made after rolling
• roll the plates using the interactive controls within the simulation

At the end of each run, the students were presented with test-house and production reports, stating whether the required mechanical properties were met, and also the size, number and cost of saleable plates.

Each result was recorded on the database, allowing the module tutors to monitor the progress of each group.

TALAT lectures promoted to the Rising List on Scribd

Five TALAT lectures from TALAT package on CORE-materials have been promoted to the Rising List on Scribd. Documents in the Rising List are those that receive a very large number of reads, comments and positive ratings within a short period of time. Rising documents are presented in the Scribd's Rising List on the Explore page.

Definitions for the classification terms are added to the repository

Every classification used in the CORE-Materials repository of open educational resources has its definition now. It appears in the top of the list of resources when the corresponding filter is selected. The total list of terms in the classification tree is 243.

A set of common equations used in Materials Science released

A set of common equations used in Materials Science has been released. These fifty equations cover a range of topics in Materials Science such as  diffusion, phase  transformations, recovery & recrystallization,  deformation, Young’s modulus, mechanical and electrical testing, heat and surface treatment, corrosion, composites,  polymers, lasers and many others. The equations are available under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

The algorithm by which results are ordered has been changed

We have changed the algorithm by which results are ordered. For a given search term, results are ordered in the priority Title, Keywords, Description and Category.
For resources having the same 'relevance', those with the more open licenses are displayed first.
Packages and equations are always displayed above other resources.

Two more modules from aluMATTER have been released

aluMATTER: Corrosion and Corrosion Control and aluMATTER: Machining of Aluminium packages have been released, making a total of ten collections of interactive Flash movies from the award-winning aluMATTER website. The modules, freely available for download at core.materials.ac.uk, cover a range of areas on aluminium science and technology, including phase diagrams, crystallographic texture, strengthening and softening mechanisms, mechanical and surface properties of aluminium, corrosion, forming and machining in aluminium, and structural applications of aluminium.

All aluMATTER packages are released under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Non-Derivative license. aluMATTER has been developed by the European Aluminium Association.

STEM OER Guidance Wiki has now been released

The STEM OER Wiki has now been released. This work constitutes a collection of guidance documents on all aspects of Open Educational Resources (OER) prepared by the STEM project teams from a number of Higher Education Academy/JISC OER pilot projects. Wiki contains an overview of OER, information on intellectual property rights, packaging and uploading resources, evaluating your resources and ensuring their promotion and sustainability.

Public domain educational resources

We are currently working on the site to add support for resources available in the public-domain, i.e. free from copyright or other restriction. We have identified numerous resources relating to materials science and engineering in Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons and other locations.

Common Equations in Materials Science

We are currently working on releasing a selection of most common equations used in Materials Science. These equations and definitions of all the classifications used in the CORE-Materials repository of open educational resources will compliment the existing database.   The equations and definitions will be available under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

aluMATTER: Mechanical Properties of Aluminium now released

aluMATTER: Mechanical Properties of Aluminium has just been released, making a total of eight collections of  interactive Flash movies from the award-winning aluMATTER website, freely available for download at core.materials.ac.uk.

The mechanical properties of a material describe its response to applied loads. For many applications, the ability to support a load, or withstand an impact, without excessive deflection or failure is essential. Mechanical properties are therefore often a critical factor in materials selection. This package introduces the important mechanical properties of aluminium alloys and compares aluminium with other materials.

All aluMATTER packages are released under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Non-Derivative license. aluMATTER has been developed by the European Aluminium Association.

Featured Resource in Jorum - ECorr: Introduction to Corrosion

ECorr: Introduction to Corrosion, released by CORE-Materials was chosen as a Featured Resource in Jorum main page. This interactive resource is a first case study in a series of six. 

It gives a brief introduction to the subject of corrosion and helps in learning how to navigate and make use of the subsequent case studies. The series is produced under partnership of University of Manchester, University of Leeds,University of Nottingham and University of Glasgow, and released under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license.

Photos of crystal defects illustrated in brick walls released

We have just released  a collection of photographs by  Peter Goodhew, The University of Liverpool, under Attribution Creative Commons license.

The set includes images on how crystal defects and other concepts of crystallography can be illustrated in natural and manmade structures.

  

View the collection on Flickr.

Largest collection in JorumOpen

CORE-Materials uploaded more than 1000 resources to Jorum Open, contirbuting into HE - Engineering collection. This makes this collection the largest one within Jorum Open.

Find and share free learning and teaching resources available to all which have been deposited by UK HE and FE Institutions. All resources within JorumOpen are available under a Creative Commons Licence.

Guidance Notes on Releasing, Uploading and Downloading OERs

The CORE-Materials Team has prepared sets of guidance notes on:

• Releasing Open Educational resources, including how to clear a resource for open release, dealing with 3rd party content, Creative Commons licensing and how to upload/download resources to Flickr, Scribd, Slideshare and YouTube.
• Ideas on how to construct a Personal Learning Environment (PLE) using Netvibes.
• Downloading and using the re-packaged interactive Flash content from CORE-Materials.

Customised RSS Feeds

Did you know that you can now create customised feeds that display the latest resources based on your specific search criteria? After you enter one or more search terms, the orange RSS logo appears and clicking on it allow you to set up a feed based on those search terms. If you want a feed based on all our latest resources, then just leave the search field blank. Why not go to the Resource Finder and try it out?

CORE-Materials repository has been launched

The CORE-Materials repository has been launched offering browsing, accurate searching and guided navigation through nearly 1200 teaching and learning resources. The faceted search interface filters the titles, descriptions, classification and keywords for all resources. Extra filtering by license or resource type provides optimal results and improved searchability. The CORE-Materials repository provides a unique platform for downloading interactive Flash animations and for the sharing of videos.

Mechanical testing from Bradford College

A set of images and interactive Flash animations on mechanical testing procedures and techniques has been released by Bradford College. Brinell, Vickers and Rockwell hardness are all included along with some more portable hardness test machines.

The images and animations are now available for viewing and downloading under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No-Derivative Works license.

Textile micrographs from The University of Birmingham

Textile micrographs from School of Metallurgy and Materials, University of Birmingham have been released  under Creative Commons Attribution licence.

Click here to see the micrograps in Flickr

Over 300 interactive Flash Movies released from the DoITPoMs.

We have released a collection of interactive Flash Movies from the DoITPoMs Teaching and Learning Packages (TLPs)at the University of Cambridge. The DoITPoMS TLPs each focus on a common materials science topic met with in undergraduate teaching and learning. Many of theTLPs include video clips from experiments, along with standard features such as an introduction, summary, questions and answers, references for further study, and links to the MATTER Glossary of Materials Science.

The animations are now available for downloading and running from your local system under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share-Alike license.

Click here to view the Teaching and Learning Packages (TLPs) from the DoITPoMs.

Sports Materials collection has been released

A series which comprises lecture, images and videos on a variety of sports materials and their properties has been released by School of Metallurgy and Materials, University of Birmingham under Creative Commons Attribution licence.


Click below to access the resources at file-share sites

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Electron Microscopy and Analysis book now released

We have now released all seven chapters of the Electron Microscopy and Analysis textbook by Peter J. Goodhew, John Humphreys and Richard Beanland under a BY-SA Creative Commons license.

This is a third edition of the book, which was published by Taylor and Francis Books UK in 2001. It deals with several sophisticated techniques for magnifying images of very small objects by large amounts - especially in a physical science context. The resource incorporates questions and answers in each chapter for ease of learning. Equally as relevant for material scientists and bioscientists, it is an essential textbook and laboratory manual.

The book can be viewed on Scribd and SlideShare.

CORE-Materials Steering Group Meeting

On Tuesday 19th January the CORE-Materials team held their final steering group meeting at the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) in London.
The event was well attended by project partners and members of the IOM3.

As well as updating the project partners on the significant progress made by the CORE-Materials team, ideas were discussed as to how the repository could be sustained beyond the pilot stage.

If you are interested in the day's discussions you can download the full set of meeting notes. Click here to download.