Materials and Processes

Course Description

Materials and Processes provides a study of the fundamental properties of materials used in industry. Topics include metals and metal alloys, both ferrous and non-ferrous, phase diagrams, polymers, composites, and ceramics, together with industrial manufacturing techniques such as casting, forming, joining, shaping, machining, glass working, and printing, and heat treatment processes and surface roughness analysis.

Within the SCNS taxonomy, ETI is the Engineering Technology (Industrial) prefix. Daytona State publishes this at 3 credits, offered fall, with MAC1114 as prerequisite, giving approximately 45 contact hours at the prefix's unsuffixed convention.

The pairing of materials with processes is the point of the course. A material's properties are not fixed by its composition alone — how it was cast, formed, joined, and heat treated changes them substantially, sometimes by more than choosing a different alloy would. Understanding that relationship is what lets a technologist explain why a part failed, or specify a process that will produce the properties a design requires.

Daytona State does not publish a lecture and laboratory split for its ETI courses, but the prefix convention is consistent: unsuffixed courses run at 15 contact hours per credit (ETI1000, ETI1411, ETI1628 and ETI1644 are all published at 3 credits and 45 hours) and C-suffixed courses at 20 (ETI1110C, ETI1701C, ETI1810C and ETI1830C are all 3 credits and 60 hours).

Learning Outcomes

Required Outcomes

• Describe the atomic and crystalline structure of engineering materials.
• Relate structure to mechanical properties.
• Describe mechanical properties and the tests that measure them.
• Read and interpret stress-strain curves.
• Describe ferrous metals and steel classification.
• Describe cast irons and their applications.
• Describe non-ferrous metals and alloys and their uses.
• Read and interpret phase diagrams.
• Describe the iron-carbon phase diagram and its significance.
• Describe heat treatment processes and their effects on structure and properties.
• Describe annealing, normalising, quenching, and tempering.
• Describe surface hardening and case hardening processes.
• Describe polymers, their classification, and their properties.
• Describe composite materials and their reinforcement mechanisms.
• Describe ceramics and glasses and their characteristic behaviour.
• Describe casting processes and their applications and defects.
• Describe forming processes, including rolling, forging, extrusion, and drawing.
• Describe joining processes and their effects on material properties.
• Describe machining processes and machinability.
• Describe glass working and printing processes.
• Describe surface roughness, its specification, and its measurement.
• Select a material and a process for a given application.
• Describe common failure modes and relate them to material and process.
• Describe corrosion mechanisms and protection methods.

Optional Outcomes

• Describe powder metallurgy.
• Describe additive manufacturing and its materials.
• Describe materials selection methods and tools.
• Describe sustainability and recycling in materials use.
• Describe failure analysis techniques.
• Describe advanced and engineered materials.

Major Topics

Required Topics

• Atomic and crystalline structure
• Structure and properties
• Mechanical properties and testing
• Stress-strain curves
• Ferrous metals and steel classification
• Cast irons
• Non-ferrous metals and alloys
• Phase diagrams
• The iron-carbon diagram
• Heat treatment
• Annealing, normalising, quenching, tempering
• Surface and case hardening
• Polymers
• Composites
• Ceramics and glasses
• Casting processes and defects
• Forming processes
• Joining processes
• Machining and machinability
• Glass working and printing
• Surface roughness
• Material and process selection
• Failure modes
• Corrosion and protection

Optional Topics

• Powder metallurgy
• Additive manufacturing
• Materials selection methods
• Sustainability and recycling
• Failure analysis
• Advanced materials

Resources & Tools

• ASQ — American Society for Quality (asq.org) — certification bodies of knowledge and quality standards; the CQT and CQE credentials are recognised in manufacturing.
• ASME, SME, and IISE — the professional societies for mechanical, manufacturing, and industrial engineering technology; student membership is inexpensive.
• NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership (nist.gov/mep) — free practical resources on manufacturing improvement.
• OSHA (osha.gov) — free standards, guidance, and the OSHA 10 and 30 construction and general industry cards.
• ASTM and ISO standards — the testing and quality standards manufacturing actually works to; check library access before buying.
• Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction (Callister) — the standard materials text.
• Your programme's laboratory and its measuring and testing equipment — the reason to take these courses in person.
• ABET (abet.org) — free accreditation lookup; worth checking for any engineering technology programme you are considering.

Career Pathways

• Industrial engineering technologist or technician — SOC 17-3026.
• Quality control inspector and quality technician — SOC 51-9061; a common entry route with clear progression.
• Manufacturing production technician and process technician.
• Industrial production manager — SOC 11-3051; the usual destination of the management courses in this prefix.
• Operations and supply chain roles — planning, scheduling, and continuous improvement.
• Technical sales engineer — SOC 41-9031; frequently the best-paid route out of a technical background, and the reason ETI3690 exists.
• Occupational health and safety specialist — SOC 19-5011.
• Aerospace and space systems technician — a distinctively Florida sector on the Space Coast and through the aerospace supply chain.
• ⚠ Many aerospace and defence roles require U.S. citizenship and some require a security clearance — find out early if that pathway interests you.
• Quality management and Six Sigma — certification-driven and well paid.
• Continue to a master's in engineering management or industrial engineering — ⚠ note that an engineering technology degree is not the same as an engineering degree for professional licensure purposes; check requirements before assuming.

Special Information

⚠ Process changes properties — and that is where parts fail

• The same alloy can be soft or hard, tough or brittle, depending entirely on how it was processed. Specifying a material without specifying the process and condition is an incomplete specification.
• Heat treatment is the clearest case. Quenching and tempering the same steel to different temperatures produces genuinely different materials, and a part heat treated wrongly will fail in service regardless of what the drawing called for.
• Welding is a heat treatment whether you intend it or not. The heat-affected zone has different properties from both the base metal and the weld, and it is where welded components commonly fail.
• Cold working strengthens and embrittles. Forming operations change the material, and formed regions behave differently from the rest of the part.
• Read phase diagrams as maps of what is possible. They tell you what phases exist at what composition and temperature, which is what makes heat treatment predictable rather than empirical.
• Surface condition drives fatigue life. Fatigue cracks start at surfaces, and at stress concentrations — which is why surface roughness is specified and why a sharp internal corner is a design defect.
• Residual stresses are real and they matter. Machining, welding, and quenching all leave them, and they add to service stresses.
• When a part fails, ask what the process did to the material before assuming the material was wrong.

⚠ This prefix spans PSAV certificates and a bachelor's degree — know which you are in

• ETI at Daytona State runs from 0000-level PSAV clock-hour courses through to 4000-level bachelor's coursework, which is an unusually wide range for one prefix.
• The 0000-level courses carry no college credit. ETI0450, ETI0456, ETI0481 and similar are PSAV clock-hour training measured in hours, not credits — a different credential entirely.
• The 1000- and 2000-level courses carry lower-division college credit and feed associate degrees.
• The 3000- and 4000-level courses are upper division, forming part of a bachelor of applied science in engineering technology.
• ⚠ A 1000- or 2000-level course does not substitute for a 3000- or 4000-level one, even where the subject overlaps — compare ETI1420C (Engineering Materials and Processes, lower division) with ETI3421 (Materials and Processes, upper division).
• Confirm with an advisor which lower-division courses feed the BAS, and in what sequence.

How Florida course levels affect transfer

The first digit of an SCNS number denotes the year of offering, not transferability. Courses at the 1000 and 2000 levels transfer transparently between Florida public institutions, and 3000 to 4000 is unproblematic since both are upper division. The boundary that actually matters is 2000 to 3000, where lower-division credit generally cannot satisfy an upper-division requirement.

ETI3421 is 3 credits and approximately 45 contact hours, offered fall at Daytona State, with MAC1114 as prerequisite.

⚠ This is an upper-division course. The lower-division ETI1420C (Engineering Materials and Processes, 4 cr / 80 hrs) covers related content and does not substitute for it — see that guide.