Ceramic Materials and their Applications
Final Project Report Guidelines
The next several pages describe the required organization and content of the form of the Final
Project Report required in this course. The Final Project Report is a complete documentation
describing the motivation and materials system chosen, the current state of the art, possible
solutions and/or designs to overcome current challenges, modeling and computations performed
to understand the underlying science and/or possible new design solutions, a fully developed
homework problem with solutions, and conclusions. In addition, the report will be the basis for
a lightning talk (1.5 min) and a poster presentation.
Format Requirements
Please use 1” margins throughout and either 11 or 12 pt font.
1) Cover Page
• “Final Project Report”
• Title – should be descriptive of the materials system chosen and up to 15 words
• Group Members’ Names
• Instructor & Section
• Date
• Include page numbers starting after your cover page
2) “Table of Contents”
• Line up numbers on right side.
• Use dotted lines to connect line items with page numbers.
3) “Executive Summary” (**HALF PAGE**)
The executive summary should only be half a page, maximum 200 words total. Use past tense
primarily. It is recommended that this section be written after the rest of the report has been
written. Use a matter of fact tone and make strong statements without being negative or
judgmental.
• Summarize the materials system and the aim of the project.
• Summarize how the materials system works.
• Briefly describe what was done to analyze or the performance and point out possible
improvements.
• Share the results obtained, including a modeling or simulation component (be sure to
give quantitative as well as qualitative results). For instance, give the overall current
catalyst performance and desired specifications by further improvements in chemistry,
physics, and/or design.
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• Briefly explain why the materials behavior is as observed. For instance, why does the
catalyst perform better or worse when the chemical composition is modified in a certain
way.
• Briefly summarize the homework problem developed.
• Report the conclusions (Did you obtain good understanding of the underlying problems
in materials chemistry, physics, and engineering? How realistic are the suggestions for
improvement? How long may new developments take? How costly could it be?).
• Make any recommendations.
• Highlight what is included in the remainder of the report.
4) “1. Motivation and Materials System” (2 to 4 pages)
This introductory section includes the subheadings below.
“1.1. Motivation” (1 page)
• Give engineering background information and cite references (describe theory /
engineering behind your experiment).
• Give industrial / real world applications and cite references. Include a relevant
image/figure with figure caption.
• State the goals of your project.
o Example: The objective of this project was to describe, understand, and make
suggestions to improve catalysts for water splitting.
• State which parameters were examined.
o Example: We surveyed twenty different alloy compositions, the reported
performance, and estimated the activity for 5 new compositions.
“1.2. Materials System” (1 page)
• Describe, as an overview, the chemistry, physics, and engineering aspects of the
materials system. However, do not repeat information from the Motivation section.
• Include typical chemical compounds, setup of experiments, and/or drawings of the
design as applicable. Briefly describe any experimental setup, workflow, or use of the
material system in words as applicable.
o Also include a diagram for a relevant experimental setup/workflow/use of the
material system (AFTER the introduction in the text).
o If diagrams have labels such as letters and numbers, a legend should be included
underneath the diagram describing what each number and/or letter is
referencing.
o Example: A laminated composite is depicted in Figure 1 and labels are provided
in Table 1. The laminated composite is fire-resistant due to polymer xyz and ….
[then below give the diagram, the caption as well as the legend]
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“1.3. Theory and Design Principles” (1 page)
• Provide a description of relevant materials theory, including physics, chemistry, biology,
and engineering concepts as applicable.
• Include a step-by-step description of concepts, models, and working mechanisms known.
• Include a step-by-step derivation of pertinent equations and how they relate to the
chosen system and problems of performance improvement.
• Explain IN WORDS the meaning of these concepts and equations, keeping in mind the
big picture for each step.
• Do not simply list concepts and equations; transition from thought to thought smoothly.
This section (and any other) should read comfortably like a textbook.
• Discuss models, chemical reactions, equations, and assumptions in this section.
• Number your equations and/or schemes of chemical reactions starting with (1) as they
are first introduced to the reader.
• Line up the equation numbers so they are in a vertical line.
• Example: For the case of electrochemical reduction of hydronium ion, the free energy
required 𝛥𝐺 can be calculated from the potential difference 𝛥𝐸 at the cathode, as well
as the number of electrons transferred z and the Faraday constant F:
𝛥𝐺 = −𝑧 𝐹𝛥𝐸 (1)
Assumptions
• Explain any assumptions (e.g. operation under laboratory conditions at the small scale,
operation at the device/unit level, solution pH value, temperature, pressure, details as
applicable).
5) “2. Current State of the Art” (3 pages)
• Explain the current performance of the materials system using references from original
literature (peer-reviewed original publications, review articles, books, websites)
o Describe in detail the chemistry, physics, and engineering principles
o Discuss why and how the material system works as intended and performs specific
functions
o Include detailed explanations
o Explain challenges and limitations
• Structure your description into subsections as needed (2.1., 2.2. etc)
• Include text, figures and tables.
o Figures are an excellent means to showcase trends, so when possible present
results in figures rather than tables.
• Figures/Tables:
o Give each figure and table a number (e.g. Figure 2) and a caption. The caption
should summarize the key content of the Figure in a few sentences and not require
the reader to consult the text to understand the content.
o Do NOT give your figures a title (this information will all be in the caption).
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o Do NOT enclose your figures or tables in boxes.
o Figure captions go underneath the figure; table captions go above the table.
• Introduce figures/tables in the TEXT BEFORE giving the figure/tables. The figure/table
goes in the first possible space after the paragraph in which it is first introduced. If the
paragraph in which it is first introduced ends towards the bottom of the page and the
figure/table will not fit, continue with the next paragraph to fill this empty space and place
the figure/table at the top of the next page.
• Example: The dependence of the experimental and theoretical overall Young’s modulus
is shown in Figure 3. While the theoretical modulus increased with filler fraction in the
polymer, the experimental values follow only qualitatively.
—Give Figure 3 here with NO title or box and using consistently large fonts on the axes
and in the legend—
Figure 3. The experimental (∆) and theoretical (●) overall Young’s modulus in the draw direction
as a function of the filler fraction in the polymer. Error bars of the experimental data represent
the standard error for each value using 3 repeats.
• Do not duplicate information from prior sections.
5) “3. Analysis and Potential Innovations” (5 pages)
• This section is the main section to present a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the
materials system. Describe the workings of the system(s), limitations, and specific
opportunities for improvement.
o Use the theory and knowledge from our class.
o Use the physical, chemical, and engineering understanding from the literature and
web sources.
• Employ all pertinent concepts, equations, and cross-disciplinary knowledge to present an
in-depth analysis of the working mechanism and/or materials function. The focus can be
on the chemistry, on the physics, or on engineering design concepts of the material, or
combinations thereof. Foremost, demonstrate understanding from the basic principles
and across scales (atoms to device).
• The specifics of the analysis and the choice of subsections may depend on the chosen
problem.
• Use at least 3 subsections with suitable subsection headings of your choice (“3.1. …”, “3.2
…”, etc)
• Include a quantitative modeling or computational section that applies and/or extends
known theory.
• Place Step-by-Step Sample Calculations in an Appendix and REFERENCE THIS APPENDIX
in the text.
Example: Detailed step-by-step calculations can be found in Appendix A.
• Include text, figures and tables as described previously.
5 Model/Computation Results
• Include some systematic computation or modeling to analyze materials properties or
processing parameters.
• Describe in words the results.
• Use well-formatted figures, graphs, and tables, do not use spreadsheet tables.
• Think about what plots will best help you answer the problem objectives and explain
trends.
o For example, you may plot alloy composition or (hkl) crystal facets versus catalytic
activity in a water splitting catalysis experiment.
o You may plot multiple stress-strain curves for various filler materials at the same
volume fraction in one polymer matrix in one plot.
o You may use 3D plots to show the impact of two independent variables on the
target property.
o You are encouraged to use professional software for preparing graphs and figures,
such as Origin Pro
(https://oit.colorado.edu/software-hardware/site-licenses/originpro)
Suggestion for New Material Designs
• Describe specific suggestions for improved material designs, aligned with the goals
mentioned in the motivation.
• Base your suggestions on specific chemical theory/equations, physical theory/equations,
and engineering or process design, as applicable.
• Explain how the new designs may overcome current limitations.
• Document and justify your suggestions in depth using text, figures, tables. Use drawings
to make proposed innovations clear without doubt.
• Place additional Step-by-Step Sample Calculations in an Appendix and REFERENCE THIS
APPENDIX in the text.
Uncertainty and Error Analysis
• Qualitatively discuss uncertainties and errors, both in experiments in the literature and
in computations/modeling
• Include error bars in all graphs and in all calculation results (+/- ranges)
• Make a table of all sources of systematic and random errors. Order these uncertainties
from highest at the top to lowest.
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• Discuss important sources of error, listing the magnitude of error on the measured
quantity. For instance: “The temperature measurements had an uncertainty of 1 °C, and
the accuracy of the measured time was ± 2 seconds.”
• Provide a quantitative statistical analysis of available experimental data and results
o If applicable, include a table that lists the measured uncertainties and calculated
errors.
• Describe briefly the types of error analyses performed, including analysis of residuals,
straight line regression, hypothesis tests, envelope curves with regression, etc.
• Account for error propagation using error propagation analysis where appropriate.
• Sensitivity analysis – choose one or two major uncertainties (ΔT, Δm, etc) and evaluate
the effect on the magnitude of an important calculated result (= sensitivity analysis). For
instance, assess whether a 2% increase in the accuracy of the measured stress has a
significant effect on the calculated bulk modulus.
• When comparing experimental results to theoretical results from a model (or
Matlab/COMSOL simulation), you may generate one or several figures for sensitivity
analysis. For example, a plot showing experimental results (as markers) and then two
lines for theoretical results when an upper and lower bound of input variables were
assumed in the model. Some of these data can be shifted to an Appendix and mentioned
in the text (Example: “A more detailed sensitivity analysis is presented in Appendix B”).
• Tornado plots (sensitivity analysis) are welcome here!
6) “4. Discussion” (1-2 pages)
Discuss here the analysis and findings from the previous section. Answer WHY WHY WHY. Why
does the material behave in a certain way? Why did you see a trend? Why are your suggestions
promising? How could they be checked?
This section should analyze agreement with the theory, discuss trends in the data, evaluate
experimental uncertainties, theoretical uncertainties, resulting uncertainties in the calculation or
modeling results.
This section should also clearly answer all questions from the motivation, aims, and problem
statement, and give conclusions regarding the validity of the results. Use words to refer the
reader to specific figures/tables that were presented in the preceding sections. The discussion
section should include the following subheadings.
• Do not present new figures/tables here; these should all be presented in the preceding
sections.
• Answer all questions stated in the motivation and aims.
• Accurately comment on the trends of the results displayed in the figures and give realistic
and value-added reasons for these trends.
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• Discuss the results of computational analysis and simulations, referring to applicable
tables and figures in the Analysis and Potential Innovations section.
o **Give QUANTITATIVE analyses of agreement** (By what % do they differ from
available reference data? Is this within error?).
Example: The experimental overall heat transfer coefficient was 1100
W/m2*K, compared to a predicted value of 1500 W/m2*K, a difference of
36%. The model greatly over-predicted the heat transfer because it did
not account for heat loss to the environment.
o State WHY the expt/model results agree or disagree (i.e., note and give plausible
reasons for any discrepancies).
Example: One possible reason for the discrepancy between the
experimental and model results was the inability to account for non-ideal
solution conditions (ionic strength).
• Give suggestions for improving or modifying experiments or calculations to better meet
the objectives.
• If applicable, cite further information from literature that supports your findings. You may
present further plots from literature if applicable.
7) “5. Homework Problem and Solution” (2-4 pages)
Utilize the understanding of the material system studied to formulate an interesting homework
problem with solution key. The problem should be innovative and demonstrate mastery of
understanding materials function and design, and enable the person solving the problem to
acquire new knowledge about the chosen final project.
8) “6. Conclusion and Recommendations” (0.5-1 page)
Summarize the report and major conclusions in one paragraph. Do not give any new results here
(must be moved to prior sections if any). Include additional recommendations for possible
further experiments and calculations. Point out the need to verify conclusions, if necessary. Give
recommendations for any related work.
8) “7. References”
Any sources used must be provided in each report. These include journal articles, books,
websites, and any other items cited. Use a common citation style (ACS, Nature, Science, or APA).
Make sure to use one consistent citation style for all citations.
9) “8. Appendices”
• Include any documents that are considered supplemental to the content of the report. As
a rule of thumb, if something is discussed in the report itself, place the information (all
tables, figures, sketches, equations, etc.) in the main body of the report. The report
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should not rely on material presented in the appendix. The appendices allow space for
further proof or detail beyond the scope of what is included in the report. For example,
oftentimes one will write something like “Full simulation results are given in Appendix A.”
• Separate the appendices into sections and label them Appendix A, Appendix B, etc. and
give each an appropriate title.
• Appendices are put in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text (i.e., first
appendix mentioned in the text is Appendix A, next mentioned in the text is Appendix B,
etc.).
• Be sure that if you have an appendix (Appendix A, Appendix B, etc.) that you mention it
somewhere in the text.
• Do not just slap extra information onto the end of your report (for example, it is not a
dumpster for clipped excel spreadsheets). It must be well organized and referenced
somewhere in the text. Please ask the instructor if you are unclear!
