"Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries."
The study of the properties of materials, including metals, ceramics, and polymers.
Atomic structure and bonding: Understanding the fundamental building blocks of matter and how they interact is essential to understanding materials science. This includes topics such as electronic structure, chemical bonding, and crystal structures.
Thermodynamics: Thermodynamics plays a critical role in materials science as it helps to describe the physical and chemical properties of solids, liquids, and gases. Some concepts to be familiar with include entropy, enthalpy, and phase equilibria.
Kinetics: The kinetics of materials refer to how they react and the relevant rates of those reactions. It is especially important in the optimization of manufacturing processes, and topics here include solid-state diffusion, phase transformations, and reaction rates.
Material characterization: A range of techniques are available to characterize materials, including microscopy, spectroscopy, and thermal analysis. These help scientists understand the structure, composition and properties of materials on different scales.
Properties of materials: Understanding the mechanical, electrical, thermal, and magnetic properties of different materials is critical for engineers in creating products with the desired properties. Polymers, ceramics, metals, and composites all have different properties.
Materials processing: Materials processing is a key aspect of materials science, and involves ways of converting raw materials into finished products. This includes casting, extrusion, forging, sintering, and annealing, among other methods.
Materials design: Materials design takes all of the above concepts and knowledge together to develop new materials with specific properties. Multidisciplinary work is often required to achieve this, including computer modeling, synthesis, and characterization.
Nanotechnology and materials: Nanotechnology is an exciting area of research within materials science, where materials are engineered and manipulated at the nanoscale. This can lead to novel materials with exceptional properties and opens up new fields of research.
Materials for energy-related applications: Materials play a key role in energy-related applications including renewable energy, energy storage, and nuclear power. This requires understanding the qualities of different materials and how they can work together to achieve a desirable outcome.
Environmental/materials sustainability: As our planet faces increased concern about sustainability, it is increasingly important that materials scientists consider how their work affects and can benefit our environment. Understanding the environmental impact of materials is important in making informed choices about materials selection and processing techniques.
Polymer science and engineering: It deals with the synthesis, characterization, and properties of polymers or macromolecules and their processing into useful products.
Biomaterials: It involves the study of materials used in or derived from living organisms, including implantable medical devices, tissue engineering, and drug delivery.
Nanomaterials: It focuses on the synthesis, characterization, and applications of materials with dimensions less than 100 nanometers, which exhibit novel properties due to their small size.
Composite materials: It involves the study of materials composed of two or more individual components, such as fiber-reinforced plastics or metal matrix composites.
Ceramic materials: It deals with the synthesis, processing, and properties of inorganic, non-metallic materials, including ceramics, glasses, and refractories.
Electronic materials: It involves the study of materials used in the production of electronic devices, such as semiconductors, superconductors, and optoelectronic materials.
Energy materials: It focuses on the study of materials used in energy production and storage, including batteries, solar cells, and fuel cells.
Metallurgical engineering: It deals with the extraction, processing, and properties of metals, including metallurgical processes, corrosion, and materials testing.
Surface science and engineering: It involves the study of the properties of surfaces and interfaces, including adhesion, friction, and wear, and their applications in materials processing and tribology.
Computational materials science: It focuses on the use of computer simulations and modeling to predict the properties and behavior of materials, including molecular dynamics, quantum mechanics, and finite element analysis.
"The intellectual origins of materials science stem from the Age of Enlightenment, when researchers began to use analytical thinking from chemistry, physics, and engineering to understand ancient, phenomenological observations in metallurgy and mineralogy."
"As such, the field was long considered by academic institutions as a sub-field of these related fields."
"Beginning in the 1940s, materials science began to be more widely recognized as a specific and distinct field of science and engineering."
"The understanding of processing-structure-properties relationships is called the materials paradigm."
"This paradigm is used to advance understanding in a variety of research areas, including nanotechnology, biomaterials, and metallurgy."
"Materials science is also an important part of forensic engineering and failure analysis – investigating materials, products, structures, or components, which fail or do not function as intended, causing personal injury or damage to property."
"Such investigations are key to understanding, for example, the causes of various aviation accidents and incidents."
"Materials scientists emphasize understanding how the history of a material (processing) influences its structure, and thus the material's properties and performance."
"Materials science still incorporates elements of physics, chemistry, and engineering."
"Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries."
"Major technical universities around the world created dedicated schools for its study."
"The understanding of processing-structure-properties relationships is called the materials paradigm."
"...research areas, including nanotechnology, biomaterials, and metallurgy."
"...understand ancient, phenomenological observations in metallurgy and mineralogy."
"...investigating materials, products, structures, or components, which fail or do not function as intended, causing personal injury or damage to property."
"...investigating materials, products, structures, or components, which fail or do not function as intended..."
"Beginning in the 1940s, materials science began to be more widely recognized as a specific and distinct field of science and engineering."
"When researchers began to use analytical thinking from chemistry, physics, and engineering to understand ancient, phenomenological observations in metallurgy and mineralogy."
"...incorporates elements of physics, chemistry, and engineering."