Materials science

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The Materials Science Tetrahedron
Materials science is a multidisciplinary field focusing on functional solids, whether the function served is structural, electronic, thermal, chemical, magnetic, optical, or some combination of these. It uses those parts of chemistry and physics that deal with the properties of materials, but also includes a distinctive set of scientific techniques that probe materials structure. Evaluation of material performance is grounded in the field of engineering where that material is applied, and applying materials science requires a knowledge of the processing technologies of the material in question. Material properties, structure, performance, and processing are so essential and interrelated that they are often presented as the vertices of the materials science tetrahedron.

The widespread applications of materials science give rise to the title materials science and engineering. Radical materials advances can drive the creation of new products or even new industries, but stable industries also employ materials scientists to make incremental improvements and/or to troubleshoot. Industrial applications of materials science include materials design, cost/benefit tradeoffs in industrial production of materials, processing techniques (casting, rolling, welding, ion implantation, crystal growth, thin-film deposition, sintering, glassblowing, etc.), and analytical techniques (electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, calorimetry, nuclear microscopy (HEFIB) etc.).

Contents

Classes of materials

Materials science encompasses various classes of materials, each of which may constitute a separate field. Some examples include:

  1. metals
  2. ceramics
  3. polymers
  4. composites

Sub-fields of materials science

Note that some practitioners often consider rheology a sub-field of materials science, because it can cover any material that flows. However, modern rheology typically deals with non-Newtonian fluid dynamics, so it is often consider a sub-field of Continuum mechanics. See also granular material.

Topics that form the basis of materials science

Other topics


Chemistry

Analytical chemistry | Organic chemistry | Inorganic chemistry | Physical chemistry | Polymer chemistry | Biochemistry | Materials science | Environmental chemistry | Medicinal chemistry | Pharmacy | Thermochemistry | Electrochemistry | Nuclear chemistry | Computational chemistry | Photochemistry
Periodic table | List of inorganic compounds | List of organic compounds | List of biomolecules
af:Materiaalkunde

de:Werkstoffwissenschaft fr:Sciences des matériaux ko:재료공학 nl:Materiaalkunde pt:Ciência dos materiais th:วัสดุศาสตร์ vi:Khoa học vật liệu zh:材料科学

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