What's materials science?

You could call it the study of stuff! Just about everything you use every day - the shoes you wear, the dishes you eat from, the CDs you listen to, the bike or skateboard you ride - it's all made of different kinds of stuff. Understanding how that stuff is put together, how it can be used, how it can be changed and made better to do more amazing things - even creating completely new kinds of stuff: that's what materials science is all about.

Materials science

Materials science is an interdisciplinary field involving the properties of matter and its applications to various areas of science and engineering. It includes elements of applied physics and chemistry, as well as chemical, mechanical, civil and electrical engineering.

With significant media attention to nanoscience and nanotechnology in the recent years, materials science has been propelled to the forefront at many universities, sometimes controversially.

Beverage Containers

Beverage containers are made of three different material types:

Aluminum (metal), plastic (polymer), and glass (ceramic).

Materials Science

Materials science deals with processing/synthesis, structure, properties, and performance of materials.

ProcessingStructurePropertiesPerformance

All of the above three specimens are of the same material- aluminum oxide, but they have different optical properties:

Leftmost one: Single crystal, which gives rise to its transparency.

Center one: Composed of numerous and very small single crystals that are all connected, which makes this material translucent.

Right one: Composed not only of many small, interconnected crystals, but also of a large number of very small pores or void spaces, which makes this opaque.

Classification of Materials

• Metals• Ceramics• Polymers• Composites• Semiconductors• Biomaterials• Modern/Exotic materials

Metals

Whole periods of human civilization - such as the Bronze and Iron ages - are named for metals. These were the first materials to be "engineered," that is, people changed them to fit what they needed to do, rather than just letting their natural properties determine what they could be used for. These days, materials scientists are using metals in ways no one could have pictured even a few years ago - for example, shaping copper into tiny wires a thousand times skinnier than a strand of your hair!

Ceramics

Think about a china teapot - that's one type of ceramic. But ceramics can also be used to create bone and tooth replacements, super-strong cutting tools, or to conduct electricity. With the addition of oxygen or nitrogen, metals become ceramics, too.

Polymers

Polymers are just very big molecules made of smaller molecules linked together into long, repeating chains. You may not know it, but you're in touch with polymers every day more than any other kind of material. Rubber bands are made of polymers, so are paints and every kind of plastic. And by the way, most of the food you eat is made of natural polymers!

Composites

Composites are combinations of materials, which can be as simple as concrete reinforced with steel bars or as leading edge as an ultralight, carbon-fiber bicycle. The places where different materials meet - the "interfaces" - often produce new properties that are radically different, and better, than those in any single material.

A composite is designed to display a combination of the best characteristics of each of the component materials. Fiberglass acquires strength from glass and flexibility from the polymer.

Semiconductors

One of these materials - silicon - is making it possible for today’s technology. That's because silicon is the essential material in an electronic computer chip. "Semiconductor" means a material can conduct electricity with a bit of help in the form of added "impurities." Your CD, DVD player, and telephone - all depend on semiconductors.

Biomaterials

Biomaterials are employed in components implanted into the human body for replacement of diseased or damaged body parts. These materials must not produce toxic substances and must be compatible with body tissues (i.e., must not cause adverse biological reactions).

Filling for tooth cavities, breast implants, and artificial hip.

Modern/Exotic Materials

Materials scientists are discovering and creating entirely new types of materials - such as buckyballs and nanotubes, which are very tiny spheres or cylinders made of carbon atoms. Then there are aerogels, which are extremely lightweight porous materials made almost entirely of air! Nanotechnology is taking materials science into a new dimension, as scientists create new materials atom-by-atom and molecule-by-molecule - leading to properties and performance never before imagined.

http://www.pa.msu.edu/cmp/csc/nanotube.html