Introduction to

material
science
 HISTORICAL
PERSPECTIVE

• Imagine your life without all the materials that exist in our
modern world
• Identify the materials that you are surrounded with
• automobiles, cell phones, the internet, airplanes, nice
homes and their furnishings, stylish clothes, nutritious
(also “junk”) food, refrigerators, televisions, computers
• Without them our existence would be much like that of
our Stone Age ancestors
• development and advancement of societies - members’
ability to produce and manipulate materials to fill their
needs
• early civilizations have been designated by the level of
their materials development (Stone Age 2.5 million bc,
Bronze Age 3500 bc, Iron Age 1000 bc)
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Alteration of material Material selection
Discovery of other
Earliest materials : properties by heat process- one best suited
materials with superior
stone, wood, clay, skins treatments and by the for an application by
properties: pottery and
etc addition of other virtue of its
various metals
substances characteristics

Past 100 years: Tens of thousands of Development of many

Relationships between different materials have technologies: intimately
Metals, Plastics, Glasses
the structural elements evolved: meet the needs associated with the
and Fibers
of materials and their of our modern and accessibility of suitable
properties complex society materials

Electronic devices rely

Automobiles:
on components that are
inexpensive steel or
made from what are
some other comparable
called semiconducting
substitute
materials
MATERIALS SCIENCE
AND ENGINEERING
• Materials science: investigating the relationships that
exist between the structures and properties of materials
• Materials engineering: on the basis of these structure–
property correlations, designing or engineering the
structure of a material to produce a predetermined set of
properties
 Structure: arrangement of its internal components

• Structural elements may be classified on the basis of size

• Subatomic structure—involves electrons within the individual atoms, their
energies and interactions with the nuclei.
• Atomic structure— organization of atoms to yield molecules or crystals.
• Nanostructure—deals with aggregates of atoms that form particles
(nanoparticles - less that about 100 nm).
• Microstructure—those structural elements that are subject to direct observation
using some type of microscope (structural features having dimensions between
100 nm and several millimeters).
• Macrostructure—structural elements that may be viewed with the naked eye
(with scale range between several millimeters and on the order of a meter).
 Property: a material trait in terms of the kind and
magnitude of response to a specific imposed stimulus

❖Properties of solid materials

• Mechanical properties—relate deformation to an applied load or force; examples include elastic
modulus (stiffness), strength and resistance to fracture.
• Electrical properties—the stimulus is an applied electric field; typical properties include
electrical conductivity and dielectric constant
• Thermal properties—related to changes in temperature or temperature gradients across a
material; examples of thermal behavior include thermal expansion and heat capacity
• Magnetic properties—the responses of a material to the application of a magnetic field; common
magnetic properties include magnetic susceptibility and magnetization.
• Optical properties—the stimulus is electromagnetic or light radiation; index of refraction and
reflectivity are representative optical properties
• Deteriorative characteristics—relate to the chemical reactivity of materials; for example,
corrosion resistance of metals
Processing and Performance

a material’s performance
the structure of a material
is a function of its
depends on how it is
properties.
processed.
 numerous many small,
and very interconnected crystals &
small large number of very
• Different processing single single small pores or void
technique crystal crystals spaces
• Different performance
for optical
transmittance

Aluminum oxide, Al2O3

Central paradigm of materials
science and engineering or
materials paradigm

• Processing → Structure →
Properties → Performance →
Reuse/Recyclability
 Things engineers design are made of materials

For example, a transmission gear, the superstructure

for a building, an oil refinery component, or an
WHY STUDY integrated circuit chip

MATERIALS In-service conditions : Only on rare occasions does

a material possess the optimum or ideal
SCIENCE AND combination of properties

ENGINEERING? Deterioration of material properties during service

operation

Economics
 Case study: Liberty Ship Failures
❖ Brittle fracture of steel that was thought to be
ductile.
• Reasons:
• ductile-to-brittle transition upon cooling through
a critical range of temperatures
• corner of each hatch (i.e., door) was square- acted
points of stress concentration
• assembled by welding rather than riveting
• Weld defects and discontinuities were introduced
by inexperienced operators.

• Remedial measures
Lowering the ductile-to-brittle temperature
(e.g., reducing sulfur and phosphorus impurity
contents)
• Rounding off hatch corners by welding a curved
reinforcement strip on each corner
• Installing crack-arresting devices such as riveted
straps and strong weld seams to stop propagating
cracks.
• Improving welding practices and establishing
welding codes
 CLASSIFICATION OF MATERIALS

CLASSIFICATION EXAMPLES
Metals Iron, Aluminum, Copper, Gold, Silver
Polymers Polyethylene, Polypropylene, PVC, Nylon
Ceramics Porcelain, Glass, Cement, Silicon Carbide, Alumina
Composites Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers, Fiberglass
Semiconductors Silicon, Germanium, Gallium Arsenide
Biomaterials Hydroxyapatite, Collagen, Chitosan
Insulators Rubber, Plastic, Glass, Wood
Conductors Copper, Aluminum, Gold
Yttrium Barium Copper Oxide (YBCO), Bismuth Strontium Calcium
Superconductors
Copper Oxide (BSCCO), Lead (Pb), Niobium-Titanium (NbTi)
Magnetic Materials Iron, Cobalt, Nickel, Ferrite
 Alumina

Porcelain

Silicon
carbide
CFRP GFRP
Semi conductors

Silicon Germanium
 Superconductor
Material in which:
• Electrical resistance vanishes
• Magnetic fields are expelled

used in
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
Mass spectrometers
What are the differences : A material’s viewpoint?
• Elastomers—polymeric materials that
display rubbery-like behavior (high
degrees of elastic deformation).
• Natural materials—those that occur in
nature; for example, wood, leather, and
cork.
• Foams—typically polymeric materials
that have high porosities (contain a large
volume fraction of small pores), which
are often used for cushions and
packaging.
ADVANCED MATERIALS

utilized in high- Electronic equipment (cell Advanced materials used for lasers,
technology phones, DVD players, etc.), include semiconductors, batteries, magnetic
computers, fiber-optic biomaterials, and may
systems, high-energy density information storage,
term materials of the
batteries, energy-conversion liquid crystal displays
future (i.e., smart
systems, and aircraft (LCDs), and fiber optics
materials and
nanoengineered
materials)
Semiconductors

Intermediate Electrical characteristics -

electrical properties extremely sensitive to the
presence of minute
concentrations of impurity
atoms
 Biomaterials

• Advancements in the ability to replace

diseased and injured body parts
• Replacement implants are constructed of
biomaterials—(non-living material)
• Biomaterials must be biocompatible
• Biomaterial applications include joint
(e.g., hip, knee) and heart valve
replacements, vascular (blood vessel)
grafts, fracture-fixation devices, dental
restorations, and generation of new organ
tissues.
 Smart Materials

• These materials are able to sense changes in their environment and then respond to these changes in predetermined
manners.
• Components of a smart material (or system) include some type of sensor (which detects an input signal) and an actuator
(which performs a responsive and adaptive function).
• Actuators may be called upon to change shape, position, natural frequency, or mechanical characteristics in response to
changes in temperature, electric fields, and/or magnetic fields.
• Shape-memory alloys: metals that, after having been deformed, revert to their original shape when temperature is
changed. (e.g. an alloy of nickel and titanium)
• Piezoelectric ceramics: expand and contract in response to an applied electric field (or voltage); conversely, they also
generate an electric field when their dimensions are altered. (e.g. lead zirconate titanate (PZT)

• Magnetostrictive materials: analogous to that of the piezoelectrics, except that they are responsive to magnetic fields.
• Electrorheological/magnetorheological fluids: liquids that experience dramatic changes in viscosity upon the
application of electric and magnetic fields, respectively.
• One type of smart system is used in helicopters to reduce aerodynamic cockpit noise created by the rotating rotor blades.
Piezoelectric sensors inserted into the blades monitor blade stresses and deformations; feedback signals from these sensors
are fed into a computer-controlled adaptive device that generates noise-canceling antinoise.
Nanomaterials
• Fascinating properties and tremendous technological promise
• Not distinguished on the basis of their chemistry but rather their size

• top-down approach
• “materials by design” - bottom-up approach- nanotechnology
• dramatic changes as particle size approaches atomic dimensions
• opaque in the macroscopic domain may become transparent on the nanoscale; some solids become liquids,
chemically stable materials become combustible, and electrical insulators become conductors.
• niches applications

• Catalytic converters for automobiles

• Nanocarbons—fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, and graphene
• Particles of carbon black as reinforcement for automobile tires
• Nanocomposites
Alok K. Srivastava, Aparna Singh, Effect of GNP coating on carbon fibers on the
• Magnetic nanosize grains that are used for hard disk drives deformation modes of composites under flexural loading, Polymer Composites,
2023, https://doi.org/10.1002/pc.28043
• Magnetic particles that store data on magnetic tapes
Nanomaterials

Alok K. Srivastava, Aparna Singh, Effect of GNP coating on carbon fibers on the
deformation modes of composites under flexural loading, Polymer Composites,
2023, https://doi.org/10.1002/pc.28043
 Transportation: high-
strength, low-density
structural materials,
Material for energy :
higher-temperature hydrogen fuel cell
solar cell, battery
capabilities for
automobiles, aircraft,
trains

Nuclear energy : fuels,

MODERN
Nonrenewable
containment structures,
and facilities
for the disposal of
control air and water
pollution
resources decreasing:
the discovery of
MATERIALS’
additional reserves
radioactive waste
NEEDS
the development of new
increased recycling
materials having
efforts and the
comparable properties life cycle of materials
development of new
with less adverse
recycling technologies
environmental impact