Materials Science and Engineering:

Materials: Engineering materials (matter useful to mankind such as food,

medicine, explosive chemical, water, steel and concrete etc.)
Specifically solid materials.
Science refers to physical sciences, in particular to chemistry and physics
Specifically solid state chemistry and solid state physics.
Engineering indicates that the engineering usefulness of the matter under
study irrespective of whether the basic laws of science can be applied
rigorously or not. In such case best possible approximation, develops
empirical rules and extrapolate available information to unknown situations.
In this respect, materials science and engineering draws heavily from the
engineering sciences such as metallurgy, ceramic and polymer sciences.

Classification of Engineering Materials:

1. Metals and Alloys
2. Ceramic and Glasses
3. Organic Polymers
Metals are familiar objects with a characteristics appearance; they are
capable of changing their shape permanently and have good thermal and
electrical conductivity. An alloy is a combination of more than one metal.

Ceramic and glasses are nonmetallic inorganic substances , which are

brittle and have good thermal and electrical insulating properties.

Organic polymers are relatively inert and light and generally have high
degree of plasticity.

Metals
Alloys

Ceramics Organic
& Glasses Polymers
Materials Engineering Tetrahedron
 Solids
• Solid is one of the fundamental states of matter.
• In solids molecules are closely packed and is characterized by structural
rigidity and resistance to changes of shape or volume.
• The atoms in a solid are tightly bound to each other in the form of a crystal,
either in a regular geometric lattice (crystalline solids) or irregularly
(an amorphous solid).
• A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as
atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic
structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions.
• The process of crystal formation via mechanisms of crystal growth is called
crystallization or solidification.