Lecture 1.

Introduction to Materials Science and Engineering

 Materials are substances of which something is composed or made of.

 Material science is primarily concerned with the search for the basic
knowledge about the internal structure, properties and processing of
materials.

 Materials engineering is concerned mainly with the application of

fundamental and applied knowledge so that the materials can be
converted into necessary products of desired properties.

 The combined knowledge of materials from material science and

materials engineering enables engineers to convert materials into
products needed by the society.

 Composition means the chemical make-up of a material.

 Structure means a description of the arrangements of atoms or ions in

a material.

 Synthesis is the process by which materials are made from naturally

occurring or other chemicals.

 Processing means different ways for shaping materials into useful

components or changing their properties.

Properties decide the

performance. I.e. Applications

Properties are sensitive to

structure

Processing can change

structure & properties of

Fig. 1 relationship among structure-properties-processing & performance.

 Classification of Materials

Metals: metals are good conductors of electricity & heat . metals are strong ductile & tough they
can be deformable, which accounts for their extensive use in structural applications. Metals &
alloys are divided in two classes. 1. Ferrous metals & alloys (that contains large amount of iron
ex. Steels & cast irons) 2. Non-ferrous metals & alloys (that do not contain iron or relatively a
small amount of iron) ex. Copper, zinc, titanium & Nickel.

Semiconductors: the bonding is covalent (electrons are shared between

atoms). Their electrical properties depend strongly on minute proportions of
contaminants. Examples: Si, Ge, GaAs.

Ceramics: atoms behave like either positive or negative ions, and are bound
by Coulomb forces. They are usually combinations of metals or
semiconductors with oxygen, nitrogen or carbon (oxides, nitrides, and
carbides). Hard, brittle, insulators. Examples: glass, porcelain.

Polymers: are bound by covalent forces and also by weak van der Waals
forces, and usually based on C and H. They decompose at moderate
temperatures (100⁰ – 400 ⁰C), and are lightweight. Examples: plastics, polyethylene, Phenolics,
PVC, rubber.

Composite materials: composite materials are mixtures of two or more materials. Most
composite materials consist of selected filler or reinforcing materials and compatible resin binder
to obtain the specific characteristics and desired properties. Examples are fiber glass reinforcing
materials in polyesters or epoxy matrix and carbon fiber in epoxy matrix.
Table.1.Representative examples, applications and properties of materials.

Crystal systems:-
 • Seven crystal systems
• Fourteen Bravais
lattices
• Cubic and Hexagonal
systems: 90% of all
metals have a cubic or
hexagonal structure

FACE CENTERED CUBIC

STRUCTURES (FCC)

Simple cubic structures (SC)

BODY CENTERED CUBIC STRUCTURE (BCC)