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According to the division of human technological prehistory (the stone age, the bronze age and the iron age), we can perceive the importance of materials to our civilization. Each new era of human history is accelerated by a new material. Materials are closely related with our daily life. As an interdisciplinary field, materials science is the design and discovery of new materials, particularly solids. Materials science emphasizes understanding how the history of a material (its processing) influences its structure, and thus the material's properties and performance. This course aims to introduce a series of materials that have great influence in our daily life, the knowledge of material characterization methods and the dimension of materials, in order to help students understand the beauty of materials.
This book introduces fundamental subjects included in the science of materials. The book covers the topics usually treated in a first course on materials science, such as crystalline solids and defects. It describes the electrical, mechanical, and thermal properties of matter; the unique properties of dielectric and magnetic materials; the phenomenon of superconductivity; polymers; and optical and amorphous materials. More modern subjects, such as fullerenes, liquid crystals, and surface phenomena are also covered, and problems are included at the end of each chapter. Metallurgical topics, such as Fe-C alloys and classical ones like ceramic materials, are missing.
This book describes the foundations and applications of materials science, and is a reference tool in manufacturing, materials, design or materials selection. This science-based approach to materials engineering highlights how the structure of materials at various length scales gives rise to materials properties. It presents how time, loading and environment all impact materials. In this seventh edition, the breadth of Chapter 15 on ceramic materials has been extended to include crystalline ceramics, silica and silicate compounds, and other topics of interest, and the cost of common engineering materials in Chapter 14 has been updated.
