Materials Science is a multidisciplinary field that is allied closely with areas of solid-state physics, but also draws on chemistry, engineering, and biology. Materials Science covers the structure, properties, processing, and characterisation of all material classes including polymers, metals, ceramics, device materials like semiconductors and magnets, as well as natural materials and composites of more than one type together.
We will explore the materials science behind the properties of alloys and how temperature affects those properties to illustrate the importance of the processing routes to develop the properties we want. This will explain why blacksmiths heat and cool steel between beating it on an anvil and how modern alloys can control the position of atoms to make medical devices and tyres for NASA's probes.
