Principles of Material Science

Materials Science is an interdisciplinary subject developed from solid state physics, solid state chemistry and engineering. Civilization grew from stone age to nano-age through the development of modern materials from time to time. Almost all the disciplines in science reap the benefits from materials science. Materials Science basically deals with the study of the structure and properties of any material as well as to create new types of materials for several specific uses. The field expanded beyond imagination comprising biomaterials, nuclear materials, photonic materials, nano-materials, composites, polymers, superconducing and semiconducting materials. This is possible due to the emergence of various sophisticated analytical instruments to characterize these materials. Materials science is an ocean with the diversified subject areas. It is an impossible task to cover all these areas in a single book. However this book attempts to cover as many topics as possible with the modern developments taken in new materials. This book starts with the basics of materials science and builds up to modern materials. The primary aim in writing this book is to provide a brief, yet complete foundation for the understanding of basic materials science. The book was designed by keeping Indian Education on materials science in mind and hence it will be suitable to University education, engineering education and AMIE courses. A secondary goal for this book is to serve as a basic reference book for materials scientists.