Reviewing Chapters 01 to 03 from Foundations of Materials Science and Engineering by W.F. Smith, J. Hashemi

 

Foundations of Materials book reviewing

Foundations of Materials Science and Engineering is a materials engineering reference book used all over the world, both as an introduction in materials engineering courses and as a synthesis of the area for other engineering courses. As a way to review these foundations, I am revisiting this book, and in this first article, I will talk about the chapters 01 to 03.

The Chapter 01 makes an introduction to materials knowledge: since how to obtain them from the Earth’s crust to their use in space missions. It clarifies Materials Science and Materials Engineering as distinct yet complementary areas of knowledge: the first one focuses on structure and properties, while the second one focuses on how to use this knowledge to create products and services. Finally, it presents the main materials groups: metals, ceramics, polymers, and composites. Other groups are also presented, such as nanomaterials and electronic materials. Each group presentation explains about materials examples, properties, applications, and advantages and limitations in their use.

The Chapter 02 introduces atoms and how they relate to each other, which underpins materials properties. There is an atomic theory review, a periodic table presentation and how it’s related with atomic properties as atomic radius and electron affinity. Next, it presents atomic bonds, organized in primary and secondary bonds. Primary bonds are strong and operate mainly at the atom-to-atom level, while secondary bonds are not so strong and act mainly in the molecule-to-molecule level.

Finally, the Chapter 03 is about materials’ microstructures patterns, the notations used to describe them and the main technique for their observation: the X-ray diffraction analysis. These patterns are known as Bravais lattices, and the most common are the Body-Centered Cubic (BCC), the Face-Centered Cubic (FCC) and the Hexagonal Close-Packed (HCP). Allotropy or polymorphism occurs when the same material can change its microstructures patterns, as iron does, alternating between BCC and FCC in different temperature intervals. There are also materials without microstructure patterns, called amorphous, such as glasses. 

These three chapters present fundamentals knowledge for materials engineers: from a presentation about how the materials knowledge is applied and what are the main materials groups to atoms interactions and how they are organized in the interior of materials. These knowledge will be fundamentals moving forward, when studying concepts as mechanic behaviors, heat treatments and production technologies.