Materials science is the foundation of all technological advancements, from everyday devices like smartphones to the revolutionary technologies of the future. This course explores the impact materials science has on our lives through the different properties and applications of metallic, inorganic, and organic materials, and explains its key role in technological advancements.
Materials science underlies all the technology you enjoy today. For example, the smartphones we use every day have tons of components, each of which is made using materials science. You only need to look at the transparent substrate of a smartphone to see its importance. It must be strong enough to protect the internal components from external shocks, and electrically conductive enough to transmit signals from our fingers. At the same time, it must maintain a high level of light transmission so that light from the internal components is visible to the user’s eyes. A lot of materials science knowledge is packed into this simple glass substrate.
In recent years, smartphones have become even more flexible. Just as it was difficult to predict smartphones 10 years ago, it’s hard to imagine what forms of electronics will be around in the next 10 years. But it’s clear that materials science will play an important role in the electronics of the future. No matter how brilliant the theories and ideas are, without the right materials to turn them into reality, they will remain just a figment of our imagination.
The research field of materials engineering is mainly focused on solid materials, which are divided into three main categories: metallic, inorganic, and organic. To make it easier to understand, let’s take our favorite beverage containers as an example. Beverages are sold in containers made from a variety of materials, including cans, glass bottles, and plastic bottles. Cans are metallic materials, glass bottles are inorganic materials, and plastic bottles are organic materials.
Metallic materials are mainly composed of metal atoms, but in practice, they can be a mixture of different types of metal atoms or small amounts of non-metallic atoms. The main characteristics of metallic materials are their high electrical conductivity and mechanical strength. This conductivity makes them popular as wires, and they are also important as building materials because of their strain hardening properties, which, unlike other materials, increase in strength as they are deformed.
Inorganic materials, often referred to by the term ceramic, are composed of a combination of metal and non-metal atoms in specific proportions. Because inorganic materials are made up of different combinations of metal and non-metal atoms, they can exhibit a wide variety of properties. Optically, they can be transparent, translucent, or opaque, and electrically, they may or may not be conductive. Thanks to these properties, inorganic materials play a very important role in the electronics industry.
Organic materials are also called polymers, and you can think of materials like plastic and rubber. Organic materials have a structure of non-metallic atoms, mainly based on carbon (C), oxygen (O), and hydrogen (H), bonded together in long chains. The main advantage of organic materials is that they are easy to mold. Unlike metals and inorganic materials, they can exist in a liquid state at relatively low temperatures, making them easy to process into a variety of shapes. Organic materials are easy to mold, and although they are weaker than metals and ceramics, they are strong enough to be widely used as exterior materials for copiers, cell phones, computers, etc.
As you can see, metallic, inorganic, and organic materials each have unique properties and applications. Some might argue that it makes more sense to separate metallurgy, inorganic engineering, and polymer engineering into separate disciplines. Indeed, before the creation of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, each of these disciplines developed independently. However, over time, the need for a comprehensive knowledge of various materials fields emerged, leading to the creation of the unified discipline of materials engineering.
For example, solar cells were initially dominated by silicon-based inorganic materials, but with the advent of organic solar cells, it is no longer possible to limit the field to one material. For better research and development, knowledge that encompasses metallic, inorganic, and organic materials is needed. Against this backdrop, the Department of Materials Engineering was established to acquire knowledge and research across metal, inorganic, and organic materials.
Materials engineering focuses not only on improving existing materials, but also on developing new materials that will lead the future of society. This research plays a key role in making innovative technologies that have only been imagined so far a reality. For example, self-driving cars, wearable devices, next-generation displays, and many other future technologies are all based on materials science innovations. Therefore, materials science is more than just a discipline that underpins technological advancements; it plays an essential role in realizing the future society we dream of.
I hope this article has given you a better understanding of what materials science is and why it is important. The potential for materials science to drive future technological advances is enormous, and its role will only grow in the future.
