Structure of Materials

Catalog description

The properties of matter depend on which of the about 100 different kinds of atoms they are made of and how they are bonded together in different crystal structures; specifically, the atomic structure primarily affects the chemical, physical, thermal, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties of materials. Metals behave differently than ceramics, and ceramics behave differently than polymers. Students will learn the different states of condensed matter and develop a set of tools for describing the crystalline structure of all of them. They will gain a better understanding of the principles of structure common to all materials. Key concepts, such as symmetry theory will be introduced introduced and applied to provide a common viewpoint for describing structures of ceramic, metallic, and polymeric materials and the latter includes optical microscopy, electron optics, x-ray diffraction and some surface analytical techniques. Structure-sensitive properties of real materials will also be introduced.