Sutton A.P. Concepts of materials science

Oxford University Press, 2021. — 161 p. — ISBN 978–0–19–284683–9.All technologies depend on the availability of suitable materials. Without innovations
in materials we would still be living in caves. The epochs of civilisation have been
defined by the materials people have used, from the stone age to the bronze age to
the iron age and now the silicon age. Mark Miodownik has written eloquently about
how countless materials shape our lives1. Robert Cahn wrote an authoritative history
of the emergence of materials science2.
This book is different. It is an attempt to identify key concepts – big ideas – of the science of materials. It is not about any particular experimental, theoretical or computational technique or any particular materials. It describes ten concepts I believe are central to materials science.When is a material stable?
Phase diagrams
Restless motion
Defects
Symmetry
Quantum behaviour
Small is different
Collective behaviour
Materials by design
Metamaterials
Biological matter as a material