Materials science for engineers

This book is the fruit of the author's teaching experience and research work in materials science. It aims to provide students, engineering students and professionals with a solid, up-to-date grounding in the relationship between structure, properties, processes and performance of materials. The chapters cover the essential concepts of crystalline structure and defects, the main families of materials (metals, ceramics, polymers, composites, emerging materials), manufacturing and forming processes, heat and surface treatments, characterization methods, tribology and in-service behavior, as well as the approach to choosing and designing with materials, integrating technical, economic and environmental constraints. The document is structured in nine complementary parts, ranging from structural basics and material classification to selection and design approaches and case studies. It is intended as a synthetic teaching aid, both theoretical and applied.