ME-UY-2813-A
Introduction to Materials Science
Fall 2026
Rakesh Kumar Behera, Ph.D.
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
New York University, Tandon School of Engineering
Office: Room 134, 5 MTC
Email: rakesh.behera@nyu.edu
Phone: 646-997-3825
CA: Yash Dubey
yad3763@nyu.edu
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ME-UY-2813-A
Introduction to Materials Science
Fall 2026
• Class (in-person): Monday/Wednesday 11:00 AM – 12:20 PM ET
• Class meeting in Room 473, Jacobs Hall, 6 MTC
• Student Hours (in-person): Monday, 09:45 AM – 10:45 AM ET
Thursday, 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM ET
• Student Hours meeting in Room 134 / Room 143, 5 MTC (starts 09/14)
• Book: Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction
– William D. Callister, David G. Rethwisch
– John Wiley & Sons
– US 10th Edition
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ME-UY-2813-A
Introduction to Materials Science
Fall 2026
ISBN-13: 978-1119321590
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Tentative
Chapters
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7
8
7
8
9
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ME-UY-2813-A
Introduction to Materials Science
Fall 2026
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NYU Brightspace
• Syllabus
• Announcements
• Lecture Slides
• Handouts (if any)
• Grades
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ME-UY-2813-A Tentative Schedule
• All Quizzes, Midterms, and Finals
will be conducted in-person
• 3 Quizzes and 2 Home-works
(check the dates carefully)
• 2 Midterms (during class)
•
•
Midterm 1:
covers Chapters 1 – 4
Midterm 2:
covers Chapters 5 – 8
• 1 Final Exam (All Chapters)
• Total 27 Classes + Final
– 21 Lectures, 3 Reviews, 1 Student Session, 2 Midterms + 1 Final
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ME-UY-2813-A Tentative Schedule
• All Quizzes, Midterms, and Finals
will be conducted in class
• 3 Quizzes and 2 Home-works
(check the dates carefully)
• 2 Midterms (during class)
•
•
Midterm 1:
covers Chapters 1 – 4
Midterm 2:
covers Chapters 5 – 8
• 1 Final Exam (All Chapters)
• Total 27 Classes + Final
– 21 Lectures, 3 Reviews, 1 Student Session, 2 Midterms + 1 Final
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ME-UY-2813-A Grading Policy
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ME-UY-2813-A BONUS Policy
EXAM BONUS:
• The quizzes, midterms and final might contain bonus questions to
help you in your score for each assessment.
• Your score in each exam cannot be more than the total score for that
particular exam.
QUIZZES and MIDTERM EXAMS:
• Please note that Quizzes and midterm exams will be conducted
during lecture hours.
FINAL EXAM:
• Final exam schedule will be announced later in the semester.
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ME-UY-2813-A Accommodation
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Important House-keeping
• All electronic communication with Instructor and GA must be by
e-mail through an @nyu.edu address
• Please be courteous while sending an email by addressing the
instructor as “Prof. Behera”, “Dr. Behera”, “Professor”
• We will respond within 48 hours, but do not leave things to the
last minute/hour/day
• Take the advantage of the in-person student hours
• Availability at other times can be requested by email
• Attendance Policy: You are strongly encouraged to attend lecture,
however, there are no grades for attendance. Attendance might be
collected for statistical purposes.
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Class Preparation
• Presentation file for each lecture will be uploaded to
NYU Brightspace course site before the class
• You are free to download and print these or use the
file on your smart devices to take notes
• I will upload the annotated files to reflect what we
covered in class (assuming no technical difficulty in
annotating the files during lecture)
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Unanswered Questions in Slides
• You will notice there are many questions on the slides for which answers
are discussed in class and are not explicitly written
• It is your responsibility to understand and take appropriate notes on how
to answer these if you get similar questions during formal assessments
• I will recommend using the “Discussions” option in NYU Brightspace to
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discuss any points that is still unclear for a particular chapter
Unanswered Questions in Slides
• Please click on “Start a New Thread” tab to initiate a new discussion
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Additional Documents
• Additional documents will be provided for you to supplement your
learning
– A list of book sections covered in each chapter will be available for
you
– A chapter-by-chapter key concepts and problems discussed in
class will be shared during the semester
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Class Atmosphere
• Discuss individually or in small groups as feasible
• Practice Active-Learning techniques
• Ask questions during or after class to clarify doubts
• Learn from the instructor as well as peers, in-class or using the
Discussion link in Brightspace
Images taken from internet
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Comment on The Materials Lab
• Introduction to Materials Science is a pre-requisite to the
Introduction to Materials Science Lab (ME-UY-3811):
– You need to successfully complete the lecture course to take
the materials lab
– Please review all the relevant lecture contents so that you will
do well in different aspects of the Materials Lab in a future
semester
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ME-UY-2813-A
Introduction to Materials Science
Fall 2026
• Catalogue Description:
– Students in this course become familiar with Atomic Structure and
Bonding, Atomic Arrangement in Crystals, Crystal Imperfections,
Mechanical Behavior and Failure of Materials and Binary Phase
Diagrams
• Course Objectives:
– Understand the interrelationship between microstructure and macroscopic
properties
– Interpret stress-strain diagrams for solids
– Understand the role of defects on the mechanical behavior of solids
– Understand failure of materials under cyclic loading and at elevated
temperatures
– Understand how the microstructure in multi-component systems develops
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ME-UY-2813-A Tentative Schedule
Lecture #
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
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Date
Sep 02
Sep 07
Sep 09
Sep 14
Sep 16
Sep 21
Sep 23
Sep 28
Sep 30
Oct 05
Oct 07
Oct 12
Oct 14
Oct 19
Oct 21
Oct 26
Oct 28
Nov 02
Nov 04
Nov 09
Nov 11
Nov 16
Nov 18
Nov 23
Nov 25
Nov 30
Dec 02
Dec 07
Dec 09
Dec 14
TBA
Day
Wednesday
Monday
Wednesday
Monday
Wednesday
Monday
Wednesday
Monday
Wednesday
Monday
Wednesday
Monday
Wednesday
Monday
Wednesday
Monday
Wednesday
Monday
Wednesday
Monday
Wednesday
Monday
Wednesday
Monday
Wednesday
Monday
Wednesday
Monday
Wednesday
Monday
TBA
Topics
Syllabus + Introduction
No Class (Labor Day)
Atomic Structure and Bonding
Atomic Structure and Bonding
Crystal Structure
Crystal Structure
Crystal Structure
Crystal Structure
Defects
Defects
Chapters 1-4 Review
No Class (Fall Break)
Midterm 1 (Monday Schedule)
Diffusion
Diffusion
Mechanical Properties
Mechanical Properties
Dislocations
Dislocations
Failure
Failure
Chapters 5-8 Review
Midterm 2 Preparation: Student Session
Midterm 2
No Class (For Thanksgiving)
Phase Diagrams
Phase Diagrams
Phase Diagrams
Phase Diagrams (Course Evaluation – Albert)
Course Review / Online Evaluation
Dec 16 – Dec 22 (2 hours)
Chapter
Ch. 1
Ch. 1 + Ch. 2
Ch. 2
Ch. 2 + Ch. 3
Ch. 3
Ch. 3
Ch. 3
Ch. 3 + Ch. 4
Ch. 4
Ch. 4 + Chs. 1-4
Chs. 1-4
Ch. 5
Ch. 5 + Ch. 6
Ch. 6
Ch. 6 + Ch. 7
Ch. 7
Ch. 7
Chs. 7 + Ch. 8
Ch. 8
Chs. 5-8
Chs. 5-8
Chs. 5-8
Ch. 9
Ch. 9
Ch. 9
Ch. 9
Ch. 9 + Chs. 1-9
Chs. 1-9
Assessment
Quiz 1
HW 1 due
Quiz 2
HW 2 due
Quiz 3
Final Exam
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Chapter 01 - Overview
Class Objective:
Introduction to the field of Materials Science and Engineering
You will learn about:
• development of materials
• types of materials
• advanced materials
• various properties of materials
This lecture will help you to:
• understand the field of Materials
• distinguish different Materials
• know the design process for Materials
Q. What is Materials Science and Engineering?
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Materials Science and Engineering
• Materials Science focuses on investigating the relationship that exist
between structure and properties of materials
• Materials Engineering deals with designing or manufacturing or
engineering the material (processing) to produce a set of predetermined properties (performance) based on Materials Science
Q. Why should we learn about it?
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Historical Implication of Materials
(2.5 million years ago – 3300 BCE)
(3300 BCE – 1200 BCE)
Image taken from internet
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Periodic Table
Q. Why Bronze age came before Iron age?
• Bronze is an alloy of Cu + Sn
– alloy is a mixture of 2 or more metals
• Iron is a pure metal (Fe)
Q. Why Gold (Au) and Silver (Ag) are precious metals? Image taken from internet
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Materials Development
Q. How is the development of materials in these periods?
• A better understanding of the interplay between Processing →
Structure → Properties → Performance has led to remarkable
improvement in materials
Images taken from internet
https://www.nap.edu/read/758/chapter/3#20
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Materials Development
Images taken from internet
https://www.nap.edu/read/758/chapter/3#20
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Diamond vs Graphite
Images taken from internet
Q. Are these made of the same material? Which is stronger and why?
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Diamond vs Graphite
Diamond
Graphite
Images taken from internet
Q. Classify the different types of materials you know?
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Types of Materials
– Metals
– Ceramics
– Polymers (Plastics)
– Composites
– Advanced Materials
https://www.nap.edu/read/758/chapter/3#20
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Types of Materials
Metals
• High density, strong, ductile
• High thermal & electrical conductivity
• Opaque, reflective
• Can corrode
Ceramics
• Medium density
• Brittle, glassy, inelastic
• Non-conducting (insulators)
• Corrosion resistant
Polymers
• Soft, ductile, low strength, low density
• Thermal & electrical insulators
• Optically translucent or transparent
• Corrosion resistant
Images taken from internet
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Composites
Images taken from internet
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Advanced Materials
Biomaterials
• implanted in
human body
• compatible with
body tissues
Semiconductors
• electrical properties
between conductors
and insulators
• electrical properties
can be precisely
controlled
Smart/Nano-Materials
• Smart: able to sense
changes in the
environment
(sensors/actuators)
• Nano: at least one
dimension is less
than 100 nm
Images taken from internet
hip replacement
Intel chip
Carbon nanotube
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Material Selection for a Specific Design
Q. What will be your approach to select a material for a given design?
Images taken from internet
Material Selection for a Specific Design
Q. What will be your approach to select a material for a given design?
Images taken from internet
Next Lecture
• Complete Chapter 01: MSE Overview
• Chapter 02: Atomic Structure and Interatomic Bonding
• No Lecture on Monday (09/07) (Labor Day)
• Next class meets on Wednesday (09/09)
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