Material science v.s. chemical engineering?

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Chemical engineering and materials science, while related, focus on different aspects of chemistry and materials. Chemical engineering primarily involves the design and operation of large-scale chemical processes, such as reactors for polymer production. In contrast, materials science is concerned with understanding the properties and behaviors of materials, such as why a polymer behaves a certain way in its final form. Modern educational paths reflect these distinctions, with chemical engineers often functioning as applied organic chemists and materials scientists as applied condensed matter physicists. However, there are overlaps, especially at the graduate level, where the lines blur as chemical engineers may engage in materials research and vice versa. Additionally, chemical engineers are more aligned with physical chemistry, focusing on calculations related to heat and fluid flow rather than synthesis. Overall, both fields share similarities in research, but their core focuses remain distinct.
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what's the difference? it looks like a chemical engineer and material scientist does the same thing
 
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Chemical engineering is more about running large-scale chemical reactions while materials science is about studying specific properties of materials. A chemical engineer may be tasked with designing a reactor that runs continuously to produce some polymer while a materials scientist would be tasked with figuring out why the polymer, in its final form, acts the way it does.

In modern curricula, it seems to me that chemical engineers are essentially applied organic chemists while materials scientists are essentially applied condensed matter physicists.

Of course there are always exceptions and overlaps. Hope this helped.
 
cmos said:
Chemical engineering is more about running large-scale chemical reactions while materials science is about studying specific properties of materials. A chemical engineer may be tasked with designing a reactor that runs continuously to produce some polymer while a materials scientist would be tasked with figuring out why the polymer, in its final form, acts the way it does.

In modern curricula, it seems to me that chemical engineers are essentially applied organic chemists while materials scientists are essentially applied condensed matter physicists.

Of course there are always exceptions and overlaps. Hope this helped.

ah, I see. Thanks a lot!
 
I would definitely say that chemical engineers are not close organic chemists. If anything, we are closer to physical chemists. Sure, we deal with many organic reactions but we don't come up with syntheses, we do the math to come up with the heat flow, fluid flow, work in and out of the system, etc.
 
at the graduate level the differences become blurred. Many ChemE's do more materials research and many MatSci's do more ChemE research. They are very similar when it comes to research
 
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