What Materials Fields are Heavy in Math?

[SphericalCow]

Hello,

I'm a materials engineering undergraduate student.

I would love to combine math and materials, what fields will allow me to combine these two?

 

[berkeman]

Paging @Astronuc

 

[fresh_42]

Hello,

I'm a materials engineering undergraduate student.

I would love to combine math and materials, what fields will allow me to combine these two?

I would definitely vote for statistics and stochastic. How far you would combine this with measure theory is a matter of taste, but statistical tests, confidence intervals, hypothesis, and reliability should be part of it, in my opinion.

If your main field of research is crystalline structures, then finite groups might play a role.

I just today have read this article:

Scientists Discovered Promethium in 1945. They Only Just Learned What It Actually Does.​

and would be very interested in which kinds of mathematics are behind these experiments so that they can conclude chemical behavior.

 

[Baluncore]

You might work with composites, or at a synchrotron. No matter where, you will apply the mathematics you have, to the work you do, and you will migrate through the field to where you can make a difference. Keep an open mind and maintain an interest in everything.

 

[Astronuc]

Hello,

I'm a materials engineering undergraduate student.

I would love to combine math and materials, what fields will allow me to combine these two?

I assume one already uses a fair amount of mathematics in materials science & engineering (engineering = applied science or applied physics).

In physics one quantifies properties and/or states/interactions of matter, photons and electro-magnetic fields. One may work on the atomic scale, e.g., calculating atomic potentials, bond strengths, . . . , diffusion rates, up to an engineering scale, e.g., creep or stress/strain, time-dependent deformation, or how properties change during service.

One could focus on electrical properties, e.g., of conductors, semi-conductors, and/or insulators for electronics in a variety of applications.

How materials corrode (corrosion rate) or resist corrosion requires mathematics.

Adding radiation and radiation interaction with materials (and how materials change with radiation dose, or how and where energy is deposited) makes for some interesting mathematics.