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1、材料科学与工程专业英语Unit1 Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering Materials are properly more deep-seated in our culture than most of us realize. Trans -portation, housing, clothing, communication, recreation and food production-virtually every segment of our everyday lives is influenced to one degre
2、e or another by materials. Historically, the development and advancement of societies have been intimately tied to the members abilities to produce and manipulate materials to fill their needs. In fact, early civilizations have been designated by the level of their materials development(i.e.Stone Ag
3、e, Bronze Age). The earliest humans has access to only a very limited number of materials, those that occur naturally stone, wood, clay, skins, and so on. With time they discovered techniques for producing materials that had properties superior to those of the natural ones: these new materials inclu
4、ded pottery and various metals. Furthermore, it was discovered that the properties of a material could be altered by heat treatments and by the addition of other substances. At this point, materials utilization was totally a selection process, that is, deciding from a given, rather limited set of ma
5、terials the one that was best suited for an application by virtue of its characteristic. It was not until relatively recent times that scientists came to understand the relationships between the structural elements of materials and their properties. This knowledge, acquired in the past 60 years or s
6、o, has empowered them to fashion, to a large degree, the characteristics of materials. Thus, tens of thousands of different materials have evolved with rather specialized characteristics that meet the needs of our modern and complex society. The development of many technologies that make our existen
7、ce so comfortable has been intimately associated with the accessibility of suitable materials. Advancement in the under-standing of a material type is often the forerunner to the stepwise progression of a technology. For example, automobiles would not have been possible without the availability of i
8、nexpensive steel of some other comparable substitutes. In our contemporary era, sophisticated electronic devices rely on components that are made from what are called semiconducting materials.Materials Science Engineering Materials science is an interdisciplinary study that combines chemistry, physi
9、cs, metallurgy, engineering and very recently life sciences. One aspect of materials science involves studying and designing materials to make them useful and reliable in the service of humankind. It strives for basic understanding of how structures and processes on the atomic scale result in the pr
10、operties and functions familiar at the engineering level. Materials scientists are interested in physical and chemical phenomena acting across large magnitudes of space and time scales. In this regard it differs from physics of chemistry where the emphasis is more on explaining the properties of pur
11、e substances. In materials science there is also an emphasis on developing and using knowledge to understand how the properties of materials can be controllably designed by varying the compositions, structures, and the way in which the bulk and surfaces phase materials are processed. In contrast, ma
12、terials engineering is, on the basis of those structure properties correlations, designing or engineering the structure of a material to produce a predetermined set of properties. In other words, materials engineering mainly deals with the use of materials in design and how materials are manufacture
13、d.Structure is a nebulous term that deserves some explanation. In brief, the structure of a material usually relates to the arrangement of its internal components. Subatomic structure involves electrons within the individual atoms and interactions with their nuclei. On an atomic level, structure enc
14、ompasses the organization of atoms or molecules relative to one another. The next large structural realm, which contains large groups of atoms that are normally agglomerated together, is termed microscopic meaning that which is subject to direct observation using some type of microscope. Finally, st
15、ructural elements that may be viewed with the naked eye are termed macroscopic. The notion of property deserves elaboration. While in service use, all materials are exposed to external stimuli that evoke some type of response. For example, a specimen subject to forces will experience deformation; or
16、 a polished metal surface will reflect light. Property is a material trait in terms of the kind and magnitude of response to a specific imposed stimulus. Generally, definitions of properties are made independent of material shape and size. Virtually all important properties of solid materials may be grouped into six different categories; mechanical, electrical, thermal, magnetic, optical, and deteriorative. For each there is s characteristic
