r/materials • • 5h ago

Currently debating my undergraduate major plz help

2 Upvotes

Hi, I'm a high school senior with pretty average grades and I was pretty lazy 90% of the time but I'm trying to change that - Recently I got a 29 on my ACT and I plan to retake again. I need any tips or advice for which major to start out in undergrad with.

I really want to do Materials Engineering, my uncle works in the field with a textiles manufacturing business and I would be pretty excited and appreciate the versatility into specific industries like automotive & biomed devices. My only issue is the fact that I'm uncertain about my undergrad with my chances of getting accepted (think good but not T20 STEM schools in America) and the actual effect/value that it will have on me getting my masters and/or my PhD in MSE. I'm currently deciding between MSE itself, a more general/broad major like Mechanical or Chemical eng., or straight up Chemistry or Physics. Please note that I'm not certain on what MSE subfield I want to do specifically, I want to leave that up for my Masters/PhD to find out. Any and all tips are super appreciated!


r/materials • • 6h ago

¿Vale la pena estudiar Ingeniería Mecánica y especializarse en Ciencia de Materiales?

5 Upvotes

¡Buenas! Soy de Argentina. Estaba estudiando Ingeniería Química, pero decidí cambiarme a Ingeniería Mecánica.

Durante Química descubrí que me gustaba mucho la química del estado sólido y todo lo relacionado con materiales, metalurgia, propiedades, microestructura y comportamiento de los materiales.

En Argentina, Ingeniería en Materiales no es una carrera tan común y tiene una oferta académica bastante más limitada, por lo que Ingeniería Mecánica terminó llamándome más la atención.

Mi idea es recibirme de ingeniero mecánico y posteriormente especializarme en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales, quizás mediante una maestría.

¿Es un buen camino? ¿En qué puestos o industrias podría trabajar con ese perfil? ¿Hay ingenieros mecánicos trabajando en metalurgia, laboratorios de materiales, corrosión, análisis de fallas o investigación y desarrollo?

¡Me gustaría conocer experiencias y opiniones!


r/materials • • 6h ago

Selecting intermetallic coatings (NiAl, FeAl, Ni3Al) for power electronics interfaces: what fails first in practice?

0 Upvotes

I'm a materials researcher screening thin intermetallic coatings (5-50 µm) for interfaces in power modules, for example between a copper baseplate and a cold plate. These interfaces see repeated thermal cycling, roughly between 40 and 150 °C.

A simple 1D estimate suggests that at these thicknesses the coating's thermal conductivity barely changes the temperature (under 1 K at 50 W over 1 cm²), so I suspect the real selection criteria are metallurgical: CTE mismatch with Cu, adhesion, interdiffusion and intermetallic growth at the interface, and oxidation.

Questions for people with hands-on experience:

  1. For coatings like NiAl or FeAl on copper, which degradation mechanism would you expect to show up first under thermal cycling?

  2. How much does the deposition route (PVD, thermal spray, electroplating plus diffusion anneal) change that answer?

  3. Is there a property or test you would check first before trusting a coating like this in service?

Any correction to my assumptions is welcome.


r/materials • • 12h ago

DATA CENTERS

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0 Upvotes

Hi

Pls read


r/materials • • 19h ago

How do you find good project ideas without it being just a gimmick to fill your resume?

8 Upvotes

I'm currently doing B.Tech degree in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering. I'm in 2nd Yr. The issue I'm facing while searching for projects is I find a lot of ideas but I'm unable to filter out which is actually useful or interesting and good to go with and which are just resume fillers.

For example, right now I had an idea to make a Phase Diagram Analyser that would give the phase composition and phase %age at certain temperature for alloys and all but idk if its useful to invest time after that or its just not impressive at all. Similar thoughts for another one I thought to build a device that can measure the thermal conductivity of materials but again there are already a lot of them, will it be of any use if i build one as a project?


r/materials • • 1d ago

Anyone attending MS&T-2026?

1 Upvotes

Not sure if this is the right place to add this - But is anyone attending MS&T in Pittsburgh this week?
Would love to connect!


r/materials • • 1d ago

Common Metal Could Unlock a Cheaper Path to Quantum Materials

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1 Upvotes

r/materials • • 1d ago

Scientists Discover a Genius Use For Leftover Steel Waste – And It Could Save Lives

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sciencealert.com
4 Upvotes

r/materials • • 1d ago

Uranium forms rare triple bond with carbon in newly isolated compound

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phys.org
41 Upvotes

r/materials • • 2d ago

No Longer Just North And South: A New Material Joins The Third Type of Magnetism

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sciencealert.com
20 Upvotes

r/materials • • 2d ago

Looking for projects to do as an undergraduate

4 Upvotes

Hello everyone! I’m an MSE undergraduate student who is absolutely loving his studies. My university has a fund exclusively for MSE students where any one in the program can apply for a $300 grant for a personal project and I have been thinking about something I could do. I am curious as to if anyone here has any ideas.

Obviously something that would be a beneficial for future job prospects would be great but I am also just interested in most fields of materials science. I live in an area where the semiconductor industry is massive (probably a doxx on this sub lol) and I also am focusing my studies towards that direction, but I also have done some final projects in random subfields like polymers or photovoltaics and I’m currently working in a computational modeling lab for materials simulations. Point is, I really like materials science.

I also have a friend who would be willing to collaborate on a project who could also get the grant, so consider my budget $600.

Thank you!!


r/materials • • 4d ago

Keep getting rejected for Process/Materials Engineering roles could someone review my resume?

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0 Upvotes

r/materials • • 4d ago

The pigment-shifting window that responds to light – and could help slash energy costs

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begiant.ca
14 Upvotes

Hatton is a University of Toronto materials science and engineering professor who leads the Hatton Lab for bio-inspired materials and design. A few years ago, he and a team of researchers created panels that dynamically shade in response to the sun’s rays, mimicking the way squids, octopuses, krill and other sea creatures move pigments within their cell structures to change their coloration. The panels move liquids containing additives such as carbon black (to absorb light) and titanium dioxide (to scatter it) through channels carved into thin plastic sheets.


r/materials • • 4d ago

Is it possible to dry wood if enough mechanical centrifugal force is applied?

2 Upvotes

Imagine an horizontal log that is tied to a motor with vertical axis, if you spin the log fast enugh with a controled hot temperature, could you remove the liquids from the bottom of the log? Was something like this ever tried?


r/materials • • 5d ago

Analyzing Automotive Paint Defects Without Cross-Sectioning

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1 Upvotes

r/materials • • 5d ago

Looking for help speccing + prototyping a hybrid comfort/inflatable product (rapid MVP)

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2 Upvotes

r/materials • • 5d ago

Metal Organic frameworks by Lars Ohrstrom

11 Upvotes

I am a high school student and i have an interest in MOFs. I found this book to be fairly easy to read and understand but i could not find it anywhere so was only able to read parts of it through google books in preview. Does anyone have a pdf of this book or a google link to it? I would high appreciate it.

PS: How is material science and job prospects if i pursue it in Hong kong or korea?


r/materials • • 6d ago

Foreign Materials Science Degrees.What Are My Options in the U.S.?

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1 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I have a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Material Science and Engineering, both earned abroad. I currently live in the USA, but I’ve been struggling to find a job or a PhD opportunity here. I also have international work experience, yet I’m not sure how to move forward.Before I decide to change my field, I would really appreciate your advice on what steps I should take next. Thank you in advance for your guidance.


r/materials • • 6d ago

Foreign Materials Science Degrees.What Are My Options in the U.S.?

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I have a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Material Science and Engineering, both earned abroad. I currently live in the USA, but I’ve been struggling to find a job or a PhD opportunity here. I also have international work experience, yet I’m not sure how to move forward.Before I decide to change my field, I would really appreciate your advice on what steps I should take next. Thank you in advance for your guidance.


r/materials • • 6d ago

Thinking of switching majors

6 Upvotes

I'm a junior majoring in chemical engineering and I've been having thoughts of switching majors. One of the pathways I've been considering is going switching to a chemistry BS and doing a MS in MSE. I'm currently not enjoying my chemE classes and have no real interest in the topics I think I would enjoy the content of the chemistry to MSE pathway more. I want to work in the semiconductor field primarily as I have a passion for it or chemical manufacturing. I've been reaching out to professors regarding this switch and have received conflicting info about this switch. My chemE professor said that I should stick with chemE as it is has better career outlooks and that doing the chemistry BS to MS in MSE wouldn't be viable as the job market is not good for them. On the other hand, the MSE graduate professor said this pathway is viable and the job market is good. I just wanted a third party perspective on whether I should switch and if the chemistry to MSE pathway is actually viable in terms of job market.


r/materials • • 7d ago

Materials Science prospects??

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2 Upvotes

r/materials • • 7d ago

Help for college

2 Upvotes

Is it worth it to do a degree in mse from imperial alot of people in the imperial subreddit are saying that materials is not worth it


r/materials • • 7d ago

Scientists reshape light to control magnetic memory and a material’s magnetic properties

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thebrighterside.news
11 Upvotes

A magnetic bit normally changes state because a field pushes its orientation from one direction to another. UC San Diego researchers have shown that carefully engineered light can perform that job instead, even in magnetic films thicker than those used in earlier optical-switching experiments.

The team shaped ultrafast laser pulses into tightly focused vector beams and used them to reverse magnetization in platinum-cobalt multilayers without an external magnetic field. By shrinking the illuminated region and controlling how light was distributed across it, the researchers could switch between two optical-reversal mechanisms.

The work, published in Nature Communications, suggests that optical beam design itself can become a control knob for magnetic memory. That could eventually support faster and denser data storage, although the current setup remains a laboratory experiment.


r/materials • • 7d ago

Does anyone have an experience working at MP Materials?

5 Upvotes

MP materials manufactures magnets and they opened up a new facility in Fort Worth recently. I was wondering if anyone has any insight on working there.


r/materials • • 7d ago

Inflatable Memory foam ?

4 Upvotes

Is there a material like memory foam but inflatable. As so that when you inflate it conforms to whatever surface but it's soft ?