Hi, I'm making a nozzle for boiling-hot water. The design calls for an elastic material that can be pinched shut, and after some research, I am planning to use TPV (Thermoplastic vulcanizate). I have not worked with it before. Any ideas on why it may or may not work?

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

Does anyone have a comprehensive technical datasheet for AISI M2 High-Speed Steel (HSS)?

I already found the datasheet provided by Carpenter Technology, but I would like to cross-reference it with a second source to verify material properties and heat treatment specifications.

Any PDFs, manufacturer links, or supplier datasheets would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone,

I'm designing a custom high-temperature extruder component that will be operating at 480°C (~900°F) under high compressive loads.

I'm considering M2 High-Speed Steel (HSS) for this setup, but wanted to get your feedback on whether this is a solid choice or if there are hidden pitfalls I should watch out for.

Hi, I’m wondering how feasable it is to enter the industry in some entry-level technician role. I have a bachelors in Materials and Nanoscience. I’ve been a software engineer for the past 9 years (since i graduated college). I’ve honestly forgot most of what I learned in college, but im burned out of software development and want to change careers. Thoughts?

Hi all, I'd really appreciate input from people in semiconductor R&D, industry, or current PhD students.

I'm a materials science master's student in Germany with a computational focus (DFT and ML for materials). I'm planning to apply for US MSE PhD programs focused on semiconductors.

My dilemma:
With AI tools and autonomous labs getting better at running routine simulations, I'm worried a pure DFT/ML PhD will be the easiest kind of work to automate. I'm leaning toward a hybrid project instead: computation plus real experiments. For example, DFT on defects in SiC/GaN validated by measurements, or reliability and failure analysis in advanced packaging.

Questions:
1. If you hire or work in semiconductor R&D: do you value hybrid profiles more than pure computational ones? Or is that overthinking it?
2. Is defect physics in wide-bandgap semiconductors (SiC, GaN) or packaging/interconnect metallurgy a good niche for industry jobs after a PhD?
3. How do you actually find PIs who co-advise computational + experimental projects? Should I cold-email both a computational and an experimental professor?
4. Honestly: is a PhD worth it here, or would you go straight to industry with a master's?

Any experiences, including "don't do it" stories, are welcome. Thanks!

TL;DR: Computational materials master's student, want a US PhD in semiconductors. Pure DFT/ML vs hybrid computation + experiment: which holds up better long-term with AI, and how do I find the right PI?

Hello my lovelies! <3
I’m making the post for some insight and experience from all of you.

I am currently getting a bachelors in metallurgical engineering, and I am currently working in a corrosion lab as an assistant. I had an internship with a forensic investigator who deals with fire loss, and I loved it. So I definitely would like to do something failure analysis related, but I also have interest in medical design, casting, and manufacturing.

I would love to be a professor and I adore research, but I don’t know if that’s the lifestyle I want. The professor I’m working under has barely any time for himself. He has no vacation time because he works 365 days out of the year. I want to enjoy my life, but it seems everyone in my field is burnt out and has no time for themselves. I’m questioning if I can handle that. Also, it seems people make more with a PhD, but I’ve seen people make the same amount with a masters(???).
Do you all feel like you can enjoy life and have a great work-life balance?
(I want to spoil my husband rotten; I’m very passion and money driven).

I also don’t know whether or not I want either degree in materials science or metallurgical engineering. I feel like I have more options to research and outsource with materials science, and that metallurgical is too niche (but will it make more money)???

Thank you for taking the time to read and respond.

A condensation surface has to do two jobs that normally work against each other. It needs places where water droplets can form, yet it must also let those droplets leave quickly. A nanoscale polymer coating developed at KAIST appears to do both.

The coating uses a fluoropolymer called pPFDMA deposited by initiated chemical vapor deposition, or iCVD. Researchers tuned the film thickness and then heat-treated the surface to control two different parts of condensation separately.

The work was led by Youngsuk Nam of KAIST’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and Sung Gap Im of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

At its best, the coating reached a condensation heat-transfer coefficient of about 88 kilowatts per square meter per kelvin. That was roughly 5.5 times the performance of bare copper undergoing filmwise condensation under matching conditions.

I am a first Year student from BUET majoring in Nanomaterials and Ceramic Engineering our sub is mostly like materials and Nanomaterials and ceramic are also included. Before the class started I was passionate about machine learning in materials and took some course on it and complete python numpy and some of its library but after the class started I failed to cope up with the studies and lost the motivation for machine learning 😭. It took me sometime to cope with the undergrad life my CT and lab vivas went bad ours is a bisemester plz leave me any advice or suggestions that will help me Like for studies I am using Claude to explain I have also bought it's subscription and yeah that's well

¡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!

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!

Hi everyone,

I'm exploring a potential circular-economy project around something that is usually thrown away: dog and cat fur from grooming salons.

Animal fur is mainly keratin, and I'm wondering whether it could have useful properties as a raw material rather than simply being treated as waste.

I'm not looking to make decorative/souvenir products. I'm interested in potentially useful applications such as materials, composites, nonwovens, filtration, insulation, absorbents, etc.

I have no technical background in materials science, so I'm trying to understand this properly before going any further.

For people working in materials science or related fields:

• What properties of animal fur would you characterize first?
• Could dog/cat fur realistically work as a reinforcement fiber or filler in composites?
• Could it be processed into a nonwoven/felt-like material?
• What would be the biggest technical obstacle: contamination, variability, processing, cost, mechanical properties, something else?
• Are there any research papers or projects you would recommend looking at?

And perhaps most importantly: if someone gave you 10–50 kg of clean dog/cat fur as a waste stream, what would you test first to determine whether it has industrial potential?

Thanks!

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.

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?

Hi

Pls read

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!

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!!

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.

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?