Sometimes it is useful to subdivide the discipline of materials science and engi-
neering into materials science and materials engineering subdisciplines. Strictly
speaking, “materials science” involves investigating the relationships that exist
between the structures and properties of materials. In contrast, “materials engi-
neering” is, on the basis of these structure–property correlations, designing or en-
gineering the structure of a material to produce a predetermined set of properties.