Want to know what a materials engineer is????

[materialsgirl]

Ok, a couple people wanted to know from the username post, so here goes:

A materials engineer uses their knowledge of the properties, processing and performance of the different classes of materials (metals, polymers and ceramics) to determine the best material for a given application. A materials engineer also uses this knowledge to determine why a material has failed in a particular application. A materials engineer also uses proven materials testing techniques to establish baseline data for new materials. I could go on and on...

I've done a lot of totally different jobs as a materials engineer, from Failure Analysis, to Heat Treat Development. It's a pretty broad field, but not one of the more "popular" engineering fields like mechanical or electrical. Too bad, because I think it's way more fun. We get to pull bolts apart till they break (tensile testing), whack pieces of metal with big hammers to make them flat (forging), melt metal and pour it into molds (casting), heat metal parts up really really hot and then dunk them in cold water (heat treating)... oh yeah, it's fun.

 

[allwildgirl]

So, Emily, what you're telling us is that you get to play for a living? Nice!

 

[Jcrew3082]

That's so cool Emily! And by the way, love your blog!

 

[materialsgirl]

Ha ha! I wish it were all fun and games! I, honestly, think the most fun part of being a mat. eng. is the schooling. That's where we actually get to forge, cast, roll, heat treat, sinter, prepare samples, run x-ray tests, etc. Once you get into the workforce, you don't really get as much hands-on work, because technicians are doing all the grunt work (and they are doing it on a much larger scale than we did in school). The materials engineer mostly does the thinking-work. A technician runs a tensile test for me, and then I have to interpret the results. A technician runs parts through heat treat, and I have to figure out if the heat treat was successful, and if not, what went wrong. It is still very enjoyable, but they don't like degreed engineers doing grunt-work for some reason. Although, if the union goes on strike a few years down the road, I may end up doing more grunt work than I ever wanted to! But that's a whole other issue...

 

[smoogy]

So you were one of those kids that took your mom's toaster apart to see how it worked? How cool!

Marla