Download or read book Materials Science and Technology written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2003-05-16 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The report assesses the current state of chemistry and chemical engineering at the interface with materials science and identifies challenges for research. Recent advances are blurring the distinction between chemistry and materials science and are enabling the creation of new materials that, to date, have only been predicted by theory. These advances include a greater ability to construct materials from molecular components, to design materials for a desired function, to understand molecular "self-assembly, and to improve processes by which the material is "engineered" into the final product.