School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University

The Department of Materials Science is comprised of 20 faculty members (12 full professors), more than 120 full-time undergraduate students, and approximately 80 full-time graduate students of whom over 60% are Ph.D. candidates. The international reputation of its faculty and the impressive capabilities of its graduates have won respect from industrial leaders and academics world-widely.

Materials Science (MS) studies all classes of materials (metals, ceramics, electronic materials, and biomaterials) from a unified viewpoint and with an emphasis on the connections between the underlying structure and the processing, properties, and performance of the material. MS grew out of the disciplines of metallurgy and ceramics and now includes polymers, semiconductors, magnetic materials, photonic materials, and biological materials.

A material scientist understands that all materials can be approached from a common set of principles and he studies how materials react under different conditions (such as temperature and pressure). Aeronautics and space, architects, civil engineers, toy companies, bio-medical research companies, and the data storage industry are all recent users of technologies that were developed from researches in MS. Most fields in science and engineering are concerned in some way with materials, but only the field of materials science and engineering focuses directly on them.

The departmental faculty pursues a wide range of researches and benefits from the synergism that our school provides which has combined materials, physics and electronics departments. Active research areas include: functional materials, artificial microstructure materials, low-dimension materials, ceramics and films, surface modifications, ferroelectric polymers, composite materials, aerospace materials, metallurgy, and synthesis and characterization of nanophase materials, etc.

The department is equipped with advanced research facilities worthy millions of US dollars, capable for optical, scanning, and transmission electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, metallography, wet chemistry, mechanical testing of bulk and thin film materials, UHV sputter deposition, electrical and magnetic measurements, vacuum annealing treatments and metal forming, etc. They are open to all faculty, staff and students at Wuhan University as well as outside researchers.

Combining mathematical, chemical, and physical sciences, our curriculum is designed to prepare you for a professional career in materials science and engineering and lay a solid foundation for leaders in science and technology of tomorrow.