Preface
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2014
Summary
The field of materials science and engineering (MSE) has undergone a tremendous development since it was defined for the first time in the 1950s. Materials science and engineering has supplanted traditional curricula centered on metallurgy, ceramics, and polymers. In the USA alone, there are over 50 MSE academic university departments. Materials science and engineering has initially merged metals, polymers, ceramics, and composites into a broad and unified treatment. Whereas the twentieth century was marked by revolutionary discoveries in physics and chemistry, the twenty-first century has been prognosticated to be dominated by biology. Indeed, medical and biological discoveries are bound to have a profound effect on our future. Consistent with the increasing demands of engineering students to acquire basic working tools in this domain, many engineering curricula are adding appropriate courses or modifying existing courses to address biological aspects. Within MSE, the nascent field of biological materials science encompasses three areas.
Biological (or natural) materials: materials that comprise cells, extracellular materials, tissues, organs, and organisms.
Biomaterials: synthetic materials used to correct, repair, or supplement natural functions in organisms.
Biomimetics: this area encompasses the materials and structures inspired in biological systems and/or functions.
This book focuses on these three areas in a balanced manner. This is a necessity of space, and many curricula offer separate biomaterials courses. The book has 13 chapters, and the contents can be covered comfortably in one semester (one chapter per week).
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- Information
- Biological Materials ScienceBiological Materials, Bioinspired Materials, and Biomaterials, pp. xv - xviiPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014