Applications of Thermodynamic Principles to Material Properties

A materials science and engineering student with a sufficient background in thermodynamics should be able to apply thermodynamic reasoning and mathematics to materials problems of interest. This requires that a student should be able to accurately manipulate the mathematics of thermodynamics to derive symbolic representations of material behavior and equilibrium as well as utilize thermodynamic data to calculate corporeal numbers. As described below, there are a set of canonical examples of materials applications of thermodynamics that are traditionally considered to be endemic to materials science--a student should have working familiarity with the canonical examples.