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Subject Guide for Materials Science

Abstracts and Indexes | Dictionaries | Directories | Encyclopedias | Handbooks and Manuals | Internet Links | Bibliographic Management Tool

A multidisciplinary field concerned with the generation and application of knowledge relating to the composition, structure, and processing of materials to their properties and uses. The field encompasses the complete knowledge spectrum for materials ranging from the basic end (materials science) to the applied end (materials engineering). It forms a bridge of knowledge from the basic sciences (and mathematics) to various engineering disciplines. New materials with special properties are constantly being discovered and developed, and thus materials science and engineering is a continually expanding field. Main areas of study include: metals, ceramics, polymers, composites, and biomaterials. (Adapted from Access Science).

CU = Resources marked with this symbol are available in campus libraries and to students, staff, and faculty via the campus network. Use of these resources is subject to terms of use for electronic resources. Off-campus access information.

Abstracts and Indexes to Academic or Scholarly Articles, Statistics, and Government Information

Although many databases contain links to full-text articles, when you find book or article citations in the index databases, you need to search Chinook to see if the Libraries owns that book or periodical title.

Beilstein Crossfire
Available in the Engineering and Science Libraries.
The world's largest chemical facts database which includes structures, physical properties, reactions, and literature quotations covering 7.5 million organic and approximately 1 million inorganic and organometallic compounds. Coverage: varies.

CU Cambridge Scientific Abstracts
Provides access to several index and abstract services, including: Aluminium Industry Abstracts, Ceramic Abstracts/World Ceramics Abstracts, Copper Data Center, Corrosion Abstracts, Engineered Materials Abstracts, and Weldasearch. Coverage: Varies

CU Engineering Village 2—Compendex, INSPEC, and NTIS
Compendex is a comprehensive bibliographic database of engineering research literature. Contains references and abstracts to engineering journals, conferences and technical reports. Subject areas include: chemical and process engineering, computers and data processing, applied physics, electronics and communications as well as civil and mechanical engineering. Includes links to full text when available. Coverage: 1884 - present.

INSPEC is a bibliographic database that indexes physics, astronomy and astrophysics, electrical engineering and electronics, computers and control engineering and information technology. The database contains full-text links when available. Coverage: 1898 - present.

The National Technical Information Service (NTIS) database from the U.S. Department of Commerce provides access to unclassified reports from influential U.S. and international government agencies. The database contains over two million critical citations from government departments such as NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Defense. Most items cited in this database are available in microfiche format in the Government Publications Library. Coverage: 1964-present. 

Video Tutorial: "EV2 RSS Feeds in RefWorks" (1:20)

SciFinder Scholar
Software is available for download here.

The front-end software is also available in the Engineering, Earth Sciences, Math/Physics and Science Libraries. SciFinder Scholar provides access to journal articles and patents, substance data, chemical reactions, chemical regulatory data , and chemical suppliers. It includes journal articles, book chapters, patents, conference proceedings, technical reports, substance database and dissertations covered in Chemical Abstracts as well as articles currently being indexed, book reviews and biographical information. Coverage: 1907-present.

 

Scitopia

This federated vertical search portal was created through the collaboration of 15 leading science and technology societies. It searches the entire electronic libraries of these societies, including more than three million documents, peer-reviewed journal content and technical conference papers, spanning 150 years of science and technology can be searched through the site. Though the search is freely available, access to many documents requries authentication. Coverage varies.

 

CU SPIE Digital Library

Provides full text of articles published in the Proceedings of the SPIE and the society's journals from 1990 to the present.

CU Web of Science
Provides access to current and retrospective bibliographic information, author abstracts, and cited references found in 5,700 of the world's leading scholarly science and technical journals covering more than 164 disciplines. The database allows you to search for specific articles by subject, author, journal, and/or author address. Because the information stored about each article includes the article's cited reference list (often called its bibliography) the database is often used to search for articlesthat cite a known author or work. Coverage: 1900 - present.

Video Tutorial: "Web of Science: An Overview"

Abstracts and Indexes to Magazine & Newspaper Articles
Although many databases contain links to full-text articles, when you find book or article citations in the index databases, you need to search Chinook to see if University Libraries own that  book or  periodical title.

CU Applied Science and Technology Index
Indexes trade and industrial publications, journals issued by professional and technical societies, and specialized subject periodicals, as well as special issues such as buyers' guides, directories, and conference proceedings. Coverage: 1983 - present.

CU General Science Abstracts/Full Text
Abstracts popular and scholarly journals in the fields of Astronomy, Atmospheric Science, Biology, Botany, Chemistry, Conservation, Earth Science, Environment, Food, Genetics, Health, Mathematics, Medicine, Microbiology, Nutrition, Oceanography, Physics, Physiology, and Zoology. Coverage: May 1984 - present.

Dictionaries
These publications provide background information, definitions and explanations of terms.

ASM Materials Engineering Dictionary
Engineering Library Reference TA402 .A86 1992

 

CU Scientific and Technical Acronyms, Symbols, and Abbreviations

Technological Dictionary of Plastics Materials
Engineering Library Reference TP1110 .T57 1998

 

Directories

Scholarly Societies

Encyclopedias
These publications provide background information, definitions and explanations of terms.

CU Access Science: McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia Of Science & Technology

Encyclopedia of Advanced Materials
Engineering Library Reference TA 404.8 E53 1994

 

CU Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Technology

 

Handbooks and Manuals

ASM Engineering Materials Reference Handbook
Engineering Library Reference TA403.4 .A84 1994

 

ASM Handbook
Engineering Library Reference TA459 .A5

 

CU ChemNetBase--CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics and other tools available online.

CRC Materials Science and Engineering Handbook
Engineering Library Reference TA 403.4 C74 2001

 

CU EngNetBase--over 400 CRC handbooks online.

Handbook of Engineering Polymeric Materials
Engineering Library Reference TA 455 P58 H36 1997

 

Handbook of Thin Film Materials
Engineering Library Reference TA418.9 T45 H35 2002

 

CU Knovel Library --Combines essential and authoritative reference books and databases from more than 30 Sci-Tech publishers and professional societies including, McGraw Hill, John Wiley, Elsevier, Springer, Industrial Press, American Institute of Chemical Engineers and American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Covers 17 industrially important subject areas in the fields of Chemistry and the Life Sciences; Materials; and Engineering.

 

Materials Handbook
Engineering Library Reference TA 403 B73 2002

 

MatWeb: the Online Materials Information Resource
(Data for Thermoplastic and thermoset polymers, alloys, superalloys, cast irons, ceramics, copper & lead alloys, semiconductors and fibers for composites: physical, mechanical, thermal, electrical)

 

Internet Links

Intute: Science, Engineering and Technology

 

InfoMine Scholarly Internet Resource Collections: Physical Sciences, Engineering, Computing and Math

 

Science.gov

 

TechXtra: Engineering, Mathematics, and Computing

CU Refworks
A Web-based bibliography and database manager that allows you to create your own personal database by importing references from text files or online databases. You can use these references in writing papers and automatically format the paper and the bibliography in seconds.

Short Video: "EV2 RSS Feeds in RefWorks" (1:20)