Materials and Techniques:

• Everything we use is made of some materials or a combination of materials. For examples, metals, ceramics, polymers, semiconductors and composites. We use these types of materials in our daily lives.

• It is well known that the properties of all these materials are determined by the materials' structure, which forms at various length scales as shown in Figure 1.01.

Figure 1.01: Schematic of various properties of materials.

• Therefore, to understand the materials' structure at all possible relevant length scales, we apply all the basic principles of physics, chemistry and biology and see how this structure plays a key role in deciding the resulting properties.