At the center of all materials engineering is chemical engineering and the atomic, elements (periodic table), defined by the type of atom its associated atomic number; describing the number of protons in its nucleus or the pure chemical, composed of atoms with the same number of protons. Modern Materials Scientists & Material and Chemical Engineers use this understanding of the physical and thermodynamic properties of the elemental materials, relating to atomic structure in various phases engineering of composite materials including new metallic alloys, silica and carbon materials, ceramics, polymers, plastics, semiconductors, magnetic materials, medical – drug production, implant and biomaterials. Materials science includes the extraction of materials and their conversion into useful forms.  Metal casting, foundry techniques, blast furnace molten extraction, and electrolytic extraction are all part of the required knowledge of a metallurgist and Materials Engineering.

Industrial applications of materials engineering include materials design, cost-benefit tradeoffs in industrial production of materials, processing techniques (casting, rolling, welding, crystal growth, thin-film deposition, sintering, glassblowing, etc.), and analytical techniques (characterization techniques such as electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, calorimetry, nuclear microscopy, backscattering, neutron diffraction, etc.).

Mastering materials and materials engineering is part of an interdisciplinary field of mechanical engineering involving the properties of material matter and its applications and use in tool, machine and product development and the relationship between the structure of materials and their properties.  It includes an understanding of the theoretical, atomic and molecular properties of periodic chemical elements and applied physics and chemistry, as well as metallurgical, chemical, mechanical, civil and electrical engineering, including; nano-science, nano physics and nano-technologies in the recent years.