Chemical Engineering versus Materials Engineering

In this video, I explain the major differences and similarities between Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering. The idea for this video came whenever I discover what Materials Science and Engineering actually was online and I wished to teach others about it. I hope you enjoy the video, Please leave a comment and feel free to subscribe and like.

[Calleta]

I got my bachelor's in chemical engineering and my master's in materials engineering. Although, nowadays companies seem to hire both majors for the same positions, in my opinion, there are some differences in their academic curriculum. The chemical engineering curriculum has as its foundation the petrochemical industry. Thus, the emphasis is on processing of liquids and gases. Materials engineering, on the other hand, I think its foundation comes from metallurgy, so it's focus is primarily on processing of solids. This difference is not black and white, though.

Another difference I found is that the chemical engineering curriculum is focused on engineering design. We learned a lot of design equations... To calculate the diameter of a pipe, the number of tubes in a shell and tube heat exchanger, the number of trays in a distillation column, etc.

Materials science and engineering, however, I feel is more of a science. We learned about crystal structure, and movement of dislocations during plastic deformation of a metal, grain boundaries, etc, etc.

Whichever one you choose, they are both fascinating!

[AM-qcgh]

Hi! Would you say one major is broader than the other? Say I'm not yet sure which one I want to take yet, if I take chemical engineering as my major, would I basically be capable of working on a material eng position in the future?