Skip to content
Materials Lab

Materials Lab

Materials Made Easy

  • About
  • Materials
    • Fundamentals
    • Advanced Materials
  • Computation
    • Simulation
    • Machine Learning
    • Toolkit & Careers
  • Metals & Mining
    • Metallurgy
    • Mining & Extraction
  • Series
    • Failures & History
    • Paper of the Week
The Liberty Ships That Broke in Half
Failures & History

The Liberty Ships That Broke in Half

Wartime ships cracked in calm water and cold weather. The story of why is the clearest lesson in materials engineering ever paid for in steel and lives.
by Dinesh Varma Mudunuri September 24, 2026September 14, 2026
Density Functional Theory, Explained Without the Math
Simulation

Density Functional Theory, Explained Without the Math

DFT predicts what materials do, from first principles, using electron density instead of wavefunctions. Here is how it works and what it gets wrong.
by Dinesh Varma Mudunuri September 21, 2026September 14, 2026
What Is a Machine-Learned Interatomic Potential?
Machine Learning

What Is a Machine-Learned Interatomic Potential?

An MLIP gives you near-DFT accuracy at close to classical-MD speed. Here is how these potentials work, where the speed comes from, and how they fail.
by Dinesh Varma Mudunuri September 17, 2026September 14, 2026
BCC vs FCC vs HCP: Why Crystal Structure Decides Ductility
Fundamentals

BCC vs FCC vs HCP: Why Crystal Structure Decides Ductility

BCC steel has 48 slip systems and shatters in the cold. FCC copper has 12 and never does. Here is the packing-and-slip physics that decides which.
by Dinesh Varma Mudunuri September 14, 2026September 14, 2026
Copyright © 2026 Materials Lab Theme: Blog Paper By Artify Themes.