The use of crystallographic software as educational support to materials science and engineering

Abstract

Justified by the lack of proper didatic tools, a systematic review process was executed to verify at what extent existing crystallographic software can support the teaching process and the understanding of crystal structures in materials science and engineering disciplines. A revision protocol was established and executed, where 26 references were selected and analyzed from a total of 804 software from the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) software database. The research questions were deemed properly answered by this revision, where both a group of top performers (Class A) and gaps not fulfilled by any software, revealed enhancement possibilities and opportunities for development of new software focused on the educational support to materials science and engineering curricula.