Material science

UPSC syllabus
Engineering materials:
basic concepts of structure of solids; common ferrous  and non ferrous materials and their applications; heat treatment of steels; non metals--plastics, ceramics, composite materials and nano materials
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My commentary
Scoring topic. Straightforward concepts. Fairly easy to understand.
Challenge is to get the right source and put in the time required to get it once.
Next challenge is to revise, so as to not get confused between the numerous materials and processes
All said and done, it is a topic that brings good returns.
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Now topicwise categorization.

First some general notes in QnA format. These are mostly ESE questions arranged topicwise.
Materials notes qna

Crystals, lattices, Miller indices
CSE2009A1c20 solved
CSE2008A1d20 solved
CSE2007A1d20 solved
CSE2005A1d20 solved
Crystal defects
CSE2011A4c15 solved
Grain size
CSE2007A4a15 unsolved -- cant find exact answer
Fatigue, creep, aging
CSE2005A4d10 solved
CSE2003A4b15 solved
CSE2004A4d15 unsolved -- refer Amitabha Ghosh

Fe-C diagram
CSE2003A4a15 solved
CSE2012A1c12 solved
CSE2010A1d12 solved
CSE2010A4c20 solved

TTT diagram
CSE2008A1d10 solved 2003A4c15 solved
CSE2003A4d15 solved
CSE2008A4b15 solved

Heat treatment/Hardening
CSE2008A4a30 solved
CSE2009A4c20 solved
CSE2007A4d20 unsolved
CSE2004A4c15 solved

Steels
CSE2012A3c10 solved --refer to below
CSE2011A1f10 unsolved -- refer to Qs below
CSE2006A1d20 solved
CSE2006A4a30 solved

Testing
CSE2011A1e10 solved
CSE2011A1d10 solved

Non ferrous alloys
CSE2010A4a20 solved -- babbitts
CSE2005A4c10 solved -- aluminum
CSE2003A1d20 solved -- misc

Ceramics
CSE2011A4d15 solved and more

Composites
CSE2008A4c15 solved
CSE2006A4b30 solved
CSE2005A4b20 solved
CSE2004A4b15 solved

Polymers
CSE2012A2c10 solved
CSE2007A4c10 solved
CSE2010A4b20 solved

There are many sources for this topic.. Kalpakjian is most often recommended. But mostly after a couple of years out of college, it is difficult to get a hold of one..
Personally, I used Amitabha Ghosh, Swadesh Singh(has many errors, but something better than nothing), ignout notes for random topics like plastics/composites/jigs fixtures etc
Most of all, for Crystals, Fe-C diagram, heat treatment etc I found deGarmo very good.. excellent language, good diagrams.. highly recommended.. selective reading.. whole book is vast..

That's all folks.