"materials research" is correct and can be used in written English.
For example, "Our university has a great program for materials research, with many prestigious labs in the department."
Journal of biomedical materials research.
Advances in Chinese Medicinal Materials Research.
Space materials research: hanging by a thread.
Photographs, printed materials, research materials.
Correspondence, printed materials, research materials, computer media.
Correspondence, diaries, printed materials, research materials.
He had a major influence upon international materials research as a leader of multidisciplinary research teams.
The idea is that it will "encompass 14 key areas of materials research including graphene".
Emily Stevenson, the curator of materials research at the Parsons School of Design, prefers honed New Hampshire schist.
Langley, P. J. & Hulliger, J. Nanoporous and mesoporous organic structures: New openings for materials research.
More recently, he told me that this approach has increasingly become the focus of materials research.
