The dynamic growth of international collaboration in the scientific and professional spheres leads to a wave-like increase in the volume of translations of professional and scientific texts and determines the relevance of the problem under study. Translators have problems translating abbreviations of professional terms. This paper analyzes the ways of translating English abbreviations in the field of materials science. As research methods, we used, among other things, the analysis of methods of translating English abbreviations into Russian, the study of articles in the field of materials science, the collection of data on abbreviations of professional terms and the comparison of the ways of translation of abbreviations of professional terms in the texts of materials science. The article reveals the features of the ways of translating abbreviations of professional terms in materials science texts. The main results of the research work are the identification of problems of translation of English abbreviations that the translator faces in the field of materials science, and the determination of the use frequency of one or another translation method. The materials of the article can be useful for researchers in this field, physics students and translators of scientific and technical texts.