Material
 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification.(June 2021) |
Amaterialis asubstanceormixtureof substances that constitutes anobject.Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of theirphysicalandchemical properties,or on theirgeologicalorigin orbiologicalfunction.Materials scienceis the study of materials, their properties and their applications.
Raw materialscan be processed in different ways to influence their properties, by purification, shaping or the introduction of other materials. New materials can be produced from raw materials bysynthesis.
Inindustry,materials are inputs tomanufacturing processesto produce products or more complex materials.[1]
Historical elements
[edit]Materials chart the history of humanity. The system of the three prehistoric ages (Stone Age,Bronze Age,Iron Age) were succeeded by historical ages: steel age in the 19th century, polymer age in the middle of the following century (plastic age) and silicon age in the second half of the 20th century.[2]
Classification by use
[edit]Materials can be broadly categorized in terms of their use, for example:
- Building materialsare used for construction
- Building insulation materialsare used to retain heat within buildings
- Refractory materialsare used for high-temperature applications
- Nuclear materialsare used for nuclear power and weapons
- Aerospace materialsare used in aircraft and other aerospace applications
- Biomaterialsare used for applications interacting with living systems
Material selectionis a process to determine which material should be used for a given application.
Classification by structure
[edit]The relevant structure of materials has a different length scale depending on the material. The structure and composition of a material can be determined bymicroscopyorspectroscopy.
Microstructure
[edit]Inengineering,materials can be categorised according to their microscopic structure:[3]: 15–17
- Plastics:a wide range ofsyntheticorsemi-syntheticmaterials that usepolymersas a main ingredient.
- Ceramics:non-metal,inorganicsolids
- Glasses:amorphous solids
- Crystals:a solid material whose constituents (such asatoms,molecules,orions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming acrystal latticethat extends in all directions.
- Metals:pureorcombinedchemical elementswithspecific chemical bonding behavior
- Alloys:a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is often a metal.
- Polymers:materials based on longcarbonorsiliconchains
- Hybrids:Combinations of multiple materials, for examplecomposites.
Larger-scale structure
[edit]Ametamaterialis any material engineered to have a property that is not found in naturally occurring materials, usually by combining several materials to form a composite and / or tuning theshape,geometry,size,orientationand arrangement to achieve the desired property.[4]
Infoamsandtextiles,the chemical structure is less relevant to immediately observablepropertiesthan larger-scale material features: the holes in foams, and the weave in textiles.
Classification by properties
[edit]Materials can be compared and classified by their large-scale physical properties.
Mechanical properties
[edit]Mechanical properties determine how a material responds to appliedforces.
Examples include:
Thermal properties
[edit]Materials may degrade or undergo changes of properties at different temperatures. Thermal properties also include the material'sthermal conductivityandheat capacity,relating to the transfer and storage ofthermal energyby the material.
Other properties
[edit]Materials can be compared and categorized by any quantitative measure of their behavior under various conditions. Notable additional properties include the optical, electrical, and magnetic behavior of materials.[3]: 5–7
See also
[edit]- Hyle,the Greek term, relevant for thephilosophy of matter
- Matter
- Category:Materials
References
[edit]- ^"Definition of MATERIAL".Merriam-Webster.2023-08-20.Retrieved2023-08-29.
- ^"Materials that shaped history | School of Materials Science and Engineering – UNSW Sydney".UNSW Sites.Retrieved2023-08-29.
- ^abAshby, Michael; Shercliff, Hugh; Cebon, David (2010).Materials engineering, science, processing and design(2nd ed.). Oxford: Elsevier.ISBN9781856178952.
- ^Kshetrimayum, R.S. (January 2005)."A brief intro to metamaterials".IEEE Potentials.23(5): 44–46.doi:10.1109/MP.2005.1368916.ISSN0278-6648.S2CID36925376.
External links
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