Historical Perspective
• Beginning of the Material Science - People began to make tools from stone – Start of the Stone Age about two million years ago.
Natural materials: stone, wood, clay, skins, etc.
- Discover techniques lead to find new materials : pottery & various metals.
• The Stone Age ended about 5000 years ago with introduction of Bronze in the Far East. Bronze is an alloy (a metal made up of more than one element),
copper + < 25% of tin + other elements.
Bronze: can be hammered or cast into a variety of shapes, can be made harder by alloying, corrode only slowly after a surface oxide film forms.
- Altering the properties by : heat treatment & addition of other substances.
• The Iron Age began about 3000 years ago and continues
today. Use of iron and steel, a stronger and cheaper material changed drastically daily life of a common person.
• Age of Advanced materials: throughout the Iron Age many new types of materials have been introduced(ceramic, semiconductors, polymers, composites…).
- Understanding of the relationship among structure, properties, processing, and performance of materials , leads to :
Intelligent design of new materials.