Material

Material (from the Latin materialis – "substance") is a substance or a mixture of substances from which products are made. Also, substances or mixtures involved in the production process, for example, imparting certain properties to the manufactured product. Materials can vary in purity, be organic or inorganic, and are classified by both origin and properties. The study of materials, their correct selection and application is devoted to such a branch of knowledge as materials science.

In most cases, materials are made from raw materials (steel is smelted from ore, bitumen is obtained from petroleum, sheet metals are obtained by rolling castings, etc.). In industry, materials can serve not only to obtain products, but also other materials.

Classification

Materials can be categorized in terms of their use, such as:

• Building materials are used for construction;
• Building thermal insulation materials are used to retain heat in buildings;
• Refractory materials are used for high-temperature applications;
• Nuclear materials are used for nuclear power and weapons;
• Aerospace materials are used in aviation and the creation of spacecraft and rockets;
• Biomaterials are used in medicine and biology.

Material selection is the process of determining the material to use for a given application.

Classification by structure

Different materials have their own structure, which can be studied with the help of instruments (microscope, spectrometer, hardness tester, tensile machine).

Microstructure

In mechanical engineering, materials are classified according to their microscopic structure:

• Ceramics: non-metallic, inorganic solids;
• Glasses: amorphous substances;
• Metals: pure or alloyed chemical elements with a metallic type of crystal lattice bond (free electrons);
• Polymers: materials based on long carbon or silicon chains;
• Hybrids: Combinations of several materials, e.g., composites.

Large-scale material structure

In foams and textiles, the chemical structure often has less influence on the properties than the large-scale characteristics of the material: holes in foams and entanglements in fibrous materials (fiberglass, carbon)^.

Classification of materials according to their design characteristics

Materials are also compared and classified according to their physical properties.

Mechanical properties

Mechanical properties determine how a material reacts to applied forces, such as strength, ductility, hardness, and stiffness. They are determined by tests, e.g. static tensile, and other methods

Thermal properties

Materials can decompose or undergo changes in properties at different temperatures (heat resistance, cold brittleness). Thermal properties also include the thermal conductivity and heat capacity of the material associated with the transfer and storage of thermal energy by the material.

Other qualities

Materials can be compared and classified according to other quantitative indicators of their behavior under different conditions. These can be the optical, electrical, and magnetic properties of materials.

Primary and auxiliary

Materials are divided into main and auxiliary. The main materials are considered to be those that are part of the finished product in the form of its main substance (for example, flour in the production of bakery products). Auxiliary materials are materials that are consumed in the process of labor to give the product new properties (salt, dyes), or contribute to the normal course of the production process. Food, energy, fuel, and medicine are not the material, as they react chemically during use and ^{gradually disappear almost} completely. Gases are sometimes excluded from the list of materials

Related concepts

The study of the physical and chemical properties of materials is carried out by an interdisciplinary branch of science — materials science.

The products of agriculture and the extractive industry, which have largely retained their natural properties, but are intended for further industrial processing (wood, cotton, ore), are called raw materials^.

Materials for the construction of buildings and structures are construction materials.

In the everyday sense, the material is fabric for making clothes.

Lubricant is a consumable that facilitates mechanical movement.

Auxiliary materials – cleaning products, powders, rags.

Materials that accelerate/slow down chemical reactions are catalysts/inhibitors.

Informational material, information is a set of data that has a certain meaning.