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ABSTRACT
The raison dtre for inserting a simple, complementary course on the history of materials and
its role in the history and development of human civilization at the beginning of the material
science curriculum is presented and explained. An outline of how this could be done is shown,
with examples from Prehistory, the Age of metals, and later historical Ages. Suggestions are
made in each section as to how the narration can offer the teacher hints on the connections with
contemporary developments and interpretations. For some types of materials a schematic list of
the main stages of development in the subsequent times is also given.
As to the delivery methods, the lesson could Only four natural materials had been
be enriched by showing many images, mastered, i.e., developed into tools, during
schemes, diagrams, and possibly, also the dawn of civilization: stone, wood, bone
animations and simulations. No labs are and leather-fur. Of the first and the third of
necessary; it is advisable to incorporate a these materials we have many
guided tour to local Museums of archaeological finds, due to their chemical
Archaeology and of Science and stability, while this is not true for the other
Technology. two, and the evidence is indirect or
inductive.
To help students and teachers to follow this
approach, in the 90th years we made two For the mastering of stone, the obstacle to
exhaustive courses on MS on a CD ROM overcome was how to control the shape.
support with hundreds of multimedia This was a difficult and gradual process; it
contents and tools. We included an important took several hundred thousand years to go
section devoted to the history of the Science from about ten different tools made of
and Technology of MS, stressing the splintered stones during the Lower
connection with different disciplines, like Paleolithic (Chellean) to a hundred during
Art, customs and traditions. the Higher Paleolithic (Tixier, 1984), see
some examples in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Paleolithic stone tools (By Jos Manuel Benito lvarez).
Left: First simple chopped stone tools, Lower Paleolithic. Center: A lower Paleolithic bifacial, which
represented a significant technological progress. Right: Scraper for skins, Middle Paleolithic
The most ancient tools known to date have Wood accounts for many tools: the bow, the
been found in Africa and date back around 3 fist complex tool invented by man (30,000
million years. The craftsmen were not the years ago), the boats, and the wheel (IV
direct ancestors of Homo sapiens but millennium), whose importance cannot be
Australopithecus hominid. Much later stone under estimated.
was exploited for monuments, housing,
statues, urns, and mosaics. Wood is still A first explanation of the mechanical
nowadays one of the most widely used properties (harness of the stone) can be
materials: industrial consumption is about given, as being due to the strong chemical
1.6 billion m3. In buildings the drawbacks of bonds between the atoms of the
the limited resistance of stone architraves to macrocrystals composing the stone; the
transverse strain was overcome much later cleavage (obsidian) can be assigned to the
(Etruscans), thanks to the invention of the amorphous structure.
vault arch. The low thermal conductivity of furs allows
the introduction of Fouriers law.
With the invention of baked clay and during The colour of mosaics (see for example
the Age of Metals, new techniques for an Figure 2) allows the introduction to the
easier control of the shape became available. interaction with light of materials: this can
It should be noted that shape control, on a be dealt more extensively in the section on
more sophisticated level, is still an objective glass.
of contemporary technology: consider the
tolerance limits of modern machine tools,
THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION
the ultra-miniaturization of the electronic
circuits, the nanotechnologies.
Pottery
Corrosion is the gradual destruction of materials (usually metals) by chemical reaction with
their environment. The word commonly means oxidation of metals in reactions with an oxidant
such as oxygen. Rusting, the formation of iron oxides is a well-known example of
electrochemical corrosion. Many structural metals and alloys corrode merely from exposure to
moisture in air, but the process can be strongly affected by exposure to certain substances.
Corrosion can concentrate locally to form a pit or crack, or it can extend across a wide area
more or less uniformly corroding the surface. Because corrosion occurs on exposed surfaces
and is a diffusion-controlled process, methods to reduce the activity of the exposed surface, such
as passivation and chromate conversion, can increase a materials corrosion resistance.
Some metals are more intrinsically resistant to corrosion than others. The materials most
resistant to corrosion are those for which corrosion is thermodynamically unfavourable.
Moreover some metals have naturally slow reaction kinetics, even though their corrosion is
thermodynamically favourable. These include metals as zinc, magnesium, and cadmium.
There are various ways of protecting metals from corrosion. (Oxidation: plating, painting, and
the application of enamel are the most common anti-corrosion treatments.)
In 1998, the total annual direct cost of corrosion in the U.S. was ca. $276 billion (ca. 3.2% of
the US gross domestic product).
Figure 8. The building blocks of Materials Science (left). Empirical advances are often as effective as
those based on scientific ground (right).
DISCUSSION AND traditional disciplines and/or the difficulty of
RECOMMENDATIONS finding good teachers and texts.
The more recent developments, only sketched Strategies for winning over the faculty who
here, could be treated more extensively. The are not likely to be receptive to such a course
scheme presented obviously is not exhaustive, are not easy; each teacher is usually fond of
it is no simply an example, an outline on how their own traditional teaching experience, and
such an introductory course could be with good reasons. It could be stressed that
organized. For instance, no mention has been there is a need to capture the interest of
made to important classes of materials, such students by providing a soft approach to the
as organic polymers, fiber reinforced subject of MS and Technology, and an
composites, semiconductors and historical approach offers this opportunity.
superconductors. One could chose other
examples of materials, according to the Other teachers will show interest and
subjects that shall be treated more thoroughly willingness. In this latter case it is advisable
in future courses, and could stress the basic to pay serious attention to find or to prepare
physical and chemical concepts which are the good texts, suitable for the general planning
sound backgrounds of material science and of the whole curriculum.
technology. We recommend making a large
use of images, anecdotes and reference to A typical, traditional teacher is a person
parallel historical events, in order to make the specialized in their own field of research, and
course more interesting and stimulating. this provides the necessary background for
giving a good and up-to date course.
CONCLUSIONS However, an effort for widening the
specialized vision can be of advantage both
With respect to the non-traditional proposal of for students and for teachers. Moreover, as
this chapter, the teachers of MS and commented above and shown as examples in
Technology could have two opposing the boxes, the historical approach can be used
reactions, Some would not accept it, although by the teacher also to introduce in a
using reasonable arguments, such as the, need qualitative way some concepts and physical
of devoting all the time of the course to the laws that make a bridge between the empirical
developments and the modern MS.