AN INTRODUCTORY COURSE THE ROLE OF MATERIALS

THROUGH THE HISTORY OF HUMAN CIVILIZATION

Roberto Fieschi and Marco Bianucci

Physics Department, University of Parma, Via G. Usberti 7, A43100 Parma, Italy;

roberto.fischi@fis.unipr.it
Institute for Marine Science (ISMAR-CNR), Forte Santa Teresa, Pozzuolo di Lerici, 19032
Lerici, Italy; marco.bianucci@cnr.it

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.

INTRODUCTION good course in MS. In order to both avoid

We assume that a typical curriculum
includes Physics (classical, quantum,
statistical physics), Chemistry (inorganic,
organic, electro-chemistry), Mathematics,
Computational tools, etc. The young
undergraduate is thus submitted to the need
of acquiring an amount of basic knowledge
before tackling the actual problems of
Material Sciences (MS). As a consequence,
he/she does not have the possibility of
appreciating the real nature of MS and its
role in the development of the past and
future of our society. This hard, or
technological, approach of the traditional
curriculum could divert the less determined
student from the original purpose of taking a
this risk and capture the interest of our
students from the very beginning, it is
advisable to develop a complementary line
into a good and suitable traditional
curriculum. This can be achieved by
introducing a simple and appealing course
on the history of materials and their role in
the development of human civilization.
Materials have played a key role in the
evolution of mankind. In fact, prehistoric
and early historic Ages were identified by
Thomsen in 1836 according to the materials
used in workmanship: Stone, Bronze and
Iron Ages. In the following, we shall outline
how this soft approach could be introduced.
Along with the description of the uses of
materials, an overview of their main
physical properties and of the role they still
play in our society is proposed. Suggestions
to teachers on how to connect the historical
context with the actual scientific
explanations or the recent developments is
written in italics and included in a separate
note on the relevant page.
The outcomes of this approach should be a
stimulus to students to appreciate the
importance of materials and of MS and
technology, and should foster the interest to
acquire a more deep and sound knowledge
of the subject.
The topics covered in this article are by no
means exhaustive. Different choices can be
made, according to the main interests of the
entire curriculum: more emphasis on metals
and alloys, or semiconductors, or polymers
and plastics, or composites, and so on.
As the credit hours, the choice depends on
the equilibrium with the traditional
disciplinary courses. It is evident that there
is no space for an exhaustive course on the
history of materials during the old and the
present ages. Thus, the reference to recent
developments has been condensed into a list
of dates and events.
As to the delivery methods, the lesson could
be enriched by showing many images,
schemes, diagrams, and possibly, also
animations and simulations. No labs are
necessary; it is advisable to incorporate a
guided tour to local Museums of
Archaeology and of Science and
Technology.
To help students and teachers to follow this
approach, in the 90th years we made two
exhaustive courses on MS on a CD ROM
support with hundreds of multimedia
contents and tools. We included an important
section devoted to the history of the Science
and Technology of MS, stressing the
connection with different disciplines, like
Art, customs and traditions.
BACKGROUND
The history of the discovery and the
invention of materials are widely treated in
the current literature. However, it is not
generally included in specific curricula of
advanced studies on chemistry, physics or
MS. We think that this absence should be
rectified, so that young students shall be
exposed to appealing approach to the
subsequent traditional technological studies.
An obstacle to this unconventional approach
could be that typical teachers of hard
sciences do not master the historical
background of their subject. A guideline
should then be prepared or, even better; one
should turn the historians of science and
technology for help.
Prehistory: From about 3,000,000 to 6,000
years ago
During prehistory and for a considerable
part of the history of mankind, well before
the development of science as we know
today, solid materials were used mainly for
their mechanical properties, whose practical
interest is evident; few other properties have
been considered: thermal properties for the
warmth of fur and, often, only by chance,
magnetism, electricity, optical properties.
Only four natural materials had been
mastered, i.e., developed into tools, during
the dawn of civilization: stone, wood, bone
and leather-fur. Of the first and the third of
these materials we have many
archaeological finds, due to their chemical
stability, while this is not true for the other
two, and the evidence is indirect or
inductive.
For the mastering of stone, the obstacle to
overcome was how to control the shape.
This was a difficult and gradual process; it
took several hundred thousand years to go
from about ten different tools made of
splintered stones during the Lower
Paleolithic (Chellean) to a hundred during
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
been found in Africa and date back around 3
million years. The craftsmen were not the
direct ancestors of Homo sapiens but
Australopithecus hominid. Much later stone
was exploited for monuments, housing,
statues, urns, and mosaics. Wood is still
nowadays one of the most widely used
materials: industrial consumption is about
1.6 billion m3. In buildings the drawbacks of
the limited resistance of stone architraves to
transverse strain was overcome much later
(Etruscans), thanks to the invention of the
vault arch.
With the invention of baked clay and during
the Age of Metals, new techniques for an
easier control of the shape became available.
It should be noted that shape control, on a
more sophisticated level, is still an objective
of contemporary technology: consider the
tolerance limits of modern machine tools,
the ultra-miniaturization of the electronic
circuits, the nanotechnologies.
Figure 2. Mosaic
From the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia (386-452
A.C.) Ravenna, Italy (Photo credit
accademiaravenna.net).
Wood accounts for many tools: the bow, the
fist complex tool invented by man (30,000
years ago), the boats, and the wheel (IV
millennium), whose importance cannot be
under estimated.
A first explanation of the mechanical
properties (harness of the stone) can be
given, as being due to the strong chemical
bonds between the atoms of the
macrocrystals composing the stone; the
cleavage (obsidian) can be assigned to the
amorphous structure.
The low thermal conductivity of furs allows
the introduction of Fouriers law.
The colour of mosaics (see for example
Figure 2) allows the introduction to the
interaction with light of materials: this can
be dealt more extensively in the section on
glass.
THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION
Pottery
At least 10,000 years ago, in particular
regions of the Earth, man learned to
cultivate plants and to tame and rear
animals. The small communities of hunters
turned gradually into communities of
farmers and breeders, and the first villages
were built. With the advent of Neolithic,
man, thanks to a new technique, invented a
new material, baked clay. Some early
examples date back to the IX millennium;
the analysis of the remains of a jar of 7000
years ago (North Iran, see for example
Figure 3, right) shows that it was used to
contain wine. Pottery was obtained by
heating a mixture of clay and water to a
sufficiently high temperature. Since the
mixture can be easily molded by hand, the
problem of shape control is solved. Further
developments in the manufactory of pottery
date back to the IV millennium, when the
potters wheel was invented; thanks to this
new fool, the artisan could work quickly and
make objects with regular shapes and
thinner walls.
Figure 3. Pottery wheel (left) and a Neolithic Pot
from Susa, Iran (right, Louvre Museum).
The potters wheel is the progenitor of the
modern lathe used in mechanical workshops
(see Figure 3, left). Here and in the
following the interconnections between
materials technology and science and other
techniques should be stressed.
Fire played a key role. Men had known fire
for half a million years, as testified by
remains of ancient hearths. However, the
first time it was used for technical purposes
was for the baking of clay; this process is
now known as sintering.
Sintering changes the structure of the
natural material, modifying the bonds
among atoms and their arrangement in
space, and producing a partial welding of
the solid particles of the mixture; it is the
most ancient process for transformation of
matter.
The role of fire and in general of furnaces to
obtain high temperatures for new or better
materials can be stressed; this shall be
better illustrated with the later medieval
developments.
Presumably the first baking was done in
open furnaces. Later, two other types of
furnaces were built, vertical and horizontal;
the first type is the ancestor of modern blast
furnaces. Higher temperatures were
achieved by the Chinese (VII-IV century
B.C.), who were able to make compact
ceramics known as porcelain, made of white
clay and kaolin. Important developments
took place mainly during the last decades of
the XX Century, because of the need for new
materials resistant to high temperatures
(refractoriness), to chemically hostile
environments (chemically inert) and to
strong mechanical stress. This is the reason
why compounds of nitrogen, carbon and
silicon have been studied extensively.
Besides their structural properties, today
ceramic materials have acquired interest for
their magnetic properties (ferrites), electrical
properties (piezoelectric, superionics,
superconductors, etc.).
THE AGES OF METALS
Metals are widespread on Earth, but few
metals can be found in their native state:
gold, silver, copper, (platinum); these are the
first metals that man learned to use (V
millennium or earlier).
Gold was used to make decorative articles
and jewels. Later small bars of an alloy of
gold and silver were made into coins and
were exchanged in trading. Traces of the
importance of gold can be found in myths
and legends: Golden Apples in the garden of
Hesperedis, the Golden Fleece won by
Jason, King Midas condemned to turn into
gold anything he touched, the Golden Calf
(Exodus 32:1), etc.
During the Middle Age generations of
alchemists worked to obtain the
philosophers stone capable of turning
mercury, or lead, into gold. Gold, chemically
stable but rare, had no other
 De re metallica by Georgius Agricola,
released in the year 1556, is a book
cataloguing the state of the art of mining,
refining, and smelting metals, that remained
the authoritative text on mining for 180
years after its publication. In Figure 5 is a
picture from this fundamental book.

Figure 4. Dana and the shower gold.

From a Boeotian red-figure bell-shaped crater
(450-425 A.C.). Louvre Museum.

practical use until recent times, when it

found applications in electronics. Like gold
and silver, native metallic copper can be
found in nature in small quantities. Small
objects made of native copper appear in
Neolithic settlements, VIII-VII Millennium.
The analysis of their microstructure shows
that the metal was subjected to cold working
for shaping and hardening. Most metals are
part of non-metallic compounds in rocks.
This is due to the fact that they are highly
reactive and combine chemically with non-
metallic elements like oxygen, carbon,
silicon to form oxides, carbonates, silicates,
etc.
Figure 5. Medieval mine (from De re
The Copper Age matallica by Gorgius Agricola, 1556)

The birth of the Copper Age is marked by

the discovery that the metal could be
obtained from its minerals.
Cu is more commonly found in the form of
oxides, carbonates, sulphates. Metallic
copper can be obtained from minerals by
reduction, namely by heating with charcoal;
the melted metal can be poured into
refractory containers (crucibles) of a given
shape: due to this discovery, tools made of
Cu were more commonly used during the III
Millennium. Copper mines have been found
back to the V Millennium.
Much later the technical evolution of
mineral extraction played a role in a quite
different field: in the 18th Century A.C. the
need for a better technique for draining
water from the bottom of deep coal mines
lead Thomas Newcomen in 1712
(Dartmuouth, 1664 Londra, 1729) to
develop a steam engine; however it had low
efficiency and low power (about 4 kW). The
goal of obtaining a more powerful and
efficient engine was achieved by James Watt
in 1769, with the introduction of a separate
steam condenser.
During the last two Centuries, Cu has containing iron as iron carbide (Fe 3C),
acquired a great importance in electrical pieces of Carbon and other impurities, in
applications; in fact Cu is a good conductor order to expel the impurities and reduce the
of electricity. Conductors of low resistivity content of carbon, the bloom was treated in
are advantageous because they cause minor forges by repeated heating and hammering
heat dissipation when electrical current the desired shape of iron objects was
passes through. In line with this, one can obtained by blacksmiths in their forge by hot
introduce the first elements on the electrical working and cold working the connection
properties of materials, such as Ohms law with the mythology, the Olympic god of
and the Joule effect. metallurgy, Hephaestus (see Figure 6), son
of Zeus and Hera, and the first metallurgist
The Bronze Age of the Bible, Tubal Cain, show the
importance attributed to iron.
A new metallurgy development almost
simultaneously with that of Cu; it was based
upon alloys of copper and small quantities of
other elements, arsenic and tin. These alloys
have mechanical properties superior to those
of pure copper, and have a lower melting
temperature. The alloy usually referred to as
bronze is made of copper and tin. Its name
has been coined to denote the first period of
human history: the Bronze Age. The spread
of bronze metallurgy gave new impulse to
trading; expeditions aimed at acquiring tin
could last several years. Today bronze
alloys, which also contain lead are employed
because of their low friction property;
special springs can be made by adding Figure 6. Hephaestuss Forge, Diego Velasquez,
silicon; resistance to corrosion by sea water 1630. Prado Museum.
can be achieved by adding manganese.

The Iron Age Cold working, also known as work

hardening is the strengthening of a metal or
In the few most ancient finds of iron (IV an alloy by plastic deformation. This
Millennium) the metal is of meteoric origin; strengthening occurs because of
however meteorites are quite rare. The dislocations movements and dislocations
actual Iron Age began towards the end of generation within the crystal structure,
the II Millennium, presumably thanks to the interact with one another, and serve as
Hittite blacksmiths. The Hittites were an pinning points or obstacles that significantly
Endo-European people who, towards the end impede their motion. Because dislocation
of the II Millennium, settled in the region of motion is hindered, plastic deformation
contemporary Turkey; they ruled for almost cannot occur at normal stresses. This leads
a millennium and the collapse of their to an increase in the yield strength and a
Empire resulted in the dispersing of their decrease in ductility of the material. Yield
skilful blacksmiths, hence the spread of iron strength is increased in a cold-worked
metallurgy. Iron was produced from material.
minerals, mainly hematite and magnetite, Simple pictures of perfect crystal lattices
heated in furnaces fuelled by charcoal, these and of lattices containing linear
furnaces, instead of giving molten metal, imperfections (dislocations) can be
yielded a spongy, solid matter (bloom),
proposed in order to explain the mechanical
properties of materials
Because of its higher mechanical resistance,
iron, gradually, replaced in many uses stone
and bronze. Iron tools like hoes, pick-axes,
swords, sickles and plugs, that enabled a
deeper tillage of the soil, spread
progressively; as a consequence, farming
expanded over larger areas and the
population grew. The transition however was
slow, because of the complexity of the iron
metallurgy. While bronze objects can be
easily obtained via melting and pouring into
crucibles of the desired shape, iron articles
require a different technique. In fact, pure
iron melts above 1500C, an such high
temperature was achieved only much later,
in medieval furnaces. An evidence of the
difficulty of the transition from previously
known metals to iron can be found in the
Iliad (VII Century B.C.): there are about
three hundred references to copper and only
about twenty to iron.
Iron articles appear most frequently from the
VII Century onward; most of the
archaeological finds are in bad condition,
due to the fact that iron undergoes corrosion
(rust).

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).

Considerable improvements in iron Swords with steel blades were already

metallurgy were made when new techniques
were discovered: steelmaking (or
cementation) and tempering. Towards the
middle of the II Millennium blacksmiths
realized that iron tools heated by red hot
charcoal were harder than wrought iron.
Today we know that this is due to the small
amount of carbon that penetrates the outer
layer of the iron and transforms it into steel.
manufactured at the beginning of the I
Millennium. Quenching, which produces a
harder but more fragile steel, was discovered
later. Large scale use of the Roman Empire;
the Romans made further progress; the
gladium, a short and solid sword, was
superior to the bronze sword of their
enemies.
Iron-Carbon alloys are not homogeneous, but their microstructure changes according to the
temperature to which they are heated and the rate of cooling. The mechanical properties depend
strongly upon their microstructure. The analysis of the tools by means of optical and scanning
electron microscope has provided information on the ancient metallurgical techniques.
THE REVIVAL OF IRON METALLURGY importance in the industrial revolution is well
known. During the second half of the 15th
Early Middle Ages Century the bankers made large investments
for the exploitation of ore deposits, in order to
Towards the year 1000, there was a cultural establish a large scale steel industry.
and economic revival in Europe. The
production of iron also increased, probably There was a breakthrough in iron metallurgy
also to satisfy the needs of larger armies, and, at the end of the 18th Century when coke,
later on, after the invention of gunpowder, for having low sulphur content, was used; also
the production of fire-arms. The growing need the invention of pudding, where melted cast
of cast iron and steel necessitated bigger iron is stirred using long iron bars in the
furnaces capable of reaching higher presence of hematite and iron oxide, and
temperatures (complete melting of the cast subjected to strong air flows came about.
iron). This, in turn, led to the construction of During this process decarburization takes
big bellows for blowing more air. Human place and the iron thus obtained is sufficiently
energy was not sufficient to move the pure and easily manageable. This step marks
bellows, hence the energy of the running the beginning of the second Iron Age; the
water through a waterwheel was exploited. amount of iron produced grew enormously.
The complete melting of cast iron was one of Iron was widely employed also in the
the greatest achievements of the Middle Ages, construction industry and in the great iron
as well illustrated by Vinnoccio Biringuccio works; the first great iron bridge, over the
in 1540. Figure 7 shows a picture from the river Severn, was built in 1781 and required
famous book of Vinnoccio Biringuccio. 400 tons of cast iron. Napoleonic wars and,
later, the development of railways, stimulated
the production of larger and larger quantities
of cast iron and steel.

Curious indirect consequences:

After 1800, goose quills are replaced by
steel pen-nibs;
Rail travels stimulated the development
of personal watches and their extensive
use.

Main development during the XVIII

Figure 7. Bellows in the blacksmiths workshop.
(Vinnoccio Biringuccio, 1540).
The need of big quantities of wood to feed the
furnaces, in some regions of Europe, crated an
environmental crisis due to the extensive
deforestation. The subsequent need of coal
made it necessary to dig deeper mines; thus,
the water from the bottom of the mine had to
be drained; it lead, in the 18 th century, to the
invention of the steam engine, whose
Century
1664-1665 Robert Boyle, one of the
founders of modern chemistry, and Robert
Hooke, physics and inventor, open the way to
the structural analysis of steel.
1733 Ren-Antoine Ferchault de Raumur
publishes a first systematic treatise:
examining the fracture surfaces with
microscope, finds that steel consists of small
grains and identifies the role of impurities in
different types of iron-carbon alloys.
1773 chemical analysis shows the role
played by carbon in cast iron and steel. Since
the, the role of chemistry in steel industry
becomes increasingly important.
1776 John Wilkinson replaces bellows with
steam engines to obtain higher air flows and
to reach higher temperatures
1784 puddle iron.
Main developments during the XIX
Century and later
1821 Bertiez achieves the chromium-steel
alloy
1822 Michael Faraday obtains chromium
and nickel alloys; they will be widely used
towards the end of the century.
1825 first railways Stockton-Darlington; the
Liverpool_ Manchester will be built 5 years
later.
1855 patent of the Bassemer process: the
first industrial process for the mass-
production of steel from molten pig iron; the
key principle is removal of impurities from
the iron by oxidation with air being blown
through the molten iron; the oxidation also
raises the temperature of the iron mass and
keeps it molten.
1860 Achievement of the tungsten steel
alloy, a hard alloy used for rapid cutting tools
(R. F. Mushet)
1864 Martin-Siemens (or open earth)
process, in which the excess carbon and other
impurities are burnt out of pig iron (high
carbon content, 3,5 4,5%) to produce steel;
its main advantages were that it didnt expose
the steel to excessive nitrogen, which would
cause the steel to become brittle.
1864-1866 Thanks to the introduction of the
metallographic (reflective) microscope, the
microstructure and the properties of steel are
investigated in greater detail (H. C. Sorby).
1870 Dmitrij Konstantinovi ernov
identifies the critical point, i.e. the
temperatures at which the phase changes
occur, and the influence of thermal processing
on the size of grains and hardness.
1878 Thomas process, similar to the
Bessemer one, but more efficient in removing
the content of phosphorous. Its adoption in
Germany gives a strong impetus to the heavy
industry.
1879 Adolf Martens publishes his first work
on the microstructure of iron and steel;
martensite, a metastable phase of steel. Is
named for him.
1878-1890 development of the electric
furnace.
1887 R. A. Hatfield patents the steel with
high content of manganese, an alloy non-
magnetic and resistant t to wear.
1888 Henri Louis Le Chtelier perfects the
coupling of platinum with a platinum-
rhodium alloys that gives rise to the
thermoelectric pyrometer and adapt an optic
pyrometer for industrial use; that made high
temperatures measurements possible.
1889 Josiah Willard Gibbs announces his
rule of phases that, later, will make it easier to
better identify the phases of the Fe-C alloys.
1904 Development of vanadium steel, that
later shall be extensively employed by Ford in
engines.
1934 the dislocation model is proposed in
order to interpret the mechanical properties of
solids, in particular the plastic deformation
GLASS
The most ancient uses of glass, other than for
the manufacturing of glass articles, were the
coating of other materials for decorative
purpose (glazing). Glazzed pearls were
already manufactured before the IV
Millennium; it took one more Millennium for
the working technique to develop to the point
that hollow objects could be made.
Instructions on how prepare glass, carved on
clay tables, have been found in the great
library of Niniveh, the capital of the Assyrian
Empire.

Normal glass is obtained by heating a mixture
of silica sand (SiO2) and other substances,
such as calcium oxide, sodium oxide, and
various carbonates, up the melting point. Pure
silica has a higher melting point. Pure silica
has a higher melting point than the mixture.
When the melt cools, it becomes gradually
more viscous, and then solidifies into a rigid
material. Thus, there is no characteristic
critical temperature for the liquid-solid
transition. The resulting amorphous solid is
transparent, provided that the original mixture
contains no impurities. Colored glass is
obtained when small quantities of other
substances are added. Beautiful vases made of
colored glass have been found in Egyptian
tombs of the XVIII dynasty (1580-1369
B.C.), see for example Lilyquist. They were
obtained by shaping the glass around a core of
chalk or sand that was removed after the
baking process.
Glass is an amorphous solid: it has a non-
crystalline structure, i.e. its atoms are not
orderly arranged in space.
The difference between the liquid-solid
transition and the glassy transition can also
be shown. More generally, one could also
explain the phase transitions.
The technique of glass blowing was an
important step forward that made it possible
to work large containers with thin walls and
different shapes. Apparently this technique
was discovered in Syria during the first
century B.C. During this same period glass
started to be used for windows in roman
buildings.
The glass art did not make substantial
progresses for many centuries. It developed
mainly in Venice. Processing techniques were
considered State secrets and the authorities of
the Republic could order the death sentence
for the craftsman and their family if they went
abroad to export their know-how!
The optical properties of materials, colour,
reflectivity, transparency can be illustrated
trough classical images of mirrors, vases,
mosaics, windows. This allows the
introduction of the properties of light:
spectrum of the radiation
(wavelength/frequency, absorption, reflection
diffusion, refraction and the role of lattice
impurities.
Glass and Science
Important innovations appeared when
advanced techniques for the polishing of the
surfaces of compact glass were developed.
Grinding and polishing of transparent glass
lead to the production of lenses for spectacles;
later, 17th Century, lenses for microscopes and
telescopes were also made. These
developments opened up unimaginable
possibilities for the study of the sky and of the
microscopic world. These technical
developments, including also Newtons prism
for the refraction of light, played a key role in
the revolution science.
Recently, thanks to the achievements in
chemistry and physics and under the pressure
of industry, many different types of special
glass have been produced. Shatterproof glass
was an achievement of the thirties; another
important step (1959) was the technique to
obtain optimum quality flat surfaces: melted
glass is allowed to solidify while floating on a
bath of melted tin. The most impressive
development was surely that of transparency.
It is of the greatest importance in optical
fibers for telecommunications, used as
waveguides to transmit light pulses across
large distances with a low level of attenuation
and at higher bandwidths data rates than
copper cables
Guiding of light by internal reflection, the
principle that makes fiber optics possible, was
first demonstrated in Paris in the early 1840s.
The crucial attenuation limit of 20dB/km was
first achieved in 1870, by researchers working
for the American glass maker Corning Glass
Works, now Corning Incorporated.
Today, thousands of types of glass are
produced.
MAGNETIC MATERIALS
The properties of magnets have always
generated astonishment. Apparently Thales of
Miletus, the first philosopher and scientist of
western civilization (6th Century B.C.),
already knew of a natural magnet, now called
magnetite. Thales, as well as the successive
philosophers, believed that magnets have a
soul, and this idea stood for about two
millennia. Other views, closer to the modern
concepts of the magnetic field, explained the
effect in terms of an invisible fluid emitted by
the magnet. The Latin poet Titus Lucretius
Caro (1th Century B.C.) wrote: Sing me
now, oh Muse, the reason of such an
extraordinary effect. Explain me why the
magnet strongly attracts and so passionately
embraces the rough iron. In the following
poet describes the capacity of magnets to
attract small iron rings and form a chain
(magnetic induction), and attempts an
atomistic explanation.
During the entire Middle Age there was little
progress. Several qualitative explanations
were proposed during the 12th and 13th
Centuries, Pierre de Mericourt, namely Petrus
Peregrinus, in 1269 wrote the Epistula de
Magnete (in this treatise there is also a design
for a perpetual motion mechanism!).
However, strange legends were circulating. In
the Arabian nights there is the description
of a black mountain that caused the wrecking
of the ships that came too close, because the
mountain attracted and pulled out the iron
nails. The first descriptions of the use of
magnetic bars, i.e. the compass as a means to
find the way during the navigation, date back
to the 13th Century in Western countries;
Chinese knew it at least two centuries before.
The Italian Repubbliche Marinare
employed the compass during that period.
This, and the invention of the vertical stern
rudder (made possible also by the progress of
iron metallurgy), put Europe on course for the
great geographical conquests.
First systematic studies
The first scientific treatise, the De Magnete,
was published by William Gilbert (Colchester
1544 London 1603), the English personal
physician of Queen Elizabeth. During 18
years of experiments he turned the confused
knowledge of his times into a set of verified
data. Gilbert realized that the Earth is a huge
magnet whose poles are located near the
geographic poles; he is therefore considered
the father of geomagnetism. Gilbert had also
the task of demonstrating that the widespread
belief that the diamond could magnetize an
iron needle was not true. His contemporary
Giovanni Battista Porta wrote: It is common
opinion among sailors that onion and garlic
are in contrast with magnets, and helmsmen
are forbidden to eat them to prevent upsetting
of the pole indicator. However, when I tried
all these things, I found them untrue.
Further development
Magnetic materials were more extensively
used due to the development of electricity,
after the invention, by Alessandro Volta
(Como 1745 Como 1827) of the pile. The
availability of direct currents and of the
magnetic field generated by these currents
(Hans Christian Oersted, 1819) made it easier
to magnetize materials and lead to the
knowledge of the hysteresis loops. The new
needs of the electric industry required new
magnetic materials with properties different
from those of the permanent magnets already
known; for instance, for the transformers,
materials of high permeability, capable of
conveying the flux of the magnetic field, and
of low coercivity, i.e. being easily
demagnetized. More recently other material
have been developed, for magnetic recording,
for microwave devices, computer memories,
etc.
Basic steps in recent history of magnetic
materials
Pierre Curie (Paris, 1859-1906) studied
ferromagnetism, paramagnetism, and
diamagnetism for his doctoral dissertation and
discovered the effect of temperature on
paramagnetism, which is now known as
Curies law. He also discovered that
ferromagnetic substances exhibited a critical
temperature transition (curie point.), above
which the substance loses its ferromagnetic
behavior.
1897 Charles-Eduard Guillaume (Nobel
Prize) discovers an alloy (invar) consisting of
64% of iron and 36% of nickel, that exhibits
nearly no thermal expansion; invar enables
very accurate physical measurements to be
performed.
1898 It is discovered that manganese, when
mixed with Cu and Sn gives a ferromagnetic
alloy with properties similar to those of
nickel.
1898 Fe-Si alloy, largely employed in
transformers.
1905 Paul Langevin (Paris, 1872 1946)
develops the atomic theory of paramagnetism.
1907 Pierre-Ernest Weiss (Mulhouse, 1865
Lion, 1940) proposes a theory of
ferromagnetism based on the molecular
field, and of the magnetic domains.
1911 Heike Kamerlingh Onnes
(Groningaen, 1853 Leyden, 1926) discovers
the superconductivity.
1912 It is discovered that manganese, when
mixed with Cu and Sn, gives a ferromagnetic
alloy with properties similar to those of
nickel.
1912 It is discovered the high magnetization
of the Fe-Co alloy.
1916 Patented, with the name of Permalloy,
a Ni 78%, Fe 22% alloy by a very high
magnetic susceptibility.
1925 George Eugene Uhlenbeck (1900,
Batavia 1988, Boulder) and Samuel
Abraham Goudsmit (The Hague, 1902
Reno, 1978) formulate the hypothesis that the
electron has an intrinsic angular momentum
(spin) and an associated magnetic momentum.
1928 Werner Karl Heisenberg (Wrzburg,
1901 Munich, 1976) explains
ferromagnetism by means of the exchange
interaction, a characteristic concept of
quantum mechanics.
1932 Felix Bloch (Zurich, 1905-1983)
proposes a model to describe the structure and
properties of the boundaries of the magnetic
domains (Bloch walls).
1933 beginning of the studies on soft
ferrites.
1935- iron oxides deposited on wires for the
magnetic recording.
1936 Fe-Al-Co-Ni (alnico) alloy for
permanent magnets.
1950 barium ferrite, the basic component of
ceramic permanent magnets.
RECENT BASIC STEPS IN
TECHNIQUES THAT ARE RELEVANT
TO THE PRODUCTION OF NEW
MATERIALS, AND TO THE STUDY OF
THEIR PROPERTIES
1912 X-ray diffraction enables the study of
the crystalline structures; later it will be used
also to determine the phases of the Fe-C
alloys.
1945 The first neutron diffraction
experiments were carried out by Ernest O.
Wollan; he was joined shortly thereafter by
Clifford Shull, and together they established
the basic principles of the technique, and
applied it successfully to many different
materials.
1931- German physics Ernst Ruska and the
electrical engineer Max Knoll constructed the
prototype transmission electron microscope
(TEM). An electron microscope uses
accelerated electrons as a source of
illumination. Because the wavelength of an
electron can be up to 100,000 times shorter
than that of visible light photons, the electron
microscope has a higher resolving power than
a light microscope.
1937 Manfred von Ardenne pioneered the
scanning electron microscope (SEM). The
SEM produce images by probing the
specimen with a focused electron beam that is
scanned across a rectangular area of the THE CONCEPTUAL BASIS OF
specimen; it produces images by detecting MATERIALS SCIENCE
secondary electrons which are emitted from
the surface due to excitation by the primary The materials development, as shown in the
electron beam. chapter, for millennia has been due to
empirical findings and to the skill of artisans.
1960 Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is a
Nowadays, as in the past few decades, there
method of depositing epitaxial thin films. It
was the transition from the empirical
was invented at Bell Telephone Laboratories
techniques to the real MS: the fundamental
by J. R. Arthur and Alfred Y. Cho and is
basis of the study of the properties and the
widely used in the manufacture of
development of materials lies in the
semiconductor devices. 1960 Metalorganic
developments of physics (quantum physics)
vapour phase (MOVPE), or metalorganic
and chemistry.
chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD), is a
chemical vapour deposition method used to
The understanding of the properties of
produce single or polycrystalline thin films; it
crystalline solids, starting from their structure
is a competing deposition technology to
on the atomic scale, is essential in MS. The
MBE.
building blocks of this great construction,
solid state physics and inorganic chemistry,
1981 A scanning tunneling microscope have gradually become clear during the past
(STM) is an instrument for imaging surfaces two centuries. The bricks are the electrons
at the atomic level; it is based on the concept and the nuclei, while the bearing structures
of quantum tunneling. Its development earned are the laws of classical, statistical and
its inventors, Gerd Binnig and Heinrich quantum physics and of chemistry (Figure 8).
Rohrer (at IBM Zrich), the Nobel Prize in
The construction is not complete, new
1986.
phenomena provide further conceptual
Atomic force microscope (AFM) or scanning
challenges. It is not linear; in some fields the
force microscope (SFM) is a very high-
empirical developments are sometimes as
resolution on the order of fractions of a
effective as those based on scientific grounds
nanometer. The precursor to the AFM, the
(Figure 8). Often new materials are invented
scanning tunneling microscope, was
with properties, which had not been predicted.
development by Gerd Binnig and Heinrich
The richness of the entire scenario is
Rohrer in the early 1980s.
fascinating.

Figure 8. The building blocks of Materials Science (left). Empirical advances are often as effective as
those based on scientific ground (right).
DISCUSSION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
The more recent developments, only sketched
here, could be treated more extensively. The
scheme presented obviously is not exhaustive,
it is no simply an example, an outline on how
such an introductory course could be
organized. For instance, no mention has been
made to important classes of materials, such
as organic polymers, fiber reinforced
composites, semiconductors and
superconductors. One could chose other
examples of materials, according to the
subjects that shall be treated more thoroughly
in future courses, and could stress the basic
physical and chemical concepts which are the
sound backgrounds of material science and
technology. We recommend making a large
use of images, anecdotes and reference to
parallel historical events, in order to make the
course more interesting and stimulating.
CONCLUSIONS
With respect to the non-traditional proposal of
this chapter, the teachers of MS and
Technology could have two opposing
reactions, Some would not accept it, although
using reasonable arguments, such as the, need
of devoting all the time of the course to the
traditional disciplines and/or the difficulty of
finding good teachers and texts.
Strategies for winning over the faculty who
are not likely to be receptive to such a course
are not easy; each teacher is usually fond of
their own traditional teaching experience, and
with good reasons. It could be stressed that
there is a need to capture the interest of
students by providing a soft approach to the
subject of MS and Technology, and an
historical approach offers this opportunity.
Other teachers will show interest and
willingness. In this latter case it is advisable
to pay serious attention to find or to prepare
good texts, suitable for the general planning
of the whole curriculum.
A typical, traditional teacher is a person
specialized in their own field of research, and
this provides the necessary background for
giving a good and up-to date course.
However, an effort for widening the
specialized vision can be of advantage both
for students and for teachers. Moreover, as
commented above and shown as examples in
the boxes, the historical approach can be used
by the teacher also to introduce in a
qualitative way some concepts and physical
laws that make a bridge between the empirical
developments and the modern MS.