In this blog post, we will look at how materials engineering, which is the foundation of almost all technologies in our daily lives, has contributed to the development of human civilization and technology.
The term materials engineering may sound unfamiliar to some. Most people think of mechanical engineering, biotechnology, and architectural engineering when they hear the word engineering, and they seem to think that the words materials and engineering don’t go together. However, research on materials is undoubtedly the most essential field of research for human life. Almost all the things we use in our daily lives are the products of materials engineering. This is because the research and development of materials engineering has supported everything from the plastics used in home appliances to the steel that supports the structure of buildings and the engines of automobiles. Today, we come into contact with and use objects made of various materials that were unimaginable in previous eras. I would like to introduce materials engineering, which has changed the environment in which people live, without most people being aware of it.
More than 3,000 years ago, when Solomon completed the construction of the palace in Jerusalem, he is said to have asked the person who contributed the most to the construction of the palace. The first person to come forward was a bricklayer, who claimed that each of the bricks he made had built a beautiful palace. The second person to come forward was a carpenter, who claimed that he was the one who had done the most important work, laying the foundation before the bricks made by the bricklayer were laid. After listening to the two men, Solomon is said to have asked, “Then who made the tools used to make bricks and cut wood?” After saying this, Solomon is said to have politely offered wine to the blackened smith, who remained silent.
This story teaches us an important lesson. Without the blacksmith who did his job quietly, the palace in Jerusalem would not have been completed. More than 3,000 years later, we can find common ground between the blacksmith in the story and materials engineering.
The first thing they have in common is that they are the foundation for the development of other engineering fields. Today’s space exploration is made possible thanks to the development of materials that remain strong even when exposed to intense heat. It is also no exaggeration to say that the revolution in the information and communication field was brought about by the development of semiconductor materials. As such, many of the advances in the engineering field were preceded by the development of the materials used there. The recent issue of foldable smartphones and solar cells, which are being presented as one of the alternatives to eliminate the dangers of nuclear power generation, are all in the field of materials engineering. Furthermore, various advanced technologies such as electric vehicle batteries, artificial organs, and superconductors are being completed with the power of materials engineering. In other words, most of the news about the development of engineering fields we come across is nothing more than news of the development of the right materials that made it possible.
The second thing they have in common is that the work of a blacksmith, that is, the work of making strong iron, is similar to the efforts made today in materials engineering to create stronger materials. You may have seen a scene in a historical drama on TV in which a blacksmith puts iron heated on a charcoal fire into water and then hits it with a hammer. If you look into the principle, it is a surprisingly scientific method that people knew about 3,000 years ago. Iron changes its atomic arrangement, or structure, depending on the temperature, and the densest structure is the structure at a high temperature of about 900 degrees or higher, not at room temperature. In other words, the internal structure of iron that a blacksmith red-heats is denser and more tightly arranged. Moreover, the carbon atoms from the charcoal fire are smaller than the iron atoms, but they manage to fit into the gaps in the iron’s internal structure. When it reaches its densest state, even the smallest carbon atoms fit in and act as a kind of adhesive. When a piece of iron heated on a charcoal fire is quickly cooled in water, the iron atoms, which were previously in a compact shape, freeze while returning to their room temperature structure. Because the cooling process is very short, the iron atoms can only move slightly during that time, and therefore freeze in a stronger structure than the one they should have had at room temperature. The iron thus obtained has the disadvantage of being hard but fragile, but blacksmiths give it the property of being hard to break, that is, malleability, by hitting it with a hammer at an appropriate temperature. Of course, today blacksmiths use different methods, but in the broad framework they still use the same principle. As blacksmiths did thousands of years ago, studying the process of making strong materials is still an important part of materials engineering.
Today, materials engineers have already developed materials that are hundreds of times stronger than the iron obtained by blacksmiths, but much lighter. Not only strong materials, but also materials that can generate electricity when exposed to light. Materials that do not melt even at high temperatures of thousands of degrees. The development of materials used in numerous fields, including materials that can replace human bones, has been achieved. Innovative new materials are being researched in various fields, making it difficult to guess the limits of materials engineering. These innovations are inextricably linked to the technological development of modern society, and their scope is very broad. For example, all technological advancements, such as electric vehicles, solar panels, and even semiconductors for faster processing of artificial intelligence, are closely related to the development of suitable materials.
I hope that many people will become interested in the field of materials engineering, which is the foundation of all innovation, as King Solomon, the king of wisdom, did about 3,000 years ago.
