Neel Nadpara

MSE 5336
HW Project 1
2/17/19

Task: After reading the paper reflect on the two points Dr. Ashby covers: material development with
time and how the data was presented. Consider your experience with materials and relate that in your
write-up.

Reflection on Dr. Ashby’s “Materials–a brief history”

Scientists have determined technological progress to be the key factor propelling the
advancement of human civilization. Materials have facilitated the creation and progress of civilizations
since the emergence of mankind. In 1819 Danish archeologist Christian J. Thomsen related the
classification of artifacts to technology by the materials the artifacts were comprised of (stone, bronze,
and iron). This, in turn, leads to materials becoming the defining characteristics of vast time periods
which became known as the three-age system which defined the: Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age.
Later, the Copper Age that occurred between the Stone and Bronze Ages was added to the three-age
system. Superior materials for tools and weapons permitted mankind to spread across the world and
conquer both other civilizations and problems. It is astonishing to think that materials have allowed
mankind’s advancement from the beginnings of time to the world we see today. To this day, innovations
in material development and material processing impact society such as ceramic matrix composites
allow for more efficient gas turbine engines and improved continuous casting processes in steel rolling
mills improve quality and efficacy.
Dr. Ashby begins by highlighting Figure 1 which is essentially a timeline of materials from the
beginning at the Stone Age (100,000 BC) and going up to the Nano-Age (1980-Present). The Stone age
encompassed mostly natural materials such as bone and stone. The materials were shaped into tools
such as flaking flint and quartz into sharp edges. Then the Age of Copper (5000 BC) came to be since it
was a metal that could be found in its native form in nature. Copper could be smelted and cold worked
to form complex geometries while also hardening the material. Then by 3000 BC, accidental inclusion of
tin into copper allowed the formation of Bronze. The alloy bronze was much harder allowing for the
production of better tools such as knives that could hold an edge for much longer. However, by 1450 BC
a way to reduce ferrous oxides to make iron made bronze obsolete. Iron offered much greater stiffness,
strength, and hardness which made it far superior when making tools. The development of processing
had to evolve significantly to make iron and eventually the Bessemer process allowed the commercial
production of steel in 1856.
By following Dr. Ashby’s history of materials development, we realize that over time more
materials, processing techniques, and strengthening techniques were determined and exploited. Also, it
becomes clear that as humanity has better materials, the challenges change. After the Iron Age, the
problem is no longer survival and instead, humanity is able to thrive. Iron leads to the advent of better
plows and agriculture lead to a better quality of life. The advent of steel allows for the construction of
large buildings such as skyscrapers and initiates the birth of the magnificent city skylines we know today.
As humanity moves forward, the challenges become more complex and demanding. Flight transitioned
from the aluminum-copper (precipitation hardened light alloy) block reciprocating engine on the Wright
Brother’s plane to the jet turbines of today that require nickel and cobalt superalloys due to the extreme
temperatures in the hot section. It is a similar story for other materials such as polymers and
semiconductors where a need drives innovation in achieving new materials with better performance
characteristics. Dr. Ashby presents this progress by means of material-property charts in Figure 2.
Material properties limit the performance of most designs. However, it is rare that the performance of a
component is limited by just one property. Most of the time, it is a combination or even several
combinations of properties that matter to the performance of a component. Such combinations could
be the strength to weight ratio as seen in Figure 2 which is important in the design of lightweight
components. Dr. Ashby presents possible material choices by way of material property charts. By
plotting one property against another and creating fields in property space a large amount of
information can be packed into a compact accessible form. This form can reveal correlations between
material properties and eventually allows for the selection of materials based on the component
relevant properties. Thus, by analyzing Figure 2 it can be seen that many materials were developed for
lightweight applications over time such as foams for packaging fragile products where lightweight
materials would same money during transportation. Moreover, materials within each family were
developed over time such as aluminum and titanium alloys within the metals family to allow for strong
lightweight materials for specific applications.
My experience with materials has shown exactly what Dr. Ashby has described. First, that
materials evolve over time to serve additional performance requirements. Second, those materials are
rarely selected for one property and that careful consideration of numerous properties is required for
material selection. Currently, I am working as a Welding Engineer at Electric Boat and one of the projects
I work on is on steam turbines. Steam turbines tend to use older materials compared to their gas turbine
counterparts. However, steam turbines still have great demands in performance and materials must
exhibit good yield strength, corrosion resistance, fatigue life, resistance to cavitation erosion, good
machinability, and good weldability. It is difficult to find materials that exhibit all of these properties,
thus in many cases, we use combinations of materials such as cladding martensitic stainless steel with
an Inconel alloy to gain additional heat and corrosion resistance while minimizing cost. Also, materials
may be developed over time such as high strength low alloy steels that have good strength, toughness,
ductility, and weldability for pressure vessel applications. Overall, I agree with Dr. Ashby’s message and
am pleased to work in a field that helps further the reach of mankind.

Sources:

Ashby, M. F. Materials Selection in Mechanical Design. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2017.

Ashby, Mike. “Materials–a Brief History.” Philosophical Magazine Letters, vol. 88, no. 9-10, 2008, pp.
749–755., doi:10.1080/09500830802047056.

Valiulis, Algirdas Vaclovas. “A History of Materials and Technologies Development.” 2014.