Engineering a material advantage

Abstract

The synergy of engineers and materials scientists working closely together can lead to developments in unexpected areas. Examples are presented to show that collaboration at the research stage can be particularly important and that by combining a range of skills and disciplines, new processing techniques for existing materials can be developed which can lead to new manufacturing areas. Further, as it is now possible to change the surface properties of materials by novel processing, it is often more appropriate to consider materials as a 'system', with different properties available on the surface and in the bulk material, both of which can be tailored to suit specific engineering requirements. Processing at the ultimate level for high-precision machining is shown to be a partnership between the cutting equipment and the chosen material. However, as further developments in high precision lead on to nanotechnology, then differences in the roles of engineers and materials scientists are difficult to defend and multi-disciplinary teams for research become absolutely essential.