When considering the fields of professional engineering, many in the general public are confused by the designations – material science and engineering (MSE) compared to metallurgy or metallurgical engineering. In relation to the more well- known disciplines of engineering, e.g., civil, mechanical and electrical, these materials fields have traditionally had many fewer practicing professionals and therefore just what these people do is not so well understood. How are MSE and metallurgy similar and how do they differ?

Both MSE and metallurgy deal with the development or production and use of various engineering materials that serve as the foundations for all physical products. Metallurgy is the much older field that obviously deals with metals and combinations of metals as alloys. MSE includes metallurgy but also encompasses the other classes of engineering materials, i.e., polymers (plastics and elastomers), ceramics (glasses, clays and refractories) and composite materials. The latter can include combinations of a wide range of various non-metals along with metals (or not) where each is present in distinct physical phases that come together to form specialty engineering materials.

Metallurgy and metallurgical processing is old indeed. Many aspects of this field started in ancient times during the bronze and iron ages. There always were and still are two clear divisions of metallurgy. One covers the recovery and separation of desired metallic elements from combinations of minerals and waste components from raw materials found in the earth – this is process metallurgy. The other major division is physical metallurgy. This includes the many ways that basic and semi-refined metals are alloyed together and then processed into finished metal products. These processes include casting, heat treating or forging and other manufacturing technologies such as drawing, rolling and welding. Most metallurgists specialize in one of these two areas and in a sub-specialty.

A fundamental characteristic of all engineering materials is that the specific properties of the final material primarily depend on their inherent or developed internal structure on a microscopic scale. This is the microstructure of the given material. The different classes of materials have some generally “natural” characteristics associated with their basic microstructures. For example, ceramics are typically brittle but many offer high temperature resistance; many metals combine strength, toughness and high temperature resistance; most plastics are corrosion resistant but have poor high temperature strength and many composites provide an excellent array of properties but they are expensive. A range of different treatments can often improve the inherent properties of the different kinds of materials.

Metallurgy and metallurgical engineering as areas of study by engineering students have decreased in popularity and availability in most universities. Generally departments of materials engineering are currently labeled as MSE and the study of traditional metallurgy is not emphasized. This is because most outside funding is going to the perceived “exciting” areas related to polymers, ceramics and composites. This trend is most unfortunate because metals continue to be the most widely used class of engineering materials all over the world. Knowledgeable people that understand the fundamentals of recovering, processing/treating and correctly applying metal alloys will continue to provide much needed services in most all industries. However, the numbers of trained metallurgists are decreasing.

 

 

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