What are beneficial and harmful effects of materials?

Answer 1

Materials Engineering can be subdivided into the following sub-fields:

Nanotechnology - rigorously, the study of materials where the effects of quantum confinement, the Gibbs-Thomson effect, or any other effect only present at the nanoscale is the defining property of the material; but more commonly, it is the creation and study of materials whose defining structural properties are anywhere from less than a nanometer to one hundred nanometers in scale, such as molecularly engineered materials.

Benefits: microelectronic advances

Harms: electronic monitoring devices (bugs)

Microtechnology - study of materials and processes and their interaction, allowing microfabrication of structures of micrometric dimensions, such as MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS).

Benefits: improved computer hardware

Harms: increased sedentary activity, obesity, and Diabetes caused by spending more time at the computer & less time exercising

Crystallography - the study of how atoms in a solid fill space, the defects associated with crystal structures such as grain boundaries and dislocations, and the characterization of these structures and their relation to physical properties.

Benefits: Improved glass products

Materials Characterization - such as diffraction with x-rays, electrons, or neutrons, and various forms of spectroscopy and chemical analysis such as Raman spectroscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), chromatography, thermal analysis, electron microscope analysis, etc., in order to understand and define the properties of materials.

Benefits: Greater understanding of the properties of materials

Metallurgy - the study of metals and their alloys, including their extraction, microstructure and processing.

Benefits: Improved, stronger, more durable metal alloys

Biomaterials - materials that are derived from and/or used with biological systems.

Benefits: Improved medical therapies, greater human longevity

Harms: Ethical concerns about artificial insemination, cloning, stem cell research, and other issues

Electronic and magnetic materials - materials such as semiconductors used to create integrated circuits, storage media, sensors, and other devices.

Benefits: More data storage in hard drives and RAM chips

Harms: Greater ability of government and private firms to accumulate massive personal data about any and every individual

Tribology - the study of the wear of materials due to friction and other factors.

Benefits: Greater durability of construction and clothing materials

Forensic materials engineering - the study of material failure, and the light it sheds on how engineers specify materials in their product

Benefits: Greater ability of law enforcement to identify criminals and establish their guilt

Harms: Greater ability of Big Brother to encroach on private activities; increasingly larger prison populations.