Raw vs. Engineered materials

Raw materials and engineered materials are not necessarily opposites, but they represent different stages in the process of material production and use.

Raw Materials:

• Raw materials are natural resources or unprocessed substances that are extracted from the environment. They are the basic building blocks used to create a wide range of products.
• Raw materials can be primary (directly extracted from nature) or secondary (recycled from existing products).
• Examples of raw materials include minerals, ores, crude oil, natural gas, timber, and agricultural products like crops and livestock.

Engineered Materials:

• Engineered materials, on the other hand, are materials that have been processed, modified, or designed to have specific properties and characteristics for particular applications.
• These materials often undergo manufacturing processes, combining different raw materials or altering their structure to achieve desired properties.
• Examples of engineered materials include alloys (mixtures of metals), composites (combination of different materials), plastics, ceramics, and synthetic fibers.

While raw materials are the starting point for material production, engineered materials are the result of human ingenuity and technological processes that transform raw materials into more functional, tailored, and advanced forms. In this sense, they are not opposites but rather different stages of the material lifecycle.

For example, consider steel:

• Iron ore is a raw material extracted from the earth.
• Through smelting and refining processes, iron ore is transformed into iron, another form of raw material.
• Iron is then alloyed with other elements (such as carbon) to create steel, an engineered material with specific properties like strength and durability.

In summary, raw materials and engineered materials are related concepts, but they represent different aspects of material production and utilization. Raw materials provide the foundation, while engineered materials involve deliberate manipulation and design to achieve desired characteristics for specific applications.