Material & Werkstoff

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Material & Werkstoff

Terminology

The targeted use of materials such as wood and bone, stone, glass/ceramics and metals as well as polymer materials, composite materials and material composites has been taking place for thousands of years. Materials have shaped entire epochs in the development of civilization, so it is no coincidence that the terms Stone Age, Bronze Age or Iron Age were chosen.

The term “material” in its German meaning “Werkstoff” only emerged in the 19th century and is mostly used synonymously with the term “Material”. According to [1], materials are work equipment of a purely material nature that are further processed in production processes as work objects and are incorporated into the respective end products. As a rule, these are solids. The quality and properties of the final products or semi-finished products are decisively influenced by the choice of more or less suitable materials.

Definition on terms

Very different definitions can be found in the literature, based on different points of view [2–11]. Czichos [2] provides the following definition: ‘Materials in the narrower sense are materials in a solid aggregate state from which components and structures can be manufactured. Such materials are characterised by the special property of formative sculptability’ in a broad sense. It is only through this that components can actually take on a shape developed in the design process, later in production. The quality and properties of the finished products are decisively influenced by the choice of suitable materials and manufacturing processes (primary moulding, forming, heat treatment, etc.). Materials testing is used to characterise, evaluate and ensure quality. Fields that deal with the research and development of materials are materials technology, materials science and materials engineering.

Schmitt-Thomas [3] formulates that the ability to provide suitable materials with the help of available resources is a prerequisite for transferring scientific knowledge into an applicable, useful and civilisationally implementable technology. The extraction and mastery of the material, in the sense of the ability to control its properties and optimally adapt it to the stresses, thus becomes the key that, under the responsibility of the engineer, makes it possible to transfer scientific knowledge into quality of life [3].

The Springer-Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon [4] defines the term ‘Werkstoff’ as: ‘Material, summarising term for those raw materials, auxiliary and operating materials, semi-finished and finished products that are intended to be used as starting and basic materials in the products of a company. Materials rank to the elementary production factors. They become part of new products after their form or substance has been changed in the company or through their incorporation into other finished products.’

Currently, materials are generally divided into metals (e.g. iron, aluminium), non-metals (e.g. graphite), organic materials (e.g. wood, polymer materials), inorganic non-metallic materials (e.g. ceramics, glass) and semiconductor materials (e.g. silicium).

Schatt [5] used the term ‘construction material’ since the 5th edition of the reference work ‘Werkstoffe des Maschinen-, Anlagen- und Apparatebaues’, which has been published since 1975. The categorisation of materials is based on the requirements in various technical areas of application, such as materials for tools, low temperatures, high temperatures, corrosive stress, wear, connections, etc.. The term ‘construction material’ is used for this purpose in English language.

Wikipedia [6] provides the following definition of the term material: ‘A material is a substance or a mixture of substances that forms an object. Materials can be pure or impure, animate or inanimate matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, their geological origin or their biological function. Materials technology deals with materials, their properties and their applications.

In contrast to the term material, in common German use the term Werkstoff implies a purpose for which a component or construction is to be manufactured. The distinction between the terms Werkstoff and Material in German-speaking countries is generally not used in English, although deepl (https://www.deepl.com/) lists the term Werkstoff. The term material is generally used in English-language literature.

Systematic research into the properties of steel, iron or light metals such as aluminium began in the middle of the 19th century, followed somewhat later by ceramic materials, from which the field of materials technology developed. This young scientific discipline was initially called ‘materials science’, whereby the word ‘technology (in German "-kunde’ was used to express the fact that it encompassed all empirically recorded facts about materials, primarily metallic materials [7]. In English-speaking countries, the terms ‘materials technology’ and ‘materials science’ were used instantly [8, 9].

It was mainly metallurgy from which materials technology emerged as a scientific discipline [10].

As industrialisation progressed, a more differentiated view of materials developed at the beginning of the 20th century. Non-metallic-organic and non-metallic-inorganic materials gained increasing economic importance.

The textbook ‘Introduction to Materials Science’ [11] was first published in 1972 by Prof. Dr Werner Schatt, TU Dresden, who took a uniform approach to the structure, the type of arrangement of the structural elements and the degree of order and established structure-property relationships with the aim of improving certain macroscopic properties and thus improving the application possibilities [11].

The term ‘materials science’ became established in the scientific landscape to the extent that it was possible to generalise the understanding of materials science. Modern materials research has had a lasting influence on the development of civilisation and man's handling of materials from craft to industry has ultimately led to an independent science [12].

Weblinks

Wikipedia: Die freie Enzyklopädie: Werkstoff; https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werkstoff
Wikipedia: Die freie Enzyklopädie: Materialwissenschaft und Werkstofftechnik; https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materialwissenschaft_und_Werkstofftechnik
Bundesvereinigung Materialwissenschaft und Werkstofftechnik e. V. (BV MatWerk); https://www.bvmatwerk.de/
Grellmann, W., Bierögel, C., Reincke, K. (Eds.): Wiki-Dictionary "Polymer Testing & Diagnostics" Version 15.0 (2025); http://wiki.polymerservice-merseburg.de/

[1]	https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Werkstoffe
[2]	Czichos, H.; Hennecke, M. (Eds.): HÜTTE – Das Ingenieurwissen. 33., aktualisierte Auflage, Springer Berlin Heidelberg (2008); ISBN 978-3-540-71851-2 bzw. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werkstoff
[3]	Schmitt-Thomas, K. G.: Werkstoff in Geschichte und technischer Entwicklung. In: Metallkunde für das Maschinenwesen. Springer Berlin Heidelberg (1990); https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-93451-3_2
[4]	https://wirtschaftslexikon.gabler.de/definition/werkstoffe-49420
[5]	Schatt, W., Simmchen, E., Zouhar, G. (Eds.): Konstruktionswerkstoffe des Maschinen- und Anlagenbaues. Deutscher Verlag für Grundstoffindustrie Stuttgart(1998); ISBN 3-342-00677-3; see AMK-Library under L 4
[6]	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Material
[7]	Eisenkolb, F.: Einführung in die Werkstoffkunde. Verlag Technik Berlin (1958); see AMK-Library under L 24
[8]	Hummel, R. E.: Understanding Materials Science History, Properties, Applications (2nd Ed.). New York, NY: Springer New York, (2005). LLC. ISBN 978-0-387-26691-6
[9]	Timeline of materials technology; In: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_materials_science
[10]	Cahn, R. W.: Metallurgy, the Father of Materials Science, Tsingiiua Science and Technology, Volume 7, Number 1 (2002), ISSN 1007-0214 01/21 pp. 1 – 5
[11]	Schatt, W. (Ed.): Einführung in die Werkstoffwissenschaft. Deutscher Verlag für Grundstoffindustrie (1972); see AMK-Library under L 3-1
[12]	Urban, K.: Materialwissenschaft und Werkstofftechnik. Ein Ritt auf der Rasierklinge. Springer Berlin Heidelberg (2015); ISBN 978-3-662-46236-2; E-Book 978-3-662-46237-9; DOI:10.1007/978-3-662-46237-9; see AMK-Library under L90

Terminology

Definition on terms

See also

Weblinks