Heat treatment and surface engineering deal with materials, and the ways in which their properties can be improved to meet challenges posed by components. So, looking at the material as the object, the tools (or at least two of the tools) are heat treatment and surface engineering.
However, the terms ‘engineering materials’ and ‘surface engineering’ now cause some confusion, since it is increasingly difficult to see borderlines clearly between specific objectives and matters that it is simply necessary to be aware of.
The role of ‘classical’ materials is not in question, but it is necessary to be aware of what new materials may offer, and what the general trend for materials development is. In doing so, we have to find the right balance between ‘traditional and new’ otherwise we lose sustainability in progress. This is a rather complex question involving not only research and development but also education. Prof. Kocsis Maria Baan of Miskolc University in Hungary summarised this very well during the recent Workshop on Global 21 which was part of the 21st Congress of IFHTSE in May 2014 in Munich:
...[as] engineers, we have to find the optimum in applying all known scientific theory and technological solutions for solving a problem. As a researcher we may say: this or that aspect is out of my scope/objective […] But as engineers, nothing can be out of our interest, if it may result in a better solution. […] what is the ultimate goal of our activity as engineers […] to use less materials and energy for a given engineering structure […] and heat treatment and surface engineering is a valuable tool to achieve this goal.
The beginning of the twenty-first century witnesses an unprecedented rate of development of science in almost every field. The sophisticated investigation possibilities, the level and speed of communication and the basic knowledge of the physical world all contribute to an ascending spiral of development and the resulting changes affect our basic concept of the ‘human engineered world’. Materials science is one of the fundamental building blocks of science in general, and its development is conditioning in some ways the whole of human progress. Better understanding of the structure and components of the material world leads to discovery of new materials and of the very wide range of applications possibilities.
We are beginning to learn, as Dr Sudarshan said in his contribution to the Munich Workshop:
[That] the increasing emphasis and ability to use instrumentation for diagnostics and analysis at nanometre levels has opened the possibility to emulate nature and its magnificence in its various forms. From leaves that have specified patterns for delivering fluids which can result in improved methods of drug delivery to creating superhydrophobic, oleophobic, icephobic coatings that can repel water, minimise corrosion, reduce ice accumulation or improve the appearance of fabrics and their use […] we have so much to still engineer to create surfaces by observation and emulation.
It is not yet possible to draw any conclusion but we do have to try to redefine what we consider to be ‘engineering materials’ and certainly what surface engineering concepts and processes we need to consider in IFHTSE.
Dr Zoltán Kolozsváry
CEO, SC Plasmaterm SA, Targu Mures, Romania