Material properties influence performance, quality and cost - [a look back]

The Industrial Revolution fostered the transformation from small, guild-governed enterprises to increasingly larger manufacturing enterprises. The Industrial Revolution was also influential in advancing and disseminating scientific and technical knowledge crucial to commercial growth. As manufacturing enterprises grew, they increasingly needed raw materials with known and assured properties. This paper discusses the influence of material properties such as elasticity, heat transfer rates and thermal expansion coefficient on the performance, quality and cost of manufactured products.