Materials & manufacturing

Topics represented

Materials & manufacturing (23) · Industry (13) · Technology (13) · Roman Empire (12) · War & military technology (9) · Fabricación de armas (5) · Transferencia tecnológica (5) · Pólvora (4) · Artillería (3) · Administración militar (2) · Armas de fuego (2) · Asedio (2)

Records and sources

Ordered by start date. Long lives and processes may begin before the period you want to study.

1. 1907

   Bakelite and synthetic plastics

   Bakelite inaugurated fully synthetic commercial plastics. Its insulating and moldable properties changed consumer goods and electrical components.

2. 1935

   Nylon, a synthetic fiber

   Nylon was among the first fully synthetic fibers produced at scale. It extended polymer engineering into textiles, ropes, components, and industrial goods.

3. 1958

   Integrated-circuit manufacturing

   Integrating active and passive components on a single semiconductor substrate opened a route to precision microelectronic manufacturing. Its later scaling depended on planar processes, photolithography, equipment, and specialized material supply chains.

4. 1959

   Planar silicon process

   Jean Hoerni developed a process that retained a silicon-dioxide layer on the wafer to protect p–n junctions. This passivation made transistor fabrication more reliable and created a material basis for higher-volume integrated-circuit production; it was not by itself the invention of the modern computer.

5. 1984

   Stereolithography and 3D printing

   Stereolithography built objects layer by layer from a digital model. It opened additive manufacturing for prototypes and complex parts.

6. 2004

   Isolation of graphene

   Isolating a single atomic layer of carbon opened the field of two-dimensional materials. Graphene combines unusual electrical and mechanical properties, but this record marks an experimental discovery, not already-demonstrated mass industrial adoption.

7. 2011

   OECD mineral supply-chain due-diligence guidance

   In 2011 the OECD published risk-based due-diligence guidance for minerals from conflict-affected and high-risk areas. It offered a management and traceability framework for companies and sector schemes; it did not make complete traceability of all minerals a reality or replace national regulation.

8. 2012

   22 nm FinFET transistors in high-volume production

   Intel reported that its 22 nm three-dimensional tri-gate transistors, a FinFET form, entered high-volume production in 2012. This marks one company’s industrial process transition, not simultaneous FinFET adoption across the whole industry or a single measure of every chip’s performance.

9. 2012

   Large-scale composite-manufacturing demonstration

   A NASA–industry team documented fabrication of large curved panels in 2012 using automated tape layup and autoclave and out-of-autoclave prepregs. It was a process demonstration to reduce composite-manufacturing risk, not proof that those methods had become the universal production standard.

10. 2015

    First 3D-printed part certified for a commercial engine

    GE reported that the FAA certified an additively manufactured sensor housing in 2015 to fly in a commercial engine. The case shows a certified, bounded application of metal additive manufacturing; it does not imply that additive processes or materials are automatically qualified for every critical component.

11. 2018

    China’s “National Sword” waste-import restrictions

    China’s restrictions announced as “National Sword” limited imports of several waste streams from 2018, including plastics, textiles, paper, and metals. They reconfigured secondary-material flows and required changes in sorting and processing, but did not end all global waste trade or guarantee sufficient local recycling.

12. 2019

    EUV lithography in foundry volume production

    TSMC reported that its 7 nm N7+ process entered volume production in 2019 as the first commercially available foundry technology using extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. It records industrial introduction of a specific process, not the replacement of all optical lithography or identical performance at every later node.

13. 2021

    Basel plastic-waste amendments enter into force

    The Basel Convention’s plastic-waste amendments entered into force on 1 January 2021 and clarified which transboundary streams are subject to prior informed consent. They regulate conditions for movement and management, not a universal ban on importing, exporting, or recycling plastic.

14. 2023

    EU batteries regulation and material circularity

    Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 set phased requirements for recovery, recycling, and recycled content for materials including cobalt, lithium, nickel, and lead. It is a regional regulatory intervention aimed at closing material loops; its future targets do not by themselves show that global recycling has already reached those rates.

15. 2024

    EU Critical Raw Materials Act

    Regulation (EU) 2024/1252, published in May 2024, established a European framework for a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials. It sets Union instruments, objectives, and benchmarks; it does not itself demonstrate that targets for extraction, processing, recycling, or diversification have been met.

16. 2024

    EU sustainable-products regulation and digital passport

    Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 created a framework for sustainable-product ecodesign requirements and digital product passports through later delegated acts. It can improve information and traceability for product groups, but the framework regulation does not mean that all such passports and requirements are already applied to every material.