raw materials

(noun)

A raw material or feedstock is the basic material from which a good product is manufactured or made, frequently used with an extended meaning. For example, the term is used to denote material that came from nature and is in an unprocessed or minimally processed state; e.g., raw latex, iron ore, logs, crude oil or seawater.

Related Terms

Examples of raw materials in the following topics:

  • Chemical Manufacturing

    • Chemical manufacturing turns raw materials into useful products for applications in materials, agriculture, health and other applications.
    • Chemical manufacturing is a subset of chemical industry involved in the conversion of raw materials into value-added products.
    • These products may be more advanced materials, or very simple materials that cannot be obtained from natural sources.
    • The raw starting materials are commonly from petrochemical sources (fractional distillation of crude oil produces a wide variety of valuable materials for the chemical industry) or can be extracted from nature.
    • The majority of the raw materials for polymers come from petrochemical sources, or crude oil fractionation.

  • Metallurgy

    • Extractive metallurgy is the study of the processes used in the separation and concentration of raw materials.
    • Extractive metallurgy is the practice of removing valuable metals from an ore and refining the extracted raw metals into a purer form.
    • Mineral processing manipulates the particle size of solid raw materials to separate valuable materials from materials of no value.
    • Usually, particle sizes must be reduced to efficiently separate valuable materials.
    • Sometimes, hydrometallurgical processes may be carried out directly on the ore material without any pretreatment steps.

  • Steelmaking and Refining

    • In refining, impure metal is purified; in steelmaking, impurities are removed from raw iron, and alloying elements are added.
    • Secondary steelmaking uses scrap steel as the primary raw material.
    • Refining consists of purifying an impure material, in this case a metal.
    • In refining, the final material is usually chemically identical to the original, but purer.
    • Henry Cort's original puddling process only worked when the raw material was white cast iron, rather than the gray pig iron that was the usual raw material for finery forges.

  • Properties of Alkenes

    • It is an important raw material for the synthesis of a number of plastics.

  • Properties of Quartz and Glass

    • Glass is a non-crystalline solid material made of silica, while quartz is a crystalline silicate mineral with piezoelectric properties.
    • Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline) solid material.
    • In contrast, polycrystalline materials do not in general transmit visible light.
    • Glass does not contain the internal subdivisions associated with grain boundaries in polycrystals, so it does not scatter light in the same manner as a polycrystalline material.
    • Most colored glass used in the art market is manufactured in volume by vendors, although there are some glass makers with the ability to make their own color from raw materials.

  • The Hydrogen Economy

    • In addition, the supply of raw materials that are essential for a hydrocarbon economy is limited, and the demand for such fuels is increasing each year.
    • Storing hydrogen in tanks is ineffective because hydrogen tends to diffuse through any liner material intended to contain it, which ultimately leads to the weakening of the container.
    • Hydrogen can be adsorbed onto the surface of a solid storage material and then be released upon necessity; this technology is still being investigated.

  • Polysaccharides

    • About 20% is a water soluble material called amylose.
    • The manufacture of textiles from cotton involves physical manipulation of the raw material by carding, combing and spinning selected fibers.
    • The food industry uses this material as a stabilizer in ice cream, cream cheese and salad dressings.

  • Types of Synthetic Organic Polymers

    • It takes 1.75 kilograms of petroleum (in terms of energy and raw materials) to make one kilogram of HDPE.
    • Products made from foamed polystyrene include packing materials, insulation, and foam drink cups.

  • Extractive Metallurgy

    • Extractive metallurgy is the practice of removing valuable metals from an ore and refining the extracted raw metals into a purer form.
    • Sometimes, hydrometallurgical processes may be carried out directly on the ore material without any pretreatment steps.
    • Pyrometallurgy involves high temperature processes where chemical reactions take place among gases, solids, and molten materials.

  • Occurrence of Metals

    • These materials are ideal for situations where high strength-to-weight ratio is more important than material cost, such as in aerospace and some automotive applications.
    • Pyrometallurgy uses high temperatures to convert ore into raw metals, while hydrometallurgy employs aqueous chemistry for the same purpose.