#material science

• Adhesive — Spelling variant or secondary technical form for the word 'adeziv' (adhesive). As a noun, it designates a substance capable of structurally fixing or bonding two surfaces through direct contact and molecular attraction. As an adjective, it describes a property of a body or material to manifest adherence, to stick, or to remain tightly joined to another layer or support.
• Adhesiveness — The physico-chemical property of a fluid, semi-solid, or solid body to adhere, stick, and remain fixed on another surface with which it comes into direct contact. This quantitative structural phenomenon measures the resistance opposed by a binder to detachment, being directly influenced by viscosity, surface tension, and the chemical nature of the substrate.
• Additioned — Having undergone the process of addition; an element, compound, or system that has received an influx of new substances or components, integrating them into a single structure. In a chemical context, it describes a molecule or product resulting from a synthesis reaction where the reactant atoms have fully united without eliminating secondary molecular fragments.
• Aerocell — A porous, insulating, and ultra-light material characterized by a cellular structure in which the liquid phase of a gel has been completely replaced with a gas (usually air) without the solid network collapsing. It is widely used in industrial thermal insulation, the aerospace industry, and construction due to its extremely low thermal conductivity.
• Agglomerator — An industrial machine, device, or installation used to perform the agglomeration process, transforming fine materials (fine ores, metallic powders, plastic waste) into compact agglomerates, briquettes, or large granules. In an adjectival sense, it describes an element, agent, or factor that causes or accelerates this structural compaction.
• Alloying — The act of allying or aligning oneself and its result; the formal process through which states, political parties, organizations, or individuals combine their efforts and resources to achieve a common goal. In metallurgy, the term represents a technical variant sometimes used for the alloying of metals, meaning the introduction of secondary chemical elements into a molten base metal to obtain an alloy with superior physical and mechanical properties.
• Aliphatoid — Resembling or exhibiting physicochemical properties similar to those of aliphatic compounds, without fully meeting all the rigid structural criteria of this class. In applied chemistry or pharmacy, the adjective describes substances or oily extracts that behave biochemically like saturated fats or linear acyclic hydrocarbons, having an analogous viscosity and solubility.
• Alloyed — A metallic product obtained by melting and combining two or more chemical elements, at least one of which is a metal; an alloy made through a controlled technical process of structural combination. In a participial sense, it describes a substance or material that has been chemically combined or intimately mixed with another element to alter its original physical properties.
• Alnico — A hard ferromagnetic alloy composed primarily of aluminum, nickel, and cobalt, to which varying percentages of iron, copper, or titanium may be added. This structural material is characterized by high remanent magnetic induction and excellent thermal stability, being widely used in industry for manufacturing permanent magnets for electric motors, audio speakers, and precision sensors.
• Alnico — A ferromagnetic alloy with superior magnetic properties, made from a structural composition of iron mixed with aluminum (Al), nickel (Ni), and cobalt (Co), to which small percentages of copper or titanium may be added. This structural material is widely used in manufacturing high-power permanent magnets for audio loudspeakers, electric motors, industrial sensors, and microphones.
• Allotropic — Pertaining to allotropy or characterized by the existence of multiple molecular or crystalline structural forms of the same chemical element; specific to states where the atoms of a simple substance are arranged in different spatial geometries, generating distinct physical properties despite an identical raw elemental composition. This structural type of molecular behavior controls the phase transitions of many industrial materials.
• Allotropy — A property or structural phenomenon whereby a single chemical element, in its pure state (simple substance), can exist in two or more distinct molecular forms or crystalline structures, possessing completely different physical and often chemical properties (for instance, carbon existing as diamond, graphite, graphene, or fullerenes). The term applies strictly to elements, being the equivalent of polymorphism in mineralogy.
• Allotropism — A state, property, or structural phenomenon consisting of the capacity of a pure chemical element to exist under several distinct molecular forms or crystalline lattices (allotropy); the set of spatial geometric modifications that the atoms of the same simple substance can adopt, generating substances with totally different physical and mechanical properties, although the raw elemental composition remains identical.
• Aloxite — A commercial or technical designation attributed to a type of artificial corundum (crystallized aluminum oxide), obtained by melting bauxite in specialized electric furnaces. This abrasive material stands out structurally due to its extremely high hardness and thermal resistance, widely utilized in industry for manufacturing grinding wheels, sandpaper, and cutting discs for hard metals.
• Perishable — Capable of being altered, degraded, or easily spoiled; prone to chemical or biological decomposition under the influence of external factors (heat, humidity, air). In a broad sense, it also applies to abstract things that can lose their quality, initial traits, or structural stability.
• Alterability — The quality, property, or character of being alterable; the increased sensitivity of a body, substance, or food item to structurally degrade or spoil under the action of environmental physical, chemical, or biological agents.
• Alterant — Causing an alteration, degradation, or negative structural transformation; a substance, physical agent, or biological factor capable of modifying or spoiling the initial qualities of a medium, a chemical preparation, or a living tissue.
• Alumel — A ductile magnetic alloy composed primarily of nickel (around 95%), aluminum, manganese, and silicon, widely used in industry, especially alongside chromel, to manufacture conductive wires for thermocouples designed to measure high temperatures.
• Alumina root — An archaic form or obsolete neologism traditionally used in Romanian chemical and mineralogical terminology to denote aluminum oxide (alumina) or as a structural root in naming compounds (such as hydrides or salts derived from aluminum); in common usage, it is assimilated as a partial variant or misspelling of 'alumină' or 'aluminat'.
• Alumina — Aluminum oxide in its native state or obtained industrially from bauxite; it presents as a white powder, insoluble in water, with a very high melting point, serving as the core raw material for producing metallic aluminum and refractory ceramic materials.