From Stiffness of Iron-Carbon Diagrams to Weakness of Sensoriality. The Manifold Designerly Ways of Developing Engineering Competencies in Materials

Teaching engineering to industrial designers is an exciting challenge. The lengthy, manifold ways to develop competencies in materials within the wide-ranging, eclectic population of designers began at the Politecnico di Milano in 1993, when the first Industrial Design School was founded in Italy. Since the days that iron-carbon diagrams spread panic among freshmen, a great deal of work has been done; today we can proudly observe the birth of many different educational models for teaching materials. This chapter analyzes and classifies four of those models by following their growing complexity: (i) teaching fundamentals of materials engineering and selection criteria to bachelor level classes; (ii) experiencing materials within studios; (iii) the degree in materials and engineering: from know-what to know-why; and (iv) from sense and perception to materials and technology: an inverted perspective for selecting materials. We illustrate basic concepts, teaching tools, and educational goals for each of these different but complementary approaches. Finally, we portray some case histories of the mutual effects between education and research. © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.