1. Engineers who develop methods to process and convert metals and other materials into usable forms.
2. Technology is developed to produce ceramic substances, new compounds, and metal alloys for use in computers, spacecraft, and industrial equipment.

These engineers develop new materials for applications that require exceptionally high strength and heat resistance and they also determine how materials fail, using instruments; such as, microprobes, scanning electron microscopes, and X-ray diffraction and examine failed, broken, or contaminated materials.