Material 249474 225035715 2008-07-11T16:01:15Z Muro Bot 5849026 robot Adding: [[bg:Материал]] {{Expand|date=April 2008}} {{Wiktionary|material}} {{otheruses}} '''Materials''' are physical substances used as inputs to [[Production, costs, and pricing|production]] or [[manufacturing]]. Raw materials are first extracted or harvested from the earth and divided into a form that can be easily transported and stored, then processed to produce semi-finished materials. These can be input into a new cycle of production and [[finishing]] processes to create finished materials, ready for [[Distribution (business)|distribution]] and [[Consumption (economics)|consumption]]. An example of a raw material is [[cotton]], which can be processed into thread, which can then be woven into [[cloth]], a semi-finished material. Cutting and sewing the fabric turns it into a [[garment]], which is a finished material. [[Steelmaking]] is another example—raw materials are mined, refined and processed into [[steel]], a semi-finished material. Steel is then used as an input in many other industries to make finished products. == See also == * [[Biomaterial]] * [[Commodity]] * [[List of building materials]] * [[Materials science]] * [[Natural resource]] [[Category:Materials| ]] [[bg:Материал]] [[ca:Material]] [[da:Materiale]] [[de:Material]] [[et:Materjal]] [[es:Material]] [[fr:Matériau]] [[id:Bahan]] [[is:Efni]] [[it:Materiale]] [[lt:Medžiaga (apskaita)]] [[nl:Materiaal]] [[no:Materiale]] [[pl:Materiał]] [[simple:Material]] [[sl:Material]] [[fi:Materiaali]] [[sv:Material]] [[th:วัสดุ]] [[vi:Vật liệu]] [[uk:Матеріал]] [[yi:שטאף]] [[zh:材料]]