The development of materials has always accompanied the technological evolution of society. Starting from the use of materials for survival needs, over the centuries man has learned how to transform materials into finished or semi-finished products, creating new ones with specific properties and functions according to the final application. Today, materials engineering and nanotechnolgy develop materials and products with controlled properties both at the micrometric and at the nanometric scale, supporting the several companies willing to invest considerable human and economic resources on materials and production processes to design new solutions always up to the needs of the market.