industrial engineering Industrial engineering (IE) is concerned with the design, improvement and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, an ...

, a processing medium is a gaseous, vaporous, fluid or shapeless solid material that plays an active role in

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer ...

processes - comparable to that of a tool.

Examples

A processing medium for washing is a soap solution, a processing medium for steel melting is a plasma, and a processing medium for steam drying is

superheated steam Superheated steam is steam at a temperature higher than its vaporization point at the absolute pressure where the temperature is measured. Superheated steam can therefore cool (lose internal energy) by some amount, resulting in a lowering of its ...

Synonyms

*Operating medium *Working medium.

References

Engineering concepts {{Mech-engineering-stub