ASTM International in the context of "American wire gauge"

Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a potter is also called a pottery (plural potteries). The definition of pottery, used by the ASTM International, is "all fired ceramic wares that contain clay when formed, except technical, structural, and refractory products". End applications include tableware, decorative ware, sanitary ware, and in technology and industry such as electrical insulators and laboratory ware. In art history and archaeology, especially of ancient and prehistoric periods, pottery often means only vessels, and sculpted figurines of the same material are called terracottas.

Pottery is one of the oldest human inventions, originating before the Neolithic period, with ceramic objects such as the Gravettian culture Venus of Dolní Věstonice figurine discovered in the Czech Republic dating back to 29,000–25,000 BC. However, the earliest known pottery vessels were discovered in Jiangxi, China, which date back to 18,000 BC. Other early Neolithic and pre-Neolithic pottery artifacts have been found, in Jōmon Japan (10,500 BC), the Russian Far East (14,000 BC), Sub-Saharan Africa (9,400 BC), South America (9,000s–7,000s BC), and the Middle East (7,000s–6,000s BC).

In materials science, a refractory (or refractory material) is a material that is resistant to decomposition by heat or chemical attack and that retains its strength and rigidity at high temperatures. They are inorganic, non-metallic compounds that may be porous or non-porous, and their crystallinity varies widely: they may be crystalline, polycrystalline, amorphous, or composite. They are typically composed of oxides, carbides or nitrides of the following elements: silicon, aluminium, magnesium, calcium, boron, chromium and zirconium. Many refractories are ceramics, but some such as graphite are not, and some ceramics such as clay pottery are not considered refractory. Refractories are distinguished from the refractory metals, which are elemental metals and their alloys that have high melting temperatures.

Refractories are defined by ASTM C71 as "non-metallic materials having those chemical and physical properties that make them applicable for structures, or as components of systems, that are exposed to environments above 1,000 °F (811 K; 538 °C)". Refractory materials are used in furnaces, kilns, incinerators, and reactors. Refractories are also used to make crucibles and molds for casting glass and metals. The iron and steel industry and metal casting sectors use approximately 70% of all refractories produced.

Damp proofing in construction is a type of moisture control applied to building walls and floors to prevent moisture from passing into the interior spaces. Dampness problems are among the most frequent problems encountered in residences.

Damp proofing is defined by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) as a material that resists the passage of water with no hydrostatic pressure. Waterproof is defined by the ASTM as a treatment that resists the passage of water under pressure. Generally, damp proofing keeps exterior moisture from entering a building; vapor barriers, a separate category, keep interior moisture from getting into walls. Moisture resistance is not necessarily absolute; it is usually stated in terms of acceptable limits based on engineering tolerances and a specific test method.

A resin identification code (RIC) is a symbol embedded on plastic products, used to sort plastic waste for recycling. They consist of a triangle of clockwise "chasing arrows", around a number indicating what type of resin it is made of (01 for PET, 02 for HDPE, 03 for PVC, 04 for LDPE, 05 for polypropylene, 06 for polystyrene, or 07 for Other).

These symbols were originally created in 1988 by the Plastics Industry Association in the United States, amid growing concerns about plastic pollution. Since 2008, they are administrated by the ASTM and comprise the technical standard D7611/D7611M-21 "Standard Practice for Coding Plastic Manufactured Articles for Resin Identification". The European Commission Decision 97/129/EC "Identification System For Packaging Materials" extends this system with recycling codes for other materials like batteries, paper, and glass.