Ace22 reporting 97 2003

Xavier University Ateneo de Cagayan Submitted by: Christian Omar P. Guiñares Michael Maulion

C h a p t e r 23 Economic, Environmental, and Societal Issues in Materials Science and Engineering Photograph showing beverage cans that are made of an aluminum alloy (left) and a steel alloy (right). The steel beverage can has corroded significantly, and, therefore, is biodegradable and nonrecyclable. Conversely, the aluminum can is nonbiodegradable and recyclable inasmuch as it experienced very little corrosion. WHY STUDY Economic, Environmental, and Societal Issues in Materials Science and Engineering ? It is essential for the engineer to know about and understand economic issues simply because the company/ institution for which he or she works must realize a profit from the products it manufactures. Materials engineering decisions have economic consequences with regard to both material and production costs. An awareness of environmental and societal issues is important for the engineer because, over time, greater demands are being made on the world’s natural resources. Furthermore, levels of pollution are ever increasing. Materials engineering decisions have impacts on the consumption of raw materials and energy, on the contamination of our water and atmosphere, and on the ability of the consumer to recycle or dispose of spent products. The quality of life for this and future generations will depend, to some degree, on how these issues are addressed by the global engineering community.

Introduction In previous chapters, we dealt with a variety of materials science and materials engineering issues to include criteria that may be employed in the materials selection process. Many of these selection criteria relate to material properties or property combinations—mechanical, electrical, thermal, corrosion, etc.; the performance of some component will depend on the properties of the material from which it is made. Processability or ease of fabrication of the component may also play a role in the selection process. Virtually all of this book, in one way or another, has addressed these property and fabrication issues. In engineering practice there are other important criteria that must be considered in the development of a marketable product. Some of these are economic in nature, which, to some degree, are unrelated to scientific principles and engineering practice, and yet are significant if a product is to be competitive in the commercial marketplace. Other criteria that should be addressed involve environmental and societal issues such as pollution, disposal, recycling, and energy. This final chapter offers relatively brief overviews of economic, environmental, and societal considerations that are important in engineering practice. Economic Considerations It goes without saying that engineering practice involves utilizing scientific principles to design components and systems that perform reliably and satisfactorily. Another critical driving force in engineering practice is that of economics; simply stated, the company or institution must realize a profit from the products that it manufactures and sells. The engineer might design the perfect component; however, as manufactured, it must be offered for sale at a price that is attractive to the consumer and, in addition, return a suitable profit to the company. Only a brief overview of important economic considerations as they apply to the materials engineer will be provided. The student may want to consult references provided at the end of this chapter that address engineering economics in detail. There are three factors over which the materials engineer has control and that affect the cost of a product; they are (1) component design, (2) the material(s) used, and (3) the manufacturing technique(s) that are employed. These factors are interrelated in that component design may affect which material is used, and both component design and the material used will influence the choice of manufacturing technique(s). Economic considerations for each of these factors is now briefly discussed.

Manufacturing Techniques COMPONENT DESIGN Some fraction of the cost of a component is associated with its design. In this context, component design is the specification of size, shape, and configuration, which will affect in-service component performance. For example, if mechanical forces are present, then stress analyses may be required. Detailed drawings of the component must be prepared; computers are normally employed, using software that has been generated for this specific function. It is often the case that a single component is part of a complex device or system consisting of a large number of components (i.e., the television, automobile, DVD player/recorder, etc.). Thus, design must take into consideration each component’s contribution to the efficient operation of the complete system. Component design is a highly iterative process that involves many compromises and trade-offs.The engineer should keep in mind that an optimal component design may not be possible due to system constraints. MATERIALS In terms of economics, we want to select the material or materials with the appropriate combination(s) of properties that are the least expensive. Once a family of materials has been selected that satisfy the design constraints, cost comparisons of the various candidate materials may be made on the basis of cost per part. Material price is usually quoted per unit mass.The part volume may be determined from its dimensions and geometry, which is then converted into mass using the density of the material. In addition, during manufacturing there ordinarily is some unavoidable material waste, which should also be taken into account in these computations. Current prices for a wide variety of engineering materials are contained in Appendix C. MANUFACTURING TECHNIQUES As already stated, the choice of manufacturing process will be influenced by both the material selected and part design.The entire manufacturing process will normally consist of primary and secondary operations. Primary operations are those that convert the raw material into a recognizable part (i.e., casting, plastic forming, powder compaction, molding, etc.), whereas secondary ones are those subsequently employed to produce the finished part (i.e., heat treatments, welding, grinding, drilling, painting, decorating). The major cost considerations for these processes include capital equipment, tooling, labor, repairs, machine downtime, and waste. Of course, within this cost analysis, rate of production is an important consideration. If this particular part is one component of a system, then assembly costs must also be addressed. Finally, there will undoubtedly be costs associated with inspection and packaging of the final product. As a sidelight, there are also other factors not directly related to design, material, or manufacturing that figure into the product selling price. These factors include labor fringe benefits, supervisory and management labor, research and development, property and rent, insurance, profit, taxes, and so on.

Figure 1. Schematic representation of the total materials cycle. (Adapted from M. Cohen, Advanced Materials & Processes, Vol. 147, No. 3, p. 70, 1995. Copyright © 1995 by ASM International. Reprinted by permission of ASM International, Materials Park, OH.) Figure 2. Schematic representation of an input/output Inventory for the life-cycle assessment of a product. (Adapted from J. L. Sullivan and S. B. Young, Advanced Materials &Processes, Vol. 147, No. 2, p. 38, 1995. Copyright © 1995 by ASM International. Reprinted by permission of ASM International, Materials Park, OH.)

RECYCLING ISSUES IN MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING Important stages in the materials cycle where materials science and engineering plays a significant role are recycling and disposal.The issues of recyclability and disposability are important when new materials are being designed and synthesized. Furthermore, during the materials selection process, the ultimate disposition of the materials employed should be an important criterion. Let us conclude this section by briefly discussing several of these recyclability/disposability issues. From an environmental perspective, the ideal material should be either totally recyclable or completely biodegradable. Recyclable means that a material, after having completed its life cycle in one component, could be reprocessed, could reenter the materials cycle, and could be reused in another component—a process that could be repeated an indefinite number of times. By completely biodegradable, we mean that, by interactions with the environment (natural chemicals, microorganisms, oxygen, heat, sunlight, etc.), the material deteriorates and returns to virtually the same state in which it existed prior to the initial processing. Engineering materials exhibit varying degrees of recyclability and biodegradability. Metals Most metal alloys (i.e., Fe, Cu), to one degree or another experience corrosion and are also biodegradable. However, some metals (i.e., Hg, Pb) are toxic and, when land-filled, may present health hazards. Furthermore, alloys of most metals are recyclable; on the other hand it is not feasible to recycle all alloys of every metal. In addition, the quality of alloys that are recycled tends to diminish with each cycle. Product designs should allow for the dismantling of components composed of different alloys. Another of the problems of recycling involves separation of various alloys types (i.e., aluminum from ferrous alloys) after dismantling and shredding; in this regard, some rather ingenious separation techniques have been devised (i.e., magnetic and gravity). Joining of dissimilar alloys presents contamination problems; for example, if two similar alloys are to be joined, welding is preferred over bolting or riveting. Coatings (paints, anodized layers, claddings, etc.) may also act as contaminants, and render the material nonrecyclable. Aluminum alloys are very corrosion resistant and, therefore, nonbiodegradable. Fortunately, however, they may be recycled; in fact, aluminum is the most important recyclable nonferrous metal. Since aluminum is not easily corroded, it may be totally reclaimed. A low ratio of energy is required to refine recycled aluminum relative to its primary production. In addition, there are a large number of commercially available alloys that have been designed to accommodate impurity contamination. The primary sources of recycled aluminum are used beverage cans and scrapped automobiles.

Glass The one ceramic material that is consumed by the general public in the greatest quantities is glass, in the form of containers. Glass is a relatively inert material, and, as such, it does not decompose; thus, it is not biodegradable. A significant proportion of municipal land-fills consists of waste glass; so also does incinerator residue. In addition, there is not a significant economic driving force for recycling glass. Its basic raw materials (sand, soda ash, and limestone) are inexpensive and readily available. Furthermore, salvaged glass (also called “cullet”) must be sorted by color (clear,amber, and green), by type (plate versus container), and by composition (lime, lead, and borosilicate [or Pyrex]); these sorting procedures are time-consuming and expensive. Therefore, scrap glass has a low market value, which diminishes its recyclability. Advantages of utilizing recycled glass include more rapid and increased production rates and a reduction in pollutant emissions. Plastics and Rubber One of the reasons that synthetic polymers (including rubber) are so popular as engineering materials lies with their chemical and biological inertness. On the down side, this characteristic is really a liability when it comes to waste disposal. Polymers are not biodegradable, and, as such, they constitute a significant land-fill component; major sources of waste are from packaging, junk automobiles, automobile tires, and domestic durables. Biodegradable polymers have been synthesized, but they are relatively expensive to produce. On the other hand, since some polymers are combustible and do not yield appreciable toxic or polluting emissions, they may be disposed of by incineration. Thermoplastic polymers, specifically poly(ethylene terephthalate), polyethylene, and polypropylene, are those most amenable to reclamation and recycling, since they may be reformed upon heating. Sorting by type and color is necessary. In some countries, type sorting of packaging materials is facilitated using a number identification code; for example, a “1” denotes high-density polyethylene (HDPE). Table 23.1 presents these recycling code numbers and their associated materials. Also included in the table are uses of virgin and recycled materials. Plastics recycling is complicated by the presence of fillers (Section 15.21) that were added to modify the original properties. The recycled plastic is less costly than the original material, and quality and appearance are generally degraded with each recycle. Typical applications for recycled plastics include shoe soles, tool handles, and industrial products such as pallets.The recycling of thermoset resins is much more difficult since these materials are not easily remolded or reshaped due to their crosslinked or network structures. Some thermosets are ground up and added to the virgin molding material prior to processing; as such, they are recycled as filler materials.Rubber materials present some disposal and recycling challenges. When vulcanized,they are thermoset materials, which makes chemical recycling difficult. In addition, they may also contain a variety of fillers.The major source of rubber scrapin the United States is discarded automobile tires, which are highly nonbiodegradable. Scrap tires have been utilized as a fuel for some industrial applications (i.e.,cement plants), but yield dirty emissions. Recycled rubber tires that have been split and reshaped are used in a variety of applications such as automotive bumper guards, mud flaps, door mats, and conveyor rollers; and, of course, used tires mayalso be recapped. In addition, rubber tires may be ground into small chunks that are then recombined into the desired shape using some type of adhesive; the resulting material may be used in a number of nondemanding applications such as place mats and rubber toys. The most viable recyclable alternatives to the traditional rubber materials are the thermoplastic elastomers (Section 15.19). Being thermoplastic in nature they are not chemically crosslinked and, thus, are easily reshaped. Furthermore, production energy requirements are lower than for the thermoset rubbers since a vulcanization step is not required in their manufacture.

Composite Materials Composites are inherently difficult to recycle because they are multiphase in nature. The two or more phases/materials that constitute the composite are normally intermixed on a very fine scale and trying to separate them complicates the recycling process. However, some techniques have been developed, with modest success, for recycling polymer–matrix composites. Recycling technologies will differ only slightly for thermoset–matrix and thermoplastic–matrix composite materials. The first step in recycling both thermoset– and thermoplastic–matrix composites is shredding/grinding, wherein the components are reduced in size to relatively small particles. In some instances, these ground particles are used as filler materials that are blended with a polymer (and perhaps other fillers) before fabrication (usually using some type of molding technique) into postconsumer products. Other recycling processes allow for separating of the fibers and/or matrix materials.With some techniques the matrix is volatilized; with others it is recovered as a monomer. Of course, the recovered fibers have short lengths, as a result of the shredding/grinding process. In addition, fibers will experience a reduction of mechanical strength, the degree of which will depend on the specific recovery process as well as fiber type.

Recycle Codes, Uses of the Virgin Material, and Recycled Products for Several Commercial Polymers

SUMMARY Economic Considerations The economics of engineering is very important in product design and manufacturing. To minimize product cost, materials engineers must take into account component design, what materials are used, and manufacturing processes. Other significant economic factors include fringe benefits, labor, insurance, profit, etc. Environmental and Societal Considerations Environmental and societal impacts of production are becoming significant engineering issues. In this regard, the material cradle-to-grave life cycle is an important consideration; this cycle consists of extraction, synthesis/processing, product design/ manufacture, application, and disposal stages. Materials, energy, and environmental interactions/exchanges are important factors in the efficient operation of the materials cycle. The earth is a closed system in that its materials resources are finite; to some degree, the same may be said of energy resources. Environmental issues involve ecological damage, pollution, and waste disposal. Recycling of used products and the utilization of green design obviate some of these environmental problems. Recycling Issues in Materials Science and Engineering Recyclability and disposability issues were addressed in the context of materials science and engineering. Ideally, a material should be at best recyclable, and at least biodegradable or disposable. The recyclability and disposability of metal alloys, glasses, polymers, and composites were also discussed.

Ace22 reporting 97 2003

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Ace22 reporting 97 2003