Scribd
Upload
105 views12 pages

CH 22

Materials engineers must consider cost, environmental impact, and societal issues when designing products. These include reducing material usage, using recyclable or reusable materials, and implementing green design principles. Assessing the full life cycle of a product from material extraction to disposal is important. The viability of recycling depends on the material and how easily it can be separated and reprocessed. Biodegradable materials can help reduce environmental impact if non-recyclable.

Uploaded by

Thays Nogueira Rodrigues
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
105 views12 pages

CH 22

Materials engineers must consider cost, environmental impact, and societal issues when designing products. These include reducing material usage, using recyclable or reusable materials, and implementing green design principles. Assessing the full life cycle of a product from material extraction to disposal is important. The viability of recycling depends on the material and how easily it can be separated and reprocessed. Biodegradable materials can help reduce environmental impact if non-recyclable.

Uploaded by

Thays Nogueira Rodrigues
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 12

Chapter 22: Economic, Environmental,

and Societal Issues in Materials


Science and Engineering
ISSUES TO ADDRESS...
• What factors affect product cost?
• What factors determine the overall environmental
impact of a product?
• For which materials is recycling a viable option?
• What is “green design”?

Chapter 22 - 1
ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS
• A product must make ____________ sense:
-- the price must be attractive to customers
-- it must return a sustainable profit to the company

• To minimize product cost materials engineers


must consider three factors
-- _______________
-- material selection
-- manufacturing techniques

• Other ________ factors include labor & fringe


benefits, insurance, and profit

Chapter 22 - 2
TOTAL MATERIALS CYCLE

Adapted from Fig. 22.1,


Callister & Rethwisch 9e.

Chapter 22 - 3
COMPONENTS OF “GREEN DESIGN”

• _______ – redesign the product to use


less material
example: PET bottles with thinner walls
Christopher Steer/iStockphoto

• _______ – fabricate the product of a material that can


reused
example: refillable bottles and shipping containers
example: grind up old tires for use as mulch

• _______ – reprocess the material into a new product


example: convert PET bottles to carpet fibers

Chapter 22 - 4
RECYCLING MATERIALS
• Proper product design facilitates _______

• Advantages to recycling
- _________________________
- reduced landfill deposits
Askin Durson
KAMBEROGLU/iStockphoto

• ____________ Issues
- Product must be disassembled or
shredded to recover materials
- Collection and transportation
costs are significant factors in
recycling economics

Kemter/iStockphoto
Chapter 22 - 5
RECYCLING OF METALS

• Aluminum is the most commonly recycled metal


• Compared to refining raw ore, _________________
– is more energy efficient
– produces less waste (pollution)

• _____ to recycle metals that are susceptible to Corrosion

• ______________ (e.g., Cd and Hg):


– must be handled as hazardous waste
– are difficult to reprocess
– should not be added to landfills

Lya Cattel/iStockphoto

Chapter 22 - 6
RECYCLING OF GLASS
• ___________ are the most common commercial
ceramics
• Little economic incentive to _______ glass
– raw materials inexpensive
– relatively dense - expensive to transport
– must be sorted by
• ______ – clear, amber, green, brown
• type – plate vs. container Johnny Greig/iStockphoto
• composition – soda-lime, leaded, borosilicate

Dale Reardon
iStockphoto

Chapter 22 - 7
RECYCLING POLYMERS

• Thermoplastic _________ easily recycled


– grind into pellets, melt, and extrude or mold into
new product
– must be sorted by polymer type – polyethylene,
polystrene, PET, etc.
– properties degrade in each reuse

• ____________ polymers more difficult to recycle


– can be ground up and use as filler
– depolymerize to make monomer

• Polymers are ______________ so they can be


burned to reclaim fuel value
Chapter 22 - 8
RECYCLING COMPOSITES

• Difficult to recycle because they contain an intimate


mixture of materials – difficult to separate

• Some ________ are recyclable


• Components must separated by shredding
or dissolution

Chapter 22 - 9
BIODEGRADABLE POLYMERS (i)
• Polymers that degrade naturally in the environment
- generally attacked by _________
• Best suited for products with short lifecycles
– Example: plastic tableware,
beverage containers,
golf tees

– Example: degradable mulch


films
• retain heat and moisture
• after harvesting crop
– plow the film into the soil
– decomposes into nutrients Fig. 22.3, Callister & Rethwisch 9e.
(Photograph courtesy of Dubois Agrinovation)

Chapter 22 - 10
BIODEGRADABLE POLYMERS (ii)
• Current generation based on biorenewable materials
such as poly(lactic acid) (PLA)

• PLA structure

From p. 877, Callister & Rethwisch 9e. (Photograph


courtesy of Natureworks LLC and International Paper, Inc.)

• Long shelf life at ambient


conditions
• Decomposes in months in
commercial composting
operations
Chapter 22 opening photo (b), Callister & Rethwisch 9e.
(Courtesy of Roger Ressmeyer/© Corbis) Chapter 22 - 11
SUMMARY
• Important for materials engineers to consider:
-- component design
-- materials selection
-- manufacturing process
• Environmental and societal impacts of production are
significant engineering design issues
• Cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment of products involves
-- extraction -- application
-- synthesis/processing -- disposal
-- product design/manufacture
• Recyclability and disposability issues are important in
materials science and engineering
• Ideally, a material should be at best recyclable, and at
least biodegradable or disposable

Chapter 22 - 12

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy