Environmentally Motivated Materials Research
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Environmentally
Motivated Materials Research
Robert H. Hurt and Soo W. Lee, Guest Editors “Environmentally conscious” materials, or “ecomaterials,” are those specifically designed to minimize adverse effects on the environment while maintaining acceptable performance and a competitive price. Related terms include “environmentally friendly” materials, or “environmentally preferable” materials, which are essentially synonymous.* A notable geographic trend was observed in relation to this terminology: a recent computer search of the scientific literature under “ecomaterials” produced eight hits, all from authors in Asia, while “environmentally friendly materials” produced six hits, primarily from authors in North America and Europe. These small numbers of citable references could give readers a false impression about the importance of environmentally motivated materials research. In fact, environmental concerns drive a significant fraction of current materials research and development (R&D), but as in other fields, researchers have not always identified their work with the “eco” label. At least two reasons for this can be cited: first, “ecomaterials” and related terms have only begun to appear over the last five years; and second, the individual R&D projects do not often share a common scientific base—environmentally motivated materials research cuts across ceramics, metals, and polymers, and has nearly equal emphasis on synthesis, processing, structure, and property characterization. The categories and examples in Table I, along with the suite of articles in this issue, will give readers some feeling for the enormous scientific breadth of this area. Most re-
* Note that another apparently similar term, “environmental materials,” is most often used to refer to substances found in the natural environment (e.g., soils, surface waters, atmosphere)— a very different meaning indeed.
MRS BULLETIN/NOVEMBER 2001
searchers who work on environmentally motivated materials projects affiliate with one of the traditional materials science communities (ceramics, metals, polymers), where there is more commonality of concepts, tools, and approaches, rather than with an ecomaterials community. The great scientific diversity in ecomaterials research will continue to be a barrier to the formation of a cohesive ecomaterials research community. Nevertheless, some common scientific threads are emerging, the most important being lifecycle assessment (LCA). LCA is a methodology for investigating the total impact of a material on the environment, including the effects of: raw-material extraction on the natural resource base; air emissions and liquid and solid waste produced during manufacturing; energy use during manufacturing; environmental emissions during the product lifetime (e.g., plasticizer release); energy implications of product use (e.g., the component contribution to fuel requirements in mobile applications); positive environmental effects during the product lifetime, if any (e.g., adsorption or catalytic destructio
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