Advanced-performance materials

Bringing a new, advanced-performance material into the marketplace as a profitable article of commerce presents many problems. However, I m reminded of a cartoon I have saved over the years that has two scientists in white lab coats looking at their test tubes, and one of them says, Remember, our job is to push science to the state of the art and make a buck in the process. So, my remarks will be directed to the problems associated with making a buck out of all this forefront research in materials science. 

I define advanced-performance materials, development, and commercialization for the purposes of this chapter as follows ... 

Advanced performance materials are materials (metals, ceramics, polymers, etc.) whose functional and structural properties impart improved performance to specific products, that is, an enabling technology. 

To understand the system, let s look at the generic characteristics of advanced-performance materials and their utility. These characteristics can be summarized as follows ... 

Examples of the utility and need for new, advanced-performance materials are numerous. For example, in turbine engines today, the need is to be able to increase operating temperatures by 100—150 °C. The laws of thermodynamics allow significant fuel efficiency to be gained as the temperature increases. However, the material, particularly for the turbine blades, must be able to handle these increased temperatures. This material need illustrates the connection between product application and material performance. 

One of the unique issues in the development of advanced-performance materials is that they are very product-specific, and their development requires expensive prototype iteration and performance testing. The product development is people- and design-intensive and usually results in a niche market for the material that is, the specific product slate for which the material has been designed and tested. Many of the applications are in high-tech industrial products like aerospace components, so the total volume of material used will be small. Thus, attractive commercialization schemes require that the material have intrinsic value that will justify a high margin, or there must be a product application for which the value can be captured in the end product. 

Figure 1. The life-cycle dynamics of advanced-performance materials. (Reproduced with permission from reference 1.)...

The number of such examples, however, is not high. In many other examples of advanced-performance materials, such as DuPont s Kevlar and Allied Signal s SPECTRA, the volume applications associated with system-for-system substitution has not yet occurred at a level necessary to pay back the development and commercialization costs already expended. High-performance ceramics is another area in which the early promise has yet to materialize. The consequences of Eckstut s life-cycle dynamics have been overcapacity and severe rationalization in high-performance carbon fiber businesses, some specialty alloy activities, and high-performance polymer composites. Thus, with critical technologies that involve advanced-performance materials, we need to better understand how to exploit their value in a commercially viable way. 

To begin to understand the need and the areas of opportunity for advanced-performance materials, we need to analyze where they fit. First, several unique drivers exist for advanced-performance materials for which enhanced properties translate into next-generation products ... 

Clearly, aerospace has been a major driver for advanced structural materials. It will continue to be a driver, although perhaps at a slower pace, particularly for weight reduction and higher temperature reliability. The slowdown of military aircraft development presents a unique problem because many of these programs, such as the advanced tactical fighter (ATF), were test beds for advanced-performance materials for which... 

U.S. Government funds were used to defray research and development costs. The aerospace plane is another opportunity for companies to develop new materials with Government support. However, military support for advanced-performance materials development is rapidly decreasing, both in appropriate test beds and in manufacturing support such as the U.S. Defense Department s Mantech program. 

Space technology development has also provided advanced-performance materials test beds in both communications and structural areas. The value of these programs has been passed on in many cases from space and the military to civilian aircraft. Many of the advanced-performance materials in the new generation of airline transports, such as structural composites, were first developed for spacecraft or advanced military aircraft. 

In ground transportation, the push for advanced-performance materials has been less dramatic because cost is the discriminator in the selection of components and systems. However, incremental improvement in automotive materials has been substantial in many areas, particularly in structural steels and plastics. 

When the users are not the developers, a major mismatch can result between the material design and the end use. Thus, the developer will have extensive product application development to do, which is both expensive and time-consuming. Initial market potentials can be small, and manufacturing capital costs can be high. Thus, the development of new performance materials as the foundation of a materials business does not look very attractive to materials suppliers. Yet, these enabling technologies are very important to the future development of many basic industries. Some models for the successful development of advanced-performance materials are the following ... 

RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES ARE IN THE MIDST OF MAJOR CHANGE. Historically, the research universities have been supported by the Government with two theories in mind (1) national security is important, and science and technology are critical to a strong defense and (2) human health is important. The interest in human health persists, an interest in national security persists, but the adversary has given up. The Soviet Union no longer exists. The question now is, What is the rationale for the support of universities—support in the post-Cold War era The Department of Defense, which has nurtured an important set of activities, has a role in electronics and devices, structural materials, and high-performance or advanced-performance materials. 

Journal of Materials Science Applied Composite Materials Advanced Performance Materials... 

George D. Vaughn Advanced Performance Materials Business Group, Monsanto Company, St. Louis, Missouri... 

Tripathi, G., Choudhury, P. andBasu, B. (2010) Development of polymer based biocomposites a review. Materials Technology Advanced Performance Materials, 25,158-176. 

Madronero A, Verdu M, Froyen L, Dominguez M, A diffusion model for sword in sheath failure mode in vapor grown carbon fibers. Advanced Performance Materials, 4(3), 305 315, 1997. Ruland W, The relationship between preferred orientation and Young s modulus of carbon fibres, Appl Polym Symp, 9, 293, 1969. 

Kemmochi K, Takayanagi H, Nagasawa C, Takahashi J, Hayashi R, Possibility of closed loop material recycling for fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites. Advanced Performance Materials, 2(4), 385-394, Oct 1995. 

S.B. Bhaduri, Science and technology of ceramic foams. Advanced Performance Materials 1 (3) (1994) 205-220. 

Alves H., Koster U., Aghion E., Eliezer D. (2001), Materials Technology Advanced Performance Materials 16(2) 110-164. 

S.N. Monteiro, R.J.S. Rodriquez, M.V. De Souza, J.R.M. D Almeida, Sugar Cane Bagasse Waste as Reinforcement in Low Cost Composites, Advanced Performance Material, 5(3), 183-191 (1998)... 

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