Engineering Materials

Engineering materials is a discussion led by Design News Contributing Materials Editor Doug Smock on important new developments and applications that affect mechanical design. Metals covered include all types of steel and nonferrous metals, in all shapes. Resins covered include nylons, polycarbonates, polysulfides, polyimides, and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT). Other materials covered include ceramics and rubber. Topics covered include materials enhancement, new applications, process technology, tooling, sustainability, and economic issues. Posts will include latest news from global events such as K 2007, the Alliance of Plastics Processors Annual Conference, the National Plastics Exposition, and the annual technical conference (ANTEC) of the Society of Plastics Engineers.

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Saturday, February 24, 2007

Sustainable Design

I spent a month last year in the underdeveloped country of Namibia. Residents were proud to tell me that Namibia is the only country in the world that has a constitution that embraces environmental sustainability.To Namibians, it was a recognition that protection of theirs materials resources was critical to their future. Since I’ve returned to the US, however, it’s become clear that the concept of sustainability, and specifically, sustainable design, will soon become important to us as well.

One specific issue I want to focus on is use of renewable resources as a feedstock for polymers. The immediate reason isn’t really environmental, at least for design engineers. Unstable oil supplies triggered massive runups in plastics prices two years ago. Today it makes sense to study the potential of corn-based polymers for mechanical design projects. Sound crazy? At the giant plastics fair in Germany this fall (K 2007), DuPont plans to present technical data on new grades of Sorona and Hytrel that are corn based. Stay tuned.

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