Materials are key for technological advances in all industrial sectors. Added value materials with higher knowledge content, new functionalities and improved performance are increasingly critical for industrial competitiveness and sustainable development. The materials themselves are the first step in increasing the value of products and their performance. Research focuses on developing new knowledge-based multifunctional surfaces and materials with tailored properties and predictable performance, for new products and processes targeting a wide range of applications. Materials technology also represents an essential enabler for new environmental and energy related technologies. The energy problem for example can be translated into challenges in new material developments, e.g. new materials for windmill propellers and gears (energy generation), low friction and wear resistant materials (energy transmission, distribution and consumption) and battery materials (energy storage) (2). 

 

Sustainable materials management (SMM) is thus key to sustainable production. The OECD working definition of SMM was developed in 2005, and states: “Sustainable Materials Management is an approach to promote sustainable materials use, integrating actions targeted at reducing negative environmental impacts and preserving natural capital throughout the life-cycle of materials, taking into account economic efficiency and social equity”(3).  

 

Materials technology impacts a manufactured product by its choice of (a combination of) materials (metals, ceramics, glass, polymers, …) and its processing steps (shaping, joining, finishing)(4). Basically, materials technology may impact the sustainability of industrial processes and products in different ways:  

 

• incremental material innovations: e.g. adaptations to process parameters yielding less material- and/or energy resource consumption, improving material properties that extend the life-time of a product, …  

• breakthrough material innovations: e.g. the replacement of an eco-toxic wet chemical surface treatment by a totally different and flexible dry process with dramatically better environmental impact, nanotech material innovations leading to products with ever better performance and ever more functionalities, using ever fewer material and energy resources.   

• disruptive material innovations(5): e.g. the replacement of traditional top-down manufacturing by novel additive, or bottom-up, production techniques. Top-down techniques start with bulk materials which are then ‘sculptured’, machined down until the features that are left are fit for purpose, while additive manufacturing involves creating objects or materials from individual atoms or molecules or clusters thereof, and then joining them together. The latter are using much less virgin material and produce much less waste, as well as offering complete flexibility in optimising the design of a product for its functionalities(6).

 

However, cleaner production, eco-design and design for the environment alone will not suffice to enable the transition to a sustainable economy. New business models are required to go hand in hand with the possibilities offered by new materials technologies. Using such novel and synergetic business models, environmental improvements can typically be doubled (7):

 

• In product-service systems, a company’s commercial value creation goes beyond the distribution of material goods. Companies could switch their focus to selling need fulfillment (like warmth, or mobility), satisfaction, or experiences. They could offer a mix of tangible products and intangible services, designed and combined to jointly fulfill a user’s need. By developing these product-services, companies will be able to enhance the added value of their offering, and improve their innovation potential(8). A known example is ‘chemical leasing’, in which case the supplier not only provides the chemicals, but also the function like cleaning, lubrication, paint stripping, etc., and takes the chemicals back after usage for possible recycling. In this way, the amount of chemicals used and costs involved can be reduced significantly(9). Bearing in mind that the general trend in materials technology is that ever more functionalities can be achieved with ever fewer resources, such business models may provide an important win-win situation for both the customer and the manufacturer.

• Disruptive technologies like additive manufacturing (AM) intrinsically lead to new business models. The longest lead time in delivering (customized) products will become the time required to ship the product. Therefore, companies that use AM will build local production facilities to ensure just-in-time manufacturing, dramatically cutting transport needs (i.e. transport of bits and bytes instead of goods), eliminating stages of the supply chain, and shortening/closing material life cycles(10).     

 

Now is the time to act, as the global economic downturn has propelled ideas that were once on the margins of economic policy into the heart of decision-making: policy makers are increasingly favouring a strong climate component in economy recovery plans. Around the world, governments have allocated more than 430 bn $ in fiscal stimulus to key climate change investment themes(11). 

 

In the process of detecting opportunities for material saving and efficiency improvements, manufacturers may rely on professional support provided by outside suppliers(12). The current project ‘Open window on innovative materials technologies’ funded by the European Regional Development Fund and Flemish authorities for example, focuses on the possibilities for increasing product and production process sustainability through materials innovation. To that end, a 3P Opportunity Scan is being developed as a systematic tool indicating the areas where sustainable materials innovation is feasible: www.openraam.eu.