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Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials (1989)

Chapter: 2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security

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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
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2
Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security

This chapter examines the impact of materials science and engineering on U.S. society. The committee evaluated the impact of materials science and engineering by surveying its role in industries considered important for commerce and defense and then looking briefly at needs of the public sector, particularly of governmental units whose missions involve defense, energy, transportation, and space.

SIGNIFICANCE OF MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING IN INDUSTRY

Eight industries that represent different aspects of the use of materials were chosen to be surveyed, including the aerospace, automotive, biomaterials, chemical, electronics, energy, metals, and telecommunications industries. The scope of each of the eight surveys is shown in Table 2.1.

The surveys of the eight industries were carried out by people with senior management and technical responsibilities in their respective industries. Hence the results of the surveys are particularly important in two respects. First, they represent a sample of industry views regarding materials science and engineering and its impact. Second, they represent technical management views on how materials science and engineering should be structured by policymakers to fully exploit the opportunities that lie ahead. The results of the surveys show that materials science and engineering is viewed as vital by all eight industries. The idea also emerged that it is important for government to play a leadership role in helping to identify research areas of

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

TABLE 2.1 Industries Surveyed in This Study

Industry

Scope of Survey

Aerospace

Airframe and engine materials (not electronics)

Automotive

Primarily automobiles

Biomaterials

Primarily materials used in contact with human body tissue

Chemical

Traditional chemicals, polymers, advanced ceramics

Electronics

Materials for computers, commercial and consumer electronics

Energy

Electricity, coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear, solar, geothermal

Metals

Production and forming of primary metals

Telecommunications

Materials for telephone and data transfer equipment

national importance, so that materials science and engineering can be more fully exploited.

The eight industries collectively employed 7 million people and had sales of $1.4 trillion in 1987 (Table 2.2). In addition, they were critical to many millions of jobs and to huge sales in ancillary manufacturing industries, for example, in the manufacture of materials for electronic applications that drive the computer hardware industry.

TABLE 2.2 Economic Impact of the Eight Industries

Industry

1987 Employmenta (thousands)

1987 Sales ($ billion)

Aerospace

835

105.6

Automotive

963

222.7

Biomaterials

>50

Chemical

1004

195.2

Electronics

1394

155.4

Energy

1229

375.8

Metals

629

(1230)b

98.9

Telecommunications

1007

146.0

aThe statistics are taken from the U.S. Industrial Outlook 1989, published by the Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, Washington, D.C.

bThe 1980 to 1985 average based on a broader definition of the metals and mining industry used in Employment Prospects for 1995, Bulletin 2197 published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, D.C. (1984).

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

The recent economic performance of the eight industries has varied widely. The U.S. metals industry, which is still very large, has declined significantly overall in employment and sales over the last decade. Nonetheless, in 1988 much of the industry was operating at capacity, and exports were once again on the increase. At the other extreme, the biomaterials industry, which started from a very small base, is in a period of very rapid growth.

Table 2.3 shows the international trade balances for seven of the eight industries surveyed. The aerospace and chemical industries are healthy exporters and contribute substantially to the U.S. position in international trade. Although the trade balance for the chemical industry has declined somewhat as production of petrochemicals has grown in the Middle East and manufacture of synthetic apparel fibers has shifted to the Far East, this negative trend seems to have slowed recently. As is well known, imports of automobiles and petroleum have had an extremely negative effect on the U.S. balance of payments. A particularly worrisome trend is the decline in the trade balance for high-technology industries such as electronics and telecommunications. The biomaterials industry, in which the United States has a strong position, is omitted from the table because the industry is comparatively small.

Of the eight industries surveyed, two are primarily producers of materials. The metals industry has a well-defined traditional role as a producer of bulk and formed metals. However, the chemical industry, which historically has been a supplier of bulk chemicals and polymers, is undergoing rapid change. American chemical companies are diversifying into biotechnology, materials for the electronics industry, ceramics, and specialty metals (such as amorphous metals prepared by rapid solidification techniques). In fact, they are becoming broad-spectrum producers of materials, with an emphasis on high-value products. To some extent, the growth of the biomaterials industry is occurring under the wing of the chemical industry.

TABLE 2.3 International Trade Balances for Seven Selected Industries (billions of dollars)

Industries

1982

1984

1985

1986

1987

Aerospace

+11.1

+10.2

+12.3

+11.7

+15.1

Automotive

–10.4

–20.7

–26.5

–35.8

–42.4

Chemical

+12.4

+10.7

+8.5

+8.5

+9.3

Electronics

+6.7

+2.5

+2.6

+0.6

–0.1

Energy

–53.3

–52.7

–44.2

–30.8

–38.3

Metals

–9.5

–12.9

–11.6

–9.6

–10.8

Telecommunications

+0.2

–1.0

–1.2

–1.3

–1.7

 

SOURCE: Data are abstracted from U.S. Industrial Outlook 1989, published by the International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C.

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

The metals, chemical, and biomaterials industries are also consumers of materials. The processing equipment for metals and chemicals often requires materials resistant to high temperatures and to corrosive environments. New materials with outstanding resistance to heat and corrosion can be critical to the success of a new process technology. In the chemical industry, selectively permeable polymeric membranes are beginning to have an impact in new separation processes based on dialysis and reverse osmosis.

In industries that might be considered primarily consumers of materials, the roles of materials vary widely. The aerospace, automotive, and energy industries are most concerned with structural materials, whereas the electronics and telecommunications industries emphasize development of materials that have an active function. Biomaterials generally serve both structural and functional roles. The more rapidly evolving segments of these industries are active in the development of new materials such as composites.

The aerospace industry and, to a lesser extent, the automotive industry have a major interest in reducing the weight of their structural materials to increase fuel economy and performance. Although approximately half the cost of a modern aircraft lies in its electronic gear, reducing the weight of the airframe can significantly reduce the cost of its operation. There is a similar interest in high-temperature materials for highly efficient aircraft engines that will also decrease fuel consumption. Because of the large economic impact of improvements in these areas, the aerospace industry has become a major developer of advanced materials.

The energy industry has many different segments with different materials needs. On the one hand, coal, petroleum, and natural gas production has only marginal, incremental needs for new materials. On the other hand, the fossil and nuclear power and solar energy segments can benefit greatly from materials with improved performance. New developments such as high-temperature superconductivity may have a profound influence on the production, transmission, and use of electricity.

Because improvements in performance in the electronics and telecommunications industries are closely tied to improved electronic and optical properties of materials, these industries play a dynamic role in developing new materials and processes. The link to materials is especially close because fabrication of a semiconductor device, for example, often involves synthesis of functional materials in situ.

The biomaterials industry is unique in that its products must be compatible with body tissue, and new materials must be approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration. These requirements present special challenges for materials developers.

Some of the generic materials needs of the eight industries are summarized in Table 2.4. These needs, in turn, represent opportunities to improve the economic performance of the industries, as discussed below.

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

TABLE 2.4 Materials Needs of the Eight Industries

Desired Characteristic

Industry

Aero.

Auto.

Bio.

Chem.

Elec.

Energy

Metals

Telecom.

Light/ strong

 

High temperature resistance

 

 

 

Corrosion resistance

 

 

Rapid switching

 

 

Efficient processing

Near-net-shape forming

Material recycling

 

 

 

 

Prediction of service life

Prediction of physical properties

Materials data bases

These findings are consistent with the results of an international survey, discussed in Chapter 7, that clearly shows that many of the major trading partners of the United States have targeted research in materials science and engineering, along with biotechnology and computer and information technology, as one of three principal areas for special growth. They have also targeted specific areas within materials science and engineering for development in their nations.

Aerospace Industry

Scope of the Industry

The aerospace industry is large and dynamic. In 1987, it employed 835,000 workers (a figure that doubles when supplier companies are included) and had sales of $105.6 billion (see Table 2.2). The industry has had a consistently positive balance in international trade, including $15.1 billion in 1987 (see Table 2.3). Despite the traditional technological leadership of the U.S. aerospace industry, however, extremely stiff foreign competition has developed. Beyond its role in the civilian economy, the industry is critical to the national defense.

The survey of the aerospace industry covered both military and civilian airframe and engine production as well as materials needs for spacecraft. Electronic materials for aircraft applications were excluded from this survey, because they were included in the electronics industry survey.

Role of Materials in the Aerospace Industry

The aerospace industry is both a user and a developer of high-performance materials. Aerospace systems push structural materials capabilities to their limits.

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

The industry must constantly revise its practices to ensure continued system reliability and safety and structural integrity. Advanced materials such as composites are used extensively in military aircraft, helicopters, and business planes. In large civilian transport aircraft, the introduction of such materials is much slower (Table 2.5); they appear primarily in secondary structures. Broader use of composite materials will require large changes in design and in manufacturing plants.

Advances in turbine airfoil materials are illustrated in Figure 2.1. The volume of materials consumed by the industry is not large (e.g., about 80,000 tons/year for large commercial aircraft), but the value is extraordinary. The cost of a commercial airframe is approximately the value of its weight in silver. The cost of a spacecraft approximates the value of its weight in gold. Because of these economic factors, substantial costs can be tolerated for materials that possess the desired combination of properties.

Needs and Opportunities

Some principal determinants in the selection of materials for the aerospace industry are life cycle cost, strength-to-weight ratio, fatigue life, fracture toughness, survivability, and reliability. Additional considerations for spacecraft include high specific stiffness and strength, a low coefficient of thermal expansion, and durability in a space environment.

The payoff for successful materials development can be large. In a shuttlelike orbiter, for example, replacement of conventional aluminum airframes with currently unobtainable aluminum/silicon carbide or magnesium-graphite composites would yield a severalfold increase in pay load capability. Similarly, a major reduction in airframe weight could lead to an increase in fuel efficiency that would make an aircraft attractive to commercial airlines. Lifetime sales for a successful new generation of commercial transport planes could be expected to amount to about $45 billion.

Conventional materials (e.g., metals, alloys, ceramics, and polymer composites) are approaching developmental limits in terms of properties for aerospace applications. This limit is based on fatigue (or service life) criteria

TABLE 2.5 Use of Materials in Civil Transport Airframes

 

Percentage of Structural Weight by Year

Material

1987

2000 (projected)

Aluminum

71

55.5

Composites

7.2

24.8

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

FIGURE 2.1 Progress in casting techniques for turbine blades. Standard methods produce a polycrystalline blade (left). With directional solidification, the crystalline structure is oriented in the direction of the stresses encountered in operation, imparting greater strength and creep resistance to the blade (center). The blade on the right is a single crystal, which is even stronger. (Reprinted, by permission, from Bernard H.Kear, 1986, Advanced Metals, Sci. Am. 255:159–167. Copyright © 1986 by Pratt & Whitney Aircraft.)

as well as on strength at elevated temperatures. Innovative research and engineering are needed to provide high-strength and/or heat-resistant ultralight structures for use in advanced subsonic, supersonic, and transatmospheric aircraft. Opportunities exist to develop and use composites of all types, including new alloys and intermetallics as well as multilithic composites such as metal matrix, ultrafine metal-metal, cermets, ceramic-ceramic thermoplastic, thermoset-thermoplastic, and molecular polymeric types. Designs must be modified to accommodate these materials in a cost-effective way.

New metallic alloys such as aluminum-lithium, intermetallics like titanium aluminides, and high-temperature alloys derived from rapid solidification technology (e.g., aluminum-iron-vanadium-silicon) offer promising avenues for research on materials with good strength-to-weight ratios. Metal matrix composites are an especially ripe area for development, with applications in layered metal structures and especially in ceramic-reinforced metals.

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

Ceramics appear to be very attractive for high-temperature applications such as radiant burner tubes and leading edge structures for wings. With respect to polymeric materials, carbon-carbon composites retain high strength at high temperatures in hostile atmospheres. A wide range of properties for use at lower temperatures is accessible from combinations of polymeric binders and reinforcing materials. So-called molecular composites offer many opportunities. Stiff, strong, chemically compatible reinforcing materials continue to find increasing use in high-performance composites.

This description of materials and the possible opportunities they offer strongly emphasizes composite materials and suggests the consequent requirement for major advances in our understanding of the chemistry and physics at the interfaces between dissimilar materials. In addition to this understanding at the molecular and microstructural level, major advances in processing and fabrication technology are required. The simultaneous development of materials, processing, and fabrication is essential if the new technology is to be used in an efficient and timely fashion.

Cost-effective, high-quality processing technology is essential. Real-time, on-line process control systems, computer modeling, and advanced sensor development must complement fundamental materials science. As in other industries, materials development requires a systems approach encompassing materials preparation, processing, fabrication, quality assurance, and in-service monitoring. The research on processing must be coordinated among the aerospace users and developers and the materials suppliers who will ultimately produce the materials.

Automotive Industry

Scope of the Industry

The production of automotive products is one of the largest components of the U.S. economy. The industry had sales of $223 billion in 1987 and employed about 1 million persons directly, as well as many others in supporting businesses. As noted below, the production of motor vehicles makes the industry one of the largest consumers of materials.

The automotive industry is a major cause of the current U.S. trade deficit. In 1986, automobile imports cost $46.5 billion and resulted in a net trade imbalance of –$35.8 billion. Clearly, if these imported vehicles had been made in the United States or if there had been offsetting exports, the U.S. economy and the U.S. automotive and metals industries would have been much healthier. The international competitiveness of the automotive industry is crucial to the whole U.S. materials industry.

The survey done for this study covered materials requirements for the production of cars, trucks, and buses in the United States.

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

TABLE 2.6 Use of Materials in the Automotive Industry in 1984

Material

Percentage of Total U.S. Consumption

Steel

17.5

Aluminum

16.0

Copper

9.7

Lead

59.0

Platinum

46.9

Zinc

26.0

Synthetic rubber

55.1

Natural rubber

76.6

Role of Materials in the Automotive Industry

The production of motor vehicles consumes 60 million tons of metals, polymers, ceramics, and glasses per year. Table 2.6 lists the automotive industry’s share of total U.S. consumption of basic materials in 1984:

As a consumer product, the automobile must be made from materials that are cheap and easy to process, and it must have long life and high reliability under extremely adverse conditions. In recent years, there has been additional pressure to make vehicles lighter in the interest of fuel economy. This new requirement has led to extensive substitution of aluminum and plastics for steel and heavy metals and has led to extensive changes both in vehicle design and in manufacturing processes.

Needs and Opportunities

Improvements in materials can have a large impact on the economic health of the automotive industry. One important need is the development of complete materials systems that take into account the cost of production and fabrication of a material along with specific design criteria.

The survey identified four major needs that may be considered driving forces for automotive technology. These basic requirements and their implications for materials science and engineering are listed in order of priority in Table 2.7. A fifth requirement, reusability of materials, is significant because it also emerged in the metals industry survey as a high priority.

Research Opportunities

The survey identified R&D needs for 11 major classes of materials used in automobiles: sheet steels, specialty steels, structural plastics and composites, nonstructural plastics and composites, elastomers, paint, nonferrous

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

TABLE 2.7 Materials Needs for the Automotive Industry

Generic Drivers of Automotive Technology

Implications for Materials R&D

1. Need for reliability

Emphasis on production of materials with minimal variation in properties and dimensions

Emphasis on processes that can be used to convert materials to components with minimal variation in size and shape

Development of processes simultaneously with materials

Development of sensors and control systems of materials production and fabrication processes

Development of materials data bases including variation of properties

2. Need for low cost

Emphasis on low-cost (including energy) and in particular low-cost materials production systems

Emphasis on development of materials that can be processed at low cost and emphasis on low-labor and high-throughput and low-waste process development

Development processes simultaneously with materials

Research on existing as well as “new” materials systems

3. Need for functional improvement

Emphasis on weight-reducing materials

Materials with improved conductivity and catalysis

Development of functional characteristics and design studies simultaneously with materials and process development (a “materials” systems approach)

Materials with improved sound absorption, toughness, transparency, dent resistance, etc.

4. Need for durability

Research on durability-related failure mechanisms (wear, fatigue, and corrosion)

Research on methods of predicting durability

5. Need for reusability

Research on technical and economic factors in recycling

wrought metals, castings, ceramics, tool and die materials, and metal matrix composites. Plate 1 illustrates where some of these materials are used in an automobile.

Research is needed to increase understanding and accessibility of materials properties in all classes of materials, polymers and composites as well as metals. Predictive models for both properties and processing can have a significant impact. Intense R&D effort directed to composites could lead to a clear U.S. competitive advantage. The United States currently leads in this area but must work hard to maintain its lead. Ceramics have important roles as tool and die materials as well as in engine components such as turbo-chargers. Sheet steels, castings, plastics, and structural composites—particularly their processing—offer the largest potential opportunities to improve automotive technology.

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

Biomaterials Industry

Scope of the Industry

The biomaterials industry encompasses the design, fabrication, and manufacture of materials for the health and life sciences fields. It has been estimated that the industry has sales of over $50 billion annually and is growing at a rate of 13 percent per year. The industry’s products include disposable hospital supplies, artificial organs, personal care products, diagnostic devices, drug-delivery systems, and separation systems for biotechnology. Its participants range from operating divisions of Fortune 500 companies to small, family-operated businesses. The industry has a positive balance of payments in international trade.

The United States has had a leading role in the development of the biomaterials industry and is a strong exporter, as exemplified by its dominant market share in the European Economic Community countries. To counter U.S. dominance, Japan, South Korea, Italy, and Sweden are moving aggressively to build their biomaterials and biodevice industries.

The industry can be divided into market segments as follows:

  • Artificial organs

  • Biosensors (diagnostic devices)

  • Biotechnology

  • Cardiovascular and blood products

  • Drug delivery

  • Equipment and devices

  • Maxillofacial prostheses, materials for plastic surgery

  • Ophthalmology

  • Orthopedics

  • Packaging (including hospital supplies and consumer products)

  • Wound management

Role of Materials in the Biomaterials Industry

The biomaterials industry develops, produces, and uses materials of extraordinary diversity. Currently used materials include synthetic polymers (degradable and nondegradable), water-soluble polymers, biopolymers, metals, ceramics, glasses, glass-ceramics, carbons, and biologically derived materials. Figure 2.2 shows artificial skin composed of a layer of silicone rubber and a layer of modified collagen.

In specialized applications such as artificial organs, ophthalmic lenses, and specialty catheters, very high costs can be tolerated for materials whose physical and biological properties are satisfactory. However, consumable items such as hospital supplies and personal care products are price sensitive, and the cost of materials becomes a significant factor. Figure 2.3 shows a drug-delivery system that employs a microporous membrane to introduce drugs through the skin.

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

FIGURE 2.2 Artificial skin has been used successfully to treat more than 100 patients, all victims of severe burns. Clinical trials in 11 hospitals have established the potential of this membrane as a substitute for the conventional autograft treatment. The outer layer of this bilayer membrane is silicone rubber and is removed and disposed of 2 weeks after grafting. The inner layer, which makes contact with the wound, is a highly porous layer of modified collagen that itself is degraded about 10 days after contacting the wound. Before degradation is complete, the collagen layer acts as a biological template that induces partial regeneration of new dermis. (Reprinted, by permission, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology News Office.)

Needs and Opportunities

Eventually there will be a need for biomaterials that duplicate the physical and biological properties of all native tissues in the body. Some examples are given in Table 2.8. Requirements for these materials include the following:

  • Nonthrombogenic surfaces (surfaces that do not promote the formation of clots)

  • Reproducible quality

  • Stability to sterilization

  • Biocompatibility

  • Hydrolytic stability

  • Bioreabsorbability

  • High purity

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
Research Opportunities and Issues

Development of complete materials systems is needed for biomaterials in the areas of artificial organs, extracorporeal blood treatment, drug delivery, and biotechnology. Such systems must include production of the material, processing, fabrication into a device, and testing of the device. These tightly coupled processes must preserve desired biological properties. Life cycle

FIGURE 2.3 Transdermal drug delivery system. (Reprinted, by permission, from Ciba-Geigy Corporation. Copyright © 1989 by Ciba-Geigy Corporation.)

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

TABLE 2.8 Needed Biomaterials

End Use Application

Material Need

Burn/wound coverings

Grafts for epithelium cell regeneration

Release of antibacterials

Cardiovascular implants

Thromboresistant surfaces

Small-diameter vascular grafts (less than 4-mm diameter)

Catheters:

Thromboresistant skin

cardiovascular,

Infection-resistant surfaces

urinary

Nondenuding (able to slip over epithelial tissue without adhering and stripping)

Controlled release

Bioadhesives

Bioerodable polymers

Protein delivery

Diabetes

Hybrid artificial organs

Extracorporeal blood

Immobilized chemotherapeutic treatment agents and enzymes for chemotherapy and detoxification

Neural repair

Polymers that induce nerve regeneration

Ophthalmologic

Artificial corneas

Vitreous implants

Orthopedic

Fiber composites

Resorbable polymers

Soft tissue reconstruction

Resorbable polymers with concurrent release of bioactive agents

Wound closure

Tissue adhesives

engineering must be part of the design. Several generations of devices envisioned include the following:

  • Devices incorporating biochemical and pharmacological activity

  • Hybrid devices containing biological tissue in a synthetic matrix

  • Cultured organs and tissues

Chemical Industry

Scope of the Industry

The American chemical industry is a broad-based supplier of materials, not only chemicals and polymers but also biomaterials, electronic and optical materials, ceramics, and specialty metals. The established chemical and polymer industry contributed over $195 billion in sales to the U.S. economy in 1987 and employed over 1 million people. In addition, sales of advanced ceramics amounted to about $4 billion to $5 billion. [In U.S. Industrial Outlook 1987 (published by the International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C.), advanced ceramics are exemplified by high-performance ceramics for jet engines, machine tools, electronic packaging, and solar energy devices.]

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

The U.S. chemical industry has consistently had a positive balance of payments in international trade. However, this favorable position has shrunk in recent years from $12.4 billion in 1982 to $9.3 billion in 1987. Certain major sections of the U.S. chemical industry, such as the manufacture of apparel fibers, are becoming less competitive. The chemical industry is undergoing major changes, moving away from commodity materials toward more highly engineered products such as optical discs and AIDS diagnostic systems. People speak of a chemical industry revolution as large as the one brought on by the advent of synthetic polymers. The impact of one of these, polymer composites, suggests the importance of these new ventures (Figure 2.4). According to industry analysts quoted in Chemical and Engineering News (March 16, 1987), sales of polymer “composite to certain specialty markets will grow from $2.5 billion in 1986 to $3.7 billion in 1991…” and will be “…a major growth market with an annual value of $10 billion by the late 1990s.”

The survey of the chemical industry stressed the materials (including

FIGURE 2.4 Filament-wound pressure vessel. (Reprinted, by permission, from E.I.du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc. Copyright © 1989 by E.I.du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc.)

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

ceramics) that the chemical industry supplies to other industries and treated to a lesser extent the materials needs of the chemical industry.

Role of Materials in the Chemical Industry

The major role of the chemical industry is to supply materials. The industry processes raw materials to form new, higher-value materials that are sold to other industries. The chemical processing industry has continuing needs for strong, noncorroding materials that can withstand extreme conditions and for materials that facilitate chemical processes, such as catalysts and electrode materials. All chemical processes incorporate some materials separations. Major breakthroughs are being made in the science of the materials that effect these separations—zeolites, ion-exchange resins, affinity chromatography materials, membranes, supercritical fluids, and others.

Needs and Opportunities

The materials being developed and produced by the chemical industry include polymers, ceramics, fluids, composites, and single crystals. New materials under development include polymers for automotive body panels, extended-chain polymers (e.g., polymers spun from liquid crystals), thermoplastic matrices for advanced composites, electrically conductive polymers, polymers with nonlinear optical properties, and biocompatible polymers. The use of metal-forming techniques such as forging and plasma spraying affords additional opportunities.

Recently, the chemical industry has entered the field of ceramics research in the belief that high-performance ceramics will be made and processed as chemicals, rather than by direct processing of minerals. Active areas of research include structural ceramics, ceramic fibers and whiskers for composites, low-temperature processing, chemical and polymeric precursors, ceramics for electronic applications with improved dielectric properties, and the exciting studies of diamond films.

Little systematic research has been done on fluids, but they have myriad uses as refrigerants, solvents, and hydraulic fluids. Oxidative and mechanical stability are two long-standing requirements for products in these applications; in addition, innocuousness of effects on stratospheric ozone is becoming a major criterion for new products.

Composites account for an extremely active area of R&D. Polymer, ceramic, and metal matrices with dispersed fibers, whiskers, or other particulates are all being studied. In many cases the composites have properties superior to those of their constituents. Most of the work to date has been empirical, but understanding and control of the chemical changes that occur

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

in the creation of a composite will be critical to the development of this field. The opportunity for a positive economic impact is enormous.

Crystalline materials are critical to advances in the electronics and optics industries. Epitaxial growth processes are key to the creation of artificially layered structures, which in turn are opening exciting new areas in electronics and optics. Purity of materials, for which requirements are already demanding, must be further improved for applications now envisioned.

Electronics Industry

Scope of the Industry

The electronics industry, one of the most dynamic industries in the global economy, is a leader in the use of new materials. The leverage of materials science and engineering on the electronics industry through added value is extraordinary. The 1985 worldwide electronic materials market of $2.5 billion was responsible for an equipment market of roughly $400 billion. In the United States in 1987, the electronics industry (excluding instrumentation and telecommunications equipment) contributed about $155 billion in revenue to the economy. The broad markets were distributed as shown in Table 2.9.

There is a consensus that the U.S. electronics industry is losing ground to competition from the Far East, primarily because of manufacturing and marketing leadership abroad. Although the United States still leads in basic materials science and characterization, our growing dependence on foreign suppliers for critical components and manufacturing equipment is a threat to national security.

Recent trends in the semiconductor industry illustrate the economic penalty associated with deficiencies in our ability to process and manufacture semiconductors cheaply and well. The U.S. share of the global semiconductor market fell from 61.8 percent in 1980 to 43.3 percent in 1986. Retaining a 61.8 percent share of the 1986 market of $26.4 billion would have added $4.9 billion in revenue for the U.S. industry. More importantly, a loss of $1 in semiconductor sales generally results in the loss of $10 in sales of

TABLE 2.9 Electronics Industry Employment and Sales in 1987

Sector

Employment (thousands)

Sales ($ billion)

Trade Balance ($ billion)

Electronic components

520

47

–2.4

Computing equipment

326

54

+2.8

Radio and TV

548

54

–0.5

Total

1394

155

–0.1

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

electronic systems. Thus our loss of competitiveness in semiconductors may have cost the U.S. electronics industry about $50 billion in 1986. Given that semiconductor industry sales are projected to be $60 billion in 1992, the future leverage is even greater. More efficient coupling of U.S. materials science and engineering research with electronics manufacturing is vital for the health of this country’s economy.

Role of Materials in the Electronics Industry

New, highly engineered materials are vital to the progress of the electronics industry. Strong interrelationships between materials science, device design, and fabrication process chemistry determine the performance of an electronic device. Multidisciplinary approaches are needed for rapid development and transition to production. The major focus of this survey was materials for microelectronics, but magnetic and display materials were also considered.

Semiconductor materials can be used to illustrate materials development in the electronics industry. Single-crystal silicon (150-mm diameter) is grown from the melt by a highly automated process. Oxygen levels for gathering impurities and slice strengthening are controlled by computer. Devices made from wafers cut from the crystal are now made mostly by epitaxial growth. A variety of processing techniques (e.g., photolithography, plasma chemistry, and epitaxial film deposition) are used to form the devices (Plate 2). Similar processes and technologies are also used with III–V semiconductors, but they are not as advanced. The realization of artificially layered structures by epitaxial growth processes on semiconductors would seem to offer limitless possibilities for new materials.

Needs and Opportunities

Microelectronics is entering the submicron feature regime in which new classes of physical phenomena and materials structures determine device behavior. Materials demands can only be expected to increase. Materials development cannot be isolated from processing research and device design. Much greater interaction and open cooperation are needed among suppliers of materials, equipment vendors, and device manufacturers to work toward a common goal. As in other industries, integrated materials systems are needed.

Foreseeable changes in silicon technology will include flatter wafers, lower defect density (less than one defect per wafer), larger wafer diameter, and smaller feature size. To reliably achieve submicron circuit features, improved photolithographic processes will be needed. A combination of advanced

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

optical methods (excimer lasers) and new materials (ultraviolet-activated photoresists and multilevel resists) will be used to produce features down to 0.3 to 0.5 µm. Below this size, soft x-ray and ion beam technologies will be needed. The United States is falling behind in these technologies, even though the phenomena on which they are based were developed in the United States.

In the growth of gallium arsenide (GaAs) and indium phosphide (InP), the primary needs are improved crystal purity, perfection, and size. An emerging technology that seems almost certain to become important is the epitaxial growth of GaAs on silicon and extensions involving optical detector regions (e.g., mercury-cadmium-telluride for infrared). A critical issue for the formation of a GaAs/InP industry will be the ability to transfer epitaxial growth processes from the laboratory to a manufacturing facility.

Research on II–VI semiconductors is less advanced than that on III–V materials. Important needs for improved materials are purer starting materials, crystal perfection, impurity doping techniques, uniformity of electrical and optical properties over large substrate areas, and effective passivation materials. The pursuit of heterojunction structures has recently begun and should offer significant opportunities.

Extensive numbers of process chemicals are used in the manufacture of semiconductor integrated circuits. They include solvents, acids, photoresists, gases for film deposition, film etchants and dopants, metal targets for conductors, and materials for device passivation. All of these materials have quality control problems. Among the problems are alkali and transition metal impurities, incorrect concentrations of intentional dopants, halogen impurities that cause corrosion, radioactive elements, and particles. Purity requirements will be even more stringent when submicron circuit feature size becomes standard.

Many improvements are needed in the polymeric and ceramic materials that are used in packaging electronic circuitry. Needed properties in polymers include a low dielectric constant, high thermal stability, high electrical resistance, and low moisture absorption. Similar properties are needed in ceramics, along with high thermal conductivity and thermal expansion coefficients similar to those for silicon. New ways of building integrated multilayer structures will require new and improved processes for deposition of metals, semiconductors, and ceramics. Layer-by-layer architecture will be supplanted.

Innovation in the laboratory and on the factory floor through processing research is the key materials opportunity and need in the electronics industry. As developers of new technology, we must extend the sophistication of our R&D laboratories into the factories where these new materials are made and converted into devices and systems.

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

Energy Industry

Scope of the Industry

The survey of the energy industry covered major energy production technologies now in use, as well as some developing technologies. The coal, petroleum, natural gas, and electricity industries are relatively mature, whereas the solar and geothermal production of energy is in an advanced phase of development. The nuclear power industry shares characteristics of mature and developmental industries in terms of needs for materials.

The use of energy from inanimate sources is central to every modern industrial economy. In the United States in 1987, the energy industry generated $376 billion in revenues and employed 1.23 million people. The 73.9 quadrillion Btu’s of energy consumed in 1985 was distributed as shown in Table 2.10.

The price of energy is a significant factor in the performance of the U.S. economy, as shown by the economic downturns after the 1973 and 1979 oil crises. The importation of petroleum and petroleum products is a major adverse factor in the U.S. international trade deficit. In 1985 and 1986, the United States had a trade deficit of about $ 11 billion with the OPEC countries. This deficit is expected to grow as domestic oil production declines, energy demand rises, and petroleum prices increase.

Role of Materials in the Energy Industry

The energy industry is a conservative industry that relies mostly on conventional materials (e.g., steels, nickel-based alloys, and concrete). This trend should continue at least to the year 2000, with the traditional energy sources—coal, oil, gas, and nuclear—dominating the energy mix. Cost, service life, and reliability are dominant factors in the choice of materials for use in the various segments of the energy industry. The emphasis is on

TABLE 2.10 Distributions of Energy Consumed in 1985

Energy Source

Percent

Use Area

Percent

Petroleum

41.9

Electricity generation

35.0

Coal

23.7

Transportation

27.1

Natural gas

24.2

Industrial

23.8

Nuclear

5.6

Residential/commercial

13.3

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

evolutionary improvements in materials performance and reliability through improved refining, fabrication, and maintenance. New materials, however, can have a major impact on new energy systems (e.g., solar, advanced coal, and fusion) and can lead to improvements in established systems. Such improvements include titanium condensers, superalloy single-crystal turbine blades, and corrosion-resistant coatings in gas turbines.

Needs and Opportunities

The development of materials with certain economically desirable properties can influence the implementation of new energy systems and the efficiency of traditional systems. These need-generated opportunities are discussed below.

Transmission of electricity with conventional aluminum cable significantly limits the location of power plants. Development of practical superconducting materials that would function at liquid nitrogen temperatures would increase the efficiency of transmission over long distances and would permit much greater freedom in siting of new generating facilities. Practical superconducting cables could save about 75 billion kW of electricity worth at least $5 billion annually through elimination of transmission losses. Improved materials for generator cores and distribution transformers offer another major opportunity to increase efficiency and to reduce costs, perhaps by as much as $5 billion per year. Electric power plants (both fossil and nuclear fuel) will require life estimation and life extension to 60 to 70 years. Research is needed on methodologies for making such life estimates. Improved magnet and core materials for electric motors are another major area for improvements in efficiency worth billions of dollars. Two-thirds of electricity passes through some sort of motor drive, and 5 to 10 percent is lost in the process. Improvements in silicon processing technology would permit substitution of solid-state controls for mechanical speed control devices for motors. Savings of $4 billion to $5 billion annually might be achieved. In water-powered turbine-driven generators, there is an opportunity for life extension through improved materials for cavitation-resistant turbines. Improved insulating materials would have equally universal application.

In the area of coal combustion, the major opportunities are for corrosion-and erosion-resistant materials for combustion of coal in both conventional and advanced systems for generation of heat and electricity. If major coal-to-liquid fuel plants are to be implemented to conserve petroleum, many new demands for corrosion- and erosion-resistant materials must be met.

Resumption of commercialization of nuclear power will require solving many problems related to reliability of materials for reactors and to disposal of nuclear waste. Particular requirements are (1) a nondestructive measure of the condition of materials (surface and bulk) that is preferably on-line and

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

continuous, and (2) a physically based mechanistic model of materials behavior in the environment. Implementation of fusion energy reactors (presumably well into the twenty-first century) will require solving a new range of materials problems.

Extracting petroleum and natural gas from ever harsher environments opens opportunities for new drilling equipment based on more durable and corrosion-resistant materials. Corrosion by carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and brine is extremely troublesome under the heat and pressure conditions of deep drilling. The depletion of easily accessible hydrocarbon deposits has resulted in a need for more sensitive detectors for prospecting.

Transmission and distribution of oil and gas require extremely reliable piping materials and joining techniques. New in situ inspection techniques could extend the life of existing distribution systems. The efficiency of petroleum transmission could be improved by flow enhancers. Improvements in the use of oil and gas can arise from improvements in catalysis. Significantly greater efficiency in the conversion of heavy petroleum to gasoline and jet or diesel fuel should be achievable through better catalytic cracking and refining processes. Catalysis for fuel cell operation can be a substantial factor in more efficient use of gas-based energy.

Wide use of geothermal energy, which is potentially accessible in much of the western United States and along the Gulf Coast, depends on reduction of capital costs for extraction. Improved materials performance could significantly increase the geothermal resource base and reduce geothermal costs, especially by reducing drilling and completion costs, improving plant and turbine durability, and improving plant on-line reliability. Many of the drilling and extraction materials issues are common to the oil, gas, and geothermal industries.

Converting solar energy into electricity is a problem with remarkably numerous solutions, including use of thermal-cycle generators, photovoltaic converters, wind-driven generators, ocean thermal gradients, and biomass conversion. All the technologies involved in solar energy conversion have materials limitations. The direct use of sunlight requires materials for collectors or concentrators that can perform their functions through 20 to 30 years of weathering. Photovoltaic conversion of sunlight to electricity on a commercial scale will require major increases in production of semiconductor materials such as monocrystalline silicon sheets, polycrystalline films, or amorphous films (Figure 2.5). Semiconductors other than silicon may have more appropriate electronic properties, but their use in devices will require major advances in processing the materials.

A number of desirable advances in materials processing and performance for the energy industry are identified in Table 2.11. These advances could have an impact across all components of the industry.

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

FIGURE 2.5 Solar concentration arrays employing GaAs photovoltaic solar cells. (Courtesy TRW, Inc. Copyright © 1986 by TRW, Inc.)

Metals Industry

Status of the Industry

The metals industry embraces the mining and smelting of metal-bearing ores and the refining and processing of metals into forms sold to other industries. The metals industry plays a central role in the U.S. economy; its products are found in almost every product sold in the United States. In the period from 1980 to 1985, the industry employed more than 1 million workers. Sales in 1987 totaled about $99 billion. These figures do not include the impact that the metals industry had on employment and sales in other industries (e.g., automotive and aircraft) that are large consumers of metals. The industry has a negative effect (e.g., –$10.8 billion in 1987) on the U.S. balance of payments.

The survey covered all the major metals or metal groups that were judged to be significant components of the U.S. metals industry. The metals and metal groups specifically represented in the survey were iron and steel, copper, lead, zinc, aluminum, refractory metals, titanium, and the nickel-based superalloys. The survey addressed both the traditional applications of metals and alloys and the newer applications such as metal matrix composites.

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

TABLE 2.11 Advances in Materials Processing and Performance for the Energy Industry

Major Advance

Impact of Major Advance

Critical Issues

Melting, refining, and/or deformation processing

Advanced alloys for use in corrosive/erosive environments and application

Tough, embrittlement-resistant steels for elevated-temperature heavy-section application

Single crystals for advanced turbines, solar photovoltaic converters, and power semiconductors

Amorphous alloys for corrosion-resistant applications, soft magnetic properties, and solar photovoltaic converters

Optimum chemistry for specific fabrication process

Development of stress-induced phase morphologies

Purity and crystal perfection

Fabrication of amorphous components

Powder consolidation

Transformation-toughened ceramics and high-purity ceramics for structural applications

Near-net-shape forming for low-cost fabrication

Mechanical alloying for high-temperature creep strength

Increase in temperature capability of transformation-toughened ceramics

Production of submicron powders

High cost and control

Advanced surface modification

Ceramic overlay coatings for enhanced environmental resistance

Diffusion coatings for corrosion-resistant piping, tanks, etc.

Coatings for improved wear and cutting characteristics

Self-lubricating hard-facings for joints and valves

Ceramic liners for high-temperature reactors and heat exchangers

Artificial diamond and cubic boron nitride for drilling applications, wear-resistant surfaces, and semiconductor substrates

Coating integrity

Adherence, porosity, durability, continuity

Scale-up methodology

Cost-effective processing

Thickness trade-off vs. monolithic structure

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

Major Advance

Impact of Major Advance

Critical Issues

Materials synthesis

Tailored complex inorganic materials for high-performance structural applications

Unique nanostructures for electrical, magnetic, and superconducting applications

Novel properties in nanoscale regime (supermodulus effect)

Molecular design of precursors

Interactive modeling using supercomputers

Scaling laws for microstructure-property relationships

Development of processing methods for multilayers

Availability of measurement and characterization tools

Life estimation and extension

Extend life of existing energy systems

Improve reliability of existing systems

Eliminate unexpected failures/forced outages

Validity of accelerated tests

Realistic extrapolation methodologies

Assessment of material condition online

Retire/refurbish/replace decision methodology

Sensors and advanced characterization techniques

Monitoring of integrity of energy supply systems for improved reliability and performance

Detection of underground energy resources (e.g., oil, gas, geothermal)

System optimization and control by monitoring critical parameters

In situ diagnostic capability, which reduces system downtime

Discrimination and validation of signals

Expert decision making

Sensors for hostile environments (extreme operating conditions)

Signal transmission and recording

Extend ultrasonic and x-ray tomography to full scale

Understanding erosion/corrosion mechanism(s)

Develop improved erosion-resistant materials and performance

Modify system operations to avoid failures

Need for microscopic properties rather than global properties

Establish relationships between local and global properties via micromechanical modeling

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

The metals industry has experienced severe economic difficulties over the last decade. The industry restructuring that has taken place in the last few years, combined with more favorable international trade conditions, has returned the industry to profitability, but at a generally lower production level. This lower production level reflects, in part, the import of metals and of metal-based products. For example, the intense import competition in the automotive industry has had a severe impact on the U.S. metals industry because car and truck production uses 15 to 18 percent of the steel, 12 to 16 percent of the aluminum, 8 to 10 percent of the copper, about 45 percent of the malleable iron, and about 60 percent of the lead consumed in the United States. The decline in metals production also reflects substitution of other materials such as plastics for metals in major products such as automobiles and consumer appliances.

The intense competition that resulted from an earlier overcapacity has reduced profitability and the ability of the industry to reinvest in both its physical and technical infrastructure. The survival of the U.S. lead and zinc industries is in doubt.

Role of Materials in the Metals Industry

The metals industry is a major supplier of materials to the U.S. economy. Metals are the prime construction material for the transportation industry and for large segments of the manufacturing, communications, energy, and construction industries as well as for military equipment. There is a strong interdependence between the robustness of these industries and that of the metals industry. The interdependence extends to research and engineering. The relationship is so strong that new materials may be developed by the user rather than the supplier of metals. In fact, in the lead and zinc sectors, new products must be developed by the user because the producers of the metals lack the research resources to do so. Some development is now done in other supplier industries such as the chemical industry.

New product development by metals producers includes a continuing search for materials with a high strength-to-weight ratio and for products that will have long lives in hostile environments such as seawater, brine wells, chemical process vessels, nuclear reactors, and the processing equipment of the metals industry itself.

The metals industry is also a major consumer of materials in the form of feedstocks such as ores and scrap metal, and the industry consumes huge quantities of fuel because the processing of metals is unusually energy intensive.

Needs, Opportunities, and Issues

In general, improvements in processing are essential to reduce costs and maintain a viable U.S. metals industry by achieving world-class cost-com-

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

petitiveness. Critical processing needs of the industry derive from its role as a consumer of ores and other sources of metal. Technology for efficient processing of low-grade ores and for recycling of scrap metal and metal-containing wastes is clearly the most important processing need. To become cost-competitive in an international context, the steel, lead, and zinc industries need new processes to fully use their ore reserves in North America. The steel industry is actively pursuing the development of a strip casting technology to obviate the continuous casting and hot strip mill complexes. The lead and zinc industries need process technology specifically related to the characteristics of their ore deposits. A significant opportunity exists to fully exploit the value of silver and other minor constituents in minerals. The titanium and nickel industries lack the resources to implement innovative new technologies.

Secondary processing operations such as rolling and shaping need attention throughout the industry. Process simulation modeling, sensing, and control improvements are needed to upgrade quality and reduce costs. As an example of the potential benefits from sensing and control improvements, on-line inspection of hot steel slabs for surface defects could save $1.40 per ton. For 60 million tons of slab production, savings would be over $85 million. The payback period for the investment would be about 3 years.

Cooperative efforts of users and producers are necessary for effective product development. Product improvements will play an important role in maintaining market share in the competition of metals with polymers, ceramics, and composite materials.

There is an excellent opportunity for innovative research directed to accurately predicting metallurgical phenomena and product properties. This ability should be as quantitative as possible, hence the need for emphasis on models to relate process variables and product properties. Product properties studied should include the conventional mechanical properties in addition to those related to modern coating and joining processes. Fabrication technology, with emphasis on the applications of robotization and computer-integrated manufacturing, also needs significant attention.

An example of an innovative metal processing technique that is being applied to the formation of electrical transformer cores is shown in Figure 2.6. Rapid cooling causes the formation of an amorphous metal strip. Other amorphous metal (i.e., metallic glass) forms are shown in Figure 2.7.

Telecommunications Industry

Scope of the Industry

The telecommunications industry is a bellwether in the U.S. economy. It employed 1.01 million people in 1987 (904,000 in service and 103,000 in production of telephone and telegraph equipment). Sales of equipment amounted

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

FIGURE 2.6 Fabricating ribbons of amorphous alloy metal for electrical transformer core applications. (Reprinted, by permission, from The New York Times, Jan. 11, 1989, p. D7. Copyright © 1989 by the New York Times Company.)

FIGURE 2.7 Metallic glass product forms. (Reprinted, by permission, from Battelle. Copyright © 1989 by Battelle Memorial Institute.)

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

to about $16.1 billion; the service sector reported revenues of $130 billion. The downstream leverage of telecommunications is even greater—modern banking, airline travel, and commerce of almost every kind have been profoundly altered by the availability of inexpensive data manipulation and transport. Our modern information-based society results from a blending of the computer with telecommunications to provide the essential infrastructure for the information society.

The telecommunications industry is being reshaped by governmental deregulation in the United States and many other countries. International trade is increasing rapidly. Since approximately half of the world market is in the United States, foreign companies are trying vigorously to enter the U.S. market. The United States imports substantial amounts of communications equipment, which resulted in an unfavorable trade balance ranging from about $1 billion to $1.7 billion per year for the period from 1984 to 1987 (see Table 2.3).

Recent technology for data transfer and voice communication has blurred the distinction between the communications and the computer industries. The survey of the telecommunications industry emphasized the role of materials in equipment for telephone and data transfer operations. The findings parallel those of the electronic industry survey, except that a much greater role is played by optical technology in telecommunications.

Role of Materials in the Telecommunications Industry

The telecommunications industry is a major user and developer of new electronic and optical materials. In fact, it may be taken as a paradigm of a high-technology industry critically dependent on materials. As in the computer and electronics industries, most current devices are based on high-quality, dislocation-free, single-crystal silicon. The processing steps include masking, photolithography, diffusion, implantation, metallization, and etching. The packaging materials used to mount and seal the integrated circuits are commonly ceramics similar to those used in other electronic devices.

Quartz is crucially important to the industry for devices used for frequency control. Synthetic quartz has allowed the United States to become independent of overseas suppliers and is superior to natural quartz in cost, availability, and quality.

The shift from electronic to optical technology has required the development, production, and fabrication of many new materials. The development of new process technology resulted in silica optical fibers with transmission losses approaching the theoretical minimum. For optical emitters and detectors, III–V semiconductors are the materials of choice. Indium phosphide substrates with gallium-indium-arsenic-phosphorus epitaxial layers are used to generate radiation at 1.3 and 1.5 µm as input to optical fibers.

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
Needs and Opportunities

The telecommunications industry offers outstanding opportunities in materials science and engineering as the industry shifts toward optical technology. The United States has been a leader in this area, but vigorous effort will be required to maintain our position.

Achieving the economic opportunities inherent in the telecommunications industry is dependent on new materials. The modern central telephone office is essentially a large, special purpose, “switching” computer. A truly integrated optical switching system (all-photonic) with optical logic gates and memory could be much faster and cheaper than present electronic systems. It might be as great an advance as the electronic telephone office was over the electromechanical office.

The materials challenges to an all-photonic switching system are massive. Fully optical devices are scarcely at a laboratory prototype stage. Many promising photonic phenomena have been demonstrated, but current understanding and methods are inadequate to produce an all-optical system. Improved materials and processes are needed to make integrated optics a technological reality. Even in electrooptic systems, in which electrical fields are used to switch light signals, circuitry on III–V semiconductors has reached only a rudimentary level of integration because materials capable of a full range of functions are not available. For electrooptic switching, lithium niobate is useful, but better electrooptic materials that allow more elaborate switching circuits on smaller substrate areas would make this technology advance rapidly.

In the transmission of optical signals, silica-based optical fibers are approaching the theoretical limits of performance. If improvements in fiber transmission are to be made, new materials, possibly mixtures of metal fluorides, will be needed. In principle, fibers of these materials could provide transoceanic communications without repeater units because the optical losses are so low. Conversion to fluoride fibers will require new light sources and detectors, because transmission frequencies will move further into the infrared region.

A variety of new technologies will be needed if silicon very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuits are to be pushed to the limit of approximately 0.1 µm features. New families of photoresists, improved dry processing, new dielectrics, and new metallization technology will be needed.

Research Opportunities and Issues

Progress in the telecommunications industry has been a direct consequence of materials synthesis, processing, characterization, and analysis. Exceptionally promising areas for continued progress are superlattices, fibers, high-

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

temperature superconductors, and neural networks (with circuitry analogous to that in the brain).

With techniques such as molecular beam epitaxy, precise control of semiconductor layers has been achieved. Despite this precision in fabrication, the chemistry and physics at the interfaces are scarcely understood. Multiple quantum-well structures have opened a new area of physics and have great potential for use in devices. The growth of III–V semiconductors on silicon and of II–VIs on III–Vs offers exciting new possibilities. Germanium-silicon superlattices may afford the opportunity to develop lasers and detectors based on silicon.

Optical fibers are now made at the theoretical loss limit. Devices such as Raman and Brillouin amplifiers and stress optic-effect sensors in which interaction lengths can be as long as kilometers should be possible. Single-crystal fibers of niobate, garnet, sapphire, and other oxides have potential, and electrooptic applications may follow.

Current research results on high-temperature superconductors are truly unprecedented. Although the fabrication of these oxide materials into useful configurations may be difficult, the promise of the materials is enormous, especially in tunneling technology and high-speed data busses.

In addition, biological information storage and retrieval systems hold great fascination. Addressing and reading out molecules are formidable tasks, but the scanning tunneling microscope may prove to be a useful probe.

SIGNIFICANCE OF MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FOR THE PUBLIC SECTOR

Government—federal, state, and local—is critically dependent on materials in fulfilling its many missions related to defense, energy, transportation, space, and safety. While the materials science and engineering needs of the federal government are very diverse, they can be broadly divided into two regimes that often present quite different demands—one associated with providing new systems that can perform at the leading edge, and the other associated with incrementally improving the performance of existing systems.

Needs for leading edge systems exist in such programs as the strategic defense initiative and the national aerospace plane. In addition, more conventional planes need to fly faster and higher; submarines need to be faster and quieter and to have greater range; aircraft interiors should not burn following a crash; and computer capability is a frequent limitation in the ability to describe the behavior of complex systems and structures. In these and similar areas, successful development frequently depends on materials that have specific and definable characteristics either through inherent electrical, structural, or thermophysical properties or through engineering design that compensates for limitations of materials. While these demands are often

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

difficult to achieve, the mission requirements present clear goals that the materials must meet.

Incrementally improving existing systems involves meeting numerous demands and setting goals that are often difficult to specify. Many federal units—including the Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of the Interior (DOI), Department of Transportation (DOT), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the regulatory agencies—are concerned with achieving optimum use and extended life of state-of-the-art structures, vehicles, processes, and devices. Many of the issues are common to several agencies. Corrosion limits the performance of ships, aircraft, bridges, concrete reinforcement, mining and drilling equipment, and vehicles of all types. The fuel efficiency of all vehicles can be improved by the use of lightweight materials. Energy availability and acceptability depend on developing reliable processes that are cheaper and less polluting than current processes. The useful lifetime of vehicles, tracks, roads, and structures can all be influenced by nondestructive testing methods.

In common with industry, the federal government needs improved generic techniques, such as synthesis and processing, and new techniques for the evaluation of performance. There are, however, significant differences in the impact of materials on the public sector and the private sector. Most importantly, national security is often a motivating factor for governmental involvement in materials science and engineering. The federal government devotes a large share of its materials R&D budget to the development of high-performance and high-cost materials for military applications that do not have a large impact on the civilian sector. The implications of this emphasis on defense-related needs are discussed in Chapter 7.

The following sections deal with materials requirements of four government units, illustrating needs for materials in the four areas of defense, energy, transportation, and space.

Department of Defense

Since the end of World War II, the United States has adopted the strategy that it will use technology to offset the numerical advantage that the Warsaw Pact nations have in manpower and conventional weapons. Materials science and engineering is intimately involved in maintaining the technological lead inherent in this policy.

The broad range of activities covered under the mission of DOD demands high performance from an exceptionally broad range of materials. Although hardware for weapons systems such as ships, tanks, and planes is most visible, materials for construction of buildings, roads, and runways; electronic and optical materials for communication and control; and clothing for climate

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

and environmental protection are indispensable for many missions. Performance is, of course, paramount; but because the most severe demands occur during infrequent crisis situations, other considerations such as availability, reliability, and durability are important. Environmental protection is often necessary, and provisions for in-service inspection or evaluation are essential.

To provide more effective weapons and to minimize the risk to personnel, weapons systems are constantly provided with more intelligence. This intelligence requires microelectronics, sensors, displays, and software systems. Artificially structured materials and artificial intelligence are just two examples of areas in which research efforts support the diverse needs of the military.

In addition, present and future weapons systems are carefully examined to identify performance or economic issues that are limited by the capabilities of existing materials. When deficiencies are found, research programs are initiated to eliminate these limitations. The use of lightweight carbon-epoxy composite materials in military and civilian aircraft is an outgrowth of such an evaluation by the Air Force.

Many of the materials needed by DOD are unique to military applications. Therefore the development process must include the processes for producing materials, often to exacting tolerances. Strong attention is thus paid to manufacturing techniques.

Although DOD maintains numerous specialized laboratories and weapons centers, most of the actual R&D on new weapons systems is done by private contractors working under DOD direction. Many basic research programs in areas related to defense needs are carried out through contracts with universities.

Department of Energy

The Department of Energy has a mission that is much broader than its name suggests. It is responsible not only for R&D in support of advanced energy technologies and energy conservation, but also for the design, development, and production of nuclear weapons. It is therefore concerned with issues that are critical both to defense and to the economic well-being of the civilian sector.

Materials issues affect most DOE activities. DOE supports a large basic research program that provides scientific support for the energy technologies that are longer range than those described earlier for the energy industry. Examples of such long-range technologies are fusion power, advanced fission reactors, and improved techniques for coal conversion and combustion. Many of these new technologies are used in very severe environments that place unusual demands on materials.

The Department of Energy is also concerned with energy conservation

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

issues, some of them near-term and others involving the development of longer-term technologies. These often involve materials and include establishment of standards for usage, development of new materials, and development of new systems that use both new and traditional materials. In the case of new energy sources for transportation, a major effort is under way to develop efficient electric vehicle power systems, including new and revolutionary batteries, new fuel cells, and ceramic turbines.

The Department of Energy is also charged with assuring that the United States continues to have the capability to maintain a credible nuclear deterrent, which includes the design and certification of new weapons and their production in stockpile quantities. For nuclear weapons to be a deterrent, they must threaten those targets that an enemy considers essential. Thus, as an enemy’s strategy and its related targets change with time, so must the capabilities of our nuclear weapons, a condition that often requires development and qualification of new materials. For example, earth penetrator or nuclear-directed energy weapons present severe materials challenges. Hardening of weapons systems against enemy attack must be considered as well. Economic and environmental forces also have an impact on weapons research; for example, improved processing technologies for plutonium are required to reduce the amount of transuranic waste produced. The safe disposal of radioactive waste presents a series of unusually difficult and challenging materials problems.

The Department of Energy maintains several large national facilities for materials research, such as the National Synchrotron Light Source and several centers for neutron scattering research. Much of the short- and long-term research on materials is carried out in the multidisciplinary national laboratories supported by DOE.

Department of Transportation

The major needs of DOT are reflected in two mission requirements: enhancement of the safety of all modes of transportation and promotion of the efficiency of the transportation system. Improving the safety of the air traffic control system; ensuring the safety of bridges, pipelines, and ship hulls; establishing standards for performance of vehicles used in transportation; and providing for the safe transport of potentially dangerous substances all involve materials in a variety of ways.

Improving the efficiency of the transportation system also involves materials and materials systems. The efficiency of the vehicles that move along the nation’s highways, airways, waterways, and railways is continually being improved as a result of the introduction of new materials into their power plants and structures. The efficient operation of the transportation system also depends on the ease with which freight and humans are transferred to

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

vehicles. Efficient transfer depends significantly on the creation of efficient interfaces between the various modes of the transportation system. Since these interfaces are frequently concerned with handling materials, they also are critically dependent on the progress that results from research on materials. It is also worth noting that the need for control of large amounts of information, often in real time, places increasing demands on the control systems and the computers that support these systems.

From the materials science and engineering perspective, the main materials of interest can be classified according to type and weight. They are (1) bulk materials such as concrete, asphalt, and aggregate, which form the over-whelming percentage of the weight of railbeds and roadbeds; (2) structural metals (primarily steel), which perform critical structural functions in the form of rail tracks, railcars, bridges, ships, pipelines, and concrete reinforcement and in new metal alloys and reinforced plastics that are being used increasingly in aircraft and ground vehicles; and (3) specialized materials such as polymeric materials used for protective clothing, coatings, adhesives, and vehicle interiors and exteriors.

Although the relevant missions of DOT have been categorized as safety and efficiency, these two functions are clearly intertwined. Deterioration, when unchecked, leads either to unsafe conditions or to less than optimal use of infrastructure capacity. Overall evaluation of the needs and opportunities for research in the U.S. transportation sector indicates that new materials technologies offer substantive possibilities for improving all areas related to the transportation infrastructure.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is charged with assuring that the United States remains a preeminent world power in space science, space operation, and space exploration, and with creating the necessary research and technology bases needed for the United States to maintain a competitive position in civilian and military aeronautics.

Materials issues pervade all aspects of NASA’s mission. Many of the challenges are unique and particularly difficult. Special emphasis is placed on weight reduction to enhance pay load capabilities. This includes not only lightweight materials, but also innovative processing and design concepts that can reduce weight while maintaining the desired level of performance. High-temperature materials are required to enhance fuel efficiency in combustion and to ensure protection during reentry. Cryogenic materials and insulation are needed for containment of cryogenic fuel and liquid oxygen. High-efficiency energy sources for space applications present critical materials problems. Environmental conditions include the high-vacuum conditions of outer space and the effects of atomic oxygen encountered in low

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

earth orbit. Reliability is an important issue, since maintenance is often difficult or impossible. NASA is also responsible for exploring effects of the space environment, including microgravity, on materials processing.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration also has a special role in assuring the continuing availability of advanced technology for ground-based aeronautics systems. This includes concern with improving the efficiency of turbine engines, the design of low-noise, high-thrust turbines, the examination of new structural designs that increase lift and reduce weight, and the development of new avionic systems that improve reliability and provide needed assistance to their human operators.

Materials issues thus are of critical concern to the mission of NASA. Economics, safety, and performance all depend on innovative use and development of materials. To meet the myriad demands for advanced sensors for earth-based and planetary missions; for on-orbit and deep space power; for micro- to mega-thrust propulsion systems; for extraterrestrial structures and vehicles; and for improved airframes and propulsion systems for the commercial aircraft industry, NASA supports a wide spectrum of materials research in its in-house laboratories and through contracts with industry. NASA also maintains a wide range of unique test facilities that are used by government and industry for the evaluation and testing of new designs and concepts.

FINDINGS

The surveys of the eight industries show critical needs of these industries for new, improved, and more economical materials and processes. Similar needs are evident in the public sector in areas including defense, energy, transportation, space, and health. Some important crosscutting materials needs are summarized in Table 2.4.

An overriding theme for all the industries surveyed was the primary importance of synthesis and processing of new materials and traditional materials, and fabrication of these materials into useful components and devices. Materials science and engineering, and processing in particular, plays a uniquely important role in these industries and in their ability to help maintain and improve the U.S. position in international competitiveness.

In every industry surveyed, there is a clear need to produce and fabricate new and traditional materials more economically, and with higher reproducibility and quality, than is done at present. The opportunities in synthesis range from preparation of totally new materials to development of methods for recycling scrap metals and polymers. For all materials, there is an acute need for better ways to produce objects in shapes approaching the desired final form (near-net-shape forming). Equally important is a need for ways to determine the quality of products on the production line and to feed back

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

the information to operators in real time. Computers and computer modeling are beginning to play an important role in this area and are also reducing the time needed to take new materials, processes, and designs from the laboratory to the production floor. Throughout manufacturing, the integration of synthesis, processing, fabrication, and testing is a challenge to materials science and engineering.

Industry needs in other areas of materials science and engineering are also evident from the industry surveys outlined above. These include needs for new materials with new properties, especially composites, and new materials synthesized at the nanostructural level. Outstanding opportunities exist to improve the production and use of materials through computation as a complement to experimentation. A challenge is to use our understanding of structure, bonding, and properties to develop predictive models from the behavior of materials in use. There is a critical need for better ways to predict the mechanical behavior and useful lifetime of materials and objects in various applications.

Another theme that emerged in some of the industry surveys was that the federal government should help to identify industries of current or projected strategic national importance. Such identification should then influence the emphasis and direction of major national research activities. It was also felt that the government should play a role in helping to bring industry, universities, and federal laboratories together to address these research priorities.

The industry survey participants saw a number of opportunities to improve the effectiveness of the various institutions involved in materials science and engineering. Their views, and those of the committee as a whole, represent important themes of this report and are as follows:

  • Industry clearly has the major responsibility for maintaining the competitiveness of its products and its production operations. Greater emphasis on materials science and engineering and, in particular, on integration of materials science and engineering with other business operations is necessary to improve the competitive positions of U.S. firms in domestic and international competition. The incentives (e.g., money and prestige) for top-quality people to become involved in production should be increased. Intelligent collaborations with researchers in the universities and in government laboratories can enhance the effectiveness of R&D in industry. Industrial consortia can provide a mechanism to conduct R&D programs too large for any one company.

  • Universities traditionally have had a dual role in educating personnel for industry and in conducting innovative fundamental research. The universities can promote the general welfare through encouragement of the interdisciplinary teaching and interdisciplinary research characteristic of materials science and engineering. Both industry and the nation need materials

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×

scientists and engineers broadly trained in the range of disciplines needed for effective research, development, and production. Greater emphasis is needed on teaching and research relevant to processing and manufacturing operations. Universities will often provide the best sites for the science and technology centers discussed below.

  • Government laboratories, which include hundreds of laboratories funded by federal and sometimes by state governments, have many capable employees and large capital resources that could benefit industry. The DOE-funded national laboratories, in particular, have many scientists and engineers with special talents in materials science and engineering. Reorientation of the missions of the national laboratories toward industrial materials science and engineering interests could have a valuable effect on U.S. industrial competitiveness. (The role of the National Institutes of Health laboratories as an asset to the pharmaceutical industry is illustrative.) To be effective in helping industry, federal R&D must be directed intelligently to problems of genuine interest to industry. Exchange of personnel between industry and the government laboratories would help focus the work and assist technology transfer. The federal laboratories, especially the National Institute for Standards and Technology in its new role, could play a valuable role in establishing test procedures, setting standards, assembling data collections, and transferring technology to industry.

  • Centers, including the materials research laboratories and engineering research centers funded by the National Science Foundation, play an important part in bringing together people from the many science and engineering disciplines that constitute materials science and engineering. Likewise, centers can be a focal point for bringing together people from universities, industry, and government laboratories in materials science and engineering programs of mutual interest. This combination of many talents and the extensive instrumentation and equipment available in a center can be extremely effective in advancing R&D programs. Relevant models exist in the interdisciplinary teams at large industrial laboratories and at the Max Planck and Fraunhofer Institutes in West Germany. As with the national laboratories, significant input from industry will be needed to direct centers in work relevant to industry.

  • Consortia of industrial research groups, such as the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation and the Semiconductor Research Corporation, and consortia in steel, machine tools, and components may play a significant role in preliminary research on new technologies such as “beyond VLSI” circuitry. There are few U.S. models of demonstrated effectiveness. Industrial consortia guided by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry seem to be effective in Japan but need refinement as models for U.S. use. Leadership and initiative to establish such mutual materials science and engineering ventures should be encouraged.

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
  • People who are well trained and well motivated, and who have effective leadership skills, are the basis for success in any technological endeavor. The universities, industry, and government all have important roles in ensuring the availability and intelligent employment of materials science and engineering personnel. Communication and personnel interchange are fundamental to successful technology transfer within a company or between institutions. All parties in materials science and engineering should work to encourage communication and a sense of community in ventures aimed at enhancement of U.S. industrial competitiveness.

Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
Page 50
Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
Page 53
Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
Page 54
Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
Page 55
Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
Page 56
Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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Suggested Citation:"2. Materials Science and Engineering and National Economic and Strategic Security." National Research Council. 1989. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s: Maintaining Competitiveness in the Age of Materials. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/758.
×
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×
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Materials science and engineering (MSE) contributes to our everyday lives by making possible technologies ranging from the automobiles we drive to the lasers our physicians use. Materials Science and Engineering for the 1990s charts the impact of MSE on the private and public sectors and identifies the research that must be conducted to help America remain competitive in the world arena. The authors discuss what current and future resources would be needed to conduct this research, as well as the role that industry, the federal government, and universities should play in this endeavor.

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