Economic,

Environmental, and Societal

Issues in Materials

Presented By:
Group 15&16
EILINGER, DAX GABRIEL
CANIEDO, GLESTER JOHN
LIWALIW, LECILLE MAE
FLORA, JOHN PAULO
OVERVIEW
 Materials to use in an application can be limited by a number of factors.
Factors such as;
 cost of production
 availability of starting materials (natural resources)
 level of pollution resulting from the manufacturing process
 and amount of waste produced at the end of the lifecycle of the application.
Issues to Address
 What factors affect product cost?
 What factors determine the overall environmental impact of a product?
 For which materials is recycling a viable option?
 What is “Green Design”?
Relation of the 3 Issues
What will you attain if all 3 are considered?

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Sustainable Development will then be Without all 3
considered, how will
attained. you attain Sustainable
development?
Economic Considerations
➢ A product must make economic sense.
✓ the price of a product must be attractive to customers
✓ it must return a sustainable profit to the company.
➢ To minimize product costs, materials engineers should consider three
factors:
✓ component design
✓ material selection
✓ manufacturing technique
➢ Other significant factors include labor & fringe benefits, insurance,
and profit
Total Materials Cycle
Components of “Green Design”

 Reduce - to redesign a product to use less material.

 Reuse - to fabricate a product using material that can be used again.
 Recycle - reprocessing a product at the end of its lifecycle into new raw material
that can be processed into new products.
Recycling Materials
Proper product design facilitates recycling

Advantages Issues
 reduces pollution emissions and ➢ products must be disassembled or
landfill deposits shredded to recover materials, and
collection
➢ transportation costs are significant
factors in the economics
surrounding recycling.
Recycling Metals
Aluminum
is the most commonly recycled nonferrous metal

Advantages
 it takes a lot less energy to recycle
aluminum.
 readily forms an oxide that forms a
protective surface.
 This protective surface protects
the bulk of the aluminum from
oxidizing further.
 recovered every time it goes to the
recycling phase, in contrast to
iron.
Issues
 it takes more energy to extract
aluminum from bauxite ore, which
requires heating and electrolysis.
In iron, oxidation, i.e., rust, does
not protect iron from oxygen and
water, and significant amounts of
iron are not recyclable because the
iron has been converted to rust.
Recycling Glass
Glass - most common commercial ceramics.
Advantages
 little economic incentive to recycle
glass.
 The raw materials for producing
glass are inexpensive and readily
available.
Issues
 relatively dense, which makes it
expensive to transport which adds
to the costs of recycling.
 must be sorted before being
processed during recycling, usually
done manually which adds to costs.
 Not all glass is recyclable, and the
glass comes in many different
forms.
 Limits of Recycling
Advantages
 Properly done
 it reduces the usage of raw
materials, energy usage, air
pollution, water pollution, and
greenhouse gas emissions.
Issues
 can involve energy usage, hazards, labor costs, and
practices by individuals and countries, which can
hamper the efficient implementation of recycling
plans.
 Not all materials can be recycled and so materials can
only be recycled a limited number of times due to
degradation (downcycling) each time through the
process.
 Has led to electronic waste from developed countries
being shipped to undeveloped countries for recycling.
 this leads to low wages and terrible conditions for
workers involved in the recycling process and the
release of toxins which are environmental and health
risks for the individuals and their surrounding
communities.
 Recycling Polymers
2 Classes
Thermoplastic Thermosetting
 When heated: it melts, and softens  When heated: it hardens
 When cooled: it can be reformed  When cooled: it can’t be reformed and stays hard.
✓ Advantages ✓ Issues
➢ Easily recycled ➢ Much more difficult to recycle.
✓ Issues  It can be ground up and used as filler or processed
➢ Properties degrade with each to be broken down into their underlying base units
reuse. which can be reused. *Note: Which is another
approach to reduce the amount of plastic in our
landfills is development of biodegradable plastic.

General Idea: Plastic can be made to breakdown.

Bioplastics often come from renewable raw materials.
End of Lesson
 Summary of Video Highlights
➢ Economic Considerations (Renewable Foodstock) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFXXtO58H5M
➢ Components of “Green Design”
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9GHBdyYcyo
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdbFVBxUchI
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M1XBJeY7ak
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvkyJ0vvW2w
➢ Recycling (Landfill) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leNmp6VLrJA
➢ Recycling Materials - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQen-uq3eUk
➢ Recycling Glass - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhpc0UULjDU
➢ Limits of Recycling – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vej4EH3fMfE
➢ Recycling Polymers - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3m_NtQTnfc

Sources:
Lesson 2: Economic, Environmental, and Societal Issues in Materials Science | MATSE 81: Materials In
Today's World (psu.edu) - https://www.e-education.psu.edu/matse81/node/2080