Materials and Man's Needs Materials Science and Engineering (1974) / Chapter Skim
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Recommendations - An Agenda for Action
Recommendations - An Agenda for Action
Pages 154-188
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From page 154... ...
· Materials science and engineering will play a pivotal role in managing and conserving this country's material, energy, and environmental resources, presenting as it does a total body of science and engineering that can be invoked in a sophisticated -- perhaps unprecedented -manner to help solve societal problems. Interdisciplinary research has become essential to progress in complex fields like materials, the environmental sciences, and medicine, but the universities generally harbor some resistance to interdisciplinarity going well beyond that needed to preserve the separate, and indispensable, scientific and engineering disciplines.
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From page 155... ...
Recommendations for Technical Action Materials Research and Development Required for Progress in Energy Technology The pressing demand for energy in this country is creating problems that simply cannot be solved without skillful exploitation of materials science and engineering. We must learn to generate, transmit, store, and use energy more efficiently and within appropriate environmental constraints.
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From page 156... ...
The unique advantages of solar energy warrant coordinated attack on the pertinent materials problems, with adequate long-term funding by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation. Electric power from nuclear fusion is not a certainty, but pending a demonstration of technical feasibility, the presumed materials demands of the process should be studied critically to minimize the possibility that they may become the limiting factor.
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From page 157... ...
. It follows that we can solve many environmental problems by moving materials through the materials cycle more carefully.
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From page 158... ...
Materials Emphasis in Goal-Oriented Research Potential scarcities of certain materials, the country's current shift in technological emphasis toward civilian-oriented goals, and recent trends in consumer and environmental legislation, all combine to raise unprecedented and challenging materials-related questions. The results of COSMAT's priority analysis show, among other things, that in some areas significant progress will occur only if materials research can surmount major roadblocks; in other areas, materials research can move us ahead markedly even when materials may not be limiting factors.
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From page 159... ...
(Pages 54-96) Applied Materials Research of Broad Implication The nation's civilian technologies and still-significant progress in defense and space depend for success on sustained, strong efforts in applied research on materials.
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From page 160... ...
From the industrial standpoint, the action recommended could be advanced by cooperative funding of programs in universities, research institutes, and independent laboratories. For federal agencies that support materials research and development, the generic applied work discussed here is an essential element in establishing properly balanced programs.
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From page 161... ...
The focus proposed, however, is appropriate also for companies where management is receptive to the prospect of longer-term payoff. Promising topics for basic research include: interatomic forces, chemical bonding, and lattice stability; microscopic mechanisms of phase transitions; the amorphous, disordered state of matter; impurity and defect phenomena in solids; surfaces; one- and twodimensional systems (e.g., linear molecules and interfaces, respectively)
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From page 162... ...
Although oil shale and coal might be developed as raw-materials bases for polymers, it is nevertheless attractive to consider the technical feasibility of deriving synthetic polymers from renewable resources despite the fact that in the short range, hydrocarbons have a substantial economic edge. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT studies be undertaken on the feasibility of using renewable resources, including organic 6 wastes, as a raw-materials base for synthetic Renewable Resources polymers.
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From page 163... ...
IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT the resources of materials science and engi neering be deliberately exploited and extended to upgrade the recyclability of materials 7 through materials development and selection, Recyclability meshed carefully with product design, and through the development of new recycling processes. This recommendation should be implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency.
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From page 164... ...
It is imperative that the nation look more closely at how best to meet the changing requirements for materials, not only in terms of conventional market factors, but also in the light of consumer attitudes, environmental pressures, and international relations. Materials science and engineering, applied creatively to the materials cycle, can do much to integrate modern materials technology into federal policies on materials supply and usage and the interrelated policies on energy and the environment.
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From page 165... ...
A significant purpose of the coherent approach to materials questions being proposed here is the stimulation of research and development in materials to improve the country's competitiveness in world markets and to optimize its consumption of resources. Additional points are: to give materials issues proper weight in national policies; to provide for an integrated approach to the entire materials cycle, from resource identification through processing, engineering applications, end use, disposal, and recyclability; and to provide leadership for international cooperation in the
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From page 166... ...
program of cooperation in scientific research, in which catalytic materials are among the areas of interest. We see much to gain, however, from more extensive international cooperation on materialsrelated questions.
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From page 167... ...
Scientific and engineering societies should be urged to undertake new initiatives to promote freer flow of professional and technical information around the world. The federal action recommended, among its potential benefits, could help this country develop its materials policies in cognizance of those of other nations.
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From page 168... ...
Support of generic applied research could be undertaken by that Division, but is particularly suitable for the Foundation's program in Research Applied to National Needs, given the necessary administrative and financial resources. Generic applied research on materials, where feasible, could also be undertaken to advantage by mission-oriented federal agencies.
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From page 169... ...
The reviews, assessments, and recommendations concerning materials research and development should go annually-to the relevant agencies and to the federal science advisory structure. The federal body named in this recommendation should also move to codify and make widely accessible the extensive technical information on materials generated in governmental programs.
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From page 170... ...
As the civilian-oriented agencies begin to integrate materials science and engineering into their programs, In response to shifting national priorities, they should find it advantageous and economical to tap the large existing federal resource in materials research and development. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT civilian-oriented and other governmental agencies take full advantage of existing federal facilities and personnel to harness materials 12 science and engineering to emerging programs, Use of Federal and that this federal resource in materials be Laboratories utilized both in a consultative capacity and in performing the indicated research and development.
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From page 171... ...
IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT technical management in industry make strong efforts to integrate materials science and engineering with product design and manufacture, as employed most effectively in the scienceintensive or high technologies of aerospace, electronics, and nuclear energy. Integration of Materials Knowledge With Design and Production This recommendation calls for bold industrial initiative, which could be encouraged by the Industrial Research Institute but in the end must be spearheaded by technical management.
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From page 172... ...
Engineering in Civilian Technologies The universality of materials suggests that the stimulation of industrial programs in materials science and engineering can be a powerful stimulus to civilian technologies in general. In some materials-~ntensive industries -- construction, housing, materials fabrication -- many companies are relatively small and unable to develop or readily adopt new technology.
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From page 173... ...
The cooperative ROD might involve joint support of an industrial materials research center or of materials research programs in company, university, or independent laboratories. Civilian-oriented areas appropriate for federal funding of industrial research include construction and biomedical materials.
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From page 174... ...
An example of what might be done is the longstanding cooperative program of the National Bureau of Standards and the American Dental Association in developing advanced dental materials. The actions proposed in this Recommendation would complement existing technology-incentives experiments in the Department of Commerce and the National Science Foundation.
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From page 175... ...
15 Research in Bulk-Materials Industries This recommendation calls in some cases for thorough rethinking of industrial practice in research, with a view to maintaining at least the ability to evaluate and use new developments discovered elsewhere. A prime opportunity appears to lie in materials extraction, processing, and recycling, where entirely new technologies may be required to obtain useful products from huge tonnages of very low-grade and widely disseminated deposits at acceptable energy and environmental costs.
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From page 176... ...
Value of Specialized Research Centers A major contributor to the achievements of materials science and engineering during the past two decades has been the revolution in research equipment, instrumentation, and analytical tools. The current requirements of the field for such equipment entail relatively modest cost in the scale of modern science and technology, but these requirements are not being met in some areas, for example, in flammability, nondestructive testing, robotics, and biomaterial evaluation.
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From page 177... ...
Equipment for materials research includes high-voltage electron macros copes, nuclear reactors, and particle accelerators, requirements that can probably be met with existing federal and university facilities, providing they are funded adequately and made widely accessible. Among the needs in materials engineering are programs on flammability and on nondestructive testing.
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From page 178... ...
It is inhibited also by the internal structure of some of the main research-supporting agencies, including the lack of balance with respect to disciplines and materials in the staffing of those agencies. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT universities intensify their efforts to build interdisciplinary activities in research and education; that the barriers to interdisciplinarity in universities be examined critically; and that guidelines be developed for recognizing and rewarding academic achievement in interdisciplinary and interdepartmental programs.
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From page 179... ...
The makeup of the nation's manpower in materials science and engineering including as it does large numbers of engineers, physicists, and chemists, as well as holders of materialsdesignated degrees, reinforces this view and extends it beyond engineering students in the physical sciences. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT undergraduate education in the physical sciences as well as in engineering provide opportunities for a flexible content of solid-state topics relevant to materials science and engineering.
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From page 180... ...
Substantial imbalances exist, however, in other areas important to the long-range effectiveness of materials science and engineering. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT, depending on local circumstances, materialsdegree programs provide increased emphasis on such engineering topics as: materials preparation and processing; polymer technology; design and systems analysis; computer modeling; relations among the properties, function, and performance of materials; and that research in these areas be included.
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From page 181... ...
IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT support of materials research centers through block grants be accepted as an established funding method; that block grants be awarded and renewed on a competitive basis and provide ~ for forward or step funding; that, in addition Materials Research to support for individual scientists, some Centers concentration of effort be encouraged to take advantage of local research specializations; and that appropriate parts of the center pro grams be oriented toward materials systems (integrated combinations of materials) , pro cessing, and applications.
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From page 182... ...
Recommendations for Professional Action Roles for National Advisory Groups Numerous groups advise parts of the federal government on special aspects of materials, but the two with continuity and wide scope are the National Materials Advisory Board and the Committee on Solid State Sciences, both within the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. Each committee has dealt only with specific sectors in the field of materials science and engineering, and neither has discretionary funds with which to conduct studies.
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From page 183... ...
In addition, the Board and the Committee on Solid State Sciences should be recognized more fully as complementary bodies and utilized accordingly. Because of the recurring~need to identify national materials problems and opportunities, we expect that the Board and the Committee between them will become an important source of information and support for the newly established National Research Council Commissions on Societal Technologies, Natural Resources, and Peace and National Security.
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From page 184... ...
The Federation should also facilitate efforts among the societies to organize their work in technical programming, publications, and info~-mation-retrieval systems. A well-coord~nated program is likewise required to increase public awareness of the underlying importance of materials in achieving national goals and of the role of materials science and engineering in securing the benefits of materials to mankind.
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From page 185... ...
IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT government, industry, and the universities pursue arrangements ranging from temporary exchanges in personnel to joint academic 23 - industrial appointments in order to promote Flexibility of Manpower greater interaction and flexibility among materials scientists and engineers from the various sectors. This recommendation could be implemented cooperatively by the Industrial Research Institute and the National Science Foundation.
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From page 186... ...
The National Science Foundation's National Register of Scientific and Technical Personnel, which provided important data on manpower characteristics, has been discontinued. The NSF data on funding for education and for research and development are at a level of detail that limits their utility for long-range planning.
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From page 187... ...
It is most important that the pertinent data be collected and organized in a form useful for analysis and planning in multidisciplinary areas suth as materials science and engineering and the environmental sciences. A sound data base of the kind recommended is essential for effective federal planning and budgeting in the sciences, education, employment, and ret ated areas .
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