Advanced Materials
A sector study of the EMCP
Advanced materials includes a wide range of materials, applications and processes—from nanoscale films and coatings, to advanced alloys and composites, to innovative recycling processes. In spite of this diversity, a number of common challenges exist that—if addressed—could accelerate the development and deployment of a wide range of materials and technologies into the marketplace.
Moving new materials into widespread adoption is larger in scope and more multi-faceted than the capabilities of any one private or public entity. The scope often includes defining policies, roadmaps and norms on which a range of entities across the supply chain can agree, creating computational modeling and simulation tools to accurately predict the behavior and performance of materials in final products, creating universally recognized standards and common development plans, and verifying the performance of new materials through a range of characterization and qualification activities. Many of these steps require agreement and input across a wide range of stakeholders.
Over the past year, Council on Competitiveness dialogues looking at advanced materials have identified several challenges and opportunities regarding the design, production and scaling of advanced materials to accelerate the transition from discovery to manufacturing. Examples include:
- Early adoption of advanced materials by manufacturers to make products more competitive, higher performing, less expensive, more energy-efficient over the life cycle use of the product, and differentiated from competition in the market. Use of advanced materials in commercial products also drives the market for the materials themselves, promoting the manufacture of advanced materials.
- The need to organize and make readily available to manufacturers the materials qualification data coming from fundamental research.
- Enhancing awareness and accessibility of unique materials research infrastructure in publicly-sponsored research laboratories for manufacturers (particularly for small and medium-sized manufacturers in a supply chain).
- Use of an Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) platform for mining an extensive database on materials, product properties and manufacturing process performance for materials design and manufacturing optimization.
- Developing shared materials processing capabilities for scaling materials innovations from the gram-scale to the kilogram scale during extended application qualification.
- Designing materials for manufacturing that are both more sustainable and recyclable
On April 12, 2016 the Council, in partnership with Worcester Polytechnic Institute and QuesTek Innovations, LLC, held a sector study dialogue in Washington, DC where leading experts gathered to identify challenges and opportunities to accelerate U.S. competitiveness in advanced materials and enhance U.S. manufacturing capacity.
News: Council Hosts Experts to Address Advanced Materials Issues
