New Materials Technology and Applications

The Age of New Materials and The Materials Revolution

- The Materials Revolution

In the last decade of the 20th century, three simultaneous technological revolutions will dominate information technology, biotechnology, and new materials. While the first two are widely reported in the West, new material technologies have been largely ignored. The Japanese are quietly looking to new materials as their next growth industry. 

Throughout history, advances in materials and material technology have impacted humanity. Now, we may be on the verge of the next shift in this type of technology, enabling products and features we never believed possible. Materials of the future will need to meet three key criteria. They must be durable, lightweight and economical. This is due to the simple reason that it is now recognized that our natural resources are limited. To be able to make continued technological progress in the 21st century, societies need to adapt the way they manufacture so that as little work is done as possible. 

If chemistry is the core science, it is not surprising that chemical engineering supports a wide range of technologies. EITA focuses on research areas ranging from the production and manipulation of chemicals to energy, medicine, electronics and advanced materials with new properties.

- Materials Needs for the Industries of the Future

Since the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age, the development of materials has helped expand the limits of human endeavor and achievement. Entering the 21st century, the demands of industries such as aerospace and automotive are pushing the frontiers of material performance to more extreme levels. 

Industrial demands demand materials that are lighter, tougher, thinner, denser, more flexible or rigid, as well as heat and wear resistant. At the same time, researchers are pushing the boundaries of what we imagined possible, seeking to improve and enhance existing materials while proposing entirely new materials that, while still years away from everyday use, could put us on entirely new technological paths. Therefore, the technological wonders of tomorrow must be composed of materials that can withstand these elements, while also requiring minimal energy to function. 

Some of the following materials may take decades to be useful to most of us, while others may change our world forever, and this list is far from exhaustive and in no particular order. Aerogels, graphene, artificial spider silk, carbon nanotubes, metamaterials, metallic glasses, metallic foams, transparent alumina, electronic textiles, molecular superglue.

- Possible Research Topics

• Click here for the new materials and new green energy possible workshop topics. 
• Click here for the theme of new media and new digital economy ventures.
• Click here for the new media possible workshop topics.
• Click here for the theme of biomedical research. 
• Click here for the biomedical research possible workshop topics. 
• Click here for the theme of the EITA-New Agriculture.
• Click here for the new agriculture possible workshop topics.

 [More to come ...]