SAMPE Journal - May/June 2012 - (Page 44)

Perspectives Steven Rodgers SAMPE Past President and Consultant, EmergenTek LLC Steven.R@EmergenTek.com It’s All Material: Identifying and Anticipating the Needs of the Next Age (global?) To use a phrase like, “Everything is made out of something,” risks trivializing our industry. However, this truth is so fundamental that historical ages are often recorded with reference to the dominant enabling materials of the time. We have titles like the Stone Age, the Iron Age and the Bronze Age as quiet testimony to the game-changing importance of those material discoveries to the societies they served. There have been those who have suggested that future generations will refer to the latter half of the 20th Century as the Silicon Age because of the importance it has had in the realm of information technology. I have often suggested in the past that this definition is far too narrow, recognizing only the most obvious example among a dazzling array of critical new materials. The Advanced Materials Age comes closer to how this age might be defined. Yet I almost wonder if the Advanced Materials Age is already behind us and is in the process of being replaced by something much greater. Recently I attended a Keynote address given by Dr. Tia Benson Tolle at SAMPE Asia 2012 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In that address Tia coined what I think may be the perfect phrase to describe our age: It is the Engineered Materials Age. You may question the subtle distinction between the phrase “Advanced Materials” and the phrase “Engineered Materials” but I think this phrase perfectly and concisely characterizes the crossroads in which our industry finds itself. In the age of Advanced Materials, we developed new materials from existing building blocks and modified them, tailoring them to our needs in a vast array of applications. Within the composites industry this has led to a broad spectrum of specific resins and fibers, each designed to optimize properties for specific applications from shower stalls to satellite structures. Yet the fact that we can very specifically manipulate material properties and fiber orientations to our advantage is not the real harbinger of the Engineered Materials Age. We are looking at an age in which we can conceive, design and build materials from the atom up in order to meet a specific need. I used to refer to these as “Enabling Materials” but I am now persuaded that these are best described as “Engineered Materials.” This constitutes a fundamental shift in the role of materials science. We are entering an age in which the sophistication of our emerging, differentiating and disruptive technologies will require materials that do not currently exist. Once the performance specification is created for a required material, material scientists will set out to design, build and test that material, often at the atomic level. This is where the challenge becomes interesting and provides some very unique opportunities. In February 2011 SAMPE hosted and led the SAMPE Materials Forecast Forum. This event brought together a team of 20 highlevel technologists from disparate backgrounds to forecast the future of the advanced materials industry for the next 5 to 20 years. Instead of developing a laundry list of materials that need to be on the radar screen the group moved toward elements that would encourage or inhibit the future development of critical material technologies. Key among the inhibiting elements they identified was the lack of recognition within society of the critical importance of material science to technology development marketplace development by extension. Without an industry voice that clearly communicates the importance and needs of the community, materials science will continue to lack the recognition that will draw needed workers, researchers, funding and resources. There was also great concern with the lack of available tools. Since that time there has been formal, strategic recognition of the need to promote a concentration on materials science and a strategic vision on how best to do that. In my conversations while attending the SAMPE Europe Conference, I have found that the European Commission (EC) has initiated Joint Technology Initiatives (JTI) as a means to implement the Strategic Research Agendas (SRA) of a limited number of European Technology Platforms (ETPs). The ETPs are targeted technologies which are believed to have the highest strategic importance. They are limited in number and defined as technologies in which regular instruments of the Framework Programme for Research and Development are not sufficient. Instead, effective implementation requires a dedicated mechanism that enables the necessary leadership and coordination to achieve the research objectives. In these few ETPs, the scale and scope of the objectives is such that loose co-ordination through ETPs and support through the regular instruments of the Framework Programme for Research and Development are not sufficient. Instead, effective implementation 44 SAMPE Journal, Volume 48, No. 3, May/June 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SAMPE Journal - May/June 2012

SAMPE Journal - May/June 2012
Contents
President’s Message
Technical Director’s Corner
Improving mechanical Performance of Automotive Underbody Shield with Unidirectional Tapes in Compression-Molded Direct-Long Fiber Thermoplastics (D-LFT)
2012 SAMPE Lubin Award
SAMPE Europe’s SETEC 2012, Lucerne
2012 SAMPE Fellows
Europe News & Views
SAMPE Europe’s SEMAT 2012, Munich
The SAMPE Foundation
SAMPE Journal Editorial Calender
SAMPE Proceedings
Co-molded, Metallic components for Thermal Barrier Protection in TRM Composite Valves for Internal Combustion Engines
Corporate Partners
Welcome SAMPE’s Newest Members
Materials & Products
SAMPE LinkedIn Communities
SAMPE Tech 2012|Charleston, SC
Perspectives
Industry News
Tech Tidbits
SAMPE 2013|Long Beach Call for Papers
SAMPE 2012|Baltimore
SAMPE 2012 Exhibition
SAMPE Asia 2012 Review and Photos
SAMPE Books & CD’s Order Form
SAMPE 2012 Exhibitors
SAMPE 2012 Exhibitor Listings
Advertiser’s Index
Resource Center
Membership Application
Industry Events Calendar
Chapter Meetings Dates and Contacts

SAMPE Journal - May/June 2012