lecture 11

Question 1

what drives new or changed materials and processes

Answer 1

market needs, new science and tech, market forces and competition
market saturation and industrial design
growing population and wealth (wealthier can buy new products)
product safety and liability service provision replacing producing sales
concern for the individual or environment
miniaturization
multi functionality

Question 2

companies want turn a profit

Answer 2

therefore any chosen material will have economic consequences in both material and production costs - make these as low as possible

Question 3

what short term effects causes fluctuating prices

Answer 3

market forces
political influence
rate of supply and demand
linked variation change in one material could influence other significantly - oil and aluminium (transport costs go up or down) therefore aluminium go up and down

Question 4

long term effects on price

Answer 4

rich deposits depleted

Question 5

Relative cost of a material Cm

Answer 5

Dollar/kg / dollar/kg of reference material

reference material is A36 plain carbon steel

Question 6

why does relative cost vary less than actual cost

Answer 6

as the reference material price will fluctuate with it - if oil prices go up aluminium price goes up but so does A36 plain carbon steel

Question 7

Why do certain materials have more impact on cost than other

Answer 7

as they have higher original price - change in price of gold has major impact in comparison to change in price of silver

Question 8

life cycle engineering is a

Answer 8

part-, system or process related tool for the investigator of environmental parameters based on technical and economic measures (cradle to grave impact)

Question 9

life cycle analysis is

Answer 9

methodology used to assess tradeoffs incurred in making changes
products and services cause different environmental problems during different stages of their life cycle
positive change in one aspect may have negative impact elsewhere

Question 10

closed system as

Answer 10

we live on one planet - nothing goes in or out

Question 11

product life cycle diagram

Answer 11

emissions and waste; CO2 and NOx SOx liquid and solid waste out at every stage
resources transport energy feed stock in at every stage

Question 12

product life cycle

Answer 12

natural resources > material production > product manufacture > product use > product disposal

Question 13

what happens after product disposal in product life cycle

Answer 13

either
refurbish upgrade > product manufacture
landfill
combust
recycle > material production
reuse > product use

Question 14

at all stages of the products manufacturing and use what happens

Answer 14

material energy inputs

waste outputs

Question 15

why is it an issue that a huge amount of water is used during manufacture

Answer 15

normally very hot and it has to be disposed of

dumped in rivers and oceans kills ecosystem

Question 16

if part of a transport system what needs to be added to LCA

Answer 16

energy usage during lifetime

Question 17

best ways to reduce material usage

Answer 17

make products smaller longer lasting and recycle them when they finally reach the end of lives

Question 18

planned obsolescence

Answer 18

lifetime after which becomes obsolete and is chucked no longer functional or fashionable

Question 19

new technology

Answer 19

comes about due to miniatursiation faster lighter thinner
and new functionality waterproof better camera
but longer life not required - 24 month life cycle
lot of old technology that is still functional will be chucked (planned obsolescence)

Question 20

when reviewing material choices what factors should be focused on

Answer 20

energy demand
resource use (if moving think of weight and fuel required)
and recyclability