Critical Materials

An examination of the growing challenge of assuring supplies of materials on which societies depend

Alexander King (Author)

9780128187890, Elsevier Science

Paperback, published 23 October 2020

276 pages, 150 illustrations (50 in full color)
22.9 x 15.1 x 1.8 cm, 0.45 kg

Critical Materials takes a case-study approach, describing materials supply-chain failures from the bronze age to present day. It looks at why these failures occurred, what the consequences were, and how they were resolved. It identifies key lessons to guide responses to current and anticipated materials shortages at a time when the world’s growing middle class is creating unprecedented demand for manufactured products and the increasingly exotic materials that go into them. This book serves as a guide to materials researchers and industrial end-users for finding effective approaches to shortages of specialty materials.

1. Why are we worried? The rare earth crisis and its impacts2. This is not new. A short history of supply-chain failures3. Assessing the Risks4. Impacts. What changed when supply crises happened?5. Mitigating Criticality, part I. Technology Substitution6. Mitigating Criticality, part II. Material Substitution7. Mitigating Criticality, part III. Source Diversification8. Mitigating Criticality, part IV. Reuse and Recycling9. Tactical Responses to Crises and Strategies for Avoiding Them

Subject Areas: Materials science [TGM]