Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Sustainable material selection'

In the past decades, the world has noticed complex changes in its climate. The resources available now as well as in the future could be said to be analogous to the decreasing circumference of a funnel. The wealthy population with the means to elect what goods they wish to consume are becoming aware of their impact both on nature as well as on the less fortunate people of the planet. As a consequence environmental and human-centered factors are of higher priority than ever before in the decisions made by companies, which in turn will decide the future. This thesis aims to investigate what set of criteria can be seen as most relevant for sustainable material selection at a manufacturing company. To be relevant for the future these design criteria are decided with a base in modern research from the past decade in the field of material selection. The company chosen as a case to study and collaborate with was IKEA Components AB. The research was conducted on-site at the company’s facilities in Älmhult, Småland, as well as at the Blekinge Institute of Technology in Karlskrona, Blekinge. The company vision for the future which IKEA is striving towards is focused on lowering carbon dioxide equivalents, from which a lion share of the emissions is a result of the material they are selecting for their products. Experts within various fields of the chosen company were consulted to gain perspective and knowledge while designing and testing prototypes of a tool to facilitate a sustainable material selection. The metal alloys were analyzed for toxicity based on the percentages of all elements they contained and scored based on chosen sustainability criteria. The plastics were judged on recyclability, renewability, and degradability apart from available numbers for emission factors. After this, the materials were placed in the excel tool which was then tested by engineers and evaluated in semi-structured interviews. Updates were made to make the tool as user-friendly as was possible and new tests were conducted. Overall, the tool was appreciated by the users who tested it and more improvements were planned to finalize the prototype. Results are detailed in the latter part of the report, discussing designs the engineers preferred over others, the current scale of sustainability tools used in the company and how the testers scored the tool. In the discussion, criteria are evaluated based on their multi-criteria compliance with sustainability factors. Drawing conclusions about the subject of sustainability criteria was accomplished by conducting literature studies in material criticality, making use of the methods for sustainable product development taught in the master of science, investigating material toxicity, testing solutions for sustainable material selection at a typical furniture component manufacturing company, receiving feedback from constructors and exploring connections for the selected methods to the principles of sustainability.

The early stages of a product’s design are a critical time for decisions that impact the entire life-cycle cost. Product designers have mastered the first generation; however, they currently do not have the ability to know the impact of their decisions on the multi-generational view. This thesis aims at closing the gap between total life-cycle information and the traditional design process in order to harbor sustainable value creation among all stakeholders involved. A framework is presented that uses a combination of a life-cycle costing methodology and an evolutionary algorithm in order to achieve a sustainability assessment for a true multi-generational component. An illustration of the implementation of the framework shows the value to current engineering scenarios. A foundation is also laid for the overall future vision of this work to utilize proper databases and existing design tools to evaluate the overall sustainability and life-cycle cost of multi-generational components.

Sustainable materials are prevalent within design, but industrial design lacks mass-manufactured product examples. This research explores this gap in knowledge to understand the influences affecting the selection of sustainable materials and how UK industrial designers could be better supported. A comprehensive literature review explores the selection of sustainable materials within the context of industrial design. Existing tools and resources designed to support industrial designers are analysed to understand the support provision and requirements. The research approach explores individual attitudes, and the influences towards and against selecting sustainable materials. Four UK companies were studied to understand how sustainable materials are considered and utilised for mass-manufactured products. Two frameworks were designed to support and facilitate sustainable material selection. The first depicts the overarching support requirements whilst the second presents the considerations and strategies. Both frameworks were evaluated by experts and previous participants. A workshop with designers evaluated the efficacy of the second framework when used as a tool The majority of industrial designers were aware of general issues of sustainability but rarely considered selecting sustainable materials. All four companies had experienced significant changes recently, including increasing resources and internal initiatives towards the use of sustainable materials. The market for sustainable materials is improving, but risks exist, such as fluctuating availability and market instability. A lack of awareness and understanding has meant that, in order to succeed, some companies have designed methods to educate stakeholders whilst designers have requested support to educate clients. Personal interest of the individual is a key driver, creating champions who raise awareness and boost confidence amongst colleagues. There is a need, not only for greater education and support, but also to improve engagement with sustainable material selection amongst industrial designers and others involved in the process.

In the design phase of any building industry, appropriate material selection is critical for the entire project. A poor choice of material may affect the quality of the project, lead to high cost during the long term operation and maintenance phases, and even endangering humans and the environment. Since the inception of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) in 1993, ¡°green¡± buildings have become a hot topic and people have become concerned about how sustainable their buildings are. In order to determine the level of sustainability in buildings, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) has developed a rating system that has been established now as the common denominator in the industry. However, the LEED rating system simplifies, or even ignores, explicit considerations for Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) in determining the selection of building materials. This lack of explicit consideration for LCA does not permit a full assessment in determining how truly sustainable the chosen materials are. This research analyzes the factors impacting the selection of the green materials and reviews the current standards used in green material. It proposes a more comprehensive rating method for the green material selection illustrating its applicability through a case study analysis based on new WPI Sports and Recreation Center. It is expected that this study would contribute to a better understanding of the sustainable materials selection and can improve help to improving their long term performance in buildings.

The embodied environmental and socioeconomic impacts of building construction are rarely considered within industry. Renewable and certified resources will continue to provide a viable low impact supply chain for construction, yet the use of such low impact building materials (LIBM) remains a small proportion of the current market. Structural engineers should be encouraged to use LIBM and consider the impacts of building construction, and so the research aim was to create an informed and responsible approach for structural engineers to reduce the embodied impacts of their projects. The limited amount of academic literature on the consideration of embodied impacts within construction and the use of LIBM prompted a two-phase research methodology. The first Problem Exploration phase developed a rich understanding of the current context of embodied impacts within construction through an analysis of data gathered from an online questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The findings identified three key aspects to consider when developing an Embodied Impact Reduction Approach (EIRA); the alignment of the project-life cycle with influence, the limitation of time and costs, and the importance of support and education within the approach created. The second Action phase developed EIRA using the findings and supplementary data gathered from focus groups, which highlighted that EIRA should be flexible so as to be relevant to the breadth of projects that BuroHappold Engineering, who partially sponsored the research, work on. EIRA runs parallel to the RIBA Plan of Work, adapting to the different objectives, level of detail and information available at each project stage. Three components were developed; the Material Design Sheets, Carbon Calculator, and the Option Appraisal Support Technique (tOAST). tOAST was implemented on five projects to test its applicability, which identified that greater understanding of embodied impacts plus their relative importance to each other is required. Another key issue was the availability of appropriate embodied environmental data.

Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, May, 2020
Cataloged from the official PDF of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 58-63).
Worldwide estimates indicate nearly 150 million people are homeless, and 1.6 billion lack adequate shelter. One of the biggest barriers of home ownership is cost, which is often driven heavily by the cost of materials required. Plastic waste is also at an all-time high, with over 5 billion tons of plastic on the earth's surface and in its oceans. This waste will take hundreds of years to degrade if not longer and incentives and use for recycled plastic is needed now more than ever. Making lightweight homes using 3D printed recycled polymer materials is proposed as a solution to this problem. Assuming a network of manufacturing sites, a significant number of homes could be produced, raising the issue of material selection and availability. After creating an extensive comparison of potential materials, stressing properties, availability and cost, the best candidate appears to be polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Recycled PET (rPET), is available in volumes comparable to the projected demand for low cost housing. rPET material properties optimize the feasibility, processing, and engineering use qualities of the building material, but further testing is necessary to explore the effect of feedstock processing and additives on the performance of the material. This thesis examines the choice of (rPET) as the best potential material for large scale 3D printing of low-cost homes and presents an experimental setup for confirming this hypothesis.
by Erika P. Mynio.
S.B.
S.B. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Society’s sustainability challenges relatedto materials management have been an area of concern for policymakers, industry and the public for decades. However, if those challenges are managed in a strategic way, they are not only aproblem, but could also bring in new opportunity for companies and other organizations to improve their competitiveness through developingproduct-service systems that promote sustainable development of society. The overall aim of this thesis is to explore how aframework for strategic sustainable development (FSSD) can support the development and design of sustainable materials management strategies in product innovation. This is achieved by four studies investigating howsustainability considerations are, or could be, integrated in decisions regarding materials selection. The studies are informed by the FSSD, Maxwell’s model for qualitative research design and the design research methodology. The first study is a theoretical discussion which provides a base for the following three exploratory studies. The exploratory studies have, through literature reviews and semi-structured interviews, investigated general sustainabilityconsiderations in companies, made a comparison of the strategic potential of two product improvement strategies and finally studied what considerations that are in focus and what types of solutions that are revealed when companies apply a strategic sustainability perspective to materials management. The studies have shown that decisions regarding materials management often arebased on compliance with legislation and on avoiding substances with characteristics commonly considered problematic (such as toxicity, persistency, etc.), and that decision support regarding how materials could be managed in a sustainable way are lacking. However, the results also include some examples from companies that have successfully developed pro-active strategies towards sustainable materials management. They have approached this through managing materials in closedtechnical loops, enabled material substitution through value chain collaboration and reduced material flows through new and innovative design. Most importantly, they have assessedactions not only regarding their potential to reduce a selection of current socio-ecological impacts but also regarding their potential to link toforthcoming actions towards the full scope of socio-ecological sustainability. Through this approach, they have found several ways by which materials with characteristics that are commonly considered problematic can be. The results highlight the possibility of enabling sustainable materials management practices by using a strategic sustainability perspective in combination with material characteristics knowledge and that a static division of “sustainable” vs. “unsustainable” materials (e.g., through lists of forbidden and allowed materials) is not necessarily serving the purpose in the best way. More subtle considerations are needed. By not applying a strategic sustainability perspective to materials management, organizations risk using “sustainable” materials in unsustainable ways or phasing out “unsustainable” materials that, managed differently, could be helpful for sustainable development. Developing decision support for materials management that integrates this new way of thinking will be the focus of future work.

I takt med att fossila resurser begränsas och allmänhetens krav på miljövänliga alternativ ökar, har utvecklingen av biobaserade plaster tagit fart. Nya framsteg i form av fler material, innovativa tillverkningsprocesser och förbättrade egenskaper har gjort att applikationsområdet nu sträcker sig från engångsartiklar med krav på nedbrytbarhet, till tekniska och ingenjörsmässiga applikationer. Syftet med arbetet var att undersöka möjligheterna för företaget Flaxta att använda biobaserade polymerer vid tillverkning av fotbollsbenskydd. Ett klassiskt fotbollsbenskydd består av ett hårdare yttre skal i termoplast tillsammans med en mjukare insida i skumplast. Målet var att identifiera biobaserade polymerer som kan ersätta de fossilbaserade polymerer som idag används vid tillverkning av benskydd för fotbollsspelare. Undersökningen av material utifrån begränsningar på biobaserat innehåll visade att det finns flera biobaserade termoplaster som är identiska med deras konventionella fossilbaserade varianter och direkt kan sättas in i befintliga produktionssystem. Dessa material har goda förutsättningar att ersätta de material som idag används i fotbollsbenskydd. Biobaserade termoplastisk polyuretan (TPU) och polyamid (PA 11) identifierades som de två mest lämpliga termoplasterna för att ersätta befintliga benskyddsmaterial. En övergång till biobaserad TPU skulle kunna minska koldioxidavtrycket vid primärproduktion med 36 % jämfört med fossilbaserad TPU. PA 11 är 100 % biobaserad och släpper ut betydligt mindre koldioxid i atmosfären vid primärproduktion jämfört med flera fossilbaserade polyamider. Undersökningen av biobaserade skummaterial resulterade i att etenvinylacetat (EVA) från företaget Braskem har potentialen att ersätta fossilbaserad EVA och polyuretan (PU) som idag används som mjukt energiabsorberande skummaterial i benskydd på marknaden.  Valet av material tillsammans med benskyddets geometri och design utgör benskyddets skyddande egenskaper. Därför krävs ytterligare tester och analyser av benskydd tillverkade i de biobaserade materialen för att säkerhetsställa att kraven på stötdämpningsförmåga uppnås.
In response to the reduction of fossil resources and increasing public demands for environmentally friendly alternatives, development of bio-based plastics have accelerated. New advancements in the form of more materials, innovative manufacturing processes and improved properties mean that the application area now extends from disposable products with the requirements of biodegradability to products for technical and engineering applications. The purpose of this work was to investigate if the company Flaxta could use bio-based polymers when developing shin guards for football players. A classic shin guard is made out of a thermoplastic outer shell together with a softer inner foam material. The aim was to identify bio-based polymers that could replace fossil-based polymers currently used when developing shin guards.   The study of bio-based materials showed that there are several thermoplastics that are similar to the petrochemical plastics and can be directly inserted into existing production systems. These materials have good potential to be used as environmentally friendly alternatives to the current materials in shin guards. Bio-based thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and polyamide (PA 11) were identified as the two most suitable thermoplastics to be used in shin guards. A transition to bio-based TPU could reduce the carbon footprint from primary production by 36% compared to fossil based TPU. PA 11 is 100% bio-based and emits significantly less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere during primary production compared to several fossil-based polyamides, therefore does not contribute as much to climate change. The study of bio-based foam materials showed that ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) from the company Braskem had the potential to replace the fossil based EVA and polyurethane (PU) which is currently used as soft energy absorbing materials in shin guards on the market.   The choice of material together with the geometry and design make up the protective properties of shin guards. Therefore, further tests and analyzes of shin guards made out of the bio-based materials identified as potential replacements are required to ensure that the standards for shock absorptions are met.

Betyg 2020-07-07

As more owners seek to develop sustainable buildings, the construction industry is adapting to new requirements in order to meet owner's concerns. Material selection has been identified as an area where designers and contractors can have a significant impact on the sustainable performance of a building. Objective factors such as design considerations and cost constraints can play a role in the selection of materials. However, there may be subjective factors that could also impact the selection of materials. Building upon the potential impact of sustainability perceptions in an optimization model that can be used to help decision makers to select materials, this study defines and tests an instrument to identify and measure such perceptions. The purpose of this dissertation is to develop a conceptual instrument that measures the user-based assessment of product sustainability and validates decision-maker's perceptions in order to evaluate the contribution of subjective characteristics in materials selection. A survey of design and construction students and practitioners is carried out to capture the subjective factors included in the instrument. A Factor Analysis approach is used to refine and validate the measurement instrument and predict decision-makers' sustainability appraisal due to the factors considered.

Environmental issues have gained importance due to global environmental threat, such as depletion of energy resources and the impacts of climate change. The building sector is responsible for almost half of the impacts on the environment. Hence, this study focuses on the importance of environmental impacts of building materials. In this regard, firstly, sustainability indicators for building materials were determined and the environmental impacts of selected building materials were studied. Then, the evaluation system BREEAM and the evaluation software BEES were selected and used to evaluate one block of bachelor flats and one of housing units in ODTUKENT, which is located in the Middle East Technical University campus in Ankara, Turkey. Building materials used for the construction of walls, floors and roofs were evaluated according to the indicators accepted by BREEAM and BEES. The results for both units were compared and it was seen that the block of bachelor flats takes lower ratings than the triplex unit for BREEAM and also lower values for BEES. Therefore, the block of bachelor flats has less environmental impact than the triplex unit. While evaluating the materials an exact match for all the materials used in the case buildings could not be found in these tools. Hence, it was not possible to exact results for these materials. In this regard, countries should determine their own evaluation indicators and develop their evaluation systems.

This paper is a part of the course PPU305 at Mälardalen University, the bachelor thesis. A companycurrently developing an electric bicycle had a concept of an innovative wheel containing no spokesand no hub. This meant that the functions these components usually fill needed to be solved in anotherway. The method for this product development process has been a combination of the genericalmethod, design thinking and the method used at the company. While the author was planning onworking with the generical method but soon became aware of the completely different method by thecompany, a more flexible method was adapted.With this background, two research questions were formulated:RQ 1: How can the driveline be constructed to fit with the planned design in an electric bicyclewheel?RQ 2: How does the development process work for the electric bicycle and its wheel in the companyin question, compared to other product development processes?The result was a framework carefully designed to be made of as little material as possible but still bestrong enough. This framework has two sides and is what mainly holds up the construction and makesit resistant to dynamic loads. Material selected for this construction is carbon fibre due to its lowdensity and high tensile strength. This work includes every part of the bicycle’s wheel including theskeleton framework mentioned above and everything between the two walls. The author has selectedmotor, bearings and spur gears suitable for the vehicle and made mounts and necessary fixtures forall.To decide that the framework was designed as efficiently as possible, several simulations inSolidWorks Simulation were made where different designs were compared against each other. Everyadjustment in the designed were direct results of the simulations. Although the simulations cannotfully replace a physical test, it gives an idea of how well the construction reacts to loads. To makesure that the material selected would stand the loads as expected, the material in question was orderedfrom planned deliverer and tested in a tensile test machine. This gave more accurate data regardingthe material properties that data collected from Granta Edupack, a material database. About thedevelopment process at the company, it was discovered that it has both similarities and differences tothe generic product development process and Design thinking. The biggest difference with the bothprocesses was the short-termed planning. The process most similar with the one used at the companywas Design thinking since they both depend on agility and creative thinking with iterative processes.
Detta arbete är utfört inom ramarna för kursen PPU305 vid Mälardalens högskola och är ettexamensarbete på högskoleingenjörsnivå. Ett företag som arbetade med utvecklingen av en elcykelföreslog ett koncept av ett innovativt hjul helt utan ekrar eller nav. Detta innebar att funktionerna somdessa komponenter fyllde behövde lösas på annat sätt. Metoden för detta produktutvecklingsprojekt ären kombination av den generiska produktutvecklingsprocessen, Design thinking samt metoden somanvändes vid företaget. Författaren hade inledningsvis intentionen att enkom arbeta med dengeneriska metoden, men upptäckte att detta inte var helt kompatibelt med metoden som användes vidföretaget. Detta ledde till en ändring av metodik. Med detta som bakgrund formulerades tvåforskningsfrågor:• Hur kan drivlinan konstrueras för att passa in i den tänkta designen för ett elcykelhjul?• Hur fungerar utvecklingsprocessen för elcykeln och dess hjul i det aktuella företaget, jämförtmed andra produktutvecklingsprocesser?Resultatet blev en fackverkskonstruktion som ersätter ekrarnas bärande funktion. Fackverket äromsorgsfullt designat för att optimera balansen mellan låg vikt och styrka. Fackverket är uppdelat itvå lika sidor och tar upp dynamisk last som hjulet utsätts för under färd. Materialval för dennakonstruktion är kolfiber på grund av sin låga densitet och höga styrka. Detta arbete inkluderarkonstruktion av alla cykelhjulets komponenter som sitter mellan dessa fackverksväggar. Författarenhar även valt ut en motor, rullningslager och kugghjul lämpliga för konstruktionen, samt designatfästen och nödvändiga fixturer för samtliga komponenter.Under designarbetet med fackverksväggarna gjordes åtskilliga iterationer av kraftsimulationer iSolidWorks Simulation och designmodifieringar i syfte att säkerställa en så stark konstruktion sommöjligt. Resultaten av kraftsimuleringarna kan inte till fullo återspegla verkliga lastförhållanden, mendet kan ge en grundläggande bild av hur konstruktionen reagerar på last. För att säkerställa att detvalda materialet lever upp till förväntningarna beställdes materialet från avsedd leverantör ochtestades i en dragprovsmaskin. Detta gav mer precisa materialdata än vad den huvudsakliga källan förmaterialdata, Granta EduPack, kunde ge. Gällande utvecklingsprocessen vid företaget befanns att denbåde har stora skillnader och likheter med den generiska produktutvecklingsprocessen och Designthinking. Den största skillnaden mot bägge metoder är upplägget av den kortsiktiga planeringen. Mestpåminde företagets metod om Design thinking, då de båda bygger på agil ledning och kreativttänkande med iterativa processer.

This paper is a part of the course PPU305 at Mälardalen University, the bachelor thesis. A companycurrently developing an electric bicycle had a concept of an innovative wheel containing no spokesand no hub. This meant that the functions these components usually fill needed to be solved in anotherway. The method for this product development process has been a combination of the genericalmethod, design thinking and the method used at the company. While the author was planning onworking with the generical method but soon became aware of the completely different method by thecompany, a more flexible method was adapted.With this background, two research questions were formulated:RQ 1: How can the driveline be constructed to fit with the planned design in an electric bicyclewheel?RQ 2: How does the development process work for the electric bicycle and its wheel in the companyin question, compared to other product development processes?The result was a framework carefully designed to be made of as little material as possible but still bestrong enough. This framework has two sides and is what mainly holds up the construction and makesit resistant to dynamic loads. Material selected for this construction is carbon fibre due to its lowdensity and high tensile strength. This work includes every part of the bicycle’s wheel including theskeleton framework mentioned above and everything between the two walls. The author has selectedmotor, bearings and spur gears suitable for the vehicle and made mounts and necessary fixtures forall.To decide that the framework was designed as efficiently as possible, several simulations inSolidWorks Simulation were made where different designs were compared against each other. Everyadjustment in the designed were direct results of the simulations. Although the simulations cannotfully replace a physical test, it gives an idea of how well the construction reacts to loads. To makesure that the material selected would stand the loads as expected, the material in question was orderedfrom planned deliverer and tested in a tensile test machine. This gave more accurate data regardingthe material properties that data collected from Granta Edupack, a material database. About thedevelopment process at the company, it was discovered that it has both similarities and differences tothe generic product development process and Design thinking. The biggest difference with the bothprocesses was the short-termed planning. The process most similar with the one used at the companywas Design thinking since they both depend on agility and creative thinking with iterative processes.
Detta arbete är utfört inom ramarna för kursen PPU305 vid Mälardalens högskola och är ettexamensarbete på högskoleingenjörsnivå. Ett företag som arbetade med utvecklingen av en elcykelföreslog ett koncept av ett innovativt hjul helt utan ekrar eller nav. Detta innebar att funktionerna somdessa komponenter fyllde behövde lösas på annat sätt. Metoden för detta produktutvecklingsprojekt ären kombination av den generiska produktutvecklingsprocessen, Design thinking samt metoden somanvändes vid företaget. Författaren hade inledningsvis intentionen att enkom arbeta med dengeneriska metoden, men upptäckte att detta inte var helt kompatibelt med metoden som användes vidföretaget. Detta ledde till en ändring av metodik. Med detta som bakgrund formulerades tvåforskningsfrågor:• Hur kan drivlinan konstrueras för att passa in i den tänkta designen för ett elcykelhjul?• Hur fungerar utvecklingsprocessen för elcykeln och dess hjul i det aktuella företaget, jämförtmed andra produktutvecklingsprocesser?Resultatet blev en fackverkskonstruktion som ersätter ekrarnas bärande funktion. Fackverket äromsorgsfullt designat för att optimera balansen mellan låg vikt och styrka. Fackverket är uppdelat itvå lika sidor och tar upp dynamisk last som hjulet utsätts för under färd. Materialval för dennakonstruktion är kolfiber på grund av sin låga densitet och höga styrka. Detta arbete inkluderarkonstruktion av alla cykelhjulets komponenter som sitter mellan dessa fackverksväggar. Författarenhar även valt ut en motor, rullningslager och kugghjul lämpliga för konstruktionen, samt designatfästen och nödvändiga fixturer för samtliga komponenter.Under designarbetet med fackverksväggarna gjordes åtskilliga iterationer av kraftsimulationer iSolidWorks Simulation och designmodifieringar i syfte att säkerställa en så stark konstruktion sommöjligt. Resultaten av kraftsimuleringarna kan inte till fullo återspegla verkliga lastförhållanden, mendet kan ge en grundläggande bild av hur konstruktionen reagerar på last. För att säkerställa att detvalda materialet lever upp till förväntningarna beställdes materialet från avsedd leverantör ochtestades i en dragprovsmaskin. Detta gav mer precisa materialdata än vad den huvudsakliga källan förmaterialdata, Granta EduPack, kunde ge. Gällande utvecklingsprocessen vid företaget befanns att denbåde har stora skillnader och likheter med den generiska produktutvecklingsprocessen och Designthinking. Den största skillnaden mot bägge metoder är upplägget av den kortsiktiga planeringen. Mestpåminde företagets metod om Design thinking, då de båda bygger på agil ledning och kreativttänkande med iterativa processer.

This study focuses on different manufacturing processes and material choices for products that are designed to help the future to be more sustainable. These products were developed in a global project that explored the field and subfields of urban mining. This thesis is a part of that project and is meant to come with valuable input to the results. In this urban mining project two products were developed. The two different products that has been developed during this project is the NIX and the UM Factory. They work together with keeping material on the construction site when space is limited in order to reduce the transportation, both for the environmental benefit and also from a cost perspective. Together they will not only keep the material on the site but also refine them so they can be used again. This thesis will look into how these two products can be manufactured and what materials is a suitable choice for the products. These two factors were also thought about during the development of the products, both how to make it as simple design that was easy to produce while still fulfilling the requirements set. Also what materials might be a suitable choice for different parts of the products is considered, in order to be reliable, easy to work with, and relatively cheap. The study also explored some methods and materials that might be worth looking into in a few years. Methods and materials that today are undeveloped or not economically viable.

Automotive companies are searching for new, innovative materials that attempt to redefine what is traditionally associated as a ‘luxury material’. Market research shows that future customers will demand tangible sustainability in vehicle interiors through the use of eco-friendly materials. However, research has also identified customer scepticism towards the quality of green products sold by luxury brands. The perception of quality is typically determined by peripheral and sensorial product properties such as styling, shape and touch. The uncertainty of new materials compounded by the need to balance sustainability, sensory and emotional appeal mean it is no longer possible to rely on the designers’ intuition and experience to evaluate materials. Rigorous, robust methods which include both objective material assessments and the quantification of subjective, sensory and experiential attributes will maximize the chance of successful adoption by customers. They can also offer further insight, such as demonstrating that the Perceived Quality (PQ) of a cheaper material can be improved just by making the material softer using a foam backing, as was found in this research. To address this, a new process has been developed to measure the perceived haptic quality of soft automotive interior materials. Studies were conducted in the UK and Hong Kong to generate user-defined metrics. Of these metrics, roughness and hardness had the largest impact on PQ, so mechanical testing was conducted to obtain objective measurements of both. The subjective and objective measurements were found to correlate strongly, implying that objective measurements alone could indicate a customer’s opinion of these materials. The final stage of the process introduces a statistical model which uses the objective data to predict PQ scores. This is based around an Artificial Neural Network validated as accurate to within 4.5%. A graphical user interface was designed so practitioners can use the model to predict how customers may respond to a new material or a change in the surface characteristics of an existing material, without needing to conduct the initial customer research. The process has been integrated in part within the sponsor company and has influenced future research and business strategy in this area.

Construction activity is known to have a major impact on the environment and is a major consumer of a wide range of naturally occurring and synthesized resources. Despite the recognition that environmental issues are important to the survival of the construction industry, the industry continues to degrade the environment, exploiting resources and generating waste, and is slow to change its conventional practices to incorporate environmental matters as part of its decision making process. With increased awareness and knowledge of these impacts, efforts are being made to avoid these adverse effects and to work towards impact mitigation. Among these is sustainable building material selection. Building material selection is an important issue in building design and construction decision-making and environmental issues need to be incorporated into the evaluation process. The research reported in this thesis was initiated to address these issues in the UK, towards developing an assessment model for incorporating sustainability into building material selection process. A questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate the level of awareness, knowledge and implementation of sustainable practices among architects and designers and how this impacts on their design decisions. To facilitate the implementation of sustainable practices into building material selection, a set of sustainable assessment criteria (SAC) for modeling and evaluating sustainability performance of building materials was developed. Building material can be assessed using an index system that combines the principal criteria of sustainable development. The derived criteria were assessed and aggregated into a composite sustainability index using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique which has been praised for its ability to incorporate both objective and subjective considerations in the decision process. The development of a sustainability index is a way of supporting decision makers faced with making numerous and sometimes conflicting evaluation as with building material selection. The methodology adopted in undertaking this research was the mixed method approach involving a detailed review of the relevant literature, followed by an industry-wide survey of UK architects and designers. Following this, case study was conducted to collect data for sustainability criteria used in the assessment model. The data collected were analyzed, with the aid of SPSS, Excel and expert choice software using a variety of statistical methods including descriptive statistics analysis, relative index analysis, Kendall’s concordance and factor analysis. The key finding was the existing gap between awareness and implementation of sustainable construction practices, which has led to failure of realizing the benefits of a sustainable approach to construction. The study showed a discrepancy between what architects and designers claim to be convinced about, and knowledgeable in, and their commitment and practices; they seem to be unable to translate their environmental awareness and knowledge into appropriate design decisions and are in need of a decision support system that can aid the incorporation of sustainability into building design. The model developed satisfy this gap and was validated by application to a roof covering material selection decision process for a case study building project by means of experts’ review via a survey and the findings obtained suggest that the model is valuable and suitable for use in practice. Finally, areas for further research were identified.

Cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer on Earth as it is found in every plant cell wall; therefore, it represents one of the most promising natural resources for the fabrication of sustainable materials. In plants, cellulose is mainly used for structural integrity, however, some species organise cellulose in helicoidal nano-architectures generating strong iridescent colours. Recent research has shown that cellulose nanocrystals, CNCs, isolated from natural fibres, can spontaneously self-assemble into architectures that resemble the one producing colouration in plants. Therefore, CNCs are an ideal candidate for the development of new photonic materials that can find use to substitute conventional pigments, which are often harmful to humans and to the environment. However, various obstacles still prevent a widespread use of cellulose-based photonic structures. For instance, while the CNC films can display a wide range of colours, a precise control of the optical appearance is still difficult to achieve. The intrinsic low thermal stability and brittleness of cellulose-based films strongly limit their use as photonic pigments at the industrial scale. Moreover, it is challenging to integrate them into composites to obtain further functionality while preserving their optical response. In this thesis, I present a series of research contributions that make progress towards addressing these challenges. First, I use an external magnetic field to tune the CNC films scattering response. Then, I demonstrate how it is possible to tailor the optical appearance and the mechanical properties of the films as well as to enhance their functionality, by combining CNCs with other polymers. Finally, I study the thermal properties of CNC films to improve the retention of the helicoidal arrangement at high temperatures and to explore the potential use of this material in industrial fabrication processes, such as hot-melt extrusion.