AMP_04_May_June_2021_Digital_Edition

4 A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | M A Y / J U N E 2 0 2 1 ASM International 9639 Kinsman Road, Materials Park, OH 44073 Tel: 440.338.5151 • Fax: 440.338.4634 Joanne Miller, Editor joanne.miller@asminternational.org Victoria Burt, Managing Editor vicki.burt@asminternational.org Frances Richards and Corinne Richards Contributing Editors Jan Nejedlik, Layout and Design Toby Hansen, Production Manager toby.hansen@asminternational.org Press Release Editor magazines@asminternational.org EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Adam Farrow, Chair, Los Alamos National Lab John Shingledecker, Vice Chair, EPRI Somuri Prasad, Past Chair, Sandia National Lab Beth Armstrong, Oak Ridge National Lab Margaret Flury, Medtronic Surojit Gupta, University of North Dakota Nia Harrison, Ford Motor Company Michael Hoerner, KnightHawk Engineering Hideyuki Kanematsu, Suzuka National College of Technology Ibrahim Karaman, Texas A&M University Scott Olig, U.S. Naval Research Lab Amit Pandey, Lockheed Martin Space Satyam Sahay, John Deere Technology Center India Kumar Sridharan, University of Wisconsin Jean-Paul Vega, Siemens Energy Vasisht Venkatesh, Pratt & Whitney ASMBOARDOF TRUSTEES Diana Essock, President and Chair of the Board Judith A. Todd, Vice President Zi-Kui Liu, Immediate Past President John C. Kuli, Treasurer Burak Akyuz Elizabeth Ho man Diana Lados Navin Manjooran Toni Marechaux Jason Sebastian Larry Somrack Priti Wanjara Ji-Cheng Zhao Ron Aderhold, Secretary and Acting Managing Director STUDENT BOARDMEMBERS Ho Lun Chan, PayamEmadi, Casey Gilliams Individual readers of AdvancedMaterials & Processes may, without charge, make single copies of pages therefrom for per- sonal or archival use, or may freelymake such copies in such numbers as are deemed useful for educational or research purposes and are not for sale or resale. Permission is granted to cite or quote fromarticles herein, provided customary acknowledgment of the authors and source is made. The acceptance and publication of manuscripts in Advanced Materials & Processes does not imply that the reviewers, editors, or publisher accept, approve, or endorse the data, opinions, and conclusions of the authors. GREEN MATERIALS CHALLENGES M illennials are often dubbed “Generation Green.” And both Millennials and Gen Z are known for their en- vironmentally conscious consumer behavior. But strategies and solutions for reducing our carbon footprint are being created by multigenerational corporate teams around the globe. By 2030, all of Ikea’s plastic products will contain renewable or recycledmaterials. Microsoft has com- mitted to being carbon negative by 2030, down from its cur- rent rate of 16 million metric tons of carbon emissions. GM will use at least 50% sustainable material content in their vehicles by 2035 and will offer 30 electric vehicles by 2025. And UPS has its brown-clad drivers reduce their number of left turns, to save fuel. Some companies turn to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (UN) for guidance as they develop their own green strategies. Among the UN’s goals are affordable and clean energy, and responsible production and consumption. Both topics are addressed in this issue of AM&P. The U.S. Department of Energy highlights concentrating solar-thermal pow- er (CSP) systems in our lead article. CSP plants use mirrors to reflect and con- centrate sunlight onto a receiver. The energy collected from the concentrated sunlight heats a high temperature fluid in the receiver. The heat is then used to generate electricity via a turbine or engine. The DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Office is working to develop new materials suitable for high-temperature CSPs while also delivering a higher efficiency and lower cost manufacturing process. In our new Sustainability department, we cover news on environmentally minded materials and processes. Featured in this issue is work being conducted on plastics at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. According to Brett Helms of the lab’s Molecular Foundry, “Circular plastics and plastics upcycling are grand chal- lenges.” His team is trying to divert plastics from landfills and oceans by incentiv- izing the recovery and reuse of plastics. A grand challenge in a different sector is described in our article, “Solid-state Batteries and the Critical Role of Interfaces.” The authors fromOak Ridge Nation- al Laboratory propose that cross-disciplinary teams are needed to discover new ways to adhere multiple dissimilar materials so that ionmotion can be transport- ed at all interfaces. Yet this must be achieved with no change in the material’s structure despite being subjected to various temperatures and pressures. Looking ahead to September, our IMAT 2021 conference and exhibition will include programming on sustainable materials and processes. And several of the keynotes will cover related topics on energy, power generation, and electric vehi- cles. See the IMAT Program Highlights on page 31 for more details. Sustainability emphasizes responsible use and reuse. But what happens when equipment falls into disuse? This issue’s Materials Science and Coronavirus series article, “The Pact between Preservation and Ruin,” explores the ramifica- tions of underutilized equipment as a result of COVID-19. Learn how to evaluate whether or not your systems have been compromised during the pandemic-in- duced downtime and discover how they can be brought back to working order. Spoiler alert: It takes coordination with various engineering departments to en- sure long-term product maintenance. Likewise, a circular materials economy only works if all stakeholders in a process are on board. When each player is committed to reducing their own car- bon footprint, the possibilities for an improved impact on materials and the en- vironment is within reach. With this type of collaboration, our future looks bright and “green” indeed. joanne.miller@asminterna�onal.org