Composite Materials and Recycling

Essay from the year 2010 in the subject Environmental Sciences, grade: 1, University of Hagen (INFERNUM), language: English, abstract: Nanotechnology is often touted as the biggest scientific breakthrough of the 21st century. The potential impacts of nanotechnology arise from the altered physicochemical properties of the materials at the nanoscale that enable a broad spectrum of novel applications. It is beyond doubt that the inherent properties of nanoscale materials do pose several new challenges. Some of these include identifying and characterizing new risks associated with the widespread use of nanomaterials, evaluation of economic and environmental trade-offs, and addressing the public and regulatory concerns about this new technology. Various researchers and agencies have identified the need for a holistic evaluation of nanotechnology using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). But nanotechnology is still in its infancy and nanomanufacturing processes are evolving rapidly.