Finding applications for materials

Well-developed techniques exist to select a material for a given application. Solutions to the inverse problem - that of finding an application for a given (often new) material are more elusive. Here we explore strategies for finding potential applications. The first - the strategy of parasitical substitution - is effective when a new material (the parasite) has properties that resemble those of an established material (the victim) but is superior to it in one - cost, perhaps, or environmental acceptability, or processability. Then a match is sought between the property profile of the parasite and that of existing materials; those with a close match (ignoring the single unique property) are potential "victims" - their applications become the targets for the parasite, exploiting its uniqueness. The second - the strategy of systematic matching of design requirements - searches for a match between the property-profile of the new material and the profiles (expressed as constraints on material property groups) of a library of applications. The third - the strategy of selection by function - makes use of an abstraction, that of the underlying function of the component and the material indices associated with it. The strengths and weaknesses of these are explored, and the context in which there success might be maximised is defined.