Harnessing the Potentials of New and Advanced Materials for Developing Economies

Materials possessing properties superior to the traditional material are known as new and advanced materials. They impart different value added characteristics like weight, strength, roughness, resistance etc. to the traditional materials. Advanced materials and associated technologies are of great significance for the industrial growth and resultant economic development of any country. New initiatives in Materials Science have traversed almost all the sectors of the economy of the nations, developing or developed, be it agriculture, civil infrastructure, transportation, energy, environmental protection, manufacturing, medicine and health, IT or aerospace.

Developing countries are replete with mineral resources. However, there is an emergent need to find means for value addition to this wealth by converting them to novel and advanced materials as well as exploit them in manufacturing processes by using advanced technologies. In present day scenario, any nation that does not develop its inherent capabilities and potentials towards production and utilisation of new and advanced materials and the attendant technological advancements stands the risk of technological marginalisation. In order to share ideas, views and information on this subject, the Centre for Science and Technology of the Non-Aligned and Other Developing Countries (NAM S&T Centre) jointly with the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) of the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Nigeria organised a 4-day International Conference on 'Harnessing the Potentials of New and Advanced materials for Developing Economies' at Abuja, Nigeria during 9-12 August 2011.

The present publication is a follow up of the Abuja Conference and includes 17 scientific papers of the researchers from around the globe. The book gives an insight on how many of the advanced materials acquire their extraordinary properties via molecular and atomic-scale structural precision. It also speaks about the areas in which research on advanced materials is being carried out like material processing and characterization, biomaterials and biomechanics, automotive, aerospace, wind energy and medicine so as to harness raw materials in their full capacity to design and develop new advanced materials.

This book is likely to serve as a valuable reference material for scientists, technologists, industry specialists and policy makers to gain knowledge on the novel methods, materials and technology innovations already developed, or in the developing phase, on new and advanced materials.