Advanced Materials Empowering Inclusive Engineering Design Processes

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to identify advanced and smart material solutions suitable for the design of environments, systems, experiences and products according to design for all criteria, an inclusive methodology whose principles state that products and services should be respectful of diversity, safe, functional, healthy, understandable and aesthetic. While designed smart materials have the ability to respond to external stimuli and reversibly and repeatedly change their properties and functions, thus adapting to a wide variety of environments and purposes, a significant number of common manufacturing technologies and materials has proven to be insufficiently performing or feature inadequate sets of physical and technical properties for the engineering of tailored objects, surfaces and devices aiming to match human diversity. This study suggests that state-of-the-art material solutions, among which are nanomanufacturing and advanced AM technologies, represent cutting-edge design tools for the devising and engineering of human diversity-tailored intelligent systems and environments.