Entropy, Transformations and Sustainability of Industrial Life Cycles
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Erhard Hornbogen
Abstract
Life cycles of materials are analysed in a systematic manner as a six-stage process. It starts with primary or secondary raw materials and ends with recycling or deposition of waste. The purpose of the industrial process is the transformation of matter into materials from which useful goods are produced. The complete cycle can be described as a sequence of man-made transformations with defined changes in entropy and energy. Entropy is the measure for any type of disorder. Changes in entropy are due to separation (mining, purification: negative entropy), ordering (consolidation, construction: negative entropy) or disordering (mixing, crushing: positive entropy).
Sustainability comprises undesired, irreversible changes of our environment. It can be regarded as an inverse function of the raise in entropy. We have to distinguish entropy with respect to matter, energy and information. In our context, entropy changes due to different distributions of matter are of primary importance. Sustainability implies that increases in entropy due to industrial activities must be balanced, as much as possible, by extraterrestrial negative entropy. This requires the evaluation and comparison of entropy efficiency for the production of goods with defined useful properties.
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© 2001 Carl Hanser Verlag, München
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- “No wise man ever wish to be younger”
- Aufsätze/Articles
- Entropy, Transformations and Sustainability of Industrial Life Cycles
- Positron Annihilation in Stable and Supercooled Metallic Melts
- Local Characterization of the Diffusion Process during Discontinuous Precipitation: A Review
- The Dependence of Abnormal Grain Growth on Initial Grain Size in 316 L Stainless Steel
- Diffusion-Controlled Grain Growth in Liquid-Phase Sintering of W–Cu Nanocomposites
- Evaluation of Densification Mechanisms of Liquid-Phase Sintering
- Phase Transformation of a Dual Phase Al–Fe Alloy Prepared by Mechanical Alloying
- Discrete Element Simulation of Ceramic Powder Processing
- Strain Relaxation and Internal Friction in the Range of the Glass Transition
- A Thermodynamic Model of an Amorphous Grain Boundary Phase in Liquid-Phase Sintered β-SiAlON Ceramic
- Epitaxial Growth of Metals on (100) SrTiO3: The Influence of Lattice Mismatch and Reactivity
- Microstructure and Modifications of Cu/Al2O3 Interfaces
- Structural Transformations Induced by Swift Heavy Ions in Polysiloxanes and Polycarbosilanes
- Metastable Al–Nd–Ni and Stable Al–La–Ni Phase Equilibria
- Phase Equilibria of the Al–Nd and Al–Nd–Ni Systems
- System Pr –Pd–O: Phase Diagram and Thermodynamic Properties of Ternary Oxides Using Solid-State Cells with Special Features
- Calculation of Phase Equilibria in Candidate Solder Alloys
- Thermodynamic Assessment of the Zr–O Binary System
- Delaminating Layered Oxide Composites with Wavy Interfaces
- Contemporary Materials Issues for Advanced EB-PVD Thermal Barrier Coating Systems
- Monte Carlo Simulations of Strength Distributions of Brittle Materials – Type of Distribution, Specimen and Sample Size
- On the Optimization of the Microstructure in Powder Metallurgical Ag–SnO2–In2O3 Contact Materials
- Some New Aspects of Microstructural Design of β-Si3N4 Ceramics
- Ni-Based SOFC Anodes: Microstructure and Electrochemistry
- Effect of Copper Line Geometry and Process Parameters on Interconnect Microstructure and Degradation Processes
- Thermal Stability of Nanoscale Co/Cu Multilayers
- Methods for Characterising the Precipitation of Nanometer-Sized Secondary Hardening Carbides and Related Effects in Tool Steels
- Prediction of Local Strain and Hardness in Sheet Forming
- Novel in situ-Infiltrated Al2O3-Metal Composites
- Influence of Microstructure and Impurities on Thermal Conductivity of Aluminium Nitride Ceramics
- Notifications/Mitteilungen
- Personelles/Personal
- Bücher/Books
- Tagungen/Conferences
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- “No wise man ever wish to be younger”
- Aufsätze/Articles
- Entropy, Transformations and Sustainability of Industrial Life Cycles
- Positron Annihilation in Stable and Supercooled Metallic Melts
- Local Characterization of the Diffusion Process during Discontinuous Precipitation: A Review
- The Dependence of Abnormal Grain Growth on Initial Grain Size in 316 L Stainless Steel
- Diffusion-Controlled Grain Growth in Liquid-Phase Sintering of W–Cu Nanocomposites
- Evaluation of Densification Mechanisms of Liquid-Phase Sintering
- Phase Transformation of a Dual Phase Al–Fe Alloy Prepared by Mechanical Alloying
- Discrete Element Simulation of Ceramic Powder Processing
- Strain Relaxation and Internal Friction in the Range of the Glass Transition
- A Thermodynamic Model of an Amorphous Grain Boundary Phase in Liquid-Phase Sintered β-SiAlON Ceramic
- Epitaxial Growth of Metals on (100) SrTiO3: The Influence of Lattice Mismatch and Reactivity
- Microstructure and Modifications of Cu/Al2O3 Interfaces
- Structural Transformations Induced by Swift Heavy Ions in Polysiloxanes and Polycarbosilanes
- Metastable Al–Nd–Ni and Stable Al–La–Ni Phase Equilibria
- Phase Equilibria of the Al–Nd and Al–Nd–Ni Systems
- System Pr –Pd–O: Phase Diagram and Thermodynamic Properties of Ternary Oxides Using Solid-State Cells with Special Features
- Calculation of Phase Equilibria in Candidate Solder Alloys
- Thermodynamic Assessment of the Zr–O Binary System
- Delaminating Layered Oxide Composites with Wavy Interfaces
- Contemporary Materials Issues for Advanced EB-PVD Thermal Barrier Coating Systems
- Monte Carlo Simulations of Strength Distributions of Brittle Materials – Type of Distribution, Specimen and Sample Size
- On the Optimization of the Microstructure in Powder Metallurgical Ag–SnO2–In2O3 Contact Materials
- Some New Aspects of Microstructural Design of β-Si3N4 Ceramics
- Ni-Based SOFC Anodes: Microstructure and Electrochemistry
- Effect of Copper Line Geometry and Process Parameters on Interconnect Microstructure and Degradation Processes
- Thermal Stability of Nanoscale Co/Cu Multilayers
- Methods for Characterising the Precipitation of Nanometer-Sized Secondary Hardening Carbides and Related Effects in Tool Steels
- Prediction of Local Strain and Hardness in Sheet Forming
- Novel in situ-Infiltrated Al2O3-Metal Composites
- Influence of Microstructure and Impurities on Thermal Conductivity of Aluminium Nitride Ceramics
- Notifications/Mitteilungen
- Personelles/Personal
- Bücher/Books
- Tagungen/Conferences
