ABSTRACT
A product’s environmental impact is directly infl uenced by the environmental properties of the materials used, such as energy costs, emissions involved in production and manufacturing phases, and recyclability. The choice of materials, therefore, assumes strategic importance and requires an extension of the characterization of materials, integrating conventional characterization (aimed at defi ning physical-mechanical properties) with a complete characterization of environmental behavior. To enable the designer to make an optimal choice of materials that harmonizes performance characteristics and properties of eco-compatibility, the selection process must take account of a wide range of factors: constraints of shape and dimension, required performance, technological and economic constraints associated with the manufacturability of materials, and environmental impacts of all the phases of the life cycle.
