Strategic Development of High-Value-Added Composite Materials

This book provides detailed descriptions of material design, from the development of new materials and innovation to the promotion of social acceptance of the products invented. After developing a clay-based film and applying for many related patents, the author engaged in consortium-based development, where different companies simultaneously developed multiple products using the raw material. Throughout this process, the author discovered that developing high-value-added products using new materials requires extensive time and cooperation among various stakeholders. The author coined the term "integrated development" to describe this collaborative approach. This book serves as a guide to the integrated development, presenting numerous examples and generalizations to enable readers to practice integrated development.

This book is aimed at material experts, development leaders in companies, research institutes, and support organizations. The most important skills for each stage of development are organized into chapters in sequential order. However, each chapter is independent, allowing readers to focus on the specific chapter they need. The knowledge presented in this book can be utilized to design new materials required across various industries.

The English translation of this book from its Japanese original manuscript was done with the help of artificial intelligence. A subsequent human revision of the content was done by the author.

1 Innovation from Component Development.- 2 Procedure for Building a Strong Patent Group.- 3 How Small and Medium Enterprises Easily Create World Firsts.- 4 Clay, Especially Smectite.- 5 What Claist Can and Cannot Do.- 6 Basics of Gas Barrier Materials.- 7 International Standards for Clay Nanoplates.- 8 What is Megumi Monozukuri?.

Takeo Ebina is a material scientist and he advocates "Megumi Monozukuri", a sustainable manufacturing method that actively utilizes the blessings of nature. He developed a high-performance composite material called "Claist,". Claist is a flexible film material whose main component is plate-shaped clay crystals with a thickness of 1 nanometer (1/1,000,000,000 meter). He built an industry-academia consortium for the industrialization of this material and led its commercialization in a wide range of industrial fields. Representative products developed by him are non-asbestos gasket, gas barrier nanocomposite film, dishwasher capable lacqerware, non-combustible trasparent composite board, and so on. He has also developed an international standard for clay nanoplates for gas barrier films and is working to build the certification system.   He received his doctorate from the Faculty of Engineering, Tohoku University in 1993. He started his professional career at the Government Industrial Research Institute, Tohoku, Agency of Industrial Science and Technology, Ministry of International Trade and Industry right after his graduation. He researched abroad twice at the University of California at Santa Barbara to study functional materials including clays. He served as Senior Researcher from 2001 to 2004, Team Leader from 2006 to 2012, and Prime Senior Researcher from 2013 to 2020 in National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. He has been served as Director-General of AIST Tohoku from 2021.   He published 124 Scientific Publications. He wrote 42 book chapters of various books. His patents number 200. He held many important positions such as Chairman, Clayteam; Chief, Material Standards Subcommittee, National Committee for Standardization of Nanotechnology; Director, The Clay Science Society of Japan; Editor in Chief, Clay Science; Director, Japan Ceramic Society and so on.