TABLE OF CONTENTS 
If there were no forces for change, everything would stay the same. The clear message of Figure 1.1, at the start of this book, is that exactly the opposite is true: things are changing faster now than ever before. The evolving circumstances of the world in which we live change the boundary conditions for design, and with them those for selecting materials and processes.
These changes are driven by a number of forces. First, there is the market-pull: the demand from industry for materials that are lighter, stiffer, stronger, tougher, cheaper, and more tolerant of extremes of temperature and environment, and that offer greater functionality. Then there is the science-push: the curiosity-driven researches of materials experts in the laboratories of universities, industries, and government. There is the driving force of what might be called mega-projects: historically, the Manhattan Project, the development of nuclear power, the space-race and various defense programs; today, one might think of alternative energy technologies, the problems of maintaining an ageing infrastructure of drainage, roads, bridges and aircraft, and the threat of terrorism. There is the trend to miniaturization while at the same time increasing the functionality of products. There is legislation regulating product safety and there is the increased emphasis on liability established by recent legal precedent.
This chapter examines forces for change and the directions in which they push materials and their deployment. Figure 18.1 set sets the scene.
