Processing route analysis
The refining and processing steps for a mineral are described with their inputs, energy use and by-products, showing where a supply chain depends on specialised capacity.
GCRI · Trade and Strategic Resources
Materials science for strategic resources
Materials science and chemistry explain which materials a technology needs, how they are refined, and which can be recycled or substituted. In this field they ground criticality and diversification analysis in the physical properties and processing routes of materials.
01Contents
Materials science for strategic resources in five parts.
02Application
What materials science and chemistry does here.
Materials science and chemistry study the composition, structure and properties of substances and how they react and degrade. They inform the safety of industrial processes, the durability of infrastructure and the availability of critical materials. In trade, resources and supply chains and industry and robotics, materials and chemical knowledge supports hazard classification, infrastructure lifetime assessment and substitution planning for scarce inputs. It links industrial accidents and pollution to health and supply chain risk. The canonical description is on the STEM Commons.
Recycling potential
Material content of end-of-life products and available recovery processes are combined to estimate how much secondary supply could be recovered over time.
Substitution options
Alternative materials and chemistries, such as different battery cathodes, are compared for performance, maturity and their own supply risks.
03Monitor
Field sampling.
The screen a team would use to follow this method: its measures, states and decisions. Names are examples and values are illustrative.
Field sampling
Trade and resources · Materials science for strategic · Run R-7016
Three sites overdueGCRI · Trade and Strategic Resources
Sampling sites
red: result above guideline
Latest results
| S-17 | Supplier | 2.8 | 6 | Near |
| S-50 | Inventory | 5.2 | 6 | Near |
| S-43 | Freight | 8.0 | 9 | Near |
| S-57 | Share | 6.9 | 10 | Below |
Trend at selected site
04Data
What the method consumes.
Datasets and records used by materials science and chemistry on this platform, with the role each plays and the label its values carry. Sources are listed in the source register.
| Data | Role | Label |
|---|---|---|
| Material flow analyses | Stocks and flows | ESTIMATED |
| Technology composition data | Material intensity | REPORTED |
| Process engineering literature | Routes and inputs | REPORTED |
05Methods and evidence
How materials science for strategic resources is modelled, measured and tested.
The model, its assumptions, its data and its uncertainty, in the form a scientist or engineer would check. Structures follow published methods. The values drawn are illustrative, not findings.
Model, equations and assumptions
The model structure used for materials science for strategic resources, the assumptions it makes and how each is tested.
Risk of element i
Ri = f(Hi, Ei, Vi, Ci)hazard, exposure, vulnerability and coping capacityExpected annual loss
EAL = ∑k pk · Lkover events k with annual probability pkCoupled systems
xt+1 = A xt + B ut + εtA carries the couplings, u the shock, ε the error| Assumption | Why it is made | How it is tested |
|---|---|---|
| Hazard and exposure are independent within an event | Keeps the loss integral tractable | Compare with a copula fit on joint records |
| Couplings are linear near the operating point | Lets shocks propagate through A | Perturb beyond the linear range and compare |
| Vulnerability curves transfer between places | Local curves are rarely available | Validate against observed losses where they exist |
- Inputs
- versioned datasets with provenance
- Outputs
- distributions, never single numbers
- Code
- released with the model card and tests
- Reproduction
- same data, code, environment and seed
FAIR guiding principles · GO FAIR and FORCE11W3C PROV · World Wide Web ConsortiumGuidance on consistent treatment of uncertainties · IPCCCEOS Analysis Ready Data · Committee on Earth Observation Satellites
06Validation
How results are checked.
Measurements are traceable to reference materials and verified through interlaboratory comparison. Simulations are benchmarked against experimental data.
| Check | How it is done |
|---|---|
| Mass balance | Material flows are checked to balance across stages |
| Technology readiness | Substitutes are classified by maturity before being counted on |
| Expert review | Process descriptions are reviewed by materials scientists |
Laboratory ageing tests may not reproduce long-term field conditions. Combined exposures and novel substances lack characterisation.
07Process
How the process runs.
Process
Materials science for strategic resources: Source to evidence record
A source is registered and assessed, its record labelled and classified, and a Digital Evidence Passport carries provenance; a correction reaches every dependent record.
01 Intake
- 01Identify the sourceSource · The source stewardDiscovery is not ingestion. Source identification records the source class, steward, institutional role and jurisdiction.
- 03Register the sourceStepRegistration makes a discovered source a governed participant in the evidence lifecycle. It implies no endorsement or certification.
02 Assessment
- 04Jurisdiction and rights classificationGateRights classification identifies licence, consent, confidentiality and reuse limits. The result determines access and routing.
- 05Evidence quality assessmentStepQuality assessment decides whether a record is fit for a defined use. Quality is multidimensional and never a single score.
- 06Evidence labelStepEvery finding carries one of nine evidence labels. Missing data is shown as missing, never as zero.
03 Record
- 07Evidence classificationRecordClassification gives records lifecycle states, such as source-verified, public-safe or restricted. States can coexist and set evidence use.
- 08Source release and identifierRecord · NXS-GRX (canonical data, provenance and risk)A source release records rights, temporal coverage and source lineage. A UNI is allocated through a catalogue and never typed by hand.
- 09Digital Evidence PassportRecordThe passport records provenance, quality, rights, jurisdiction, permitted use and history, so evidence keeps its context when it travels.
04 Use and correction
- 02Correction reaches dependent recordsStep · NXS-GRX (canonical data, provenance and risk)A source correction propagates to dependent cuts and products without rewriting old results.
- 10Public-safe reviewGatePublic-safe review decides whether a record can be shared publicly. It is a distinct stage and is not validation.
Data protocols: evidence lifecycle · Data protocols: core data objects and evidence records · The Global Risks Index (NXS-GRX)Designed programme process, not a record of operation. No cycle has run and every programme is at service level R0. A gate is a programme decision, never a public-authority approval, certification or deployment authorisation. The data-protocol pages describe a design, not a running system.
08Connections
Topics that rely on this method.
09Stewardship
Who maintains the method.
Advanced Industry and Robotics stewards materials science and chemistry for the Consortium and reviews how it is applied across platforms.
10Connected
Where this page leads across the Consortium.
11Questions
Questions and answers.
What are the limits of materials science and chemistry in this field?
Laboratory ageing tests may not reproduce long-term field conditions. Combined exposures and novel substances lack characterisation.
How are results checked?
Measurements are traceable to reference materials and verified through interlaboratory comparison. Simulations are benchmarked against experimental data.
Are the values on this page real?
The data names, roles and checks are real descriptions of practice. The canvas shows a design of the method’s use, not a run; no result is reported here.
Where else is this method applied?
The canonical method page lists every platform that applies it.
ReportsContribute
Contribute evidence from this page.
Reports is the Consortium’s quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.
GCRITrade and Strategic ResourcesStrategic SystemsScenario and Stress-Test
- EmailGateway GW-GCRISend it from this pageEvidence, a correction, a case, a method, a review, a translation or profile input. It arrives tagged with this page, so the editor who owns it receives it.
- ZenodoOpen depositDeposit it and submit to the communityPublish your own record on Zenodo with your ORCID iD, then submit it to the Reports community there. Curators review it; the DOI stays yours.
- ReportsGCRISee every way to contributeThe contribution types, how each is reviewed, what credit you receive, the licence and what is never accepted.
Never send personal data, sensitive infrastructure detail or anything you have no right to share. A contribution is reviewed before use; sending it confers no authorship or editorial rights, and sponsorship never buys a finding.
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