“New” Materials versus “Old” Materials: A Groundless Controversy

A simple and handy method of classifying materials is as follows. With reference to the theory of the life cycle of a product, it suffices in practice to employ the economic criterion of growth rate. In these terms, a “new” material (one whose growth trajectory is in a phase of acceleration) is any material whose anticipated growth rate over the next decade exceeds the average growth rate of western economies, ie about 3 %. Conversely, a material is regarded as “old” if its anticipated growth rate is below the average (cf. Figure I.1.a).