| Things in our environment are made from | | | | main categories |
| materials. The earth and nature are producing and | | | | - Category naming according to the materials’ |
| supplying primary products being used as raw | | | | origins. |
| materials for the various purposes. Men are using | | | | - Categories describing material usages should be |
| them as coal, ore, stone, wood, fiber, etc. to | | | | avoided as far as possible |
| make industrial products. Formed products are | | | | - References to existing norms should be used |
| assembled to become end user products like | | | | With these wants the following categorization was |
| buildings, vehicles, machines, etc. | | | | developed. |
| For every entity it is inevitable to know exactly | | | | 1 Metal |
| the sources, behavior and usage opportunities of | | | | 1A Iron and Steel (ISO 683-1, EN 10027) |
| the included materials. This is the reason for | | | | 1B Light Metal and –Alloys (D [6] < 4.5 |
| material sciences to become of increasing | | | | g/cm³) |
| importance in industrial societies. Industry is | | | | 1C Heavy Metal (D > 4.5 g/cm³) |
| forced to know about the usage of materials | | | | 1D Noble Metal |
| along their life cycle: from production, their | | | | |
| formation to goods, and ending as industrial or | | | | 2 Polymer |
| household scrap. | | | | 2A Thermoplastic (ISO 1043) |
| Materials are composed of substances: chemical | | | | 2B Elastomer (ISO 1629) |
| elements and chemical compounds. Some of them | | | | 2C Thermoplastic Elastomer |
| may be released from the material and possibly | | | | 2D Duromer (ISO 1043) |
| interact with the user or the environment. This | | | | 2E Textile Fiber (ISO 2076) |
| behavior is well known for many materials, but by | | | | |
| far not for all of them and not for all usages and | | | | 3 Mineral |
| combinations. National and international law and | | | | 3A Glass |
| governmental regulations are forcing industry to | | | | 3B Ceramic |
| know about their products’ impact onto users | | | | 3C Stone |
| and the environment. It is therefore self-evident | | | | |
| that a systematic material classification was | | | | 4 Functional |
| needed. Centuries ago in Germany the Automobile | | | | 4A Inorganic, solid |
| Producers' Association [1] had developed a Material | | | | 4B Organic, solid |
| Classification [2] which later became the selection | | | | 4C Pyrotechnic |
| list for the – recycling related – material | | | | 4D Composite |
| determination within the IMDS [3]. This worldwide | | | | |
| network became the leading tracking system for | | | | 5 Bio-Material |
| automotive components, materials and their | | | | 5A Animal Fiber, Hair (ISO 6938) |
| substances. One driver for the assessment of | | | | 5B Plant Fiber (ISO 6938) |
| materials being used to construct automobiles was | | | | 5C Wood, Paper, Cardboard |
| the increasing pressure forcing industry to practice | | | | 5D Leather |
| the collection and the recycling of materials out of | | | | 5E Biopolymer |
| end-of-life vehicles. In the European Union the | | | | |
| ELV-Directive [4] tackled the issue to re-use or | | | | 6 Operating Supply |
| re-cycle the increasing streams of materials arising | | | | 6A Fuel |
| from the millions of tons of industry products at | | | | 6B Lubricant |
| the end of their lives. | | | | 6C Hydraulic Fluid |
| The international norm: ISO 22628 [5] is describing | | | | 6D Solution, aqueous |
| methods to calculate the recyclability and | | | | 6E Refrigerant |
| recoverability of road vehicles. This standard also | | | | 6F Acid, Base, Salt |
| strives to classify the materials in a road vehicle | | | | 6G Gas |
| into the following types: Metal, Polymer, Elastomer, | | | | |
| Glass, Fluid, Miscellaneous. It is obvious that this | | | | As manufacturing industry is widely interlaced, a |
| rough classification cannot satisfy the needs of a | | | | material class that has been identified at the start |
| thorough explanation of the material contents in a | | | | of the supply chain should be valid throughout this |
| vehicle. | | | | chain. While this material categorization was |
| A modern material categorization for industrial | | | | developed with regard to automotive industry it |
| purposes must meet the following demands: | | | | indeed has the potential to be used as well by |
| - Easy to comprehend – even laymen should | | | | other industry branches, especially when it comes |
| be able to determine a material’s category | | | | to the IMDS material datasheet [7] reporting. |
| - All existing materials should be covered with few | | | | |