Design Life-Cycle

 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS 

CELLULAR PHONE MATERIALS AND PROCESS RESEARCH: RAW MATERIALS IN A CELL PHONE

BY JAMIE CHEN

 MARCH 13, 2013

As one of the most frequently used technology in the 21st century, the construction of the cell phone is not as simple as it seems. Just by looking at a phone and having a general idea about how it works, we can come up with a few basic materials such as plastic, metals, and chemicals. But very few know where and how plastic comes from, exactly what metals are used, and which chemicals process and complete the cell phone. After researching on the raw materials that go into this intricate system, I have broken down my findings into four main sections that make up a general cell phone: plastics, metals, glass, and chemicals and gases. But we must also keep in mind that there are also other material in certain steps of the cell phone life cycle such as recycling or distribution that are lesser known or paid attention to.   When looking at raw materials, I will start with the one of the most common materials found in a cell phone; plastic. Plastic is not something that is found directly from the earth. It is a result of processing crude oil mined from different parts of the world such as Saudi Arabia, West Africa, the Americas and Asia [1].Crude oil is the remaining material of a dead algae and plankton that has been compressed by the heat and pressure over billions of year[2].  To get the plastic from the crude oil, it is distilled, which splits the oil into different parts called fractions. One fraction in particular is called naptha which is the key component to all types of plastic. Other fractions such as gasoline also contribute to making the cell phone, such as being used in transportation or distribution of the product, even though this has a more indirect affect. Naptha is can be broken down by further distillation into ethylene, propylene, and butylenes. Ethylene and propylene are then taken and used as the elemental structure that will form plastic[3]. It is important to note that naptha comes from crude oil just like all the other fractions of oil such as gasoline or kerosene. Crude oil is mainly composed of hydrogen and carbon, six to ten percent of nitrogen, oxyen, sulfur, and traces of copper, nickel, vanadium, and iron[4]. So the fractions are all mainly made up of the same materials, but it is the elemental structure and atomic bonds that differ. Therefore, ethylene, propylene, and butylenes and all types of plastic are made up of mostly the same raw material, hydrogen and carbon elements. The only difference is the atomic bonds between the hydrogen and carbon that have been restructured to create different materials. There are two types of plastics that come out of naptha: thermoplastic and thermoset. Thermoplastic can be heated and remolded as many times as possible while thermoset holds a permanent form once is has been moulded. Since the cell phone must be durable for constant usage and from the heat the circuit board produces, most plastics in the cell phone are generally thermoset plastics. Several thermoset plastics that go into the cell phone include polymethylmethacrylate, fluropolymer, polypropylene, epozide, phenolformaldyhyde, polycarbonate, styrene, and epoxy resin[5]. Polymethylmethacrylate is used to create electrical insulators, fluoropolymer plastics as computer chip coatings, and polypropylene, epoxide, and phenolformaldyhydes are used in electrical components and as adhesives in the circuit board.  Polycarbonates make up the casing of the cell phone which holds all the components together because of its durability and is usually manufactured through injection molding to create different shapes and models of cell phones. Styrene is used as packaging since its properties allow it to come in different colors or become transparent. Styrene can also be a good electrical insulator. Epoxy resin is another plastic that is used to fill fiberglass and as a casing for semiconductors[6]. Another important component made out of plastic that is found mainly in the circuit board is called photoresist. The circuit board consists of several layers of different metals that are etched with circuits and the photoresist protects the surfaces that are not supposed to be etched.  Photoresist is made out of acid-based photopolymers that is set between a layer of polyester film on one side and a layer of polyolefin or polyethylene sheet on the other. To apply the sheet, the polyolefin or polyethylene sheet is taken away as the photoresist is laminated onto a circuit board. Then after exposure to UV light, the polyester film is removed[7]. Although, there are a variety of plastics and it seems to be the most common raw material used in the cell phone, in reality, only five percent of crude oil can be used to make plastic[8]. This figure shows that a massive amount of crude oil has to be extracted in order to produce the amount of plastic in not just cell phones but in other products as well.

Glass is another raw material used to make the cell phone. Most of the glass in the cell phone goes to the production of the screen, or more specifically the liquid crystalline screen (LCD). LCDs consist of two panes of glass that are filled with a substance call liquid crystalline. Liquid crystalline is the product of heating cholesteryl benzoate, which has two boiling points. Liquid crystalline is achieved during the second boiling point when it turns into a clear substance[9]. Although the glass itself seems like a “raw” material, if we go deeper, it really comes from quartz sand, limestone, and sodium carbonate. The glass that faces the outside is usually covered with a tough plastic coating. Many sources did not delve much into what type of plastic it was, but from my previous research, we can assume it is a type of fluoropolymer plastic, which is usually used as coatings. On other sides of the glass sheets, a conductive layer of tin oxide or indium oxide is applied so that electric currents can run through the glass to the liquid crystals between the two panes of glass[10].  Many sources put more focus on the workings of liquid crystals and less about the glass but a company called Corning produces several LCD displays for modern cell phone companies and the glass they manufacture is called “gorilla glass”. The tough glass is produced by boiling salt with glass. The glass would lose its small sodium ions which are replaced by the salt’s large potassium ions[11]. Glass is not just used in cell phone screens, but also fiberglass. Fiberglass is glass pulled into a very thin thread which is usually used for electrical insulation. It is also usually filled with epoxy resin, a type of plastic that is used in circuit boards as well.  

Metals are also another category of raw materials that go into the cell phone, most of which are used in the circuit board and the battery. A regular circuit board usually consists of several metals including copper, gold, lead, nickel, zinc, beryllium, tantalum, and coltan[12]. The gold is usually combined with salt to be used as plating for printed circuits. The copper also has chemical additives including sulfuric acid, chloride ion, brightener, and de-ionized water. Lead is combined with tin to make soldering paste as a type of adherence or plating for circuits[13]. But metals are not a hundred percent pure when they are first mined. They must be purified in order to be used in the actual product.  In recent years, silicon has also become a main metal property in the circuit board as one of the most efficient semiconductor in electronics. Silicon can be extracted from beach sand, but in the modern era, silicon is produced by adding quartz and carbon into an arc furnace, which is then purified through electricity to obtain silicon that is ninety-eight percent pure. But because all materials in the circuit board are extremely pure, it is further processed by grounding it into powder and rinsing with hydrogen chloride to get the finished product. Finally, the silicon is cut into thin wafers to be placed inside the phone.  Other types of semiconductors include gallium arsenide from molten gallium and arsenic metals, silicon-on-sapphire which has sapphire material underneath the silicon wafer, and gadolinium gallium garnet which comes from gadolinium oxide and gallium oxide[14]. The battery, a major component that powers the whole machine, is also made of metal. The most common type of battery used to power cell phones are lithium ion batteries which are made out of lithium metallic oxides and carbon based materials such as graphite or coke[15]. But lithium metallic oxide is actually a processed form of the raw material, lithium, which comes directly from the earth. But it is never found in a pure form, so it is sometimes extracted from a mineral called spodumene, which is found in pegmatite, a type of rock deposit that forms when magma cools slow enough for large crystals to grow. It can also be found in a petalite, another mineral that holds lithium, but the most common source comes from brine which is water with high concentrations of lithium carbonate from which lithium can be extracted from and processed into a rechargeable battery[16].

Other than metal, plastic, and glass, several chemicals are also used to process and clean the multiple parts of the cell phone. The part that uses the most chemicals is the circuit board. The steps of making the circuit board involve repeated steps of adding a layer of photoresist, etching and removing the photoresist. These steps usually involve different metals therefore there are a multitude of chemicals and gases to adhere, etch and remove.  A list of acids that are usually used for etching on metallic wafers, removing layers, and cleaning include acetic acid, boric acid, fluoroboric acid, hydrochloric acid, hydrofluoric acid, nitric acid, phosophoric acid, and sulfuric acid. Some etchants are ammoniacal solutions, ammonium fluoride, buffered oxide, copper chloride, and iron chloride. And other types of chemicals are hydrogen peroxide, ammonium persulfate and sodium persulfate which are also used in etching and stripping resists. To highlight some of these chemicals, I will go into detail about a few major chemicals and their raw materials. The main material in sulfuric acid is sulfur and it is usually obtained from elemental sulfur, gas emissions, sulfuric acid sludge, and pyrites and hydrogen sulfide gases. Sulfuric acid is usually used as an etchant, cleaner and for electrolysis in copper plating baths. Hydrofluoric acid is another acid that is very corrosive and is obtained by chemical reactions of sulfuric acid and calcium fluoride. This produces hydrogen fluoride gas and calcium sulfate which is then distilled to get hydrofluoric acid. Ammoniacal solutions, which are usually used as etchants, consist of a mix of hydroxides, chlorides, carbonates, phosphates and nitrates. Beside chemicals, there are also different gases that go into the manufacturing of the cell phone. Some gases are nitrogen, hydrogen, argon, oxygen, silicon tertachoride, trichlorosilane, dichlorosilane, silane, and carbon tetrofluoride. Nitrogen is usually used in the manufacturing process in furnaces, reactors, implanter and area to protect the product against impurities. Hydrogen is used to seal metallic surfaces or combining with carbon tetrofluoride to become an etchant. Argon is usually used in atmospheres to grow silicon crystals. Oxygen is used in the manufacturing process of semiconductors. The silicon gases are used to chemically combine the silicon onto the circuit board. Carbon tetrofluoride is the main gas used as an etchant[17]. One of the major difficulties I encountered when doing this research was looking at the chemicals that went into processing and purifying the raw materials of the cell phone. Looking at just the circuit board, the materials that go into it are very pure, so it takes many steps of purification and few papers actually go into the details unless they were papers meant for people in the field. The circuit board is also very intricate, requiring up to two hundred steps which takes multiple coatings and chemical baths. This made the research frustrating because it was difficult to get a complete list of all the gases and chemicals that are used to making the circuit board that runs the cell phone.

Other than the substances put into the phone, there are also materials that go into the distribution and the workings of the cell phone that are not physically found in the device. For example, lumber that makes paper go into the boxes that are used for shipment. Gasoline and petroleum from crude oil is another raw material that carries parts of the cell phone from different manufacturers to assemblage. The machines also include steel and metallic parts that work in the factories to put together the phone. Cell phones also require cell phone towers that are built from a whole other set of raw materials for construction such as steel, plastic, and copper wires. So other than looking at the physical pieces in the phone, it is important to notice that many other raw materials enter the process of making a phone. But because the cell phone is a complicated system that has several raw materials of its own, we can only give a brief insight on all the “extra” raw materials that contribute to the process.  

When looking at the issue of recycling, very few cell phones actually go on to be reused and given another life. Only twenty percent of all electronics are actually recycled while most end up in the landfills. In landfills, the most toxic materials are the chemicals that treat the metals and the plastics. The chemicals can leak into the dirt and contaminate the ground. Metals such as beryllium, lead, cadmium and arsenic are also harmful to the environment[18]. Assuming from my research, thermoplastics used in cell phones do not melt and reshape after it has been heated and molded the first time. Therefore, the plastic is impossible to break down from the heat and pressure even if they are put into the ground. Unless a new chemical is discovered to be able to break down these types of plastic, the only solution is to reuse them in some other way. One method is to cut the waste into small pellets which can be used to build lightweight concrete. By adding sand, water-cement, aluminum powder, and lignite fly ash, light weight cement can be created and reused in public infrastructures[19]. Unlike the plastics, metals such as copper and gold can be reused by melting it down from the board. But most of the cell phone is ultimately not recyclable because other than the fact that it is impossible to remold thermoset plastic, so much energy goes into purifying and making the circuit board, so far there has been no way to take apart all the intricate pieces that go into making the electronic parts of the cell phone. Reusing these metals cause less damage on the environment than mining for more. But even when cell phones do end up in recycling systems, many electronics are traded off to brokers who send the waste to third world countries, where people who live there make a living off of tossed electronics. Here, the plastics are burned off which emit toxic gases and then precious metals such as gold and copper are melted and resold[20]. But this is a problem does not just affect countries where trash is piling up; the effects are also circling back to the U.S, a large consumer of electronic products and cell phones. Jeffrey Heiderham, a chemist from the Ashland University of Ohio, bought a piece of jewelry from China and with his class, found that it was made from high amounts of lead with also contained traces of copper and tin alloy. The makeup of the jewelry alludes to the fact that this piece of metal was originally part of an electronic circuit board. And as China grows as a global manufacturer, we may see more and more of these harmful products that came from our own waste[21]. So despite the efforts of several countries that who are mass consumers of electronics like the cell phone, there still lacks an efficient and enforced recycling system.

Even after attempting to do a complete research on the parts of the cell phone, the list of raw materials that go into making this device is difficult to keep track of. For example, there are several of chemicals that go into just the processing of all the different metals and plastics and each chemical has its own purification system with additional materials that are not directly found within a phone. Also, a majority of materials in the cell phone are found within the circuit board. Other than the board, most of the other parts are just treated plastics, glass, and small amounts of metal; therefore a large portion of the raw materials is invested in the circuit board. But besides the actually materials we see if we open up a cell phone, we also need to keep in mind of the indirect raw materials in recycling the cell phone, or the chemicals that purify the metals in the circuit board or the different plastics that carries the components. Yet although the technology and method of the cell phone is so complex, at least after thorough research we can gain a good picture of the main ingredients of the cell phone.

Bibliography

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[1] "What is Crude Oil? A Detailed Explanation on this Essential Fossil Fuel." Oil Prices & Energy News: Crude Oil Price Charts, Investment Advice. http://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/What-Is-Crude-Oil-A-Detailed-Explanation-On-This-Essential-Fossil-Fuel.html (accessed March 1, 2013).

[2] "What is crude oil, and what is it used for?." College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment | The College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment. http://www.ceoe.udel.edu/oilspill/crudeoil.html (accessed March 12, 2013).

[3] "How plastic is made." PlasticsEurope - The Plastics portal - PlasticsEurope. http://www.plasticseurope.org/what-is-plastic/how-plastic-is-made.aspx (accessed March 1, 2013).

[4] "What is Crude Oil? A Detailed Explanation on this Essential Fossil Fuel."

[5] " How plastic is made."

[6] " Plastics Europe - Types of plastics - PlasticsEurope." PlasticsEurope - The Plastics portal - PlasticsEurope. http://www.plasticseurope.org/what-is-plastic/types-of-plastics.aspx (accessed March 1, 2013).

[7] Daigle, Steve, Eric Vogelsburg, Biron Lim, and Ian Butcher. "Electronic Chemicals - Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry." Wiley Online Library. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14356007.a09_265/full#a09_265-sec1-0005 (accessed March 2, 2013).

[8] “ How Plastic is Made.”

[9] "Introduction to Liquid Crystals." Polymers & Liquid Crystals Introduction. http://plc.cwru.edu/tutorial/enhanced/files/lc/intro.htm (accessed March 1, 2013).

[10] Daigle,

{C}[11]{C} " Corning Gorilla Glass | FAQS." Corning Gorilla Glass. http://www.corninggorillaglass.com/faqs/all (accessed March 1, 2013).

[12] United State Environmental Protection Agency. "The Life Cycle of a Cell Phone." EPA Poster. www.epa.gov/waste/education/pdfs/life-cell.pdf (accessed February 4, 2013).

[13] Daigle

[14] Zulehner, Werner , Bernd Neue, and Gerhard  Rau. "Silicon - Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry." Wiley Online Library. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14356007.a23_721/full#leftBorder (accessed March 1, 2013).

[15] "The Life Cycle of a Cell Phone."

[16] "Lithium." Encyclopedia of Earth. http://www.eoearth.org/article/Lithium?topic=49557 (accessed March 1, 2013).

[17] Daigle

[18] Carroll, Chris. "High-Tech Trash - National Geographic Magazine." National Geographic                   Magazine.http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/01/high-tech-trash/carroll-text (accessed March 13, 2013).

[19] Panyakapo, P., and M. Panyakapo. "Reuse of thermosetting plastic waste for lightweight concrete." Waste Management 28, no. 9 (2008): 1581-1588 .

[20] Carrol.

[21] Ibid.

Ansel Fok

Design Project Final Paper - Cellphones Embodied Energy

For our final project, our group decided to focus on the topic of cell phones. As part of a design group that focused primarily on the aspect of Digital Design, our group decided to analyze the process and life cycle of consumer Cell phones. As a new technology that has been on the rise around the turn of the decade, cell phones have become a very important and vital product in the global market. It’s presence as a popular consumer product with high preferences among buyers all around the world makes it a very strong technological innovation on the rise. Numerous companies have joined the cell phone race since its conception as a product, creating a market boom and a platform of global competition. As part of the project, our group is responsible of analyzing the life cycle process of cell phones from the basic and fundamental materials that forms each component of the ergonomic yet complex cellular phone device to the aspects of its sustainability as a product in general. For myself, I’m responsible for analyzing the energy components that involves in cell phone development: the types of energy inputs in its material extraction, production and assembly, distribution and manufacture, lifespan, disposal and reusability.

A cell phone contains numerous smaller components that are assembled together to be used. The process begins with the material extraction and obtaining the basic resources to make these components. The energy input that’s required to process the systems varies across different stages of extraction as well for the resource itself. For starters, all materials at every stage has potential energy. The energy is stored in all the resources and materials and will react depending on the type of force of secondary energy applied onto it. The most common materials are Polycarbonate Plastic, a Circuit Board, and the Battery.

Polycarbonate Plastic is commonly found in the casing. These plastics are formed first through chemical energy by combining bisphenol A and phosgene and then thermal energy through a glass transition phase of about 147 C°.

The Circuit Board has various different materials that are combined together. Fiberglass is one and is made from chemical and thermal energy by melting and combining silica sand, limestone, kaolin clay, fluorospar, colemanite, and dolomite minerals. Various metals including: copper, gold, lead, nickel, zinc, and beryllium, are obtained through mining which contains kinetic energy (through movement of the metals) and thermal, although sometimes electric, energy to power the extracting machines. Silicone, which is made from chemical energy combining silica with water, is a primary material used as a transistor of sorts. It’s applied with plasma, formed through chemical energy in chlorine gas to create wires thinner than human hair, and Photoresist, a covering made through chemical energy of polymethyl is applied to protect its durability. All these smaller components are held together through kinetic energy by Solder paste, formed through chemical energy by forming solder metal into a thick medium called flux.

The most common type of battery is the Lithium-ion. It is formed through chemical energy by combining lithium metallic oxide, electrolytes, and any carbon based material. The three compounds each have an individual positive, negative, and neutral charge, which generates electric energy within the battery. Other less common types are nickel and lead, both uses the same format as Lithium with one positive, negative, and neutral charge of electric energy. The components are generally put together by machines specialized in handling these hazardous materials which is also powered by electrical energy. Occasionally, it’s done by people, which involves kinetic and chemical energy to combine the various parts together.

Similar to the production and refinement of raw materials, manufacturing cell phones also require numerous types of energies spanning throughout different process phases. Like many mass consumption market products, cell phones are often made in factories operating different types of machinery and units of people involved in the assembly line for putting the final product together.  

The first phase involves making the casing. The casing is generally made from two materials: metals, typically aluminum, or plastic, typically polycarbonate. The material is refined and shaped into a presentable and usable form through different machinery running off various types of energy. For metals, the aluminum goes through microarc-oxidation that shapes and hardens the metal. For plastics, polymers combine with resins to form a hard, solid substance. Both cases undergo chemical energy by combining different substances together. The casing then goes into a computer numerical control (CNC) cutting or wielding machines, powered by electric energy, to shape the casing accordingly. Occasionally, laser cutting might be involved which exerts thermal energy to power the light ray temperatures high enough to cut through the substance.

Next is assembling the Circuit Board. As listed earlier, the Circuit Board is the most complex component of the cell phone, which contains hundreds of smaller components in it. Various CNC robotic machines are used to assemble the various parts into a working system put a majority of the components together. Once the circuit board is complete, it is loaded with software and programs to set the working process of the phone. Both of these phases require electric energy to power the CNC machines as well as the computers used to program the software and data into the circuit board.

The next phase is creating all other components of the phone, including the LCD display, Touch screen glass, and the LED backlights. For the LCD display, this part involves using chemical energy to combine liquid crystals with indium tin oxide to create a glass sheet that allows lights to refract.  The Touch Screen glass is formed through kinetic energy by applying adhesive onto a thin glass layer with transparent polyester coating. This hardens the glass and allows thermal energy to flow through. The LED backlights are created by manipulating electric energy from electrons to a level high enough to generate a light source. It requires little energy to maintain power, at an average of approximately 40 watts. These components serve mainly as function tools in the cell phone where the user input commands.

Once all the components are present, they are assembled together to form the final product. First the circuit board is placed onto the backside of the casing and held together by kinetic energy by various eyewear size screws. The LED backlights are applied next onto the circuit board with the same method. The LCD display is placed on top of the LED backlights and then covered by the  Touch Screen glass which is then closed with the front side casing. The components are held together through kinetic energy with the casing applying force to keep the parts intact.

When the phone is finally assembled, it goes through testing and Quality Assurance. Workers test and analyze each product to ensure that it is of usable and standard conditions when distributed into the market. Electric energy is commonly used in this process where the phones undergo various functionality testing: such as reception, power production and sustainability, and physical accessibility. (buttons, screen quality, sound) If a phone is not up to standards or found with defects, they are usually fixed, replaced, (if it is an error of a particular component) or entirely discarded while recycling reusable materials. This phase can use thermal, electric, or chemical or a combination of several types. Thermal used to adjust the components appropriately or to break them down for recycling. Electric is used to operate machines or make adjustments with functions and parts. Chemical is primarily used to break down parts into a recyclable state.

Once the phone has passed quality standards, it gets packed for distribution. This process involves machinery, powered by electric energy, which prepares and covers the final product. Cardboard to make boxes and plastic bags to store the components of the phone are common materials used in distribution. The packaged products are then transported to their distribution locations in stores, warehouses, etc. This uses electric energy to power machines in the process of moving. It can also use thermal energy to burn crude oil and transforms it into energy for movement inside vehicles that uses gasoline and petroleum.

When the cell phone reaches the end of its life cycle, it is either disposed as waste or recycled for future use. In many cases, much of the metal components in cell phones are discarded, as they are hard to make into a reusable state. Upon being discarded the components are sorted on a conveyer, which shreds the phone through a shredder or mill. It’s then thrown into landfill or into an incinerator. Operating the machines used to decompose the phone uses electric energy to generate power that creates movement and separates the various components. Incinerators uses thermal energy to generate immense heat which will melt the components into an entirely different state of matter.

 Recyclable materials are difficult to find in cell phones because most of the components are hard to split into separate materials and are highly intricate which makes it hard to take apart. Some parts, like plastics and glass cellophanes, can be reused to make other materials. For example, the plastics can be used to make lightweight concrete that uses chemical energy to combine sand, cement, aluminum powder, and lignite fly ash into a solid and hardened material. Recycled components go through magnetic separation, which uses a machine that generates electric energy to gather all the unrecyclable metals and separate them from the recyclable substances. Other processes include washing and drying of the components to restore its usability, which uses electric energy to operate the machines and chemical energy applied onto the recycled material and make them usable once more. In many cases, these parts are shipped off to other countries where they separate the waste. The transport typically uses thermal energy to power gasoline or petroleum and transform it into moving energy.

Researching about the life process of cell phones has been a very interesting and educational experience overall. As part of a digital design aspect, our group wanted to focus on a product that is relatable and used in mass quantities where many parts of the life cycle is not common knowledge because of the intricacies in the process. When we first started our research, we decided to break up the information based on the components that makes up the phone and the life cycle process of these parts themselves. This was a big error on our part because a lot of our information was about production and material, essentially having no details on other aspects such as the energy input-output and the types of side effects the process cause directly or indirectly. Nevertheless, we had some successes that carried on even as we changed focus. For my initial part of the project, I was responsible for researching details about the casing and the circuitry inside the cell phones. Originally I tried looking up books and reference materials about regular cell phones, hoping it would give me insight of the life cycle in cellular devices. I managed to get some information about the various materials and manufacture process a cell phone undergoes. Overall, the research was not a huge success because the data are somewhat outdated and some parts of the cycle have changed overtime.

  Since it was hard to find information in books and reference materials, I decided to search online for the data I need. Cell phones are relatively new in the market with a surging rise in consumption in recent years. Changes in the process and life cycle can occur irregularly thus books and hard cover references were poor sources to find updated and applicable data. Moreover, information travels much faster online and can be updated regularly with higher amount of content in information. This assumption led me to focus online to find the latest sources of information. I started my search by looking through library online database for journal entries and articles in regards to my topic. From there, I found some information pertaining to the processing of cases and chips as well as the waste components. Although it wasn’t what I was looking for at that moment, finding those information was helpful later on.

We realized that our format was off when we started to put our research together for the poster. However, the information we gathered was still usable, as we simply needed to switch focus instead of revising our data completely. I took the part of researching the energy process in the cycle, which discuss about how each task is operated and powered. For the most part, it was hard to find the exact details pertaining to energy input and output since most information talked about the process and side effects. Energy often played as an obvious factor or would only affect the process indirectly. So I went with the approach of directly stating what types of energy is used during the different phrases of a cell phone’s life cycle. Through research from external sources, I’ve identified common and basic standards of energy and then applied each definition accordingly towards its respective power usage. (Electricity generated to power machinery would be Electric energy, substance reactions into compounds would be Chemical energy, altering temperatures to change the state of materials would be Thermal energy, etc.) From there, I applied the appropriate types of energy in each process based on the conditions needed to trigger a reaction within a step of the cycle. Basing it off of steps and procedures we’ve established as a group allowed me to apply the embodied energies into the process without having different facts collude and conflict against each other. In the end, we were able to fit all our information smoothly.

The cell phone life cycle is an intricate process that involves a lot of inputs and generates lots of outputs as well. Numerous amounts of materials are used in the production of a single cell phone while involving a large array of energy sources. A majority of the process is worked with machines nowadays, powered by electricity, to increase productivity and ensure safety in handling hazardous materials. Chemicals are also used to alter resources into different states of usability in the production and recycling phases. And thermal energy generated through heat is often used to complement the other sources of energies to help form or decompose materials. Many of these energy sources are carried over multiple times during the life cycle process, which shows that cell phones actually goes through a very meticulous and long cycle to be made into a product and reduced into other materials.

Bibliography

{C}·      Geyer R., V. Doctori Blass. The Economics of Cell Phone Reuse and Recycling, Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies, (2009), pg 515-525, accessed February 20th, 2013, doi: 10.1007/s00170-009-2228-z

{C}·      “Lasers Enable Smartphone Manufacturing” Last modified: May 2012. Accessed February 20th, 2013 http://www.coherent.com/Downloads/Laser-Enable-Smartphone.pdf

{C}·      Mel Schwartz, Innovations in Materials Manufacturing, Fabrication, and Environmental Safety, (CRC, Taylor and Francis group, 2011) pg 483-530.

{C}·      Huiying Shen, “Reading LCD/LED Displays with a Camera Cell Phone”, Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Workshop (2006), pg 119

{C}·      “Forms of Energy” Accessed February 20th, 2013. http://www.nmsea.org/Curriculum/Primer/forms_of_energy.htm

{C}·      {C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}{C}Aaron Caroll and Gernot Heiser, An Analysis of Power Consumption in a Smartphone, Proceedings of the 2010 USENIX conference, (2010) pg 21.