This paper reports the preliminary to current development of Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) actuators within their application in 'Active Disassembly using Smart Materials' (ADSM). This non-destructive self-dismantling process is to aid recycling of consumer electronic products.Actuators were placed in single and multi-stage hierarchical temperature regimes after being embedded into macro and sub-assemblies of electronic product assemblies. Findings include active disassembly and a hierarchical dismantling regime for product dismantling using developed SMA actuators embedded into candidate products.

Ecological footprints (EF) have been used for more than 15 yr as an aggregate measure of sustainability of geographical regions, but also for certain products and activities. EF analysis measures the bioproductive areas required to produce resources such as crops and timber, the directly occupied areas for infrastructure, and areas for absorbing waste flows (mostly limited to carbon dioxide) in a given year for a defined population. The need to extend ecological footprint analysis to electronic products arose because so far, mobile phones have mainly been evaluated using life‐cycle assessments with a focus on toxicity, end‐of‐life management, and energy use, thus ignoring the wider sustainability implications. This article presents the footprint results from three mobile phone case studies. To establish the land areas consumed by the mined materials used in electronic products, a database was developed based on literature data and on approximations from the density and overburden of materials. The relationship between abundance and overburden values was used in a regression analysis to estimate energy requirements in materials extraction where other data were not available. Using a life‐cycle assessment approach, environmental burdens for producing and using a mobile phone were calculated and transformed into the instantaneous rate of resource consumption. Key results were that different electronic products have different ecological footprints and that the methodology proved sensitive enough to reveal differences in small electronic products and for monitoring technologies that use bioproductive space efficiently.

The aim of the work was to demonstrate an alternative to conventional end-of-life (EOL) disassembly strategies such as robotic or hand dismantling. This initial investigation reports the disassembly of consumer electronic products using smart materials in the design of embedded releasable fasteners. A series of products was tested in a variety of different ways using shape memory polymers (SMPs). Tests were run on macroassemblies and subassemblies of telecommunications goods. The devices designed with SMP used two distinct properties of the material suited to active disassembly: the mechanical property loss (MPL), in this case a loss of rigidity in the thread of the SMP screws; the shape memory effect (SME), a change in form, resulting in this case in the loss of moulded thread from SMP shape memory effect screws. Once SMP components were developed and embedded into the candidate products, timed disassembly experiments were conducted. These tests used infrared, air jet and water bath methods for applying heat to trigger the SMP devices. Once the trigger temperature was reached, shape change and property loss occurred in the screws and brackets, allowing assembly release.

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To a visually impaired individual the physical world presents many challenges. For a person with impaired sight, wayfinding through a complex environment is fraught with dangers, both actual and imagined. The current generation of mobility aids have the possibility of addressing a broad range of physical issues through technological solutions. The perception of difficulty however, can mean that many visually impaired individuals are fearful or uncomfortable about independent mobility or travel. In this context it becomes necessary to discover exactly what environments, environmental factors or items constitute a ‘perception of difficulty’ in the individuals mental landscape and may trigger a negative response before they interact with the physical environment. This paper reports on research, which sought to ascertain what levels of perceptual difficulties specific environments and factors presented to individuals. The research was conducted with both visually impaired and sighted groups and compared differences and similarities in perceptual difficulty between these two groups