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ETHICAL CONCERNS IN ENGINEERING:
SELF-HEALING POLYMERS
Victoria Mbakwe (vcm8@pitt.edu)
A NEW DIRECTION
A vast majority of materials used for industrial products
are inert, meaning that they do not chemically or biologically
react to external stimuli—temperature, pH, or moisture—and
thus are susceptible to permanent damage. Researchers at the
American Institute of Physics have synthesized a new
polymer that can sense and repair damage, such as
fragmentation or fracking in a particular material or fiber,
induced by mechanical or chemical factors. This material is
known as a self-healing polymer. Self-healing materials are
polymers, plastics, metals, and their composites that possess
the ability to recognize, repair, and restore themselves to their
original state when they are mechanically, thermally, and/or
chemically damaged [1]. Self-healing polymers have a vast
array of applications, especially in transportation. Structural
cracks in the structure of vehicles such as cars, airplanes, and
spacecraft not only diminishes the vehicle’s lifespan, but
reduces the vehicle’s safety for passengers. Self-healing
materials could mend the cracks, improving both the life and
safety of the vehicle [2]. Currently, the auto manufacturing
company Nissan is utilizing this technology in their
innovation of the Scratch Shield. This scratch resistant
clearcoat helps repair scratches on a vehicle’s surface,
restoring the vehicle’s exterior back to its original condition
and giving it a new look for an extended length of time. The
benefits of this emerging technology include an increased
lifetime and strength of materials used in manufactured
product, reduction of the product’s replacement costs, as well
as improvement of the product’s safety [3]. Although there
are great strides in this new direction of self-healing materials,
there lies ethical implications that may impede this
technology’s advancement. This paper discusses the
engineering code of ethics and how it relates to my ethical
dilemma, the ethics in engineering, my personal research, the
ethical implications of engineering self-healing polymers, as
well as my solution to my dilemma.
THE CODE OF ETHICS FOR
ENGINEERING
“Engineers [shall] uphold and advance the integrity,
honor, and dignity of their engineering profession by using
their knowledge and skill for the enhancement of human
welfare and the environment,” as stated in The National
Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) Code of Ethics.
The NSPE Code of Ethics establishes the obligations of all
engineers, including myself, have to their company, the
public, and society. To qualify, the code explicitly states that
University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering 1
Submission Date 2014-10-28
“engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health, and
welfare of the public,” striving to serve the public and
“adher[ing] to the principles of sustainable development in
order to protect the environment for future generations” [4].
The American Institute of Chemical Engineering (AICE)
Code of Ethics defines that engineers shall “advance the
integrity, honor and dignity of the engineering profession by
striving to increase the competence and the prestige of that
engineering profession and perform professional services
only in areas of their competence” [5]. This code applies to
chemical and materials engineers, myself included, and
stresses the importance of professionalism and
conscientiousness for all engineering disciplines.
MY ETHICAL DILEMMA
Before transferring overseas to Nissan Motor Corporate
Ltd. Headquarters in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan, I worked
for Nissan Technical Center North America in the metallurgy
department as a new graduate student from the University of
Pittsburgh, majoring in Materials Science and Engineering
and specializing in metallurgy. I followed a team of chemical
and materials engineering professionals, who ran tests and
evaluated which materials would be appropriate for various
automobile components or parts. We researched, synthesized,
and developed materials––self-healing polymers––that would
be used in coating a vehicle’s body or its engine surface. The
purpose of this technology was to give the bodies of Nissan
vehicles the ability to “heal” themselves when they are
scratched, damaged, corroded, or deformed. After two months
of working with the U.S. branch, I was given the opportunity
to do polymer research with engineers at the Nissan Motor
headquarters in Japan, and a month later, I transferred to the
international company. My supervisor at the international
company assigned me to the polymer research team,
consisting of mostly Japanese post-graduate engineering
students, and a few other foreign engineering students, like
myself, who were all proficient English.*** During the week
I arrived at company, my supervisor scheduled a meeting with
my polymer research team. While at the meeting, my
supervisor asked us to develop a self-healing material or
composite by the end of the month that would be applied to
automobile paint coatings for Nissan vehicles. Before
meeting was adjourned, my supervisor informed us that if we
complete this assignment by the deadline, the company would
obtain patent rights for its innovation and as a result, the
company will gain huge profits.
In this short time-constraint, will we, as a team, be able
to follow all safety procedures associated with synthesizing
these materials such as safely disposing of toxic waste from
Victoria Mbakwe
multiple trials of polymer chemical reactions? Will the safety
of my team be sacrificed for the Nissan’s profit? Is it ethical
for my supervisor to assign my research team to a task where
safety is sacrificed for the profit that the company would gain
from its innovation? With little experience with polymer
research, is it appropriate for my supervisor to assign me to
this polymer research, which is not within my area of
competence? How will my input influence my team’s final
product? On a broader spectrum, what will be the long-term
effect of my research and tests of self-healing polymers on the
environment, in terms of recyclability, as well as on the
public, in general?
these products are safe for my clients and the public. I realized
that as an employee of the Nissan Motor Company
headquarters in Japan, I must ensure I ensure that I discuss my
incompetence of physically synthesizing self-healing
materials for various automobile uses with my supervisors
and members of the polymer research team. This will not only
reflect my professionalism and responsibility, but it will also
reflect my decision making. University of Illinois at Urbana
Champaign professor, Dr. Michael C. Loui, proposes in his
video lecture, “Ethical Engineering Decision Making,” ways
in which engineers can approach moral problems. First,
identify the affected parties, groups of individuals who are
directly affected because of my decision and the rights and
responsibilities of an engineering company, the public, and
myself. Second, consider alternative actions for designing a
more environmentally-friendly self-healing polymer, for
instance. Third, imagine potential or possible consequences
due to my lack of professionalism or conscientiousness [8].
Engineers take risks when they synthesize new products and
try to respect their clients and the public by being committing
to “public health, safety, welfare, the integrity of data, loyalty,
and accountability.”
PERSONAL RESEARCH
In order to resolve my ethical dilemma, I consulted many
resources, including the NSPE and AICE Code of Ethics, so
that I could decide what specific action I would need to
follow. Additionally, I referenced engineering ethics videos,
specifically presented by Texas Tech University STEM
(Science Engineering and Math) as well as Dr. Michael C.
Loui from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
These videos detail potential solutions to current engineering
ethical problems. Lastly, I read ethical engineering case
studies and articles, which focused on key ethical issues
engineers confront on a daily basis.
ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF
ENGRINEERING SELF-HEALING
POLYMERS
ETHICS IN ENGINEERING
After conducting personal research with the code of ethics
and other engineering case studies, I am now able to analyze
my ethical dilemma of engineering self-healing polymers.
Although the implementation of self-healing polymers in
automobile paint coatings, for instance, will improve the
durability and lifetime of vehicles and provide economic
gains for auto companies, such as Nissan, if they receive
rights to patent their innovation, ethical implications arise. In
the case of my ethical dilemma, there are issues of safety
versus profit, environmentally-friendliness,” as well as the
competence of my team as well as myself.
As I divulge into the engineering code of ethics as well as
my other resources, I am discovering a way to solve my
ethical dilemma. I first began reading academic articles about
the ethics in engineering. “One of the most powerful gifts of
engineering,” as Eric Butterman, engineering journalist for
the American Society of Mechanical Engineers explained, “is
how it improves lives. But, in the wrong hands, [engineering]
can be the opposite” [6] Every day, engineers are challenged
to synthesize and develop products that are cost-efficient,
long-lasting and highly-functional. However, performing this
feat is difficult because of all the ethical issues that are
associated with the manufacturing of these products, such as
whether or not the product is safe and/or environmentallyfriendly. It is important for me as an engineer to not only be
technical, but also be ethical in my decisions. Joseph R.
Herkert, a Lincoln Associate Professor of Ethics and
Technology at Arizona State University, highlights a key
concept in engineering ethics, “professional responsibility,”
which is an individual’s moral responsibility based on his or
her unique knowledge. Herkert expands on this idea, stating:
“for someone to have a moral responsibility for some matter
means that the person must exercise judgment and care to
achieve or maintain a desirable state of affairs” [7]. Herkert
emphasized the importance of being professional as well as
responsible. I understand that as an engineer, I am responsible
for creating and developing safe, useful, as well as
inexpensive technological products, and I must ensure that
SAFETY VS. PROFIT
Sacrificing public and/or employee safety for the profit
that a company can gain for a patented product is a violation
of the engineering code of ethics. Companies are obligated to
implement safety measures or support safety of its employees
and the public over profitability. This violation raises issues
of no only safety, but also risk and an individual’s duty to
obey the law. One of the fundamental canons of the NSPE
Code of Ethic states that “engineers shall hold paramount the
safety, health, and welfare of the public.” In my ethical
dilemma, safety would be sacrificed for Nissan’s profitability,
if my team met the deadline. Synthesizing self-healing
polymers is an extensive process that involves multiple trials
and experiments. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory
(ORNL) explains this complex process below:
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Victoria Mbakwe
only requires a license, but they machines must be handled
carefully. Due to the short time-constraint of synthesizing this
self-healing polymer, the possibility of mishandling the
equipment may be slightly higher. This potential consequence
could lead to reduced safety because there is a higher risk of
getting injured while working with these machines. In Dr.
Heather Fotheringham’s case study titled, “Safety Measures,”
she poses the question, “Is there any level of safety risk to the
public that is acceptable?” [10]. Although car manufacturing
companies, specifically Toyota, who had numerous recalls
stemming from unintended acceleration due to faulty gas
pedals and floor mats, there is no level of safety risk to public,
or in my dilemma, to my team [11]. My supervisor is not
holding safety and health of my team paramount, and would
be violating the engineering ethical code that engineers
should place the safety, health, and welfare of the public
above their interests [4]. In violating this ethical code, we
could advance the profitability of Nissan; however, we would
not be supporting the advancement of the company’s
integrity, honor, and dignity, and therefore does not respect
the engineering ethical code that engineers shall “advance the
integrity, honor and dignity of the engineering profession by
striving to increase the competence and the prestige of that
engineering profession and perform professional services
only in areas of their competence” [5].
In [these] experiments, researchers begin with a
silicon wafer, which they coat with a thin film that is
a mixture of deuterated poly(methyl methacrylate)
as the matrix polymer, and a branched copolymer of
methyl methacrylate and ethylene oxide. As they
heat this sample, allowing the mixture to approach
thermal equilibrium, the graft copolymer (containing
ethylene oxide) diffuses to the surface so that they
can measure the water contact angle to verify that the
copolymer segregates to the surface. This information is obtained using the Liquids Reflectometer at
SNS.
ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN
With every product that is manufactured and produced by
a company, questions are asked about the sustainability of that
particular product: Is the product hazardous to the
environment or is it “environmentally-friendly?” Does it
consist of biodegradable or renewable materials? Although a
majority scientists and polymer engineers propose that selfhealing polymers could “contribute to the extension of
polymer lifetime and reduction of waste, and bring us closer
to realizing an environmentally sustainable society,” as Dr.
Hideyuki Otsuka, materials engineering professor at the
Institute for Material Chemistry and Engineering, Kyushu
University in Fukuoka, Japan, insists, there is still the
possibility that new pollutants could result from the chemical
reactions these polymers must undergo for their production.
We could potentially be exposed to these pollutants while
experimenting with these polymers, which would
immediately affect our health, and eventually, if the material
is produced and applied to automobile paint coatings, could
endanger the public. Another possible environmental concern
is the efficiency of the machines used in creating these selfhealing polymers. Dr. Oboetswe S. Motsamai explains in her
Journal of Energy Engineering article, “Opportunities for
Efficeint and Environmentally Friendly Energy Systems:
BMC Case Study in Lobatse, Botswana” that industrial plants
need to consider investing in energy efficient methods for
producing technologies that require power and heat. This
recommendation could lead to low emission of pollutants into
the environment and bring financial benefits to these
Figure 1 [9]
The image above is the Liquids Rfelctometer (LR).
The Liquids Reflectometer (LR), shown in Figure 1,
mentioned in the excerpt is a machine that is used to observe
and study the dynamics of various polymer mixtures for
applications, including self-repairing automobile body
materials [9]. Machinery similar to the LR are used by my
polymer research team at Nissan. Running these machines not
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Victoria Mbakwe
[2] “Polymeric Self-healing Composites for Longer Lasting
Products.” Office of Technology Management, Chicago
(online article).
http://otm.uic.edu/technologies/polymeric-self-healingcomposites-longer-lasting-p>.
[3] “Scratch Shield.” (2014) Scratch Shield - Nissan
Technological Advancement Activities. (online article).
http://www.nissanglobal.com/EN/TECHNOLOGY/OVERVIEW/scratch.html
[4] “Code of Ethics.” (2013). American Institute of Chemical
Engineers. (online article). http://www.aiche.org/about/codeethics
[5] “Code of Ethics.” (2013). National Society of Professional
Engineers.
(online
article).
http://www.nspe.org/Ethics/CodeofEthics/index.html
[6] "Ethics in Engineering." (2013) ASME. (online article).
https://www.asme.org/engineeringtopics/articles/engineering-ethics/ethics-in-engineering
[7] J. Herkert. (2014). “Continuing and Emerging Issues in
Engineering Ethics Education.” (online journal article).
https://www.nae.edu/Publications/Bridge/EngineeringEthics
7377.aspx
[8] “Ethical Engineering Decision Making” Illinois Foundry.
(2008).
(Video).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1BZ3MWpPuk&index
=5&list=PL746AE3CCB29B64B8
[9] “Research In Progress Self-Healing Polymers.” (2014)
ORNL
NEUTRON
SCIENCES.
(online
article).
http://neutrons.ornl.gov/research/highlights/polymers_0902f
eb.pdf
[10] “Safety Measures.” (2008). Inter-Disciplinary Ethics
Applied.
(online
article).
http://exchange.ac.uk/downloads/scholarart/ethics/safety_me
asures.pdf
[11] “Toyota Will Take More Time to Develop New Vehicles
After Massive Recalls.” (2014). Huffington Post. (online
article). http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/07/toyotawill-take-more-tim_n_637489.html
[12] “Opportunities for Efficient and Environmentally
Friendly Energy Systems: BMC Case Study in Lobatse,
Botswana.” (2008). ASCE. (online journal article).
http://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/(ASCE)EY.19437897.0000022
[13]
“Self-healing
Polymers.”
(2013).
http://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/(ASCE)EY.19437897.0000022
companies [12], including Nissan. These environmental
concerns breaches the engineering code of ethic that
engineers “shall hold paramount the safety, health, and
welfare of the public” [4]
MY SOLUTION
After evaluating and analyzing my ethical dilemma, I can
now propose a solution. First, I consulted my polymer
research team and explained to them the ethical implications
of our engineering project. Second, I collaborated with my
team and we develop written statement of the engineering
code of ethics we would be violating if we completed the
project. The written statement would include the violation of
the code that engineers should place safety, health, and the
welfare of the public before their interests as well as the code
that engineers should increase the integrity of their profession
and company by being honorable. Third, we scheduled a
meeting with our supervisor, and presented our statement to
him. We explained in a professional and responsible matter
that in lieu of what Nissan will gain monetarily, we would be
violating the engineering code of ethics by sacrificing employ
and public safety, as revealed in the statement. In order to
adhere to the engineering code of ethics and safety
regulations, we asserted that we would need an additional two
months and showed him a timeline of how we would
complete this project. Whether he rejected our proposal or
agreed with our viewpoint, informing our supervisor would
agree with the engineering ethical code of advancing the
company’s integrity and prestige. For engineers who find
themselves in this situation, I recommend collaborating with
other engineers, developing a “game plan” or plan for action,
and finally, presenting your plan to you manager or
supervisor. Ethics play an integral role in engineering because
it forces engineers to make ethical and moral decisions, and
as a result, we ensure the safety, health, and welfare of the
public, and maintain the integrity, honor, and dignity of our
profession.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I want to thank my Engineering Analysis professor for
motivating me to write my paper. Additionally, I want to
thank the head writing instructor for giving me ideas of how
I should address my engineering ethical dilemma. I also want
to thank my peers for reviewing and critiquing my paper.
REFERENCES
[1] B. Aissa, D. Therriault, W. Jamroz. (2012). “Self-healing
materials systems: overview of major approaches and recent
developed technologies.” Advances in Materials Science and
Engineering. (online article). DOI: 10.1155/2012/854203
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