Review of material modeling and digitalization in industry: barriers and perspectives

Materials modeling technologies are fundamental to explore, understand, and ultimately predict materials behavior. They are essential to solve challenges posed by the need to reduce human impact on the environment. Modeling and simulation of materials behavior have been recognized over the years as fundamental as an asset in industrial R & D, guiding the decision-making process regarding the design or optimization of new products and manufacturing processes. At the same time, it reduces product cost and development time. However, highlighting the revenue brought by using such tools is not trivial, especially because they mainly affect the complex activities such as the innovation process, whose return only becomes available in the long run and it is difficult to measure. This means that the materials modeling field is often overlooked in an industry setting, where it is not integrated in the company workflow. In some cases, modeling provides the potential to capture tacit knowledge preventing the loss of capability in an aging specialist community, that why its industrial integration is important. This paper explores the reason behind this dichotomy, presenting first what it is intended for the modeling process, and the main types used in materials application. The current industrial adoption is reviewed by outlining success stories, economic impact, business uptake, and barriers. Past and current approaches and strategies are also presented and discussed. In prospective, materials modeling plays a key role in developing material-centric industry for sustainable economy, providing physical understating (physics-based models) and fast approaches (data-driven solutions). Digitalization is the mean for the green economy and it needs to push for a more integration at the core of the business of materials modeling.