Material Safety considerations for future nanomaterial based Human-Machine Interface equipment and devices to aircrew
Nanomaterials have various extremely interesting properties which could be implemented into devices that could help the aeronautical industry achieve lower aircraft procurement costs, maintenance costs, and fuel consumption. However, despite a steady improvement in the understanding of nanotechnology, the uncertainty on the safety of the use of nanomaterials remains a potential challenge to the adoption of such a technology, especially as studies are showing potential cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of the types of nanomaterials that could be applicable for the industry. One area of concern not fully explored and hence studied in this paper is the potential material risks of nanomaterials to the aircrew in the flight-deck which are deemed to be primarily through devices where there would be physical contact.