Materials Business File covers industry news, product and process developments, plant development and construction, international trade data, government regulations, and management issues related to industries covered by other CSA Technology Research Database (TRD) subfiles. Begun in 1985 as an alerting service, the database now serves also as a historical business/industry reference. As of 2004, its coverage has been expanded to include business and industry information across the full scope of CSA's TRD and is no longer limited to the materials processing industries.

Sources covered include over 3,000 periodicals, conference proceedings, technical reports, trade journal/newsletter items, patents, books, and press releases.

Subject of Coverage
Major areas of coverage include:

• Recycling
• Health and Safety issues
• Economics
• Alloy and Material Developments
• Company information
• New material developments
• Energy Usage
• Fuel, Energy Usage, Raw Materials, Recycling
• Plant Developments and Descriptions
• Engineering, Control and Testing, Machinery
• Environmental Issues, Waste Treatment, Health and Safety
• Product and Process Developments Applications, Competitive Materials, Substitution
• Management, Training, Regulations, Marketing
• Economics, Statistics, Resources and Reserves
• World Industry News
• Company Information
• General Issues