Transcript Slide 1

Higher Product Design
Materials
Materials
Ferrous metal
Thermoplastic
Non-ferrous metal
Metal
Thermosetting plastic
Plastic
Softwood
Wood
Materials
Hardwood
Man-made board
Composites
Shape memory alloys
Smart
Materials
Polymorph
Thermochromic film
GRP
Click on a material title
CFRP
Lenticular sheet
Wood
Wood is an extremely useful natural material. It is hard and fibrous in
nature and is made up of cells consisting of cellulose (natural resin) and
lignin (the essential hard organic fibre). Wood is a natural polymer.
There are three classifications of wood to be considered. These are:
Hardwoods – slow-growing (100 years)
Softwoods – quick-growing (30 years)
Man-made boards – manufactured composites
Click on appropriate star
The terms hardwood and softwood refer to the rates at which the trees
grow, rather than the type of timber produced from them. This is a
botanical division and does not refer to the wood’s working properties. For
example Balsa wood is a hardwood which is lightweight and very soft
whereas Pitch pine is a softwood which is heavy and difficult to work.
Wood
Hardwood
Hardwoods are produced from deciduous (shed their leaves annually) and
evergreen broad-leaved trees. These trees grow in regions with warm
temperatures such as parts of Europe, New Zealand and Chile, and in tropical
regions of central and South America, Africa and Asia.
The growth of hardwood trees is generally slow, taking around 100 years. This
makes hardwood expensive. Tropical hardwoods retain their leaves and therefore
grow quicker and in much larger girth and height. There are ecological issues to
be considered when using tropical timbers, and the destruction of the world’s
rainforests has led to a shortage of tropical hardwoods.
Hardwoods generally have more attractive grain structures, textures and colours,
and greater durability than softwoods.
Examples
Beech
Ash
Walnut
Elm
Mahogany
Ebony
Oak
Teak
Meranti
Oak bark
Wood
Softwood
Softwoods are mostly produced from evergreen conifers with thin needle-like
leaves. These trees grow in regions of the Northern Hemisphere (such as
Scandinavia, Canada and northern Europe) which have cold climates, and at high
altitude elsewhere.
The growth of softwood trees is much quicker than that of hardwoods and most
become mature enough for felling in under 30 years. Softwoods are relatively
cheap and are also easier to sustain by replanting.
Softwoods can be easily identified by their open grain pattern and light colour.
Straight grain gives a stronger timber which, being knot free, is easier to cut
and shape.
Examples
Origin/colour
Scots pine
Northern Europe, Russia: Cream,pale brown
Red cedar
Canada, USA: Dark reddish brown
Parana pine
South America: Pale yellow with red/brown streaks
Spruce (whitewood)
Northern Europe, America: Creamy white
Wood
Man-made boards are wood-based materials manufactured
by bonding together wood strips, veneers (thin layers), pulp
or particles. They represent a very important
manufacturing material, particularly in the furniture
industry.
Manufactured boards have a number of advantages over
wide wooden boards or planks:
 There is a limit to the number of wide boards that can
be cut from a tree and this makes it expensive.
 Manufactured board is available in sizes up to 1525mm
wide whereas hardwood is typically 300mm and softwood
is 200mm maximum.
 Manufactured board is stable and of uniform thickness
and consistent quality.
Metal
There are two types of metal, ferrous metal and
non-ferrous metal.
Ferrous metal contains iron
Non-ferrous metal does not contain iron
A combination of two or more metals is called an
alloy. An alloy is produced to have properties which
could not be achieved with the individual substances.
Metal
Metals make up a major proportion of all the naturally occurring
elements and form about a quarter of the earth’s crust. Gold is the
only metal to be found in its pure state; all others are chemically
combined with other elements in the form of oxides and sulphates.
Metals are commonly available for manufacturing use in a wide
range of forms and sizes. The range of sizes has to be vast
because, unlike wood, metal cannot easily be converted from one
size to another.
Metal
Ferrous metal
Ferrous metals contain iron as the base metal. Historically they have
played an important part in human development and remain vital to our
everyday life. Almost all ferrous metals are magnetic. Steel is probably
the most common ferrous metal; it contains carbon and its hardness
depends on the amount of carbon it contains: e.g. mild steel is quite soft
and contains 0.15 – 0.35% carbon, whereas high-carbon steel is very
hard and contains 0.8 – 1.5% carbon.
Examples of ferrous metal and alloy steels
Cast iron
Mild steel
Medium-carbon steel
High-carbon steel
Stainless steel
High-speed steel
High-tensile steel
Manganese steel
Metal
Non-ferrous metal
Non-ferrous metals do not contain iron. Aluminium is the most plentiful
metal in the earth’s crust and of all the non-ferrous metals it is the most
used with regards to production output, due to its strength-to-weight
ratio.
Examples of non-ferrous metals and non-ferrous alloys:
Aluminium
Copper
Tin
Lead
Zinc
Casting alloy
Duralumin
Brass
Bronze
Tin plate
Task 1
Using research techniques, list eight woods, man-made boards and a typical
application for each.
Man-made board
Application
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Task 2
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Using research techniques, list eight metals, their composition and a typical
application for each.
Man-made board
Composition
Application
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Plastics
Materials
Ferrous metal
Thermoplastic
Non-ferrous metal
Metal
Thermosetting plastic
Plastic
Softwood
Wood
Materials
Hardwood
Man-made board
Composites
Shape memory alloys
Smart
Materials
Polymorph
Thermochromic film
GRP
CFRP
Lenticular sheet
Forms of plastic supply
• Plastics can be supplied in various forms:
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Profiled sheets, rods, tubes and bars
Moulded compounds
Thin layers of film and sheets
Foam
Casting compounds such as ingots
Paint, varnish and lacquer for finishing
Filaments and fibres
Composites which contain reinforcing material
Plastics
• This group of materials is not easy to define because it
covers a wide range of diverse substances. A basic
characteristic is that at some stage the material is puttylike (‘plastic’): it enters a state that is neither solid nor
liquid, but somewhere in between. At this stage shaping
and moulding by heat and pressure takes place before
setting into the desired form.
• There are two groups of plastics:
– Thermoplastics
– Thermosetting plastics
Thermoplastics
Thermoplastics (‘thermo’ – heat, ‘plastic’ – the condition between solid
and liquid) are made up of long chain molecules that are entangled but
not bonded together. This means that after its original shaping or
forming a thermoplastic can be reheated or melted and return to a
workable plastic state. This is called ‘plastic memory’ : because if you
heat and bend a thermoplastic sheet, let it cool to solidify, and then
reheat it, it will try to return to its original form.
Here are some common thermoplastics:
Polyethylene (HDPE/LDPE)
Acrylic (Polymethyl methacrylate)
Polypropylene (PP)
Nylon (Polyamide)
Polystyrene (PS)
Cellulose acetate
uPVC (Polyvinyl chloride)
ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene)
Plasticised PVC
Thermosetting plastics
Thermosetting plastics (thermosets) are also made from long-chain
molecules like thermoplastics; but when the plastic is first formed the
chains become chemically tied by covalent bonds (sharing of electrons)
and are cross-linked. This causes the plastic to become rigid and nonflexible even at high temperatures.
An egg yolk is a good analogy for this. When a yolk is raw it is in a soft
liquid state, but if it is heated, it becomes hard and is no longer capable
of becoming soft.
Thermosetting plastics are often used when a product needs resistance
to extremes in temperature, electrical current, chemicals and wear.
Thermosets can resist impact when reinforced, an example being Glass
Reinfored Plastic (GRP).
Here are some common thermosetting plastics:
•Epoxy resin (ER)
•Urea formaldehyde (MF)
•Melamine formaldehyde (UF)
•Polyester resin (PR)
Composite materials
Nowadays products are increasingly being made from composite
materials. A composite material has two or more substances which
combine to produce properties (characteristics) that cannot be
achieved by any of the individual substances.
One of the substances forms the matrix (base material) and the
other provides the reinforcement. The properties of the
composite are controlled by the size and distribution of the
reinforcing substance. Two examples of composite materials are:
Glass fibre reinforced plastic (GRP)
and
Carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP)
Glass-reinforced plastic
This is a forming process. Glass fibre is
combined
with
polyester
resin
(thermosetting plastic) to produce a
very strong structure. The glass-fibre
material is layered in a mould and coated
with the polyester resin; the resin sets
without heat or pressure needing to be
applied, and when it is set it is very
strong.
Advantages of GRP
 Excellent strength-to-weight ratio
 Excellent tensile strength
 Impact resistance
 High corrosion resistance
Uses
 Sports car bodies
 Boat and canoe hulls
 Caravan shells
GRP
Male mould
Female mould
GRP
Smooth
surface
The mould is very
important
when
forming GRP. The
better the quality
of the mould, the
better the finish
on the GRP. The
moulds should be
tapered to allow
the product to be
be removed easily.
Radiused corner
Radiused
corner
GRP
Tapered
to ease
movement
Carbon-fibre reinforced plastic
This is a forming process similar to that used for GRP. Carbon fibre
is embedded with resin to produce a material with a very good
strength-to-weight ratio. It has good tensile strength with low
density and it provides better corrosion resistance and fatigue
performance than most metal alloys.
Advantages of CFRP
 Excellent strength-to-weight ratio
 Excellent tensile strength
 Impact resistance
 High corrosion resistance
 Good aesthetic qualities
Uses
 Racing-car bodies
 Fighter aircraft
 Bicycle frames
 Fishing rods
Woven carbon fibres
Carbon-fibre
reinforced plastic
Smart materials
Shape memory alloys (SMAs)
There is a number of alloys that exhibit useful memory characteristics. A
combination of nickel and titanium (NITAL) is one of the most common. It
can be heat treated to “remember” that when its temperature is raised to
70°C it should contract by 5%. Cooling to room temperature, it then
relaxes to the original length. This alloy is increasingly used in place of bimetallic strips in coffee makers, etc., because all the movement takes
place around the temperature change point. As a wire, it is now being used
in garments where body heat changes the characteristics of the fabric.
Smart materials
Polymorph (polycapralactone)
This relatively new polymer has an astonishingly low melting point of 62°C.
It can therefore be melted underwater. As a solid, it has similar
properties to an engineering nylon and can therefore be used for a wide
range of prototype work where, after moulding by hand, the plastic is like
the “real thing”. Pour a quantity of the sample into a glass or ceramic
container (not plastic) and pour over very hot water. The granules will
change from opaque to clear. When this happens, hook out the fused mass,
allow the trapped water to cool to a comfortable temperature, and then
squeeze out the water and mould the plastic.
Smart materials
Lenticular sheet
Improvements in production technology have made it possible to produce
sophisticated optical effects in a wide range of plastic films and sheets.
Plastic Fresnel lenses, for example, are now common and inexpensive.
Lenticular embossing has made it possible to print and animate many
images on a single substrate. A similar technology is used to create
stunning three-dimensional illusions on clear plastic sheet. If you place a
piece of lenticular sheet lenticular side up on a darker surface, it will
appear to be much thicker. The illusion is complete when you then place a
coin over it. This will appear to sink into the material.
Smart materials
Thermochromic film/pigment
This material comprises a substrate – e.g. self-adhesive plastic film – which is
then overprinted with thermochromic liquid crystal ink. As the temperature
changes, the liquid crystals re-orientate and produce an overall colour change.
This material is used to give temperature indications – e.g. on thermometers
and temperature warning patches places on ICs. It is also used on batteries
for testing their condition.
Thermochromic pigment can be added to plastic or paint which can then be
formed or applied to have the new properties.
Craft & Design: Unit 3
Designing for
Manufacture
Industrial Metal Processing
Milling machine
A milling machine has shaped cutter which
can move in three axis to form 3D shapes.
It is used to either form a component
directly out of a solid blank or to
machining features on a casting.
Mill cutter
Manual Milling machines have been all but
replaced by CNC (Computer Numerical
Control) mills. Here the component is first
drawn using the CAD (Computer Aided
Design) software. This automatically
converted the drawing into a CNC program.
CAD produced
components for CNC
milling
The CNC program controls all the cutting
and tool changes; all the operator has to do
is remove the finished component.
CNC Milling machine cutting a power drill component
CNC Lathe
Metal lathe
The metal lathe is used to
machine cylindrical or conical
component in metal or plastic.
The use of CNC lathes allows a
component drawn on the CAD
program to be converted
automatically into CNC control
program.
Using CAM (Computer Aided
Manufacture) reduces the lead
time, increases production and
guarantees the accuracy of the
component.
Jointing techniques
Welding is widely used to permanently join metals.
Spot welding: This is used to join ferrous sheet
together.
The metal is gripped between the copper electrodes
and the current causes the metals to melt and fuse
together.
Portable spot
welder
Arc Welding
Manual arc welding uses a consumable electrode to
join the plates. Steel, stainless steel and aluminium
can all be welded.
Riveting
Riveting involves hammering or pressing a
metal rivet until it expands and joins the two
material together.
For heavier work the rivet by be heated to
red hot to make it easier to form. This was
the traditional technique used to construct
steel ship hulls but this method has been
replaced by welding.
Pneumatic pop rivet
gun
Pop riveting is used to join sheet metal or tube
together. Unlike conventional riveting this
technique does not require access to the back
of the work. The pop rivet is inserted in rivet
gun and the handle is pressed until the rivet
snaps with a ‘pop’.
Mechanical Fastenings
There are hundreds of different fastenings that can be bought
‘off-the-shelf. These can be used to semi-permanently join
materials together and allow them to be dismantled at a later
stage as desired.
Metal forming processes
Sand Casting
Sand casting is used for low to medium
volume production. A wooden shaped
pattern of the component is first made. This
will have rounded internal corners (fillets),
tapered sides (so it can be removed from the
mould) and strengthening webs.
Cast products
Sand poured around the pattern and a runner
and riser hole is made to allow the metal to be
poured into the mould cavity.
The metal (steel, aluminium, cast iron, brass) is heated
in a crucible until molten then poured into the mould.
Once cool the sand is removed and some finishing
work is required to cut off the runner and riser and file
away any ‘flash’ left where the two halves of the mould
joined.
Pressure Die Casting
This is a high automated process suitable only for high volume
production.
Aluminium or zinc alloy is heated to
molten and this is forced under
pressure into a water-cooled shaped
die.
The metal cools, the die opens and
ejector pins push the component out.
This process requires very
little finishing other than
removing the sprues and
runners and any flashes that
have been caused by
leakage of material between
the parts of the die.
Rotational (centrifugal) Casting
Rotational moulding involves pouring the molten metal into a
steel mould and then spinning it very quickly. This throws the
metal against the mould and produces a hollow component with
even wall thickness.
Rotational moulded. The mould is
placed in the centre and spun
around until the metal cools.
Products such as water and soil
pipes are manufactured using this
process.
Extrusion
Extrusion is often compared to
squeezing toothpaste out a tube.
Changing the shape of the
opening alters the cross section
produced.
The metal is heated and placed in a
cylinder. A hydraulic ram forces the metal
out through a shaped die. The die forms
the required section and normally no
finishing is required. The material is then
cut to length.
Extrusion dies
Products such as
curtain rails and
window frames
are manufactured
by extrusion.
Rolling
This is used to form long lengths of metal with the same cross
section, but unlike extrusion only the outside profile can be
shaped and less detail is possible.
The final pass
through the
rollers is often
done cold and
this improves the
finish and give a
harder wearing
surface.
Drop Forging
Drop forging involves stamping hot
malleable metal between two halves
of a shaped die.
Often the work has to go
through several dies in
order to reach the
required shape.
The main advantage of
this process is that
working the metal hot
means that the grain
flow follows the product
shape and this gives a
much stronger
component.
Items produced by drop forging include hand tools, crankshafts and
gear blanks.
Press work
Press work is the general term used to describe forming sheet
metal.
Blanking & Piercing
Blanking when a shape is stamped
out of sheet metal using a
hardened steel die.
The punch is forced through the
strip and shears on the die. The
shape is formed immediately in
one press.
Piercing is when an internal shape is
stamped out of the sheet metal.
Bicycle chains and jewelry chain links are
examples of products made in this way.
Industrial
blanker/piercer
Press forming
Press forming is used to produce 3D object out of sheet metal by
forcing it between two shaped dies.
Examples of
press formed
products include
are kettles,
baking tins,
tubular furniture,
car bodies and
aircraft frames.
Press work
Drawing
Drawing is used to make products like drinks cans. The sheet
metal blank is held in place by a pressure ring and a die is forced
into the material drawing it down to form the required shape.
The depth, which can be drawn in one punch, depends on the
type of material, its tensile strength and the tool design.
Vacuum Forming
• Vacuum forming is
used to shape sheet
thermoplastic by
heating it and then
sucking it tightly
around a former.
Vacuum Forming
• It is possible to use cheap wooden former
which means that this process can be
economically used for even low volume
production runs.
• Vacuum forming is used in the
manufacture of acrylic baths, egg boxes,
chocolate box trays and various packaging
items.
In Blow
molding the air pressure is used to force heat softened plastic
against a shaped mould.
Blow moulding
The cost of machining the two halves of the
mould means that this process is best suited to
medium to high volume production runs.
Blow moulding is used to form hollow products
such as bottles.
Injection moulding
This is perhaps the most common process used to form plastics. It
is very expensive to set up but allows very fine detail to be moulded
and the product requires no further processing or finishing.
In this process the plastic
granules are fed from the
hopper passed a heater and
then injected into the shaped
mould cavity.
Water circulating round the
mould quickly cools the plastic
and then the two halves open
and ejector pins push out the
finished product.
The high mould cost makes
this process only really
suitable for high volume
production.
Compression moulding
Compression moulding is commonly used to form thermosetting
plastics such as phenol, urea or melamine formaldehyde.
The plastic pellets are placed
in a highly polished mould
and subjected to heat and
pressure.
The heated material sets
hard in the mould and is
automatically ejected when
ready.
Compression moulding is used for items which can
resist temperature i.e. saucepan handles and for
other everyday items such as plugs, wall sockets
and toilet seats.
Extrusion
The process of extrusion is like squeezing toothpaste from a tube and it is
used to form components that require a uniform cross section along their
length i.e. water pipes, cables, fibers for fabrics, fluorescent light covers
and curtain rails.
Thermoplastic granules
are plasticised by heat
and forced out through a
shaped die. This
determines the cross
section of the extruded
length.
The extruded material is
cooled and cut to length
as required.
Mould Manufacture
The greatest expensive in any plastic forming process are the costs of
manufacturing the mould.
A simple wooden mould suitable for low volume vacuum forming may cost
few hundred pounds but a water cooled polished steel mould with ejection
pins may cost many hundreds of thousand of pounds.
Modern technology with the
linking of CAD and CAM
systems has reduced both
the lead time and mould
cost.
Laser scanners are also
used to digitise simple 3D
models and convert this into
a program for a milling
machine to form a mould
suitable for injection
moulding etc.
Craft & Design: Unit 3
Designing for
Manufacture
Industrial Wood Processing
Spindle moulder
Spindle moulder is used to cut a
shaped profile along the length of
timber. It is used to form dado rails
and skirting boards etc.
Lengths of decorative
mouldings
The profile cutter is fitted in on the spindle so that it
sticks up through the machine table. The length of
timber is then fed over the revolving cutter to form
the required profile.
Spindle moulder
cutter
Router
Hand held plunging routers are used to cut joints or
form shaped profiles on timber.
Changing the router cutter alters the profile or joint
being cut.
Double ogee
cutter
Industrial workshops use CNC
(Computer Numerical Controlled)
routers. Here the product is created
using CAD (Computer Aided Design)
and this automatically generates the
control program for the CNC router.
The CNC program controls all the
movement of the router cutter and
allows a 3D component to machined
in wood.
Saws
Jig Saw: hand held and used for general purpose
cutting including curve work. Produces a rough
finish of cut.
Hand held circular saw: used to cut boards
to length or width. Produces a straight clean
cut.
Fret saw: piercing or cutting
tight curves on timber.
Radial Arm Saw: portable saw used
to cross cut boards to length or for
angled cuts such a mitres.
Band saw: used for
curved or irregular cuts,
bevelled and straight
cuts. It allows a much
deeper cut than the table
saw.
Table circular saw:
used to cut timber to
width and length.
Produces a clean
accurate cut.
Planer / Thickness
The Planer/Thicknesser is used machine smooth the surface and
reduce the thickness of solid timber boards.
The gap between the
thicknesser is set to the
required size and the timber is
fed in. Rotating blades remove
the excess wood. However, the
depth of cut is limited to around
2mm and so a series of cut is
often required.
Using a non-standard thickness of timber in a design has an
obvious cost implication because the excess wood and
machining time must be added to the overall product cost.
Wood lathe
The wood lathe is used to form
bowls or cylindrical shapes.
Manual lathes are suitable for low
volume production where the operator
may use a template to ensure each item
is machined the same.
For mass production an
automatic Copying Lathe is
used. Here the cutting tool
follows a profile of the
component and allows multiple
copies to be rapidly machined
to a consistent shape and
standard.
Laminating
Laminating involves gluing up
layer after layer of solid timber
with all the grain running in a
parallel direction.
In the roof shown opposite the
timber was steam bent and
laminated to form the long
curved beams.
Laminating timber allows large
and structurally reliable
sections to be constructed.
The strength and size of the
part can be guaranteed,
something not possible with
solid timber.
Testing a laminated roof beam for strength
Jointing techniques
Hand crafted joints are now only every used in the production of
expensive one off pieces of furniture.
Industry uses automated techniques to join wood. This along with
the rise in manufactured boards, such as MDF, has lead to the rise
in the use of dowel and biscuit joints.
Biscuit joint
The popularity of ‘flat-packed’
furniture with its low cost and
easy of transportation and
storage has resulted in the
growth of knock-down fittings.
These allow the buyer to
assemble furniture with just a
few simple tools.
Cutting the slot with
the Biscuit jointer