IB DT Topic 4: Raw materials to final product

Photo-chromicity

Materials that have a reversible change of colour when exposed to light (e.g. sunglasses lenses that darken as the sun brightens)

Thermoelectricity

Generated by a device that converts heat and the temperature difference between two materials directly into electrical energy (e.g. solar panels)

Magneto-rheostatic/electro-rheostatic

Materials that are fluids, which can experience a dramatic change in their viscosity (e.g. ooblek, a mixture of cornstarch and water, which behaves like a solid or a liquid depending on how much pressure you apply)

Piezoelectricity

The ability of certain materials to generate an electric charge in response to applied mechanical stress

Shape Memory Alloy (SMA)

Alloys that “remembers” its original shape and can return back to that pre-deformed shape when heated

Alloys

A mixture of a metal and another element, either metal or non-metal, in order to enhance their mechanical and physical properties

Ferrous metals

Metals that contain iron, are magnetic, and they rust (e.g. mild steel, cast iron, stainless steel, tool steel, high speed steel)

Non-ferrous metals

Metals that do not contain iron, are not magnetic, and do not rust (e.g. aluminium, copper, tin, lead, zinc)

Work hardening

Increasing the hardness of metals as a result of working them cold

Tempering

A heat treatment used to improve mechanical properties of a metal by raising it to a specific temperature before its critical point, before cooling it slowly

Softwoods

Grown as coniferous tress, which are evergreen, needle-leaved, cone-bearing tress, grown in temperate regions

Hardwoods

Grown as deciduous trees, which are grown in temperate, subtropical regions of the world

Medium density fibreboard (MDF)

A man-made timber that is made up of excessive sawdust from hard and soft woods that is mixed with wax and synthetic resin first, before being compressed and glued together.

Plywood

A man-made board made from layers of thin veneer that are glued together with the grain of each layer running in opposite directions for added strength.

Chipboard/particleboard

A man-made board created from wood chips, sawmill shavings, and sawdust that are bonded together with adhesive under heat and pressure.

Wood preserver

A chemical treatment applied to timber that soaks into the fibres of the timber rather than sit on the surface. It protects the wood from excessive moisture that will cause the wood to split and rot.

Creosote

A type of wood preservative that penetrates the timber fibres, protecting it from attack, wood lice, and fungal attack. It is used in outdoor conditions

Stain preservers

A chemical treatment that soaks deep into the fibres of the timber and provides a tone/colour to the timber. It protects against fungus, moisture, insect infestation

Varnish

A type of timber finish that provides a hard and tough surface, which is suitable for covering timber floorboards. It increases surface hardness and protects the wood fibres from moisture and insect attack

Finishing oils

A type of timber often made from linseed or mineral oils. It protects from moisture and provides low sheen finish

Wood wax

A type of timber finish that provides a dull gloss shine made from beeswax dissolve din a solvent. It is applied using cloth and is used on good quality furniture and has the ability to lift the colours of the grain for a high aesthetic and pleasing finish

Laminated glass

Consists of two thin sheets of glass that have a sheet of plastic glued between them to make them shatter proof and bullet proof

Toughened/tempered glass

It is heat treated, with the outside of the glass being held in compression while the inside is in tension. It shatters into grains rather than sharp shards of glass

Soda glass

Used to make bottles, tableware, lamp bulbs. It is a cheap glass that has very poor “thermal shock” resistance, meaning and it an crack and shatter due to rapid temperature changes, since different parts of the glass expands at different rates

Pyrex

A company that creates its own glass that has very good shock resistance

Plate glass and brick glass

Used as wall and flooring materials. It is resistant to tensile and compressive forces, thermal conductivity, and transparency. It also allows natural light into buildings.

Natural plastics

Natural occurring materials that can be shaped and moulded by heat, to have plasticity

Semi synthetic plastics

Natural occurring materials that have been modified and changed by mixing other materials with them

Synthetic plastics

Plastics you get from breaking down carbon based materials (e.g. crude oil, coal, gas) so that their molecular structure changes

Thermoplastics

Plastics that can be heated and reformed. Their polymer chains do not form cross links

Polypropylene (PP)

A thermoplastic that is extremely versatile, lowest density, stiff, and chemical resistant. It is used for plastic chairs, containers.

Polyethylene (PE)

The most common type of plastic. It comes in many different density levels. LDPE used for plastic wraps, while HDPE used for jugs, plastic bottles, shampoo bottles.

Polystyrene (PS)

A type of thermoplastic that is versatile, easy to manipulate and shape, low cost, and impact resistant. It is used for yogurt containers, test tubes, CD cases.

ABS

A type of thermoplastic that is a low cost engineering plastic, good impact resistance, strong and stiff, and heat resistant. Mainly used in 3D printers, product prototyping, and other products that are required to be impact resistant e.g. helmets

Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)

It is a thermoplastic that is cheap to produce, strong and impact resistant, rigid, and can hold liquids, gases, and alcohol. Used for plastic bottles, food containers, and packaging

Poly-vinyl-chloride (PVC)

A type of thermoplastic that can be rigid or flexible, high hardness, but flexible when soft. It is a good insulator, and is used for pipes and fittings, cables and floorings, credit cards.

Thermosetting plastics

Plastics that retain their strength and shape even when heated. They have strong cross links (polymers), and are very suitable for permanent components, large and solid shapes.

Polyurethane (PUR)

A thermosetting plastic that is a good electrical insulator, has good tensile and compressive strength, good thermal resistance, can also be fairly hard and tough, and flexible and elastic. Used in wheels, foam, varnish, paint, glue.

Urea-formaldehyde (UF)

A thermosetting plastic that has high tensile strength, high heat distortion temperatures, low water absorption, and high surface hardness. Used in textiles, paper, sand moulds, wrinkle resistant fabrics, cotton blends.

Melamine resin

A thermosetting plastic with high electrical resistivity, low thermal conductivity, hard and solid, scratch and stain resistant. Used for plastic kitchen utensils, plates and bowls (the baby ones, not microwave safe)

Epoxy resin

A thermosetting plastic that is tough, chemical and water resistant, temperature resistant, can but used on metals as a adhesive. Used for adhesives, rigid foam, pipes, aeroplane parts, cement, coating for protection.

Bioplastics

Plastics that are designed to be biodegradable

Natural fibres

Fibres that comes from plants, animals, and minerals that can be spun into a thread, rope, or filament

Wool

A material that is warm to wear, absorbent, breathable, soft, and quite elastic.

Cotton

A material that is cool to wear, very absorbent, durable, creases easily, and can be washed and ironed

Silk

A material that is warm to wear, absorbent, durable, creases, not elastic at all.

Synthetic fibres

Man-made fibres usually made from chemical sources. It is a continuous filament fibre which means tae fibres are long and do not always have to be spun into yarn.

Nylon

A material that is absorbent, breathable, high tensile strength and high resistance to stretching.

Polyester

A material that has low warmth, non-absorbent, crease resistant, and can be recycled

Lycra

A material that is warm to wear, breathable, can shrink when washed, can stretch up to 600% and spring back to its original length

Hand spinning (conversion of fibres to yarn for natural fibres)

A method used by people for making yarns before the industrial revolution by pulling and twisting the wool to make it thinner and thinner

Machine spinning (conversion of fibres to yarn for natural fibres)

Method used after the industrial revolution, making it easier to control the process effectively

Weaving

The act of forming a sheet like material by interlacing long threads passing in one direction with others at a right angle to them (warp runs vertically and weft runs horizontally)

Knitting

A method for converting yarn into fabric by creating consecutive rows of interlocked loops of yarn (a series of wales and courses are used to create loops that are interlinked from one single yarn)

Lace making

A method for creating a decorative fabric that is woven into symmetrical patterns and figures, made by hand with needle, bobbins, or a machine (created by looping and plaiting one thread with another)

Felting

Process of creating a fibre by pressing, matting, and condensing wool/synthetic fibres together, using felt needle or wet felted using water, soap, and friction

Composites

A combination of two or more materials that are bonded together to improve their mechanical or physical properties

Hand lay up moulding

An open moulding method for making a wide range variety of composite products including boats, tanks, bathware, housing, and architectural products

Spray lay up moulding

An open moulding method that is similar to hand lay up moulding but it is faster in moulding complex shapes

Pultrusion

A continuous process for manufacturing of composite materials with constant cross-section, works by pulling the material

Lamination for composites

Layering fabrics and laminating them together with melamine resin

Concrete

A composite material composed of cement, aggregate, and water

Cross laminated timber

A versatile, multilayering panel of lumber, each layer is placed crosswise to adjacent layers for increased rigidity and strength

Firebreglass (GRP)

A composite material made of plastic reinforced by fine fibres made of glass

Kevlar

A synthetic fibre of high tensile strength that is used especially as a reinforcing material in the manufacture of tyres and other rubber parts

Carbon reinforced plastic (CRP)

An extremely strong and light fibre-reinforced plastic which contains carbon fibres

One-off production/craft production

An individual product or prototype for a large scale production

Batch production

A set quantity of a product is manufactured to order (a specialised set for a customer)

Mass production

The production of large amounts of standardised products on production lines, permitting very high rates of production per worker

Continuous-flow manufacturing

A production method used to manufacture, produce, or process materials without interruption

Mass customisation

The customer helps to choose the design of the product, and designers deliver products that best meet customer needs with near mass production efficiency

Paper based rapid prototyping (PRP)

A quick way of making a prototype using hundreds of layers of paper, in addition to water-based adhesives to bond each layer together. Build cost is low and does not require special tools or equipment

Laminated object manufacture (LOM)

A type of 3D printer using layers. It takes the slides CAD data from a 3D model and cuts out eac lay from a roll of material.

Stereolithography (SLA)

A type of 3D printing that uses photo-reactive resin that hardens on contact with UV light

Fused deposition modelling (FDM)

A type of 3D printing that lays down the materials in layers. It heats and melts thermoplastics to create the layers, and is very detailed like a glue gun

Injection moulding

A manufacturing process for producing parts by heating materials, mixed, and injected into a mould to cool and harden

Compression moulding

An amount of moulding material is preheated and the mould is heated to a temperature that will allow the long chain molecules to fix together. The mould will close around the material and be held together for a period of time to allow the cross-links to be formed

Blow moulding

Materials, usually plastic, is heated and fed into a mould, and is blown up like a balloon until the material is compressed to the sides/edges of the mould, in order to create the shape

Rotational moulding

Mould is loaded with powder before clamped together and is rotated in a heated chamber while the powder gets melted.

Vacuum forming

A sheet of plastic is heated then clamped onto the mould but is not touching the surface. The vacuum under the mould sucks air out between the mould and the heated material, causing the plastic to press onto the surface of the mould

Thermoforming

A sheet of plastic is held between two halves of the mould and is heated just above its softening point. The positive mould comes down and compresses the plastic to the negative mould, while air escapes through the negative mould at the bottom

Sand casting

A pattern is made and placed on a baseboard. The mould is placed over it and sand is packed around the pattern, forcing it into contact with the pattern. Molten material is poured in the running gate and once the material has solidified, the mould is broken open

High pressure die casting

Molten material is poured into a chamber and an injection piston forces the molten metal under high pressure into the casting cavity until the metal solidifes.

Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) Welding

Generates heat via an arc of electricity jumping from a tungsten metal electrode to the metal surface you intend to weld

Brazing

Joint is heated with flame until it turns red, then a brazing rod is then pushed gently against the joint and is fed into the joint until the brazed joint is complete

Mechanised production

A volume of production process involving machines controlled by humans (e.g. conveyor belts)

Automated production

A volume production process involving machines controlled by computers (automatically adjusting speeds of machines/conveyor systems)

Assembly line production

Mass production of a production via a flow line based on the interchangeability of parts. It is a flow line that moves each part from one stage to the next

Computer numerical control (CNC)

Computers controlling machines through a program called the “G code”. The computer uses coordinates to tell the laser of the machine where to move (X or Y, or XYZ)

Design for manufacture (DfM)

Designer is designing something based on the manufacturing technique, or with the ease of manufacturing in mind

Design for materials

Designing with recycled materials/environmentally friendly materials

Design for process

Enable the product to be manufactured using specific manufacturing processes

1st generation robots

Robots that are programmed and manufactured to do one task only (e.g. a single mechanical arm)

2nd generation robots

Robots that have varied inputs and outputs to allow the robot to perform a range of tasks, and has sensors

3rd generation robots (autonomous robots)

Robots that can work on their own without supervision. They observe humans and copies them, and has sensors and feedback

Insect robots

Lots of simple robots controlled by one central computer (doesn’t have AI), and can be used to perform tasks more efficiently

Work envelope

It is the robots range of movement, the distance their robotic arms can move. They can only perform within the confines of its work envelope

Load capacity

The maximum load that a robot can manipulate

Single task robots

Robots that imitate what humans can do, one input and one output, very task specific

Multi-task robots

Robots that can carry out many tasks at once (e.g. can grip screwdriver and scissors at the same time to do different tasks)