Paper and card

Material/ Name Uses Description

Layout and Tracing Paper

• Hard and Translucent

• Typically 50g/m

• Take spirit-based marker pens well

Used during the development stage of designing Lightweight

thin paper

Transparent

Cartridge paper

• Tough and lightly textured

• Often used in a very light cream colour

• Takes coloured pencils very well

• 100-135g/m

General drawing Good quality white paper

Available in different weights

General purpose work

Medium cost

Cardboard

• Can be laminated together to create thicker boards

• From 200g/m upwards

• Often made from recycled materials

General modelling and packaging Durable

Made by corrugated lines for density

From recycled fibre

Solid white board

• Stronger, high-quality board

• Made from pure bleached wood pulp

• Excellent for printing on to

Book covers

More expensive packaging

Best card for printing on too

From quality bleached wood

Durable

Semi- ridged

1.A tree is cut down and the

trunk is fed into a chipping

machine where it is cut into

very small pieces.

2. The wood chips

are boiled in water

to form a thick wood

pulp

3. ingredients such as

starch and bonding

agents are added. The

pulp is poured over a

fine mesh and the

water escapes leaving

the cellulose fibres

behind. This forms the

paper

Composite materials are materials made

from two or more constituent materials

with significantly different physical or

chemical properties, that when

combined, produce a material with

characteristics different from the

individual components. Composite

materials consist of:• cements, concrete

• Reinforced plastics such as fibre-reinforced

polymer

• Metal Composites

• Ceramic Composites

Paper and card are the materials that

we all throw away

the most, making up over a third of the

rubbish we produce.

It is easy to make new paper and card

by recycling the old

paper and card.

Paper is a versatile material with many

uses

By Evie Lawrence

Hard wood is a type of wood

that comes from angiosperm

trees. Some of these trees are

called Oak trees, Maple trees

and Beech trees. These are

some examples of what hard

wood looks like:

Hard Wood

By Evie Lawrence

Soft wood

Soft wood is a type of wood that comes

from coniferous trees and evergreen

trees. Soft wood is the source of around

80% of the worlds production timber.

These are a few examples of what soft

wood looks like:

Manufactured wood is a type

of wood that is man made.

Some of the most common

types of manufactured wood is

plywood and MDF. Here are

some examples of

manufactured wood.

These are

pieces of

Plywood

These are

pieces of

MDF

This is how hardwood floors are manufactured.

There are two types of wood:

softwood and hardwood. These

names do not refer to the

properties of the wood: some

softwoods can be hard and

some hardwoods can be soft

Softwood comes from particular types of trees, it is made

by nature. Softwoods have a particular cellular structure at

the microscopic level. Some Softwoods included in that

definition are actually harder than some hardwoods. For

example Balsa wood is biologically a hardwood, but it is

softer for carving and cutting than is the biological

softwood.

Hardwood is wood from deciduous trees and broad-leaf

evergreen trees. All hardwoods are angiosperms

(flowering plants) which are the most assorted and

largest group of land plants. Hardwoods all have

enclosed nuts or seeds. Hardwood is in contrast to

softwood which come from conifers, cone bearing seed

plants.

By Evie Lawrence

Metal Property Use

Aluminium Heat Conductor Make Saucepans

Copper Electrical Conductor Make electric wiring

Gold Lustrous (shiny) Make jewellery

Lead Dense To add weight when scuba diving

Platinum High melting and boiling point Electrodes of spark plugs

Steel High tensile strength

Strong

• Makes ropes

• Makes bridges

• Buildings

• cars

Tungsten Hard Make drill pieces

Alloys

An alloy is a material composed of two or

more metals or a metal and a non-metal. An

alloy may be a solid solution of the

elements.

Non Ferrous Metals

•Aluminium – An alloy of aluminium, copper and

manganese. Very lightweight and easily worked. Used in

aircraft manufacture, window frames and some kitchen

ware.

•Copper – Copper is a natural occurring substance. The fact

that it conducts heat and electricity means that it is used

for wiring, tubing and pipe work.

•Brass – A combination of copper and zinc, usually in the

proportions of 65% to 35% respectively. Is used for

ornamental purposes and within electrical fittings.

•Silver – Mainly a natural substance, but mixing with copper

creates sterling silver. Used for decorative impact in

jewellery and ornaments, and also to solder different

metals together.

•Lead – Lead is a naturally occurring substance. It is heavy

and very soft and is often used in roofing, in batteries and

to make pipes.

Ferrous Metals

•Mild Steel – Carbon content of 0.1 to 0.3% and Iron content

of 99.7 – 99.9%. Used for engineering purposes and in

general, none specialised metal products.

•Carbon steel – Carbon content of 0.6 to 1.4% and Iron

content of 98.6 to 99.4 %. Used to make cutting tools such

as drill bits.

•Stainless Steel – Made up of Iron, nickel and chromium.

Resists staining and corrosion and is therefore used for the

likes of cutlery and surgical instrumentation. See our info

graphic celebrating 100 years of stainless steel usage in

buildings or the different types of stainless steel.

•Cast Iron – carbon 2 – 6% and Iron at 94 to 98%. Very strong

but brittle. Used to manufacture items such as engine

blocks and manhole covers.

•Wrought Iron – Composed of almost 100% iron. Used to

make items such as ornamental gates and fencing.

By Evie Lawrence

Plastics: natural,

synthetic,

thermosetting or

thermoplastic

There are two types of plastics:

thermoplastics and thermosetting

polymers. Thermoplastics are the

plastics that do not undergo

chemical change in their

composition when heated and

can be moulded again and again.

Thermosetting polymers

have different properties

to thermosetting

polymers. Once moulded,

they do not soften when

heated and they cannot

be reshaped. Vulcanised

rubber is a thermoset

used to make tyres.

Natural

Natural sources of plastics include:

plants - from which cellulose can be extracted

trees - from which latex, amber and resin can be extracted

animals - from which horn and milk (used to make glues) are obtained

insects - from which shellac (used to make polish) is obtained

Synthetic

Synthetic plastics are chemically manufactured from:

crude oil

coal

natural gas

By Evie Lawrence

A ceramic is an inorganic, non-metallic solid

comprising metal, non-metal or metalloid atoms

primarily held in ionic and covalent bonds. The

crystallinity of ceramic materials ranges from

highly oriented to semi-crystalline, and often

completely amorphous (e.g., glasses).

ALUMINA

Alumina is the most widely used advanced ceramic

material. It offers very good performance in terms of

wear resistance, corrosion resistance and strength at

a reasonable price. Its high dielectric properties are

beneficial in electronic products.

Applications include armour, semiconductor

processing equipment parts, faucet disc valves, seals,

electronic substrates and industrial machine

components.

SILICON NITRIDE

Silicon nitride exceeds other ceramic materials in

thermal shock resistance. It also offers an excellent

combination of low density, high strength, low

thermal expansion and good corrosion resistance and

fracture toughness.

Applications include various aerospace and

automotive engine components, papermaking machine

wear surfaces, armour, burner nozzles and molten

metal processing parts.

SILICON CARBIDE

Silicon carbide has the highest corrosion resistance of

all the advanced ceramic materials. It also retains its

strength at temperatures as high as 1400°C and offers

excellent wear resistance and thermal shock

resistance.

Applications include armour, mechanical seals,

nozzles, silicon wafer polishing plates and pump parts.

ZIRCONIA

Zirconia has the highest strength and toughness at

room temperature of all the advanced ceramic

materials. The fine grain size allows for extremely

smooth surfaces and sharp edges.

Applications include scissors, knifes, slitters, pump

shafts, metal-forming tools, fixtures, tweezers, wire

drawing rings, bearing sleeves and valves.

SAPPHIRE

Single crystal sapphire offers superior mechanical

properties and chemical stability coupled with light

transmission.

By Evie Lawrence

By Evie Lawrence

FoodCarbohydrates

Protein

Dairy

Fibre and Vitamins

Water is a transparent fluid which forms the

world's streams, lakes, oceans and rain, and is the

major constituent of the fluids of living things. Its

used for drinking or keeping clean.

Fibre is found in the indigestible parts of plants,

good source of fibre include wholegrain foods,

fruits and vegetables.

By Evie Lawrence

Standard Components

By Evie Lawrence

Electronic control: discrete components,

integrated circuits, micro controllers/ processors.

Discrete components

An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit also

referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip and is an electronic

circuit on one small plate of semiconductor material, normally

silicon. This can be made much smaller than a discrete circuit made

from independent electronic components.

A microcontroller is a small computer on a single integrated

circuit containing a processor core, memory, and programmable

input/output peripherals. Microcontrollers are designed for

embedded applications, in contrast to the microprocessors used

in personal computers or other general purpose applications.

A microprocessor is a computer processor that incorporates the

functions of a computer's central processing unit (CPU) on a single

integrated circuit or at most a few integrated circuits. The

microprocessor is a multipurpose, programmable device that

accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions

stored in its memory, and provides results as output.

By Evie Lawrence

Mechanical movement

Pneumatic systems are used

extensively in industry are

commonly powered by

compressed air or compressed

inert gases. A centrally

located and electrically

powered compressor powers

cylinders, air motors, and

other pneumatic devices. A

pneumatic system controlled

through manual or automatic

solenoid valves is selected

when it provides a lower

cost, more flexible, or safer

alternative to electric motors

and actuators.

Hydraulics is a very basic version of

pneumatics. Fluid mechanics provides the

theoretical foundation for hydraulics,

which focuses on the engineering uses of

fluid properties. In fluid power, hydraulics

are used for the generation, control, and

transmission of power by the use of

pressurized liquids.

By Evie Lawrence

Smart and Modern: reactive, nanotechnology

Smart colours are pigments which can be

incorporated into paints, dyes, inks and

plastics.

• thermo chromic pigments react to

changes in temperature

• photochromic pigments react to

changes in light levels

Smart materials are

reactive materials. Their

properties can be changed

by exposure to stimuli,

such as electric and

magnetic fields, stress,

moisture and

temperature.

Nanoparticles improve the mechanical properties of a material,

such as stiffness or elasticity. When incorporated into polymers,

they can be used as lightweight replacements for metals.

Nanomaterial's are used in car manufacturing to create cars that

are faster, safer and more fuel efficient. They can also be used to

produce more efficient insulation and lighting systems.

Nanotechnology ("nanotech") is the

manipulation of matter on an

atomic, molecular, and

supramolecular scale. The earliest,

widespread description of

nanotechnology referred to the

particular technological goal of

precisely manipulating atoms and

molecules for fabrication of macro

scale products, also now referred to

as molecular nanotechnology.

By Evie Lawrence

Properties : physical, mechanical and environmental Physical Properties of Materials

To select greener materials you need

to consider the material’s

environmental, cost, and performance

impacts on your design. A material’s

performance depends on its physical

properties, and optimizing this is the

most important way to reduce your

product’s environmental impact.

Energy use often causes the biggest

environmental impact for products

that consume much energy during their

use, like refrigerators and cars.

Creating a lighter weight car can save

far more energy than reducing the

embodied energy of its materials.

Likewise, to make a refrigerator or

building more energy efficient, you’ll

need to have good insulation and

optimize heat transfer.

Environmental

Making a product uses resources, such as raw materials and energy. This has an

impact on the environment.

There are a number of things that a designer might think about to reduce

environmental impact:

• The material used to make the product.

• The life of the product.

• What happens to the product at the end of its life.

One way to reduce impact on the environment is to use less material in the

product. This might mean asking questions about what is needed or whether it

could be made smaller (or thinner) and still do the same job. It could also

mean using an alternative material with better properties, so that not as much

of the material is required.