Monday, March 29, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Research on Materials and Sustainability
Different Types of Materials
Plastic:
| Properties | How they come about | Composition | Examples |
Polyesters |
| Polyester began as a group of polymers in W.H. Carothers' laboratory. Carothers was working for duPont at the time when he discovered that alcohols and carboxyl acids could be successfully combined to form fibers. | Made from polyester fiber (chemicals substances mainly found in petroleum) | Used to make synthetic textile fibers (shirts, running shorts, track pants etc.) |
Melamine | -Stable to light
| The compound was invented in the 1830s by a German scientist and came into fashion as a material used to make plastics and laminates in the late 1930s. | Composed of carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen | Used for laminated coating, decorating surface |
Acrylic | -Soften when heated -re-harden upon cooling
| In 1843 Ferdinand Redtenbacher (1809-1895) oxidized acrolein with aqueous silver oxide and isolated acrylic acid. Friedrich Beilstein (1838-1883) produced acrylic acid by distilling hydroacrylic acids in 1862. | Made from acrylic acid or acrylates | Can be processed into thermoformable acrylic sheet material |
Wood:
Properties | How it came about | Composition | Examples | |
Pine | uniform texture, works easy, finishes well. resists shrinkage,swelling and warping. | Pine trees throughout the world, have, since the beginning of time, been a key factor in the advancement of man kind. When cave men discovered fire, it was such a hot commodity that in order to keep their precious new discovery burning throughout the night, they would collect pine cones from the forests of towering pine trees and place them on the smoldering embers. | | Used in house construction, paneling and trim.Also used for furniture, molding and boxes. |
Walnut | Fine textured, strong, easy to work with and resists shrinking and warping and finishes well. | The first historical accounts of walnut trees growing under civilized cultivation was in ancient Babylon (Iraq) about 2000 B.C.; however, walnuts have evidently been attached to mankind much earlier by excavations from cave fossils as suggested by archeologists.he Greeks were credited with the first certified improvements in the size and quality of the Persian today called English walnut trees through selection and cultivation. The Romans soon established the Persian walnut trees throughout most of Europe and much of North Africa, that have most popularly become known today as the English walnut trees. | | Best used for gunstocks, solid and veneered furniture, novelties, cabinetry and wall paneling. |
Oak | strong with good bending qualitie. durable and finishes well and resist moisture absorption. | Heroditus, the father of ancient history, recorded in the mid-400's B.C., that oak trees were reputed to have within their boughs, the gift of prophecy.It is not an easy task to write about the history of oak trees, because there are so many species, all having different stories of their own in historical development of tree lines, having evolved in different climates in different nations of the World. | Refer to the picture below | Used for furniture, trimming, boat framing, desks and flooring. |
Properties | Composition | How does these metal come about? | Examples of the use of each materials | |
Iron | Lustrous, ductile, malleable, silver-gray metal, dissolves readily in dilute acids | It is formed by two major series of chemical compounds, the bivalent iron (II), or ferrous, compounds and the trivalent iron (III), or ferric, compounds. | The name "iron" comes from the Scandinavian "iarn". Iron can be reduced from several ores present in Nature. It is told that iron was produced for the first time when some pieces of ore, used in cook fires, reduced, when fires were kept long enough. After this, it was observed that higher temperatures (and wind) lead a better iron. This method was improved by several tricks until the creation of the furnace. | Magnet, hammer, screwdriver blade, iron ball |
Steel | hard, strong, ductile, easy formability, | It is formed by a gray or bluish-gray alloy of iron with carbon | The iron we use today is much better than the iron that the Hittites made: today most of our iron is made into steel. Steel is iron with more carbon in it than regular iron. It is much stronger and more flexible (it doesn't break as easily). People first began making a kind of steel in India, around 250 BC. | Kitchen knife blade, armour, suits, screws, nails |
Aluminum | soft or hard, light, corrosion resistance, durable, malleable | Bauxite | The metal originally obtained its name from the Latin word for alum, alumen. Finally, in 1807, Sir Humphrey Davy proposed that this still unknown metal be referred to as aluminum. This was then altered further to that of aluminium so to agree with the "ium" spelling that ended most of the elements. This is the spelling that is generally used throughout the world. That is, until the American Chemical Society in 1925 officially reverted the spelling back to aluminum, which is how it is normally spelled in the United States. | Transportation (automobiles, aircraft, trucks, railway cars, marine vessels, bicycles) as sheet, tube, castings etc. Packaging (cans, foil) Construction (windows, doors, siding, building wire) A wide range of household items, from cooking utensils to baseball bats, watches. |
| Properties | How they come about | Composition | Examples |
Natural Rubber |
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Soda-lime Glass |
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Food Waste |
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What is Sustainability?
Wikipedia: Sustainability is the capacity to endure
Macbook Dictionary: Sustainability is to be able to be maintained at a certain rate or level
Sustainable products are those products providing environmental, social and economic benefits while protecting public health, welfare, and environment over their full commercial cycle, from the extraction of raw materials to final disposition.
Example of sustainable products include raw materials like timber.
A sustainable environment is an environment in which all of the plants, animals and other forms of life in it are able to exist in the eco-system without any exterior aid or interference.
An example of sustainable environments are long-lived and healthy wetlands and forests.
Sources:
http://www.texasglass.com/glass_facts/history_of_Glass.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminum
http://www.historyofaluminum.com/
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/science/steel.htm
http://www.chemistryexplained.com/Ru-Sp/Rubber.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_waste
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainability
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/science/steel.htm
http://www.lenntech.com/periodic/elements/fe.htm
http://nautilus.fis.uc.pt/st2.5/scenes-e/elem/e02610.html
http://waterhouse.ucdavis.edu/ven219/composition_of_oak.htm
http://www.essortment.com/all/wherecanfindi_rqep.htm
http://ezinearticles.com/?History-of-Walnuts&id=260033
http://www.essortment.com/all/wherecanfindi_rqep.htm
http://ezinearticles.com/?History-Of-Oak-Trees,-Quercus-Sp&id=365955
sources : http://www.essortment.com/all/wherecanfindi_rqep.htm
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
The PIES Analysis..
| Reasons for the Needs | Products and Services | Reasons that products and Services that occur in more than one situation |
Waiting for the bus at the bus stop | Physical Needs: They will be drained when it rains; will be hot when they are in the hot sun Intellectual Needs: They will be wasting their time doing nothing that will increase their knowledge Emotional Needs: They will be worrying if the bus will come on time Social Needs: They will not be able to improve their social skills if there is no one at or near the bus stop | Physical Need: Shelter from the weather (e.g bad weather and the hot weather) Intellectual Need: Reading magazines, newspaper etc Emotional Needs: Bus arriving on time Social Needs: Mobile phones, | -The activities are all the same except for the fact that the place and the transports are different -There are reading materials everywhere so people will be occupied while waiting |
Waiting for the train at the rail way station | Physical Needs: They will be drained when it rains; will be hot when they are in the hot sun Intellectual Needs: They will be wasting their time doing nothing that will increase their knowledge Emotional Needs: They will be worrying if the train will come on time Social Needs: They will not be able to improve their social skills if there is no one at the rail way station | Physical Need: Shelter from the weather (e.g bad weather and the hot weather) Intellectual Need: Reading magazines, newspaper etc Emotional Needs: Managing to catch the train. Social Needs: Mobile phones, Advertisements in the television | |
Waiting for the plane at the airport | Physical Needs: They will be drained when it rains; will be hot when they are in the hot sun Intellectual Needs: They will be wasting their time doing nothing that will increase their knowledge Emotional Needs: They will be worrying if the plane will be delayed Social Needs: They will not be able to improve their social skills if there is no one at or near the bus stop | Physical Need: Shelter from the weather (e.g. bad weather and the hot weather) Intellectual Need: Reading magazines, newspaper etc Emotional Needs: Airplane is not delayed. Social Needs: Mobile phones, Advertisements in the television |