Blog Entry 5

Hi everyone! Welcome back to my blog!!! 😁 it's been a while, but after the horrible experience that was EST for our CP5095 Separation Processes and Simulation, I'm finally back writing about my learning experiences in this module, and for this entry, I'll be going over the two lessons on materials. Materials for design (MFD), design for materials (DFM) and sustainable design!

A few weeks ago, we had our first lesson on materials, being Materials for Design (MFD). We had actually taken the MFD module back in Year 1, but as it had been a while since I studied most of the content, it was good to get a quick refresher on some of the important concepts and steps in selecting a suitable material for a product. Firstly, we learnt that there were many properties of materials that are important in the process of selecting a suitable material for a product, some examples being -

• Mechanical Properties, e.g Hardness, Young's Modulus, Density, Ultimate Tensile Strength
• Thermal Properties, e.g Thermal conductivity, Specific Heat Capacity
• Fabrication Properties, e.g Ease of Machining, Viscosity, Availability
• Environmental Properties, e.g Corrosivity, Toxicity

During this lesson, we also recalled one of the most important steps in the Materials for Design process, being the creation of a COWS matrix, which would be used to select and evaluate potential candidates for materials for a product. It was definitely a pleasant surprise to learn that we would be making use of the COWS matrix again so soon, as the COWS matrix is very satisfying to create in my opinion, and is one of my favourite parts of the material selection process, as it is required to do in-depth research on the potential material candidates' properties, and compare them to one another.

Here's my team's COWS matrix for the material for the body of a thermoflask as an example! Overall, this lesson was a real trip down memory lane, as it really let me reminisce about simpler times in Year 1 when my GPA was higher. 😔

Our next lesson on materials was that of Design for Materials (DFM). When our lecturer first said the name of the lesson, I thought it was a joke at first, as it was literally just the name of the previous lesson but inverted, but after our lecturer explained the contents of the topic, I started to understand why the lesson was named the way that it was. In Design for Materials, the design of a product is taken into consideration, and the material used for that product would also be taken into consideration, to see whether there is a potential modification that can be made to a product's design or its material in order to increase its effectiveness/ease of use. The given example was ceramic knives, which despite being similar in size to normal steel knives, stay sharp 10 times longer, are extremely light and are non-porous, which means they would prevent bacterial growth. However, ceramic knives are brittle and chip easily.

I actually did not know that ceramics could be used to make knives, so the example was both interesting and rather informative.After we learnt about this, my group was tasked with finding a material that could be used to replace another material, in a similar way to the ceramic knife example. Our group decided on nylon as our material, and we decided to use it to replace the metal strap used in some watches, as nylon is light and strong, similar to the stainless steel used in most watch straps, while also being more comfortable and sweat absorbant, while being more elastic, making it easy to adjust! 😄

The second part of the Design for Materials lesson was also about the design of materials, with the main topic being sustainability. When selecting materials to be used in products, it would also be important to take into account the sustainability of the material, by selecting materials with more environmentally friendly properties, such as having more energy efficient production, being made out of non-toxic chemicals/components, or simply being recyclable. Our group was then tasked with deciding how we would modify our product to make it more sustainable, and we came up with the following:

For the Metal Can - 

• Use non-toxic, sustainably produced, or recycled materials.
• Use energy efficient processes.
• Make it reusable and recyclable.
• Consider product life cycle.
• Make the product reusable and recyclable.

For the Deodorant - 

•  Use non-toxic, sustainably produced, or recycled materials.
•  Make the product last longer.

In summary, this lesson on Design for Materials was a really informative one, and we will keep this lesson in mind when taking into account the different materials we could use for our product. 😁