4. Final production

4. Final production

4.1 Properties of materials

• Physical properties: mass, weight, volume, density, electrical resistivity, thermal conductivity, thermal expansion and hardness

• Mechanical properties: tensile and compressive strength, stiffness, toughness, ductility, elasticity, plasticity, Young’s modulus, stress and strain

• Aesthetic characteristics: taste, smell, appearance and texture

• Properties of smart materials: piezoelectricity, shape memory, photochromicity, magneto-rheostatic, electro-rheostatic and thermoelectricity

4.2a Metals and metallic alloys

• Extracting metal from ore

• Grain size

• Modifying physical properties by alloying, work hardening and tempering

• Design criteria for super alloys

• Recovery and disposal of metals and metallic alloys

4.2b Timber

• Characteristics of natural timber: hardwood and softwood

• Characteristics of man-made timbers

• Treating and finishing timbers

• Recovery and disposal of timbers

4.2c Glass

• Characteristics of glass

• Applications of glass

• Recovery and disposal of glass

4.2d Plastics

• Raw materials for plastics

• Structure of thermoplastics

• Structure of thermosetting plastics

• Temperature and recycling thermoplastics

• Recovery and disposal of plastics

4.2e Textiles

• Raw materials for textiles

• Properties of natural fibres

• Properties of synthetic fibres

• Conversion of fibres to yarns

• Conversion of yarns into fabrics: weaving, knitting, lacemaking, and felting

• Recovery and disposal of textiles

4.2f Composites

• Form: fibres/sheet/particles and matrix

• Process: weaving, moulding, pultrusion and lamination

• Composition and structure of composites: concrete, engineered wood, plywood, particleboard, fibreglass, Kevlar®, carbon-reinforced plastic, laminated veneer lumber (LVL)

4.3 Scales of production

• One-off, batch production and continuous flow

• Mass customization

4.4 Manufacturing processes

• Additive techniques: paper-based rapid prototyping, laminated object manufacture (LOM), stereolithography

• Wasting/subtractive techniques: cutting, machining, turning and abrading

• Shaping techniques: moulding, thermoforming, laminating, casting, knitting, weaving

• Joining techniques: permanent and temporary, fastening, adhering, fusing

4.5 Production systems

• Craft production

• Mechanized production

• Automated production

• Assembly line production

• Mass production

• Mass customization

• Computer numerical control (CNC)

• Production system selection criteria

• Design for manufacture (DfM): design for materials, design for process, design for assembly, design for disassembly

• Adapting designs for DfM

4.6 Robots in automated production

• Primary characteristics of robots: work envelope and load capacity

• Single-task robots

• Multi-task robots

• Teams of robots

• Machine to machine (M2M)