BLOG ENTRY 5 (MFD, DFM & Sustainable design)

 HELLO GUYS!! Welcome back to my blog!!!😁😁 Its been quite awhile since I've posted but now I'm back and for this entry, I will be talking about the 2 lessons that we had on material selection: Materials for Design (MFD), Design for Materials (DFM) and Sustainable Design. 

Materials For Design (MFD)

If you are from chemical engineering, this name does not sound foreign to you and will definitely ring a bell. We had taken this module back in Year 1 but since then, I've long forgotten about everything taught for that module so it was nice to have a bit of a refresher on the various properties of materials so that we can make the best decision when deciding on materials to use. 

A few examples are :

• Mechanical Properties: Yield Strength, Youngs Modulus, Hardness, Ductility

• Thermal Properties: Specific Heat Capacity, Thermal Conductivity, Thermal Expansion Coefficient

• Fabrication Properties: Ease of Machining, Viscosity, Casting

• Environmental Properties: Corrosion Properties, Polluting Effect, Toxicity

Obviously with MFD, there also comes the infamous COWS matrix. The COWS matrix helps us evaluate which is the best material for a given product. So for our first task, our class had to create a COWS matrix for a given product and this would be the first part of our CA2. For my group, we were tasked to do the COWS matrix to decide on material for the blade and body of a disposable razor blade

This was our criteria for the blade

This was our score for the blade 

Next up, the body of the blade

This was our criteria for the body

This was the score for the body

Design For Materials (DFM)

Now onto something new, Design for Materials. Honestly, my first impression of this was that this is quite ridiculous. I mean, its literally MFD but inverted. However, while listening to Mr Chua lecture, I found it quite insightful. For DFM, the product is modified so that a specific material could be used. One example that Mr Chua shared was the use of ceramic knives as compared to the traditional metal knives. Ceramic knives have various properties that outweigh those of the traditional metal knives. Such properties are that ceramic knives are very lightweight, extremely thin and are also non-porous which will help prevent bacteria growth. However with all this advantages, ceramic knives are brittle, resulting in chipping of the knives. This example of the ceramic knife was quite interesting to me I've never heard of one and now hearing all of the properties that it has, I wonder if this is commonly found and if it is not, it should be. 

With all this said, our second task and the second part of our CA2 would to find a material that could be used to substitute another material of a product, similar to how ceramic could be use to substitute metal in knives. My team decided to go with a commonly found product which was windows. 

For the material that could be used to substitute glass, we decided on acrylic (Plexiglass). 

These are the properties of acrylic. Why acrylic? Acrylic can withstand more force as it is less fragile than glass. It thus can last longer without it breaking. It also allows for better light transmission which is the whole purpose of glass. With better light transmission, it allows for clearer view under low light conditions. Acrylic is also cheaper as compared to glass, resulting in it being more cost efficient in the long run. Combine all these properties together, it makes the perfect glass substitute.

Sustainable Design

Moving onto the final part of DFM, it is sustainable design. When selecting materials for our products, it is important to make it environmentally friendly so that it does not damage our environment and the Earth. It is important to pick materials that are more environmentally friendly such as more energy efficient or being recyclable. For this, we decided to look at our product that we chose and modify it.

This pretty much sums up both week 11 & 12. Overall, these 2 weeks have been pretty easy and smooth sailing, nothing too complicated. These lessons have definitely gave me more insight when designing our product. Hopefully you have enjoyed this blog and if you have managed to read it till here, thanks!! Stay tuned for more!!😁😁