Modern Materials

Modern material: a material that has been engineered to have improved properties

Thermo-ceramics:

Advantages Disadvantages
  • Good heat insulator
  • Extreme hardness
  • Lightweight
  • Durable
  • Brittle
  • Prone to cracking
  • Expensive compared to other marerials

Uses: Pipe insulation, chimneys, heat shield cladding, exhausts

Liquid crystal displays (LCD):

Advantages Disadvantages
  • High quality image
  • Slim/compact for portable devices
  • Range of colours in display (256)
  • More expensive than traditional cathode ray screens
  • Picture quality can be worse than traditional TV
  • Expensive to replace
  • Fragile

Uses: Computers, TV, phones, screens

Glulam:

Advantages Disadvantages
  • Stronger than natural timber
  • Good strength-to-weight ratio
  • Easy to form and shape
  • Sustainable building material
  • Expensive
  • Can be poor quality if inner layers are poor quality timber

Uses: Buildings, construction

Kevlar:

Advantages Disadvantages
  • Impact resistant
  • Heat resistant
  • Poor UV resistance and degrades with sunlight
  • Prone to moisture degradations
  • Poor in compression unless reinforced

Uses: Body armour, cut-proof gloves, surfboard components

Precious metal clay:

Advantages Disadvantages
  • Easily mouldable/formable
  • Sets hard once fired with kiln/butane torch
  • Inexpensive compared to solid metals
  • Fragile (behaves like ceramic)
  • Can dry out whilst being moulded

Uses: Jewellery, decorative items, small sculptures

Nanomaterials:

Advantages Disadvantages
  • Unique properties
  • Used to extend battery life
  • Used to miniaturise components/tools/electronics
  • Expensive
  • New and uknown technology

Uses: Delivering drugs, additives in sunscreen, phone batteries

High density modelling foam:

Advantages Disadvantages
  • Easy to work
  • Can be sanded easily
  • Intricate shapes can be created
  • Lightweight
  • Adhesives can dissolve the material
  • Material is soft/deforms easily

Uses: 3D modelling, prototypes

Polymorph:

Advantages Disadvantages
  • Can be remoulded multiple times
  • Low melting point (62 celcius)
  • Easily pigmented
  • Only mouldable for limited time
  • Can be burned if heated above 65C for a long time

Uses: Modelling, shaping ergonomic handles, prototype mechanical parts

Topic test:

Modern Materials Questions