DT Modern & Smart Materials (B)

DT Modern & Smart Materials (B)

1. Modern

   • Carbon fibre
     • made up of carbon woven into a cloth, impregnatted with resin to hold them together
     • very lightweight
     • high strength
     • often used in F1 racing and sports equipment
   • Polymorph
     • a low melt polymer (60˚c) which can be remoulded easily
   • Composite materials are made up of different materials which are combined to improve their properties.
     • Man made boards
       • Flexi ply
         • as with ordinary plywood, there is an odd number of layers - usually 3
         • expensive
         • used for aesthetics and on furnitiure
       • Plywood: used for furniture and construction Chipboard is used for furniture panels and construction
     • Glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) | lass fibres and resin | used for Boats, instrument cases
   • Technical textiles
     • Modern textiles can be engineered to have numerous properties, such as additional strength or resistance to fire, water and even dirt.
       • Nomex Heat resistant and lightweight
         • used for Firefighters’ outfits
       • Kevlar
         • has 5x the strength-to-weight ratio of steel
         • fibres are woven together flat
         • used for bulletproof vests
       • Elastane
         • Stretchy, retains shape well, cheap and used for sportswear, leggings
       • Microfibres are much thinner than human hairs and can be coiled to provide a very warm, soft or absorbent material that can be used in winter clothes or products such as cleaning cloths.
       • Microencapsulation involves encapsulating liquid or solid substances in tiny thin-walled bubbles. These microspheres gradually release active agents when rubbed, which rupture the thin-walled membrane. This can bring benefits such as smelling good to cover body odours in sports clothing. A similar technology is used in the scratch and sniff perfume and aftershave samples in magazines.

2. Smart

   • Thermochromic pigments
     • Change colour in response to heat
   • Phosphorescent pigments
     • absorb light and then release the light energy over a period of time
     • e.g. emergency warning signs, 24hr clock faces
   • Shape memory alloys
     • e.g. nitinol wire
       • shrinks in length by 5% when an electrical current is passed through it
     • e.g. memoflex glasses
       • nickel/titanium alloy which will return to its original shape at room temperature after being deformed. A 'superelastic' alloy
   • Photochromic pigments
     • Change colour in response to light

3. What

4. Where

5. Who

6. When

7. Why

8. How