Researching company products, what plastics they're made of, and how are they manufactured: (Sorry, this is a dog day).

Lego:

• Lego is made out of ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene).
  -This is useful because it can be easily made by an injection moulding process.
  -Because of this process, it is even more great as all the products produced with a certain mould will be the same.
• ABS is a very durable product and would withstand things like colliding with each other or being thrown about.
  -Also is not toxic as it is used for children, however restricted to ages 3 years or older because of small parts.
• ABS is also used because it doesn't trigger any allergies.

 



 

CD's:

 

• CD's (Compact Discs) are made out of PC (polycarbonate).
• CD's are made by using injection moulding. This is great because no material is wasted.
• Because they are made out of PC, they are temperature and impact resistant.

 

 

Hard hats:

 

• Hard hats are made out of HDPE today, because they're easy to to mold and shape and costs less to manufacture.
• Made by injection moulding.
• HDPE is used because it's very impact resistant and protects people from sharp objects penetrating through the hat and also distributes impact shock from things falling on top over a larger surface area to cause less of an impact at one point.

 

 

Plumbing & Guttering pipes:

 

• Most commonly produced with PVC (Polyvinyl chloride) as it has a relatively low cost. And easy to work with and has biological/chemical resistance.
• It can become flexible when plasticizers are added to it.
• It's low maintenance, so it would cause less hassle.
  Made with extrusion moulding.



Eyeglass frames:

• Some glasses have their frames made out of CA (Cellulose Acetate).
• CA has many properties for use of a product like this such as:
  -Soft/smooth/resilient.
  -Comfort, no static clings.
  -Deep shades in colour.
  -Lustrous.
• Eyeglass frames like this are made using a die-cutting process.

Tupperware:

• Tupperware can be made out of PP (Polypropylene) as it's a very impact resistant material and also flexible.
• PP is also great because it's easy to clean with a dishwasher/hand-washing and it doesn't attract any bacteria/microbes.



Moulding & working with plastic:

Rotational moulding:

Rotational moulding is a process in which mainly professes in making hollow-shaped products. This machine works with 3 seperate arms which rotate around a central point. They stop at different stages, otherwise known as processing points. Moulds are attached to these arms and are rotated throughout the moulding process. The only times in which they are not being rotated is the first stage (where the moulds are filled with plastic) and the final stage (where the mould is opened and the product is then removed).
Stages of roational moulding:
1. - Filling the mould with thermoplastic powder/granules.
2. - Transfer the mould into the oven chamber where the plastic is heated to take shape of the mould.
3. - While rotating with the heat, the mould is transferred to a cooling chamber in which it is cooled by air or water jets.
4. When the product has been cooled, the product is removed from the mould and the process may repeat.

 Extrusion moulding:

Extrusion moulding is a continuous process which produces hollow and solid products which have a constant cross section.
Process:
1. - Thermoplastic granules are fed into a hopper which then are fed through the machine by a reciprocating screw, which leads to the heating area where the thermoplastic granules are melted to be liquid.
2. - The thermoplastic granules are given a plasticiser after being compacted into a small area, which allows them to flow easier through the moulds.
3. - While the plastic flows through the mould, it is cooled by a water cooling system being a trough in order to solidify while it is continuously being produced and pushed further.
4. - There will be something such as a saw at the end of this cycle wich will cut the extrusion to a set length so that the product is cut to the same precise sizes.

 

Vaccum moulding:

Vaccum forming is a process which can produce a variety products made from thermoplastic materials.
Process:
1. - A mould is used for producing the desired product. It is attatched to a platen (otherwise known as a support plate).
2. - A thermoplastic sheet material is clamped to an airtight gasket and heated from above to soften.
3. - After the thermoplastic sheet material is heated and become softened enough, the air is blown to make the sheet rise ready to take the impact of the mould.
4. - The mould which is attatched to the platen is risen, forcing the plastic to take shape as the mould and plastic both meet and the plastic has then taken shape of the mould.
5. - The air between the platen and the thermoplastic sheet is removed by a vaccum pump, in order to reduce errors as the air may have the plastic change shape slightly.
6. - After the plastic sheet has been cooled enough to solidify, air is then released into the area between the mould and plastic to allow both to seperate without the plastic freezing to the mould. This is done quickly otherwise the plastic forming may grip to the mould, and then be pried off by the platen and mould being lowered down in which can damage the forming.



Injection moulding research:

Injection moulding is an industrial process where a plastic is fed into the machine, carried along the screw that rotates around in order to travel through, where it gets to the heater. In the heater, the plastic is melted and carried along further to the end (being the mould cavity) where the plastic which is now liquid is injected into the mould, and then cooled in order for the plastic to become solid and the desired shape (depending on the mould used).
FYI, the diagram below is American. I spell it as "mould" because that is how we spell it in England before anyone screams at me.

Now you may be wondering,what is a mould used for specifically? A mould consists of 2 plates which are put together. One is the injection plate, the other the ejection plate. The plastic is fed into the injection plate while the ejection plate is attached. The plastic will solidify, then the ejection plate is detached in order to take out the made product. If both moulds do not fit together perfectly though, there will be a split line between the produced product showing where the moulds didn't fit together precisely.

Researching plastics:

When we did our theory of plastics, we learned about certain plastics and which group they belong to. As well as what the group means.

Thermoplastics: These plastics have no links between the molecule rows and therefore can be heated to soften and leaving you able to reshape the plastic and when cooled, be a new shape. However, when heated again, it can be reshaped once more. These plastics are mainly used because they can be recycled and allow us to use less oil in order to make it. Although be it recyclable, there are some cases in which it is not. This can be with situations of them being bent into complex forms, where you cannot reshape them.

There are many thermoplastics, such as:
ABS, HIPS, PS, PP, LDIP, HDIP and many others.

There are also some thermosetting plastics, which have links between all the molecules, which disallows reshaping after being shaped once.

There are some thermosetting plastics such as:
Epoxy, Melamine, Polyester and Urea.

Some plastics may have their properties improved by:
Fillers - These bulk the material to reduce the cost, some may add strength and remove brittleness.
Flame retardants - Reduces risk of combustion.
Anti-static agents - Reduces static charge effects that build up in a product, these can be used in synthetic charges.
Plasticisers - Supports materials to make them impermiable, also makes them less brittle and allow them to flow easier.
Stabilisiers - Reduces effects of UV light, makes plastic more resistant to breaking down and used for sun-exposed applications.

Bauhaus design movement - Chair

Assign no.1 - An item I never should've bought. An analysed story of a poor quality product:

An item I never should've never bought, would be my worthless logitech-860 PC headset. It is an absolute horrid of a product, for it is extremely uncomfortable around my ears due to it being an on-ear headset. Its sound quality is terrible, and therefore is terrible for use in Skype calls or listening to music. Its figure is stick-think and with any supplied force will snap within an instant. An absolutely appalling "headset" if you ask me, because in my opinion, I wouldn't even consider it a headset for it being so poor. More of a torture device to the ears, as it makes them rawer than freshly butchered meat.

 

Other than that, its company is known for making plenty of pc devices, which some prove to have an outstanding quality. Sure, I looked for a cheap headset, sure I got one. But I wanted one with an actual quality to it, if you're thinking of buying this headset. I honestly could not express it more with all my heart is that it is not worth it, it barely functions to a good standard, when in function it doesn't leave you feeling good and only leaves you annoyed and grieved as your music was ruined by its quality. It also hurts your ears, it is not an ideal headset if you ask me.

 

If you want a good quality headset. Aim for a price of at least £20+. You’ll be guaranteed to at least hear audible sounds at a perceivable quality, and it should be made better so that it won’t snap when bending it to put it over your head.  And maybe it’ll actually be uncomfortable unlike the Logitech-860 PC headset nuisance.