Week 5

📌Design For Materials 🔍

For this week, we have continued to explore the inter-relationship between materials and design. Week 4 was on Materials for Design, in which we used the method of COWS, while this week, it is for Design for Materials.

During class, we sent through a few case studies like the history of hairdryers and ceramic knives. Both utilize the different attributes of different materials. For the hair dryer case, we learnt about how it has evolved from the model in the 1890s to the one that we see today, and we are able to learn about how the design was modified so that the desirable attributes of certain materials can be used to improve the hairdryer. The below photos show how the hairdryer has evolved and improved by changing the materials of the hairdryer.

                                                        First Hairdryer in 1809s                                                        

            Fast forward 30 years-Handy Hannah       

       

Hawkins Supreme (1930)

    

In addition, the diagram below shows us that when designing a chemical product, we not only have to consider the material that we use but also the design changes as to enjoy the attributes of the materials.

                         

📣Activity⏳

After that, we moved to the main activity of this lesson. We were given some tasks to complete:

• Select one material 
•  Discuss among the group how this material can be used

i)       as a replacement to a material in an existing product without any significant changes in the design

ii)      to enhance the functionality of an existing product through some changes in the design.

Select One Material 🎈

Our group selected the material which is called Marmoleum. The table 1 below shown some details of this material.

                                                  Table 1: Information about Marmoleum

Name of material	Marmoleum
Chemical Name	Linoxin and pine resin composite, calcium carbonate fillers
General Description	Marmoleum® is made from natural raw materials and is a more sustainable material choice. Traditional linoleum is produced from a very finely ground linoleum granulate created from pure oxidised vegetable linseed oil and natural pine rosin, to which wood flour and colour pigments have been added.
General Properties	Has a matte surface, hygienic and antistatic by nature does not mark with fingerprints and has long-lasting vibrant colours.
Opportunities	Marmoleum can be used as a surface finish for chairs, desks, cabinets, countertops and other furniture/fixtures.

 

Replacement of Marmoleum material 💭💬

We came up with an idea which was to replace vinyl floorings with Marmoleum floorings. Table 2 below show the comparison between these two materials.

                                Table 2: Comparison between Vinyl and Marmoleum for flooring

Vinyl	Marmoleum
May last about 10 years	May last 40 years
Vinyl includes various phthalate plasticizers for flexibility	Solid, tough, but flexible film
Completely synthetic material comprised mostly of PVC (polyvinyl chloride)	Could be blended with other materials to create a product that made for a very durable and adaptable building material
Several of the chemicals used in its manufacture are recognized carcinogens	Comprised largely of linseed oil, a naturally occurring substance that is extracted from flax seeds, mixed with other natural and renewable materials, such as cork dust, wood flour, and rosin, and pressed into sheets for use as a flooring material
The manufacturing process makes use of large quantities of petroleum	Does not emit harmful gases to the environment
impossible to safely dispose of discarded vinyl flooring	Biodegradable
Non-Recyclable	Uses all-natural, recyclable materials
Hard material underfoot	Soft material underfoot

🙇Enhance the functionality through some changes in design 🙇

In addition, Marmoleum can be used as a material to use in cutting boards. Since it has a matte finish, it will make the cutting board easier to clean as any liquids or stains can easily slide off the surface. However, to make the cutting board lighter and easier to handle, instead of having a sheet of entirely Marmoleum, we decided to use two thin sheets of Marmoleum as the surface of the cutting board, sandwiching a layer of High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) in between, which is a commonly used material in plastic cutting boards. This makes the cutting board more hygienic to use compared to normal HDPE cutting boards, as it will inhibit moisture build-up as water droplets, can easily slide off the surface.

A sketch of a possible design can be seen below:

Picture of a normal HDPE cutting board for comparison:

🎉✌

In this lesson, we learned to think and relate how a material of product can be designed, modified and replaced to approach the desirable material attributes in order to produce a more functional and convenient product.