Metals

Types Of Metals:

• Ferrous-Metals containing Carbon and Iron
• Non-Ferrous-Metals not containing Iron
• Alloys-Mixture of two or more metals
• Non Alloys-One metal

Ferrous Alloys-A mix of two or more metals. At least one of which contains Iron or Carbon.

Non-Ferrous Alloys-Mixture of two or more metals not containing Iron.

Ferrous:

Mild Steel-Quite strong/Cheap but rusts easily and can't be hardened or tempered.

High Carbon Steel-Harder than Mild Steel. Can be hardened and tempered.

Non-Ferrous:

Aluminium-Light weight/corrosion resistant. Expensive, Not nearly as strong as Steel.

Brass-Quite strong/corrosion resistant, Malleable, Ductile/Looks good

Copper-Relatively soft, Malleable, Ductile, Good conductor of electricity.

25% of the Earths crust is Metal Ore

• Aluminium is most common, followed by iron
• In general, the more rare it is the more expensive it is
• Iron(Ferrite) is converted from its ore by heating. The resulting impurities(Slag) are removed from the furnace leaving a soft, grayish metal once it has cooled. It is rarely used without combining it with Carbon thus giving it a greater strength(Steel)
• Non-Ferrous Metals-This group of metals contains-Aluminium, Copper, Tin, Lead, Zinc as precious metals such as Silver, Gold and Platinum.

Sand Casting

A sand casting or a sand molded casting is a cast part produced by forming a mold from a sand mixture and pouring molten liquid metal into the cavity in the mold. The mold is then cooled until the metal has solidified. In the last stage the casting is separated from the mold. There are six steps in this process:



1.Place a pattern in sand to create a mold.

2.Incorporate a gating system.

3.Remove the pattern.

4.Fill the mold cavity with molten metal.

5.Allow the metal to cool.

6.Break away the sand mold and remove the casting.





There are two main types of sand used for molding. "Green sand" is a mixture of silica sand, clay, moisture and other additives. The "air set" method uses dry sand bonded to materials other than clay, using a fast curing adhesive. The latter may also be referred to as No bake mold casting. When these are used, they are collectively called "air set" sand castings to distinguish these from "green sand" castings. Two types of molding sand are natural bonded (bank sand) and synthetic (lake sand), which is generally preferred due to its more consistent composition.

Investment Casting/Lost-Wax Casting

1.Produce A Master Pattern-An artist or mold-maker creates an original pattern from Wax,Clay,Wood, Plastic, Steel, or another material.

2.Mold Making-A mold known as the Master Die,is made of the master pattern. The master pattern may be made from a low-melting-point metal, steel or wood. If a steel pattern was created then a low-melting-point metal may be cast directly from the master pattern.

3.Produce The Wax Patterns-One method of doing this is filling the entire mold with molten wax, and let it cool, until a desired thickness has set on the surface of the mold. After this the rest of the wax is poured out again, the mold is turned upside down and the wax layer is left to cool and harden.

4.Investment-The ceramic mold, known as the investment, is produced by three repeating steps: coating, stuccoing, and hardening.

• Coating-The first step involves dipping the cluster into a slurry of fine refractory material and then letting any excess drain off, so a uniform surface is produced. This fine material is used first to give a smooth surface finish and reproduce fine details.
• Stuccoing-In the second step, the cluster is stuccoed with a coarse ceramic particle, by dipping it into a fluidised bed, placing it in a rain sander, or by applying by hand.
• Hardening-Finally, the coating is allowed to harden.

5.Dewax-The investment is then allowed to completely dry, which can take 16 to 48 hours. Drying can be enhanced by applying a vacuum or minimizing the environmental humidity.It is then turned upside-down and placed in a furnace or autoclave to melt out and/or vaporize the wax.

6.Burnout & Preheating-The mold is then subjected to a burnout, which heats the mold between 870 °C and 1095 °C to remove any moisture and residual wax, and to sinter the mold. Sintering is a method for making objects from powder, by heating the material in a sintering furnace below its melting point. Sometimes this heating is also as the preheat, but other times the mold is allowed to cool so that it can be tested. If any cracks are found they can be repaired with ceramic slurry or special cements.

7.Processing-The investment mold is the placed cup-upwards into a tub and filled with sand. The metal may be gravity poured, but if there are thin sections in the mold it may be filled by applying positive air pressure.

8.Removal-The shell is hammered, media blasting, vibrated, waterjeted, or chemically dissolved to release the casting. The casting may then be cleaned up to remove signs of the casting process, usually by grinding.

Timber Notes

Natural Timbers

• Timber is a natural material-Grown in UK OR Imported from Europe, America,Russia,Far East.
• Lumber-Just been cut down
• Wood-Raw Material
• Timber-Processed Wood

Two Groups

• Hardwood-Deciduous Tree-Loses leaves in Autumn
• Softwood-Coniferous Tree-Trees with needles/cones

• Indigenous-Local-E.g. Oak in England

Softwood-Fast growing-Cheaper-Sustainable-Scot's Pine, Larch, Spruce, Douglas Fir-Not as dense or strong.

Hardwood-Slow growing-More Expensive-Non-Sustainable-Ash, Oak, Beech, Walnut, Balsa- Denser/More Robust

• Annual Rings-Tell age of trees-Darker rings-Means the tree made resin to protect itself in Winter-E.g.One dark ring to another indicate one year.

Protected Timber-Effect on Environment(Less trees/More CO2)

Forestry Stewardship Council-FSC-Protects the tree.

• Wood is FIBEROUS with fibres running along the length of the trunk.
• 55% of tree is cellulose(Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula (C6H10O5)n, a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand β(1→4) linked D-glucose units.
• 28% is resin(holds the tree together)

Process of what happens to timber before use?

1. Harvesting-Cutting the tree down in the forest
2. Conversion-Cutting the trunk and large branches into boards. Slab Sawn Or Quater Sawn
3. Seasoning-Reducing moisture content of the timber (Natural or Kiln Dryed)
4. Board Preperation-E.g. Sawing to size and planing (PAR Planed All Round)

Slab Sawing-No waste-BUT-Not as Stable-More liable to warp and twist.

Steam bending-Timbers bent around former (like a Mould)

Quater Sawn- More commonly used for expernsive hardwoods-More waste-More Stable-Less liable to warp and twist-often exposes nicer looking grain.

Slab Sawn Board-LONG ANNUAL RINGS-Lots of shrinkage

Quater Sawn Board-SHORT ANNUAL RINGS-Very little shrinkage

• Rough Sawn Timber
• Planed Timber-PAR-Planed All Round-PSE-Planed Square Edge

Timber Mouldings(Moundings-Preped up on a multicutter moulding machine)

Form Over Function

Adidas Shoes

I brought a pair of Adidas shoes which had good aesthetics. They were very bold and striking, and had nice, vibrant colours. Unfortunately because the company made their shoes with a slightly tapered front, this made them uncomfortable to wear for a long while at a time. Also the front of the sole has a bumpy texture which traps mud and is difficult to clean and as some of the shoe is made of a canvas type material dirt also sticks onto it.

The shoe has very good ankle support but this restricts the wearers mobility and doesn't fit with smaller surface area of the front of the shoe, making it feel unstable. This is obviously not great for a shoe made by a sports brand. Even so the shoe would be very comfortable but only if you brought it one or two sizes above your normal shoe size. These shoes cost around about £50 and I did not end up using them as much as I thought I would because of the uncomfortableness of wearing them for to long and the awkwardness of cleaning them if they did get dirty.

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Just so I know what's goin' down...You know...Aesthetics and the whatnot.