Edexcel A-Level Product Design Materials and properties overview quiz quiz

Its overall thickness measured in millimetres across the sheet

Its tensile strength when pulled apart along the grain

Its mass per unit area in grams per square metre

Its surface smoothness and finish quality when printed

Pine

Spruce

Cedar

Oak

It is made from fine wood fibres bonded with resin, so it has no grain

It is a natural solid timber cut with a long straight grain running through it

It is internally reinforced throughout with a fine steel mesh

It is a rigid thermosetting plastic moulded into board form

Non-ferrous

Ferrous

A pure element

A composite

To make it even harder than it already is after quenching

To make it strongly magnetic so it attracts iron filings

To trade some hardness for toughness and remove brittleness

To increase its electrical conductivity so it can be used as wiring

They soften and become mouldable again every single time they are heated

They can be easily recycled simply by remelting and reforming them

They are always completely transparent and colourless when set

They cross-link permanently and cannot be reshaped once cured

$45.5$ g

$4.55$ g

$54.9$ g

$455$ g

Weaving

Knitting

Bonding

Laminating

A thermoplastic and a thermoset

A metal and a ceramic

A reinforcement and a matrix

A natural and a synthetic fibre

Graphene, a single sheet of carbon atoms

Kevlar, a tough aramid fibre

Gore-Tex, a breathable waterproof membrane

Shape memory alloy

To reduce its moisture content, improving stability and strength

To add a deeper natural colour and figure to the grain

To make the timber able to conduct electricity safely

To convert a fast-grown softwood into a much denser hardwood timber

Very low manufacturing and raw material cost

High strength-to-weight ratio

Its very high electrical conductivity along the fibres

How quickly and easily it can be recycled