WJEC GCSE Design and Technology Materials and their properties: papers and boards, timbers, metals, polymers and textiles
A deep-dive WJEC GCSE Design and Technology guide to materials and their properties. Covers physical and mechanical properties, papers and boards, hardwoods, softwoods and manufactured boards, ferrous and non-ferrous metals and alloys, thermoforming and thermosetting polymers, and natural, synthetic and regenerated textile fibres, with the selection reasoning WJEC rewards.
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What the materials content demands
A large part of WJEC GCSE Design and Technology is knowing materials: what they are, how they behave, and how to choose the right one. The Unit 1 paper asks you to name examples, state properties, and justify a material choice for a product. The content is grouped into six families, and the same selection reasoning runs through them all: name the property the product needs, then name a material that has it. This guide walks through the families and links to the dot-point page for each, where worked exam questions live.
Properties of materials
Properties split into two groups. Physical properties belong to the material: density (weight for size), electrical and thermal conductivity, and resistance to water and corrosion. Mechanical (working) properties describe behaviour under force: strength (resists a load), hardness (resists scratching and wear), toughness (resists impact), ductility (drawn into wire), malleability (pressed into sheet) and elasticity (springs back). The examiner's favourite traps are confusing strength with toughness, and ductility with malleability, so keep those distinctions sharp.
Papers and boards
Papers and boards are measured by weight in grams per square metre (gsm), with anything above about 200 gsm counted as board. Key papers: layout (thin, for sketching), cartridge (thick, for presentation), tracing (transparent) and grid (for scale drawing). Key boards: corrugated card (fluted middle, for packaging), foam board (rigid, for models), mount board (for mounting work) and duplex board (smooth, for food packaging). Match each to its task by the property it offers.
Timbers and manufactured boards
Hardwoods come from slow-growing broad-leaved trees and are usually denser and dearer (oak, beech, mahogany, balsa); softwoods come from fast-growing conifers and are lighter and cheaper (pine, spruce, cedar). The terms describe the tree type, not always physical hardness. Manufactured boards are made by gluing veneers, chips or fibres into large flat sheets: plywood (cross-grain veneers, strong all round), MDF (fine fibres, smooth, paints well) and chipboard (chips, cheap, usually veneered). Boards solve the warping, knots and grain of solid timber.
Metals and alloys
Metals split into ferrous (contain iron, tend to rust: mild steel, cast iron) and non-ferrous (no iron, resist rust: aluminium, copper, zinc). An alloy mixes two or more elements to improve properties: brass (copper plus zinc), stainless steel (steel plus chromium for rust resistance), high-carbon steel (hard, for tools). The selection question is always about balancing strength, weight, conductivity, corrosion resistance and cost.
Polymers
Polymers split into thermoforming (thermoplastic), which soften and reshape with heat and can be recycled (acrylic, HIPS, PET, polypropylene), and thermosetting, which set permanently and resist heat but cannot be reshaped (epoxy resin, melamine, urea formaldehyde). Each example has a typical use, from acrylic signs to polypropylene living hinges to melamine worktops. The heat behaviour is the key distinction and a frequent exam question.
Textiles and fibres
Fibres are natural (cotton, wool, silk, linen), synthetic (polyester, nylon, elastane, acrylic, all from oil) or regenerated (viscose, from natural cellulose treated chemically). Fabrics are woven (interlaced warp and weft, stable), knitted (interlooped, stretchy) or non-woven (bonded, such as felt). Fibres are blended, as in polycotton, to combine comfort with strength and easy care. Choose the textile by absorbency, warmth, stretch, strength and care.
Check your knowledge
A mix of recall and selection questions across the six material families. Attempt them, then check against the solutions.
- State the difference between toughness and hardness. (2 marks)
- Name the unit used to measure paper and board. (1 mark)
- Give a hardwood and a softwood with a use for each. (4 marks)
- State the difference between a ferrous and a non-ferrous metal. (2 marks)
- Name a thermoforming and a thermosetting polymer. (2 marks)
- Classify cotton, polyester and viscose. (3 marks)
- Explain what an alloy is and why alloys are made. (2 marks)
- State why fibres are blended, with an example. (2 marks)