What is tension?
stretching or pulling force
What is compression?
squashing or pushing force
What is bending?
combination of tension and compression
tension on far side, compression on inner side
What is shear?
cutting force
What is torsion?
twisting force that attempts to rotate two end of a material in opposite directions
What are 5 ways of enhancing a material?
lamination
interfacing
webbing
bending
folding
What is lamination?
involves adding layers to a material to increase the material’s strength, rigidity and sometimes flexibility
What is interfacing?
extra layers of fabric are ironed or sewn onto the unseen side of garments to maintain shape and add strength and rigidity
Where is interfacing often used?
shirt collars and cuffs
in baseball caps to add rigidity
What is webbing?
made from synthetic fibres and is woven into strips to give it high tensile strength
it is also lightweight and flexible
Where is webbing used?
in items that are subjected to a lot of tension, such as seatbelts
What does bending do?
bending materials to form curves, arches and tubes can stiffen and strengthen them significantly
What does folding do?
folding creates a crease between two sides of a bend
this adds strength and flexibility, enabling materials to bend more easily
What are some ecological issues with products?
deforestation
mining
drilling
farming
What are some social issues caused by products?
increasing carbon footprint
unsafe working conditions
What are the 4 types of production?
one-off
mass
batch
continuous
What are the characteristics of one-off production?
often labour intensive
usually involves highly skilled workers who command relatively high wages
time-consuming and costly
finished product is always of high quality
Where is one-off production used?
bespoke clothing, furniture and jewellery
What are the characteristics of batch production?
useful when making small quantities or variations of a similar product
machinery can be programmed to carry out tasks
templates and moulds ensure that the products are identical
machinery often has to be stopped and reconfigured for each batch (downtime)
materials can be purchased in large quantities which is beneficial to business
Where is batch production used?
a bakery making different types of bread
What are the characteristics of mass production?
used to produce large quantities of identical products quickly
productivity is high, so unit cost of production is low
little skilled labour is required
initial set-up cost is high due to expensive machinery
Where is mass production used?
newspapers, drink bottles and cars
What are the characteristics of continuous production?
runs 24/7
production is quick and almost entirely automated
productivity is high, labour costs are low
machinery is expensive so high start up costs
limited range of products due to high level of automation
unit costs are very cheap
Where is continuous production used?
pulp and paper production
