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DESIGNING FOR SUBSTITUTE MATERIALS

DESIGNING WITH PLASTIC

The common method for selection of plastic among the many available, as the other material
for product, is to make a list of the properties that one must have for ones intended
application, then the properties that one would like to have but that one mandatory. These
must and want properties are then matched with the properties available with the various
types of plastics.

Plastic as a class of engineering materials are significantly different from metals and other
engineering materials. They have different properties that must be dealt with. They are :-

1. They expand with temperature at a rate that is usually ten times that of metals.
coefficient of thermal expansion.
2. Steels are 10 times stiffer than the stiffest unreinforced plastics modulus of
elasticity.
3. Plastics can burn and sometimes give off toxic fumes in the process flammability,
toxicity.
4. Plastics can deteriorate by aging, by exposure to sunlight, and by atmosphere
induced cracking environmental resistance.
5. Plastics are lighter than metals density.
6. Plastics are electrical insulators electrical resistivity, dielectric constant.
7. Plastics are poor conductors of heat thermal conductivity.
8. The upper use temperature for 99 % of all plastic is less than 260 0 C heat
deflection temperature.
9. Plastics are soft ; the hardest plastic is much softer than the softest steel
penetration hardness.
10. Plastics cannot be shaped by the cold forming processes that apply to most metals
resistance to plastic deformation.
11. Plastics cannot normally be made to the close dimensional tolerances that are
common in metals ; they are difficult to accurately machine machine-ability,
stability.
12. Plastics cannot resist impact as well as most metals. impact strength.
13. Plastics may permanently deform in use creep strength.
14. Plastics may fail under sustained load stress rupture strength.
15. Plastics are not as strong as metals tensile, yield and shear strength
16. Plastic may fail under cyclic loading fatigue strength.
 17. Plastic can absorb moisture from their use environment and change ; size or
properties can be affected moisture absorption capacity.
These limitations must be recognized and dealt with design.
But some features of plastics that make them the material for ever increasing numbers of new
products are :-
1. They are low in cost and they can usually be shaped with low-cost processes like
injection molding.
2. They usually do not need to be painted ; the color can be free and exists throughout
the part thickness.
3. They are usually made with processes that yield net shape or near-net shape. Secondary
operations such as machining or flash trimming are often unnecessary.
4. They do not rust.
5. They can be easily made cosmetically pleasing with colors and texturing in the forming
process.
There are exceptions to every one of these statements but these statements apply to
main line plastics.
Viscoelastic behavior of plastic is main concern in design for plastics are unsuitable as spring
materials, because they reach the yield point at low values of stress and behave viscoelastically.
Plastics creep tendency is also very high so that it starts flowing before failure. These
behavior can be characterized as
1. The modulus of elasticity is not constant and depends on the rate of loading.
2. At a constant stress, the strain will increase with time. This flow effect is called creep.
3. A plastic material with history of locked-up stresses tends to unlock and reaches a lower
level of stress.
But these property deficiencies have been reduced a great deal with modern technology.
Plastic Components
Plastic springs :- Newly developed high strength engineering plastics are favored for plastic
springs because the magnitude of stress can be kept lower as compared to the yield stress.
The figures . Show two designs of plastic springs. Figure. Depicts a leaf spring for a door
latch, where as fig .. depicts a plastic bevel spring.
Plastic bush bearing: - Plastics suitable for bearing applications are phenolic, nylon,
fluorocarbon, polycarbonate, acetal, and ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene.
Plastic bearings can be used without any lubricant and needs no maintenance. When plastic
rubs against plastic, the wearing is higher but is suitable with steel shafts of fine finish.
The wear factor and coefficient friction of nylon with 20 % tetrafluoroethylene as bearing
material and steel as shaft material is nearly 144 and 0.18 respectively, and the wear factor can
be substantially reduced by reinforcing glass with plastic.
Plastic gears :- Making an accurate plastic gear is more difficult than making a similar machined
gear because a plastic gears are usually made by molding processes. Plastic gears can run
without external lubrication, are quieter than steel gears, have low inertia, do not rust, and
often much cheaper than metal gears. Nylon-cloth-reinforced phenolic acetate homopolymer is
a popular plastic gear material. It is better to mate a plastic gear with metal gear because most
plastic to metal couple wear less than plastic-to-plastic couples. Another consideration is
the effect of moisture on gear dimensions. Some plastics especially nylons, exhibits significant
volume expansion with increase in moisture in the air.
Plastic fasteners :- There are, in general, five kind of fasteners.
(1) Screw assemblies
(2) Snap and press fits
(3) Inserts
(4) Ties and twists
(5) Shrink wraps.
These plastic fasteners are specially made for non-plastic components. These fasteners reduce
the assembly time to a minimum.
Plastic hinges :- hinges can be used effectively to reduce the number of parts in an assembly. A
small tool box can be molded with a hinge connecting the lid and the box. Lunch boxes with
novel designs of hinges and snap fitting lids are very popular. The cost of these products is the
cost of the material and the molding , quite inexpensive.

Recycling of plastics
The major concern about the use of plastics for packaging and disposable items is the
environmental effect of these materials lasting for centuries in landfills or other places of
disposal.
Some plastics are thermosetting and cannot be re-melted that is recycled and many
thermoplastic materials cannot be mixed when they are re-melted.
In USA plastic products are coded to specifically sort out if they can be recycled. There is still
significant controversy over plastic recycling. Over 70 % of all plastic wastes is associated with
food packaging. However, recycled plastics are not usually used for food packaging. It is now
becoming common practice in Europe to convert recycled plastic into fuel energy via
incineration.

Designing with Rubber

In its crude form, natural rubber is simply the sap from certain trees with the moisture removed
by smoking. It has rather poor mechanical properties, it is tacky, and its industrial uses are
limited. Natural rubber, like many of the synthesis rubbers, is converted into usable products
through compounding with additives and subsequent vulcanization. Sulfur is used in most
natural rubbers to enhance the final step in the manufacturing process : vulcanization.
Natural rubbers have good electrical properties, excellent resilience, and tear resistance. They
soften with exposure to sunlight and when in contact with certain organic solvents and some
strong acids. The tear resistance and low hysteresis make natural rubbers prime candidates for
shock absorbing parts and large vehicle tires. Additives and controlled environment are used to
circumvent weathering susceptibility.
Thermoplastic elastomers ( TPEs ) have both rubber and thermoplastic characteristics. They
are flexible like vulcanized rubbers, but are melt process-able like a thermoplastic. TPEs are
injection moldable, blow moldable, thermo-formable, and extrudable. Secondary processes
such as heat welding may also be performed. Parts may be designed with living hinges.
Undercuts and complex shapes are possible with simple tooling. Scrap and waste may be
recycled.
Rubber products :
1. Rubber is combined with cord or fabric to form composites which possess both
flexibility and high strength. Typical examples are reinforced V belts, hose and tires.
2. Rubber products prepared by latex dipping are hollow and have extremely thin walls.
(about 0.25 mm) . Latex- dipped products are in the shape of bellows and similar
designs.
3. Gaskets are frequently prepared by die-cutting rubber sheets, while rubber tubes may
be cut on a mandrel in a lathe to form washers. Rubber washers lend shock absorbing
properties to fasteners.
4. O rings and metal insert seals with lip contact are molded from a variety of rubber
compounds to provide resistance to leakage of fluids. Since they are used in critical
sealing applications, tolerances are much closer for O rings and metal insert seals, than
for most other rubber products.
5. Polyurethane parts manufactured by reaction injection molding have a dense skin and a
porous core and are usually much stiffer than conventional rubber parts. This type of
rubber is a popular material with product designers. It has a high compressive strength
(appox. 700 kg / cm2) as maximum value and high resilience or shock absorbing ability
because of its low average elastic modulus E.
6. Water lubricated rubber bush bearings are press-fitted in metallic housing. They have
grooves parallel to their axis for retaining water which acts as lubricant. These bearings
can tolerate and lubricate shafts when water contains sand particles and other
materials.
7. Flexible mechanical couplings for transmission of power from one shaft to another with
a slight permissible angle of twist utilize a rubber cross for connecting driving jaw with
driven jaw.
 8. Rubber pads for absorbing high frequency vibrations are widely used in foundations.
Due to its high stiffness in compression but lower stiffness in shear, rubber is favored in
vibration reduction during torque transmission.
Rubber molding is similar to molding of plastics, and design principles are somewhat similar.
Rubber parts can be designed with complex shapes. However, it is always better to make the
design simple, avoid projections, overhangs, undercuts etc. Designs should be reviewed with
rubber manufacturer who has good acquaintance with processing properties.