Appliance Design - September 2008 - (Page 29) INDUSTRIAL DESIGN & HUMAN FACTORS In August 2008 alone, 49 new materials were added including an injection-moldable, highperformance resin made from corn and milk resin products; a clear, thermoplastic urethane formed into a lace-like web of single filament polymer; and ready-to-laminate printed LED films that are designed for lamination between glass, PMMA, acrylics, and polycarbonates. And, that is just one materials database. Several others are available for designers to use. The newest is a website from Cleveland-based ASM International. Since 1913, ASM has been a resource for materials information, primarily metals, geared for engineers and scientists. It is now branching out to provide information on a whole range of materials. ASM has started a new web site called /Mtrl – presenting Material about Materials (www.mtrl.com). To build the community, ASM held interviews and focus groups with designers to understand their needs. “We found that the design field truly represents a blending of art and engineering, as many designers have mechanical or electrical engineering backgrounds, while others have backgrounds in art or industrial design,” says Laura Marshall, director, business initiatives for ASM International. The site details materials with technical data for the engineers, but also presents information in a language that industrial designers can understand, she says. For instance, the site includes a material called Air glass and describes it as “an aerogel that consists of 99.8 percent air, making it the lightest solid material ever produced. It is also one of the best heat-resistant materials and a good insulator.” Designers have the option to drill deeper into the site, looking at many materials both from a narrative point of view as well as looking at technical specifications. But, sometimes knowledge of a material’s properties is not enough. For instance, will a material chosen violate an environmental regulation? Will the material’s use cause unforeseen problems and ethical dilemmas? Companies including Sony and Sony Ericsson faced such issues when one of the components they use in their products was linked to a brutal conflict and slave labor in the Republic of Congo. The material in question is the unrefined metallic ore, coltan, which is processed into a powder called tantalum. Tantalum is used in electric capacitors that are extensively used in cell phones, computers, game consoles, and other compact, high-reliability electronics. Sony has had to change how they get the material, making sure that they obtain the material from a variety of sources and locations. And, Sony Ericsson, a 50/50 joint venture of Sony and Ericsson, now dictate that its suppliers cannot use illegally mined tantalum from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the surrounding area. Keeping track of all the possible factors that designers might need to consider is not an easy chore. Granta Design, Cambridge, U.K., offers software that can help determine the appropriate material to use based on the functional requirements of the design, the overall design objective, and any specific constraints. With this software, product specifications can be entered and the software will generate data that assess the trade-offs between design requirements that are often in conflict. Granta specializes in helping companies develop materials strategies and has developed consortiums to further expand upon that idea. Their initial consortium was the Aerogel by Airglass AB of Sweden consists of 99.8 percent air, making it the lightest solid material ever produced. Source: ASM www.applianceDESIGN.com AD09084Exmek2.indd 1 applianceDESIGN September 2008 29 8/11/08 3:06:06 PM http://www.mtrl.com http://www.exmek.com http://www.exmek.com http://www.appliancedesign.com
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