Appliance Design - September 2008 - (Page 32) TERRAPIN G NANO-HARDCOATED PLASTIC FILMS INDUSTRIAL DESIGN & HUMAN FACTORS GREEN YELLOW Ingredient/material is preferred for use. Ingredient/material is acceptable for use—associated with slight to moderate risk to human health or the environment; suitable for continued use until a GREEN alternative is found. Ingredient/material is problematic—associated with one or more serious risks to human and/or environmental health; should be phased out as quickly as possible. Incomplete data—either complete ingredient data is not available or evaluation data is not available; data should be collected or ingredient should be phased out of use. RED ORANGE The Cradle to Cradle certification process includes looking at all the materials in a product and ranking them by their impact on health and the environment. Source: MBDC Strong & Flexible Terrapin G from Tekra beats conventional hardcoats hands-down for resistance to scratching, abrasion and chemicals. But it’s more than just hard. It’s also flexible and optically clear, making it ideal for applications such as touch panels, nameplates and signature verification devices – to name a few possibilities. Available on either polycarbonate or polyester substrates in a variety of thicknesses. ware can generate indices combining a materials functionality with data such as carbon dioxide emissions per kilogram that result from primary manufacturing processes. If cost, emissions, and mechanical properties are equally important, they can be cross-referenced against each other. This can help designers resolve the great ongoing debate between choosing metal or plastic for a given part. Costs run the gamut in both, from low-cost polyolefins to high-priced engineering resins in plastics, and in metals from low-cost carbon steel to higher priced magnesium. Plastic parts incur high upfront tooling costs, but can then be cheaply cranked out in high volume. The ability to mold in multiple functional features on plastic parts can often result in parts count reduction. Metals are typically stronger than plastics, which allow thinner dimensions and reduction of material usage. In the case of housings, they also offer inherent shielding properties and thermal dissipation characteristics. On the other hand, depending on the metal and the application, the metal parts often require secondary operations such as machining and/or finishing. The ground beneath the argument is ever shifting as new materials and processes constantly alter the calculations. New additives and custom compounds take plastics to previously unobtainable heights. New alloys, coatings, and overmolding processes also cast a new sheen on metals. Certain metals can be processed as easily as plastics such as Liquidmetal from Liquidmetal Technologies, Lake Forest, Calif. The material is considered to be twice as strong as titanium, won’t rust, and can be cast as easily as plastic. Other technologies allow less expensive metals to be used in places where higher-cost materials once were needed. For instance, a surface treatment called Keronite Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation can make aluminum harder and Contact us now to discuss your application! 800-448-3572 www.tekra.com © 2008 Tekra Corporation Materials prices for a panel of specified stiffness illustrates how price and materials property data can be combined to study “cost per unit of function.” Source: Granta Design 32 applianceDESIGN AD03084Tek.indd 1 September 2008 2/1/08 10:07:22 AM www.applianceDESIGN.com http://www.tekra.com http://www.appliancedesign.com
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