Working with new materials

A successful design is almost always a compromise among highest performance, attractive appearance, efficient production, and lowest cost. Achieving the best compromise requires satisfying the mechanical requirements of the part, utilizing the most economical material that will perform satisfactorily, and choosing a manufacturing process compatible with the part design and material choice. Stating realistic requirements for each of these areas is of the utmost importance.

The rapidity of change in materials technology is typified by the fact that plastics, a curiosity at the turn of the century, are now being used in volumes which have for many years exceed ed those of all the non-ferrous metals put together, and which are beginning to rival steel.

The changes which are taking place are, of course, not only quantitative. They are associated with radical changes in technology – in the range and nature of the materials and processes available to the engineer.

The highest specific strength (i. e. the strength available from unit weight of material) now available comes from non-metals, such as fibreglass, and from metals, such as berillium and titanium, and new ultra-high strength steels.

Fibre technology, in its modern form, is mоrе recent origin than plastics, but composites based on glass and\or on carbon fibres are already being applied to pressure vessels, to lorry cabs and to aircraft engines, and may well replace aluminium for the skin and structure of aircraft. An all plastic car has been exhibited; nearly the whole car, except the engine and transmission is of plastics or reinforced plastics.

It is not only plastics and their reinforcement which are changing the materials scene. Ceramics too are gaining an increasing foothold. Their impact as tooling materials in the form of carbides, nitrides and oxides is also well known – cutting tools made of these materials are allowing machining rates which had previously been considered quite impossible. Silicon nitride seems to offer particular promise for a wide variety of applications. Among these is liquid metal handling. Pumps for conveying liquid aluminium are now on trial which could revolutionize the foundry industry. Silicon nitride is also being tested for the bearing surfaces of the Wankel rotary engines which are being developed as potential replacements for the conventional piston engines of our motor cars. And ceramic magnets have replaced the traditional steel pole-piece plus copper field coil for providing the engineering field for many electric motors.

It is clear the number of combinations of all kinds of original trends in the production of new materials is practically unlimited. This, in turn, opens new realms for the designing of still cheaper, effective and unthinkably perfected, compared to that we have today, machines and mechanisms.