TABLE OF CONTENTS

TASK 1 ........................................................................................................................................................... 2
Part A......................................................................................................................................................... 2
Part B......................................................................................................................................................... 3
Part C ......................................................................................................................................................... 4
Part D ........................................................................................................................................................ 5
TASK 2 ........................................................................................................................................................... 6
TASK 3 ........................................................................................................................................................... 8
METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................................ 8
RESULTS .................................................................................................................................................... 9
Nylon Polyamide 66 - White ................................................................................................................. 9
Nylon (polyamide) 66 Glass filled – Black ........................................................................................... 10
High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) – Red ............................................................................................ 11
Low Density polyethylene (LDPE) – Yellow ......................................................................................... 12
Toughened Polystyrene (Butadiene Styrene) - Blue ........................................................................... 13
Polystyrene – Clear ............................................................................................................................. 14
............................................................................................................................................................ 14
DISCUSSION............................................................................................................................................. 15
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................ 15

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: How Phenol Formaldehyde sets (Higgins, 2006) ........................................................................... 2
Figure 2: Blow Moulding Process (Anon., n.d.) ............................................................................................. 3
Figure 3:Powder metallurgy at the macro level (Higgins, 2006).................................................................. 4
Figure 4:Investment casting process for mass production. .......................................................................... 5
Figure 5: Changing microstructure of tool steel during tempering (Higgins, 2006) .................................... 5
Figure 6: Transformation of austenite to pearlite (Higgins, 2006) .............................................................. 6
Figure 7:Micrograph of low carbon steel (Anon., n.d.) ................................................................................ 6
Figure 8: Crystal structure of a fusion weld (Higgins, 2006) ........................................................................ 7
Figure 9 Nylon 66 .......................................................................................................................................... 9
Figure 10 Nylon 66 glass filled .................................................................................................................... 10
Figure 11 HDPE............................................................................................................................................ 11
Figure 12 LDPE ............................................................................................................................................ 12
Figure 13 Toughened polystyrene .............................................................................................................. 13
Figure 14 Polystyrene ................................................................................................................................. 14

[ ADD TITLE]
TASK 1
Part A
Part A is a Polymer Intake Manifold for a Ford ZTE. This intake manifold is most likely to be used to draw
in air into the combustion chamber of the engine of a car. The manifold should be able to withstand high
temperatures and so will most likely be made from a thermoset plastic like phenol formaldehyde, trade
name Bakelite. Phenol formaldehyde has excellent thermal stability to over 150°C and is fairly cheap.
Phenol formaldehyde is made by mixing Carbolic acid (phenol) with a limited amount of formaldehyde
to form a long chain molecule. This molecule however is fairly brittle and so is crushed into powder and
mixed with other compounds to make “novolak” (Higgins, 2006). When heated the added compounds
release more formaldehyde which reacts with the phenol to form a long chain molecule thus setting the
polymer.

Figure 1: How Phenol Formaldehyde sets (Higgins, 2006)

The intake manifold should obviously be hollow, so the best process to mould the Bakelite into shape
would be to use blow-moulding. This involves heating the Bakelite gently while passing it through an
extruder to form a parison. This parison is then placed into the preformed mould while still being
heated. Air is blown into the parison at very high pressure forcing it against the walls of the mould. The
air pressure and temperature are slowly reduced to allow the Bakelite to set into the new shape.

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Figure 2: Blow Moulding Process (Anon., n.d.)

Although there exist other techniques for making the manifold, these have been proven to be less
efficient, while also producing sub-quality manifolds. These have been discussed in a patent from 1996,
which states “A disadvantage of the known processes is the fact that several operating steps are
required for producing the engine intake manifold. While, in the case of the melt-out technique, the
producing and melting-out of the core requires considerable investments with respect to equipment; in
the case of the manufacturing process according to Japanese Patent Document 1-216067, the separate
manufacturing of the individual elements and the joining of the individual elements is not completely
without problems with respect to inaccuracies of the fit” (Heinz Andress, 1996). In the blow moulding
process, the manifold can be made in a single step and transition points between the intakes and the
manifold do not exist thus reducing chances of leakages.

Part B
Part B is a connecting rod or a con rod. A con rod is a shaft that connects a piston to a crankshaft in an
engine. Its main function is to covert reciprocating motion into rotational motion or vice versa. It is
usually used in internal combustion engines, compressors or pumps. The con rods require the ability to
withstand constant axial tension and compression together with bending stresses and high heat This
means that the material used has to meet these criteria. And in that light, I would choose to use an
aluminum alloy of T6-2024 and T651-7075 which is one of the hardest aluminum alloy (Anon.,
n.d.).Although steel would also be useable, but aluminum would be lighter and have the ability to
absorb higher impacts than steel. Traditionally con rods have been manufactured using sand casting.
However, sand casting is a fairly slow and labor-intensive process. Also, con rods made by sand casting
usually are left with a seam on both sides of the parting edge which has to be machined off, thus adding
an extra step in an already slow process. Therefore, powder metallurgy would be preferred in the
manufacture of the con rods. Powder metallurgy is the process by which a powdered metal is
compressed into a mould under extreme pressure of around 1000Mpa to 2000Mpa thus resulting in the
particles getting joined together by cold-welding. The compacted powder is then heated above the
recrystallization temperature in a process called sintering. This causes recrystallization to occur across
the structure especially where the cold welding has caused high deformation. The crystal structure of

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the metal therefore becomes more regular and continuous as grain-growth takes place across the
original boundaries where cold welds have formed the particles (Higgins, 2006).

Figure 3:Powder metallurgy at the macro level (Higgins, 2006)

Part C
The Turbine blade is the main component of a turbine. The main function of the turbine blade is to
extract energy from a high velocity fluid, which is flowing across the turbines axis, and converting this
energy into rotational motion. This implies that the blade will be under high bending stresses and axial
stresses from the centrifugal forces. The blade will also be exposed to highly corrosive substances in the
form of high temperature steam, water and wind. All these conditions require the blade to be made of
a corrosion resistant material, which is also has high tensile strength. This means that stainless steel is a
perfect fit for making the turbine blades. The blades also require very high dimensional accuracy,
therefore making investment casting the best option for its manufacture as tolerances of about 3-5
mm/meter can be obtained (Higgins, 2006). Also as the blades are fairly small and light, up to 2kg, there
is no problem with the investment casting method. Investment casting involves making of a pattern
using a material with a much lower melting point than the metal, like wax or plastic. This pattern is used
to make a mould. The mould is made by plaster of Paris which is poured around the pattern, encasing it
completely. This encasement is then heated to melt away the wax pattern leaving behind a cavity in the
shape of the pattern. Before the molten metal is poured into the mould, the encasement is heated up to
about 900°C so as to remove all traces of the wax by volatilization, and also prevent the molten metal
from cooling down and solidifying before it can fill up the entire mould. As the blades required are quite
thin the molten steel can be injected into the mold under pressure so as to form a thin and uniform
blade.

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Figure 4:Investment casting process for mass production.

Part D
A cold chisel, as the name suggests is a tool that is used to cut and shape metals while they are cold. This
means that the cold chisel has to be extremely hard and tough. Therefore, using carbon tool steel to
make them is a good idea. The tool steel can be cut out to the rough size of the cold chisel. Then the tip
can be heated until its red hot in a furnace and hammered to flatten out the edge to make a cutting
edge. The edge has to be heated repeatedly as hammering will cause the tip to cool down. once the
required shape is achieved, the cutting edge is then ground using a grinding wheel to make it sharper.

High carbon steels like tool steel is very hard yet very brittle. To decrease the brittleness of these steels,
they are heated gradually in a process called tempering. Tempering increases the toughness of the steel
by relieving quenching stresses in the microstructure of the steel. Heating the steel to temperature of
about 230°C we can see that tiny particles of cementite are precipitated from the martensite.

Figure 5: Changing microstructure of tool steel during tempering (Higgins, 2006)

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Martensite is what makes the steel harder and brittle, therefore reducing it will cause the steel to
reduce in hardness and become less brittle. On the other hand, cementite will make the steel to be
tougher. It has been found that tempering the tool steel to a temperature between 280-290°C it will
have a good balance between hardness and toughness to be used as a cold chisel.

TASK 2
Part E as we can see is a fabricated bracket. Most fabricated brackets of these size are made using a low-
carbon steel called mild steel. Mild steel is an iron alloy consisting of about 0.05 0.25% carbon by
weight. By observing the microstructure, at high magnification of x20-x2000, of the mild steel it is
evident that it consists of higher amounts of ferrite with low amounts of pearlite. Ferrite is basically the
pure iron component in the alloy. Pearlite however, is a mixture of ferrite and cementite, the latter
simply being Iron Carbide.

Figure 6: Transformation of austenite to pearlite (Higgins, 2006)

From the figure above, mild steel will exist somewhere between stage (iv) and (v).

Figure 7:Micrograph of low carbon steel (Anon., n.d.)

The light-colored sections are the ferrite while the dark sections are the pearlite.

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 The fabricated bracket has been manufactured by welding two pieces of mild steel together. The
process of welding involves the joining of two or more metal pieces into one, by use of extreme heat.
This application of heat causes the joint to be a metallurgical bond rather than a mechanical one. As the
weld is made using high temperature heat, this causes changes in the microstructure of the metals. For
plain carbon steels, like mild steel, more of the ferrite changes to pearlite existing in a proeutectoid
phase (William.D.Callister.Jr, 2007). This means that the welded section will likely become a bit more
brittle than the other section of the metal as was found in a study published in the Scientific Research
Journal in July 2010 which detailed the effects of welding on the microstructure of low carbon steels.
The researchers concluded in the paper, “Moreover, we have found that maximum hardness values are
situated in the area of weld metal and HAZ (Heat Affected Zone) which indicates its specificity” (Zakaria
Boumerzoug, 2010). This is further evident from Figure 10. The relatively high heat in welding also leads

Figure 8: Crystal structure of a fusion weld (Higgins, 2006)

to the formation of large coarse grains in the metal. Not only will the crystal size increase but
segregation of impurities can also be noticed, thus leading to intercrystalline weakness. This can be
avoided by hammering the weld while it’s still hot, which will force the recrystallization to follow the
mechanical working, giving a tougher, finer grained structure.

Figure 9: Microstructure of low carbon steel after welding (Zakaria Boumerzoug, 2010)

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Figure10: Microhardness measurement from the base metal across the weld metal after welding (Zakaria Boumerzoug, 2010)

TASK 3
The tensile test is a measure of the elasticity of a material. It is used to identify a materials ability to
withstand tensile forces, and the how the material deforms under these tensile forces. It mostly involves
the use of a tensile testing machine. A sample of the material of known cross-sectional area and length
is placed in the machine. The machine then applies an incremental tensile force on the sample. As the
sample deforms, its change in length and cross-sectional area is noted with every increment of force.
This is continued until failure of the sample occurs, mostly by it snapping into two. The machine then
produces a graph of force vs extension, which is a great profile of the materials reaction to the
increasing tensile forces being applied.

METHODOLOGY
The samples that we were to test included 6 different polymer samples, namely:

 Nylon (Polyamide) 66 – White

 Nylon (Polyamide) 66 Glass filled - Black
 High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) – Red
 Low Density polyethylene (LDPE) - Yellow
 Polystyrene – Clear
 Toughened Polystyrene (Butadiene Styrene) - Blue

Specimens of all the samples were prepared. Then their diameters and gauge lengths were measured,
using Vernier calipers, from which the cross-sectional areas were calculated.

Each specimen was then placed in the Universal Testing Machine, which exerts an incrementally
increasing tensile force on the specimen until failure occurred. A PC was connected to the the machine
to receive the data. The jaws then secure the sample, and the machine is set to zero. The start button is
then pressed.

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 Figure 11: What the specimens should look like (Higgins, 2006)

RESULTS
The graphs obtained from the tests were as follows:

Nylon Polyamide 66 - White

Figure 12: What our graphs should look like (Higgins, 2006)

Figure 9 Nylon 66

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 Nylon (polyamide) 66 Glass filled – Black

Figure 10 Nylon 66 glass filled

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 High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) – Red

Figure 11 HDPE

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 Low Density polyethylene (LDPE) – Yellow

Figure 12 LDPE

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 Toughened Polystyrene (Butadiene Styrene) - Blue

Figure 13 Toughened polystyrene

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 Polystyrene – Clear

Figure 14 Polystyrene

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DISCUSSION
From the graphs it is evident that Nylon 66 (Polyamide) Glass filled is the strongest polymer out of the
lot. It has an Ultimate Tensile Strength of about 4600N. It does not experience much plastic deformation
like regular Nylon 66 (polyamide), which undergoes a lot of plastic deformation before fracture. The
weakest polymer is LDPE with a UTS of about 380 N. However, when the density of this polymer is
increased to make HDPE its UTS increases drastically to about 960N. however the opposite can be
noticed for the polystyrene. With regular polystyrene the UTS is about 1600N where as for toughened
polystyrene the UTS drops to about 800N. However, the toughened polystyrene can absorb more
energy while deforming plastically than regular polystyrene.

REFERENCES
Anon., n.d. Blow & Rotational Molding. [Online]
Available at: https://www.sinotech.com/resources/tutorials/blow-rotational-molding/

Anon., n.d. MICRO & MACRO-EXAMINATION. s.l.:s.n.

Anon., n.d. What is the hardest aluminium alloy?. [Online]

Available at: www.thepracticalmachinist.com

Heinz Andress, V. E. R. F. A. K. R. L., 1996. Intake manifold and process for making it. USA, Patent No.
US5560330 A.

Higgins, R., 2006. Materials For Engineers and Technicians. London: Newnes.

William.D.Callister.Jr, 2007. Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction. 7th ed. s.l.:John Wiley &
Sons, Inc..

Zakaria Boumerzoug, C. D. T. B., 2010. Effect of Welding on Microstructure and Mechanical. Scientific
Research.

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