Ceramics Ceramics are inorganic nonmetallic materials.

Properties of Ceramics Ceramic parts are hard, extremely strong in compression, highly chemical- and corrosionresistant, nonflammable, and suitable for use at extremely high operating temperatures. Ceramic whitewares generally have good thermal shock resistance and low thermal expansion. High modulus of elasticity and high radiation resistance are two additional properties of importance in some applications. Most ceramics are dielectrics and, except for ferrites, lack magnetic properties. Excellent abrasion-resistant surfaces are possible. These surfaces also offer a pleasing gloss or patina and can be vitreous and nonporous. In addition to their resistance to chemical substances and corrosive materials, ceramics are relatively immune to fire, heat and weathering. Generally, all ceramic materials are brittle. Tensile strengths are somewhat limited. There also are some limitations in freedom of design because of processing complexities and inherent mechanical properties. Because of high firing temperatures, metal inserts cannot be molded into ceramics. The size of commercial ceramic components ranges from the very small electronic components to large nose cones. Typical ceramic parts for mechanical applications are bearings, turbine blades, cams, cutting tools, extrusion dies, thread and wire guides, nozzles for abrasive materials, wear plates, seals, valve seats, filters, pump parts, crucibles, and trays. Typical parts for electrical and electronic applications include coil forms, tubes, insulators, lamp housings, printed-circuit boards, , resistor bases, vacuum-tube-element supports, and terminals. Design Recommendations for Ceramic Parts Although technical ceramics can be fabricated into complex shapes, it is always desirable to keep shapes as simple as possible for economic reasons. Tolerances also should be as liberal as the function of the component permits. It is important, from a structural standpoint, to avoid problems that result from the low tensile strength and lack of ductility of ceramics. Specific design recommendations for technical ceramics are as follows 1. Edges and corners should have chamfers or generous radii to minimize chipping and stress concentration and help forming. 2. It is preferable to avoid large overhanging or unsupported sections. 3. Pressed parts should be designed with as uniform a wall thickness as possible. Differential shrinkage of sections of non-uniform thickness during drying and firing causes stress, distortion, and cracking. 4. Other factors being equal, simple symmetrical shapes without deep recesses, holes, and projections are preferable. Gently curved surfaces without abrupt break lines or angularity are normally preferred with most ceramic-forming processes. 5. When hollow pieces are cast a draft angle of at least 5 must be provided to facilitate removal of the green body.

6. Undercuts should be avoided in ceramic components if possible. Although some undercuts can be incorporated through the use of mold cores, machining is the normal method for producing them. With dry pressing, machining is essential if undercuts are required. In all cases, costs are added. 7. Dry-pressed ceramics are subject to other design rules of powder-metal parts also but cannot match their close dimensional tolerances. 8. Cavities, grooves, and blind holes in pressed parts should not be deeper than onehalf the part thickness and preferably only one-third the thickness. 9. Extruded parts should be symmetrical, if possible, with uniform wall thickness. 10. Holes in pressed parts should be large and as widely spaced as possible. Thin walls between holes, depressions, or outside edges should be avoided. These walls should be at least as thick as the basic walls of the part, especially if the part is small and thin-walled. 11. It must be remembered that distortions from shrinkage can cause fitting problems when holes are used for fasteners and when holes in ceramic parts are to be aligned with holes in mating parts. Holes in ceramic parts may become slightly out of round after firing. Multiple holes that are to be aligned with corresponding holes in other parts must be further enlarged or elongated. The amount of the enlargement or elongation depends on the allowable hole-to-hole tolerance of the two parts. 12. Molding of screw threads in ceramic parts is not feasible. Screw threads can be machined in green ceramic workpieces, but they constitute a potential problem and it is better to design parts without screw threads if possible. 13. Ribs and fins should be well rounded, wide, and well spaced and have normal draft. 14. Grinding after firing can produce ceramic parts of high accuracy, but stock removal rates are slow, and the operation is expensive. 15. Ceramic parts can be permanently joined to metal components by adhesive bonding, soldering, brazing, and shrink fitting.

Glass Glass may be defined as an inorganic product of fusion which has been cooled to a rigid condition without crystallization. Glass is an undercooled liquid of very high viscosity. Glasses are amorphous. Properties of Glass Transparency is the most important property of glass and accounts for most of its applications. Glass is solid at room temperature and becomes plastic on heating to 1200C. Poor resistance of glass to thermal shock can be improved by tempering which also increases mechanical strength. Glass products range in size from microspheres of fractional-millimeter diameter used as fillers for plastics to large plate-glass windows. Typical pressed-glass components are electrical insulators, baking dishes, food blenders, stoppers and stopcocks for laboratory vessels, eyeglasses, and ornamental pieces. Typical blown-glass components are bottles and other containers, incandescent lamps, electron tubes, laboratory glassware, and television picture tubes. Tubing and piping of glass, made by drawing, are used for laboratory, chemical industry, and high-temperature applications and thermometers. Flat glass for glazing, mirrors, tabletops, and other purposes is made either by drawing or by rolling, which, in the case of plate glass, is followed by grinding and polishing or by floating onto molten tin and drawing horizontally. Glass powders are sintered to make filters and other porous objects. Glass fibers are a major reinforcing medium for many products, for insulation and for fiber optics. Design Recommendations for Glass Parts 1. Holes, cavities, and deep slots should be included in a part only if absolutely necessary. Holes are normally not punched through in the pressing operation but are machined from a thin web or hollow boss.

2. Walls should have uniform thickness, 3. Part should be designed for compressive rather than tensile strength.

4. Parts should be gently curved rather than sharp-angled shapes. 5. Lettering or other irregular surface features may be incorporated in the direction of the mold opening. 6. Ribs and flanges can be incorporated in pressed-glass components, but not practicable in blown parts. 7. While bosses may be incorporated in some items like electrical insulators, they are normally not practicable for general-purpose design and manufacture. 8. Threads for bottle caps or similar connecting devices may be incorporated in blown-glass parts.

DESIGN OF PLASTIC PARTS: Plastics are a group of synthetic chemical compounds which are at some stage plastic and could be shaped by heat, with or without pressure into useful products. They usually consist of one or more chemical compounds of organic origin which have indefinite melting point and have amorphous structure. Plastics are generally classified into thermoplastics or thermosetting resins. Thermosetting resin is hardened by heat, causing a chemical change which is irreversible. Thermoplastics are softened by heating and harden on cooling. This process for thermoplastics can be repeated. Due to their properties, plastics are considered important engineering materials. Plastics are: Light in weight Resistant to most chemicals Resistant to corrosion Excellent electrical insulators Easy to shape into finished parts Sufficiently strong and hard for many applications Some disadvantages are: they cannot withstand high temperatures, relatively low strength as compared to metals. Some design rules for plastic-moulded parts are: 1. Allow for shrinkage after moulding 2. Do not give unnecessarily close tolerances. This increases cost 3. Provide draft for easy removal of parts from the mould. 4. Avoid undercuts which require cores or split moulds. 5. Locate the mould parting in one plane as far as possible. 6. Locate holes at right angles to parting surfaces. Avoid oblique holes. 7. Avoid long cored holes. 8. Avoid irregular shaped holes and projections. These are costlier than cylindrical ones. 9. Locate all holes and projections in direction of mould closing. 10. Locate lettering to be embossed or debossed on surfaces perpendicular to mould closing direction. 11. Arrange ejector pin locations so that marks occur on concealed surfaces. 12. All holding surfaces in components should be knurled. 13. Some rules for plain and threaded inserts are: a. Use brass inserts rather than steel as coefficient of thermal expansion of brass is closer to that of steel. b. Use inserts that are sturdy and not too small. c. Avoid long slender inserts as moulding pressure deflects them. d. Make plastic section around an insert heavy to hold the insert securely and prevent cracking. e. Make projecting portions of inserts cylindrical to minimize moulding cost. f. Design projecting threaded inserts with slight projecting unthreaded shoulder to prevent plastic from filling the threads during moulding. g. Specify metal inserts for small threaded holes when thread will be subjected to mechanical wear or stress. 14. Specify as shallow draw as possible. Deep draws require high moulding pressure.

15. Design uniform cross section thickness and uniform distribution of mass. 16. Design corners with good radii or fillets. 17. Use ribs to add strength and rigidity to minimize distortion or warping. 18. Avoid sharp discontinuities that cause stress concentration. 19. Rib height should not be more than twice the thickness of rib section. 20. Break up large flat surfaces with beads, steps etc. to increase rigidity. Design of some plastic components: Springs Newly developed, high strength plastics are preferred for plastic springs because magnitude of stress can be kept lower as compared to yield stress. These are not suitable for very high stresses as the plastic can show creep behavior. Fig. 1 shows conical springs designed with plastics.

Fig. 1 Springs Using Plastics Bush Bearings Plastic is preferred for bearing material in chemically aggressive environments, without use of any lubricant and needs no maintenance. Plastic bearings are cheap and easily replace wood, steel and zinc bearings. Fig. 2 illustrates two application of plastic a bearing material.

Fig. 2 Bush and Bearings Designed Using Plastics Gears Accurate plastic gears are difficult to produce as they are to be moulded and require consideration for mould manufacturing inaccuracy and shrinkage. However, small and medium sized gears are difficult to produce by machining in other materials and are preferred to be made out of plastic. Fasteners in Plastic Development with plastics has resulted into design of several new fasteners and fastening methods. These plastic fasteners are specially made for non-plastic components. These fasteners reduce assembly time. Five general kinds of plastic fasteners include: Screw assemblies (plastic screws in toys) Snap and press fits (lunch boxes) Inserts (automobiles and vehicle bodies) Ties and twists (measuring instruments) Shrink wraps (packaging)

Rubber Natural rubber is a high molecular weight hydrocarbon polymer obtained from a milky emulsion called latex by tabbing the bark of the tree Hevea brasiliensis (rubber tree). When raw rubber is passed between hot rolls, physical and chemical changes take place and the mass becomes plastic. Proper substances are added before vulcanization to control properties like strength, toughness and hardness and make it resistant to abrasion, chemicals, solvents, oxygen, light and oil. Accelerators like cotton are added to reduce vulcanization time. Nitrogen compounds are added to increase age-resistance. Sulphur is added to increase hardness. Vulcanization is simultaneous application of heat and pressure to shape and give desired properties to rubber. Artificial rubber is synthesized rubber like material. The demand of automobile industry required development of rubber like material which natural rubber did not meet. Buna S, Buna N, Butyl rubber, neoprene and thiokol are most popular artificial rubber materials. Rubber has several properties which make it useful as engineering material. It has large deformability, low modulus of rigidity, absorbs shocks in cushioning and sealing, regains shape after large deformation, can store more energy than other materials, damps vibration. Rubber is bad conductor of electricity, impermeable to water and many gases too. Rubber parts are formed to desired shape by mainly moulding and extruding. Injection moulding and dipping are most common production processes for rubber parts. Design Recommendations of Rubber Parts Rubber moulding is similar to plastic moulding and design principles are somewhat similar. It is always better to make design simple, avoid projections, overhangs, undercuts etc. Some design recommendations are: 1. Gating: Gating should be such that rubber in gate region permits easy removal of part and easy trimming. 2. Holes: Holes are easier to produce in moulding by using cores than by drilling. Holes should be shallow and wide as possible. Through holes are preferable to blind holes.

Blind deep holes having small diameter should be avoided. Blind holes should be tapered or stepped.

Sufficient wall thickness should be incorporated round holes to avoid tearing.

3. Wall thickness: Wall thickness of parts should be kept constant to have uniform properties and avoid distortion. 4. Undercuts: Undercuts should be avoided. Undercuts can be produced by machining and not by moulding. Internal undercuts should be avoided. Undercuts should not be very deep and should be with radius.

5. Screw threads: Screw threads are moulded ony on hard rubber. Threaded metal inserts are used for soft rubber. 6. Inserts: Nonflush threaded inserts should be staggered for keeping uniform thickness. Inserts with flush heads are used. Inserts with sharp edges should be avoided.

7. Draft: Draft in moulded parts varies with part design and nature of rubber. For soft rubbers draft may not be needed. For soft thermoplastic rubber draft angle of 0.25 to 1 while that of at least 1 for hard rubber is provided.

8. Corners: Radii and Fillets are desired on corners for streamlines flow of rubber during moulding and minimize stress concentration. Low cost parts are often made by parting off from extruded sleeves. The square corner formed by parting is often satisfactory for some applications.

Avoid sharp edges and minimum thickness of 0.8 mm is recommended.

Minimum radius for forming of tubes should be atlease 1.5 times the outside diameter to prevent cracking or warping.

Generous radii should be given in walls of bellows to minimize stress concentration and make removal easier. Sharp corners should be avoided as these cause weak points. 9. Flash: Flash tends to form at mould parting line. Amount of flash permissible depends on the part. For material saving and economy, mould is designed to produce thin flash or no flash in case of precision moulds. 10. Parting line: Parting line should be in a single plane as far as possible. 11. Venting: Venting in the die is effective at final closing to avoid defects by releasing trapped air during injection moulding. 12. Surface texture: Smooth, glossy surface on moulded rubber parts are costly. Mould release agents are required to be added for smooth surface. 13. Shrinkage: Shrinkage is about 1.5% typically but it may vary between 0.4% to 4% depending upon the type or rubber. 14. Distortion: Exposed rubber surfaces are not truly flat due to shrinkage and other factors. 15. Dimensional effect: Precise rubber parts are costly to produce due to cost of tooling and strict process control. Dimensions of rubber may change after moulding due to relaxation effect. Some moisture absorbing rubbers undergo dimensional change with time. Rubber Parts 1. Reinforced V belts, hose and tyres. 2. Brake diaphragms 3. Bellows and similar diaphragms 4. Gaskets, washers 5. O rings and metal insert seals 6. Rubber bush bearings 7. Flexible mechanical coupling 8. Rubber pads for high frequency vibration damping.