gcse.textiles.core

• Stock forms for metals

  • Rods (round, square, hexagonal)
  • Strips
  • Sheets
  • Tubes (round, square)
  • Angle
  • Channel
• Aluminium


  • Very light, strong at low temperatures, corrosion resistant, good conductor of electricity and heat, good reflector of light, non-toxic, non-sparking
• Copper


  • Corrosion-resistant, highly malleable, durable, ductile, wide chromatic appeal, excellent conductor of electricity and heat
• Brass


  • Copper alloy (with zinc), corrosion-resistant, harder than copper, malleable, ductile, conducts heat and electricity well, can be easily scratched, bright gold appearance, hints of silver-white and red-brown
• Pewter


  • Soft alloy with very low melting point, perfect for casting, like silver, can be polished to be very shiny, tarnishes easily
• Mild steel


  • High tensile and impact strength, good ductility, magnetic, malleable, not suited to heat treatments to improve properties, corrodes easily, requires finishing
• Wastage/addition


  1. Cutting and removing material from stock forms (wastage)

  2. Additive processes like 3D printing build up the desired shape from an additional source without waste
• Joining/reforming metals


  1. Permanent: welding, brazing, epoxy resin adhesives, soldering

  2. Temporary: nuts and bolts, hinges, screws, rivets
• Machining


  1. Lathe: turn a piece of metal to create differently shaped round pieces

  2. Milling machine: cut slots in blocks of metals, face off edges
• Heat treatments


  1. Annealing: heating then slowly cooling to remove stress, make softer, refine structure

  2. Normalising: heating and then cooling at room temperature, reducing hardness, increasing ductility

  3. Case hardening: hardens alloy's surface by adding carbon, heating and quenching

  4. Tempering: applied to steel and cast iron, increasing toughness, reducing hardness and brittleness

  5. Hardening: heating and then cooling rapidly by submerging into a liquid or oil
• Metal surface treatments


  • Functional: improve performance of material/product
  • Aesthetic: improve visual appearance of material/product
• Finishes


  • Powder coating
  • Galvanising
  • Enamelling
  • Oil and wax finishing
  • Primer/paint
  • Electroplating
• Papers and boards availability

  • Sheet
  • Roll
  • Ply
• Sheet sizes


  • A0 (largest)
  • A1
  • A2
  • A3
  • A4
  • A5
  • A6
  • A7
  • A8
  • A9
  • A10 (smallest)
• Surface preparation for finishing metals

  1. Removal of dust, grease and rust is critical

  2. Some finishes need grip to adhere, so it is important to key the surface to accept the finish
• Paper and board weight


  Measured in gsm (grams per square metre)
• Paper thickness


  Measured in microns
• Aesthetic properties


  How a material or component looks, including shape, colour, texture, form, reflection, gloss, style
• Printed and bound products

  • Books
  • Leaflets
  • Magazines
• Leaflets


  • Can be printed and folded into a smaller form
• Functional properties


  How a material or component works for the intended use, including performance, efficiency, reliability and operation
• Marking out


  1. Mark the required shape onto the stock material using tools like try square, tape measure, steel rule

  2. Materials need to be held or clamped before being cut using a vice or clamp
• Booklets


  • Several pages bound, bonded or stitched together
• Cutting

  1. Hand tools like coping saw, tenon saw, hacksaw

  2. Machinery like bandsaw
• Paper and board fittings

  • Drawing pins
  • Velcro (pads/dots) for mounting
  • Treasury tags
  • Staples
  • Fasteners
  • Book bindings
• Wastage


  Cutting and removing material from stock forms, such as a sheet
• Polymer stock sizes


  • sheet
  • film
  • bar
  • rod
  • tube
• Additive processes


  Build up the desired shape from an additional source without waste, like 3D printing
• Binding products


  • Need to open without any of the separate pages falling out or becoming removed
• Other polymer forms


  • granules
  • pellets
  • powder
• Drilling


  1. Hand drill or drill press/pillar drill

  2. Jigs and formers can help ensure holes are drilled in the correct positions
• Hand stitching


  A skilled and time-consuming process that fixes pages together
• Pilot hole


  Small diameter hole to guide a screw, preventing splitting
• Comb binding


  Holes are punched so that a plastic bind can hold the pages in order
• Producing polymer products


  1. Blow moulding

  2. Vacuum forming

  3. Press moulding

  4. Compression moulding
• Clearance hole


  Hole large enough for a screw to fit through without the thread engaging
• Other finishing processes to bind products

  • Stapling
  • Using split pins
• Countersunk hole


  Top surface of the hole is flared to receive the screwhead flush
• Pre-press printing


  Creates a print layout, a digital pre-press machine then transforms electronic files onto paper
• Counterbore hole


  Flat-bottomed hole that enlarges another hole