Task 2a – Barbeque Grills
Barbeque grills can be charcoal fuelled or gas fuelled. In this case, the grill is a double grill that has both charcoal and gas fuelling provisions. It is therefore crucial to select the material of the body suitably so that it gives optimal performance with both the fuelling provisions. Moreover, the material of the body contributes largely to the efficiency of the barbeque.
Some common materials used are enamel, stainless steel, cast aluminium, cast iron, porcelain coated or painted steel. Each of these has their own advantages and disadvantages. Porcelain enamelled grills are easy to clean and maintain but they are prone to chipping and peeling easily. While painted steel is vulnerable to rusting easily, stainless steel is prone to discoloration and losing of its sheen, if not maintained properly. Cast iron grills are best at retaining heat but are not rust resistant.
The most popular material used is stainless steel. They are rust resistant even in moisture rich conditions and heat up soon, but the flip side is they are not very heat retaining. This leads to a higher consumption of fuel in gas grills leading to increased cots.
While stainless steel is largely used in grills, cast aluminium is thicker and more durable. The rust resistant characteristics match that of stainless steel. Cast aluminium is also highly durable and the grill can be in a good condition for decades. It is also light weight making it easy it carry and shift.
It is easy maintenance and good at retaining heat, thereby reducing the fuel consumption. This works very well in controlling costs, especially in gas fuelled barbeques. Moreover, it is much cheaper than stainless steel as well (Stainless Steel Barbeque Grills).
The cost is low and the life higher. So this would be an ideal choice for a dual LPG and charcoal fuelled barbeque body
Task 2b – Children’s laptop casing
For selection of materials best suited for the manufacture of children’s laptop casing, many criteria were considered. The most common materials used in making laptop casings include ABS plastics i.e Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (mixed with polycarbonate), carbon fiber material, titanium alloys and anodised aluminium.
Unlike designing a laptop for established businessmen, making them for children is a tougher challenge. A kid’s laptop should be ideally colourful, light weight and durable. It should also be resistant to scratches and strong enough to sustain careless handling.
After careful analysis of the properties of all the above materials, it can be concluded that the best suited material for children’s laptop casing would be anodised aluminium.
Strength:
Aluminium, when anodised, becomes stronger and more durable. The material has a lot of industrial applications as well because of its strength.
Availability:
The material will never face availability issues as it is extensively used across many applications such as making cookware, in buildings, in automobiles and even in satellites.
Cost
Anodising is a low cost process and also has lower maintenance cost in the long run.
Decorative
The anodised aluminium can be coated with coloredplastics in bright shades to make it visually appealing to children.
Therefore, after comparing all the above materials, anodised aluminium is the best choice for making laptop casing for children.
This will be further explained in task 3.
Task 3 – Childrens’ laptop casing – a review
HPLC, LC-MS and IR spectroscopy are very popular analytical techniques which are used for the separation and characterisation of molecules. In this case, LC-MS analysis was used to separate out the various components of the cocaine sample as indicated by the chromatogram and subsequent MS would indicate the different cocaine species, both the whole and the ions, as well as the derivatives present in the mixture. MS will indicate the correct cocaine species based on the charge/mass ratio which can be compared with the mass spectra of known cocaine sample.
One has to determine which technique one needs to use depending on the final purpose. HPLC is useful for quick separation of mixtures with reasonably high resolution and sensitivity. In conjunction with MS, in the form of LC-MS, it can be even more powerful by not only enabling high resolution but also characterisation and identification of the separate components. IR spectroscopy is another sensitive technique, which can provide information on the purity of the substance as well as its structure. Taken in conjunction, all these techniques can provide valuable information about a molecule.
References
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Aluminium Anodizers Council, retrieved fromhttp://www.anodizing.org/Anodizing/benefits.html, retrieved on 05 Feb 2013
Digital Ceramic Materials Database, retrieved from http://digitalfire.com/4sight/material/zinc_oxide_1718.html, retrieved on 05 Feb 2013
Effects Of Alloying Elements On Steel, American Welding Society, retrieved from http://www.rec.ac.in/assets/dept- notice/Effects%20of%20Alloying%20Elements%20on%20Steel.pdf), retrieved on 05 Feb 2013
Gopalakrishnan, Vulcanization and the Properties of Rubber,
http://guava.physics.uiuc.edu/~nigel/courses/569/Essays_Fall2007/files/gopalakrishnan.pdf)
Huda, 2009, Effects of Degrees of Cold Working and Recrystallisation on the Microstructure and Hardness of Commercial-Purity Aluminum, retrieved from http://www.eurojournals.com/ejsr_26_4_09.pdf), retrieved on 05 Feb 2013
Kriston, Some aspects of the degradation and stabilization of Phillips type polyethylene retrieved from http://www.omikk.bme.hu/collections/phd/Vegyeszmernoki_es_Biomernoki_Kar/2011/Kriston_Ildiko/ertekezes.pdf, retrieved on 05 Feb 2013
Kumar, Vulcanization of Rubber How to Alter Molecular Structure and Influence Physical Properties, retrieved from http://www.ias.ac.in/resonance/Apr1997/pdf/Apr1997p55-59.pdf, retrieved on 05 Feb 2013
Stainless Steel Barbeque Grills, retrieved from http://stainlessbbq.net/, retrieved on 05 Feb 2013
Sanchez, Polyethylene degradation: effect of polymerization catalyst, retrieved from http://www.4spepro.org/pdf/003371/003371.pdf, retrieved on 05 Feb 2013
