Ceramic, Natural and Smart Materials

Question 1

What are the three subcategories of ceramics?

Answer 1

Whiteware (dinner plates)
Refractory products (furnace linings & crucibles)
Engineering ceramics (high-tech applications)

Question 2

What are the three subcategories of wood?

Answer 2

Softwoods
Hardwoods
Engineered woods

Question 3

What are softwoods? What are some examples?

Answer 3

Wood milled from conifer trees (trees that produce needles and cones)
Examples are pine, cedar, fir, spruce and redwood

Question 4

What are hardwoods?

Answer 4

Wood from deciduous trees (trees that produce leaves and seeds)

Question 5

What are engineered woods (aka composite woods)?

Answer 5

Boards made from wood that’s been manipulated to have certain features, often made from waste wood

Question 6

What are smart materials (aka responsive materials)?

Answer 6

Materials that are manipulated to respond in a controllable and reversible way

Question 7

What are some examples of smart materials?

Answer 7

Shape Memory Alloys (SMA) - an alloy of multiple metals that return to their original shape when reheated
Quantum Tunnelling Composites (QTC) - an insulator in normal state but when compressed is an electrical conductor
Piezoelectric crystals - crystals (i.e. quartz) with a force/pressure applied that cause a voltage at a right angle

Question 8

What is fibreglass?

Answer 8

A type of plastic that is reinforced with glass fibre

Question 9

What are some examples of modern composite materials?

Answer 9

Fibreglass
Carbon fibre
Kevlar

Question 10

What is carbon fibre?

Answer 10

A fibre-reinforced plastic which contains carbon fibres

Question 11

What is Kevlar?

Answer 11

A brand name for a fire-resistant synthetic fibre