Selection of Materials and Coatings - Assignment Example

SELECTION OF MATERIALS AND COATINGS College A good saucepan should be made of a material that have high heat conductivity andcannot react with the food. This is because if this material reacts with the food, it will change the taste and even make food sour. The material also should be less expensive to reduce the amount to be used in manufacturing the saucepan. The outside part of the saucepan should be made up of very strong materials that can withstand very high temperatures during cooking. A saucepan cannot be manufactured using one material. Many materials are combined together to ensure saucepan has high heat conductivity, less expensive and can withstand very high temperatures. Materials used in manufacturing saucepans are copper, aluminum and stainless steel. Each of his material is chosen depending on the cost, conductivity, reactivity with food, and the strength to withstand high temperatures. Each of these materials have advantages and disadvantages (Degarmo, 2003). Copper Copper is one of the good materials used in manufacturing saucepans. It is a good conductor of heat and is mainly used in making delicate saucepans. In copper, heat is conducted at very high efficiency and its property of losing heat quickly when removed from fire has made it a preferred material in making the saucepan. One of the best copper saucepans is the ones with steel or nickel alignments. These alignments prevent copper from reacting with food, giving food a sore taste and can even cause diseases. Copper materials have some weaknesses. They are heavy, very expensive, scratch, and cools faster when removed from the fire due to its high thermal conductivity. Copper also is associated with health problems like cancer especially when it is used without any alignment of steel or nickel (Narlikar, 2005). Aluminum Aluminum materials are sold depending on the quality they have. Low cost aluminum used in manufacturing saucepans is very light in weight, responsive to thermal heat but reactive to food that leads to change in the taste of the food cooked on it. To reduce this reaction, aluminum is coated to prevent stickiness and reaction with the food. Saucepans that have aluminum bonded with stainless steel do not react with the food since steel has very low reactivity. Aluminum is one of the best materials used in manufacturing saucepans due to its extremely high thermal conductivity. Aluminum saucepans are very expensive when they are lined with steel to prevent reaction with food. Aluminum saucepans that are not having clad are also prone to scratching (Narlikar, 2005). Stainless steel This material has good characteristics that make it suitable for manufacturing saucepans. Stainless steel materials are very versatile, durable and can clean up very easily. Its shiny surface helps in seeing how the cooked food is browning. It has high resistance to corrosion. This material has very low thermal conductivity and this is solved by bonding it with copper or aluminum. Cast Iron Saucepans made of cast iron have very low heating up rate. Despite this slow heat up, it can distribute heat evenly on the material. It can retain heat for longer time and have long durability. A good saucepan should have a medium handle that is well constructed and cannot fall off when it is being used. The handles should be securely attached to the saucepan. Some saucepans use heavy screws or rivets to attach their handles to them. Material used in making saucepan handles should also be able to resist getting hot when it is used in the top of a stove. Material used also should cool very fast when it gets heated. Reasons for failure of the current saucepan The current saucepan had many failures as the pictures show them. One of the failures of the material used in making the current saucepan is that the inside corroded. This corrosion I caused by the reaction with the food. This is evidenced through the lens that was used to magnify the corrosion that occurred to the material. The material used to make this design was very reactive with the food cooked in it. Some of the materials that might have been used in making this material are copper and aluminum. These two materials are very reactive with food and they can cause many diseases. Another failure that the material used to make the current saucepan is the inability to withstand very high temperatures. The main reason for this failure is because the material used in make the bottom side of the saucepan was very thin and cannot withstand very high temperatures. The base of any cookware must have thick material for even distribution of heat. The hot spots on the current material show that this material was not able to distribute heat evenly to all parts. This shows that this material have low thermal conductivity. The other failure of the material used in the current saucepan is that the material scratch when cleaned with scrubbers. This is because the material used was not strong enough to withstand the force used in cleaning with a scrubber. One of the materials used in making saucepan and scratches during cleaning is the copper. This material has low resistivity to scratch. Optimum materials and coatings for a saucepan The materials used in making saucepans should have the best characteristics that make the suitable in construction. Before buying a saucepan, there are features that a customer must take into consideration to ensure that the material bought is strong and durable. Saucepan must also have the best coatings. One of the features of the best material to use is that it should have high thermal conductivity. This material should absorb and transmit energy at a very high rate. Saucepan is heated from the base to parts of the material. Materials with high thermal conductivity have high heat up rate. This means that the heated area with transmit the heat to the other unheated areas on the material. The best materials with high thermal conductivity are aluminum and copper (Degarmo, 2003). Materials used to manufacture saucepans should also have very low reactivity. This is to ensure that these materials do not harm the users or change the taste of food being cooked. However, the material should be non-reactive. Aluminum and copper are the best materials with very high thermal conductivity but unfortunately, they are very reactive to foods. These reactions are very dangerous since they cause stomach, and liver problems and even anemia. The best material to use is stainless steel. This material has the least reaction to food. The problem with stainless steel is that is has the least thermal conductivity. To solve this issue, stainless steel is combined together with copper or aluminum. This is because copper and aluminum have very high thermal conductivity. Stainless steel material is used on the surface of the saucepans to prevent any reaction with food. This combination has led to the manufacturing of materials like stainless steel with aluminum or copper, tin-lined copper and the stainless steel cladded copper. The best materials for cooking should have non-sticky coatings. No- sticky coatings are made to bond surfaces of cooking utensils. They are easy to clean and do not need greasing. The best non-sticky coatings should have very strong layers combined together to reduced easy destruction when scratched. Manufacturing process of saucepan This process involves how stainless steel saucepan is manufactured. The materials used here are the steel plates. The material to be made must have high thermal conductivity, reduced cost and long durability. The molded sheet made of steel and coated with aluminum is pressed on the centre of the plate as the food insertion part. The bottom of the pressed plate is then stacked so that this plate is reinforced. The bottom area is made up steel that is coated with aluminum. This coating ensures that the pan have high thermal conductivity. This is done by application of adhesive and powder on the adhering areas. Thermal fixation process is then applied with wave of frequency 550 c for about 20 seconds. After thermal fixation, all portions that are above the bottom heating are cut. Coating of the inside and outside is done by spraying sand. The final product is then dried and the handle is assembled. The coating is done using either fluorocarbon or silicone. These coats are applied through three processes that have three layers. Reinforced coating utilizes the use of stainless steel materials. The oat should be non-sticky to ensure easy cleaning of the materials. However when selecting materials to be used in manufacturing saucepan many factors are considered to ensure that the best saucepan is processed. The materials chosen should have high thermal conductivity. This is to ensure that absorb and transmit heat at very high rate. These materials also should not react with the food. Any reaction with food will change the taste of food and can even cause health problems like anemia and ulcers. The material to be chosen also must not scratch easily during cleaning. Therefore, a strong material should be selected. Cheap materials also should be selected for the saucepan manufacturing. Bibliography DEGARMO, E. P. (2003). Materials and processes in manufacturing. New York, Wiley. NARLIKAR, A. V. (2005). Frontiers in superconducting materials. Berlin, Springer. http://www.myilibrary.com?id=30623. ONOUYE, B., & KANE, K. (2011). Statics and Strength of Materials for Architecture and Building Construction. Boston, Prentice Hall. ROB SILVERSTONE. (1995). Towards a leaner kitchen. Nutrition & Food Science. 95, 13-16. Read More