Technological Products: Key Ideas

The Technological Knowledge Strand Explanatory Papers Updated May 2010

Technological Products

Technological outcomes may be referred to as technological products and/or technological systems (see Characteristics of Technological Outcomes for an explanation of cases where the same outcome could be referred to as either a product or system). However, in this component, the focus is on understanding the physical nature of a Technological Outcome as viewed as a product, and, therefore, it is material understandings that are key to this component.

Technological products are defined as material objects that result from Technological Practice, and as such have been designed by people to exist in order to fulfil an intended function. The key concepts underpinning the technological product component are those that relate to the identification, description, use, and development of materials with reference to how materials allow a product to be fit for the purpose for which it was designed.

The knowledge base underpinning these concepts will vary depending on the specific materials used in any particular product. That is, the understandings needed to develop and understand food products differ to those required to develop and understand garments or furniture. However, all materials have properties that can be measured objectively and/or subjectively and together these provide a material with its overall performance properties. Performance properties of materials refer to such things as thermal and electrical conductivity, water resistance, texture, flexibility, colour, etc. Subjective measurement is reliant on people’s perception (tasty, evokes a sense of natural beauty, warm and inviting, etc.), whereas objective measurement is not (conductivity, UV resistance, etc.). The fitness for purpose of a product relies on the material providing appropriate performance properties to ensure the product is technically feasible and acceptable (safe, ethical, environmentally friendly, economically viable, etc. – as appropriate to the product). Material properties are determined by the type and arrangements of particles that make up the material, that is, by their composition and structure.

Materials can be formed, manipulated, and/or transformed to enhance the fitness for purpose of a technological product. Forming refers to bringing two or more materials together to formulate a new material resulting in a different overall composition and structure to that of the original materials. This results in different performance properties. For example, mixing flour, water, and salt to make dough; mixing wood fibres, resin, and wax to make MDF; combining glass fibre and a polymer resin to form fibreglass or fibre reinforced polymer (FRP). Manipulating materials refers to 'working' existing materials in ways that do not change their properties as their composition and structure is not altered. Instead the manipulation allows the material to be incorporated into a product in ways that will maximise the performance of the material individually and/or collectively to enhance the overall performance of the product. Manipulating often involves changing the shape, laminating materials, and/or joining them with other materials. Manipulation techniques and operations include such things as cutting, moulding, bending, jointing, gluing, painting, etc. Transforming refers to changing the structure or particle alignment within an existing material to change some of its properties, but, in terms of its composition, it remains the same material. For example, felting; beating an egg white; heat treating metals to harden or anneal them; steaming timber to soften its fibres so that it can be manipulated (bent). Techniques and operations used when developing products often result in a combination of forming, manipulation, and/or transformation. For example, sanding may both shape (manipulation) and add sheen (transform) to materials such as bone and wood.

Material selection is based on matching the desired performance criteria of a technological product with the performance properties of the materials available to ensure the material selected will be adequate for use in the product. Material evaluation plays a critical role in material selection decisions that can be justified in terms of the material not only being adequate, but being the optimal material for use when all factors are considered. In order to effectively evaluate a material’s suitability, specific knowledge of material composition is critical, as are understandings of what techniques and/or procedures are accepted within particular communities of practice. To support the processing or construction of products, technologists often use specialised language and symbols to communicate material-related details. Material-related details include such things as what materials would be feasible for use and how they would need to be formed, manipulated, and/or transformed.

Material development refers to the development work that makes available different and/or innovative performance properties through the formulation of new materials. The contemporary field of material development is crossing many traditional disciplines and showing increasingly diverse and exciting possibilities for material performance properties, and, therefore, the types of functions that a technological product may have. The development of new materials relies on understanding such things as existing materials including their advantages and limitations; new material composition and structure possibilities; formulation procedures; future requirements, needs, and desires; and an awareness that new evaluative procedures may need to be developed to determine the suitability of new materials.

The development of 'smart' materials in a range of areas allows for the exploration of the relationship between material performance properties and what types of products can be designed. The defining characteristic of a 'smart' material is its ability to change or adapt in response to an external stimuli which may be technological or environmental in nature or from human input. The external trigger causes a transformation resulting in a change to the properties of the material itself. Examples of products developed from smart materials include heat regulating clothing, light-responsive sunglasses, artificial muscles, self-cleaning textiles, self-adjusting optical lenses, colour-changing shirts, self-healing paint, etc. An example of smart material development can be seen at www.Techlink.org.nz/Case-studies/Technological-practice/Soft-Materials/smart-fibres.

Understanding the impact of material selection, evaluation, and development on a technological product's design, development, maintenance, and disposal is an important focus within this component. This will help develop robust technological understandings of sustainability as it relates to justifiable resource management, designed-for life cycle, and disposal issues as key factors for consideration in product design decisions. For example, the products associated with iTunes, and the ways music can now be downloaded digitally, has resulted in a significant shift in resource issues surrounding compact disc and digital technology, particularly in terms of packaging and marketing requirements. The potential function of new products associated with the storage and transmission of music rests upon the properties of the new materials that have been developed.