Product Life Cycle
Project Introduction
My Weebly page documents the development and final product of my engineering projects. This project is to investigate the life cycle of a product, the product I'm investigating is cardboard.
Timeline
Raise and Extract:
Cardboard is made of paper, it has 3 layers of paper that make up its construct. The top and bottom layer are made of liner paper and the center layer is a corrugated medium, this is for corrugated cardboard. Materials that make paper are wood fiber or pulp. Wood pulp is gathered from the extra fibers of timber from sawmills and timber facilities. For stronger paper, which leads to stronger cardboard, certain tree species are used because of longer fibers. These tree's include spruce and fir or just coniferous trees.
Cardboard is made of paper, it has 3 layers of paper that make up its construct. The top and bottom layer are made of liner paper and the center layer is a corrugated medium, this is for corrugated cardboard. Materials that make paper are wood fiber or pulp. Wood pulp is gathered from the extra fibers of timber from sawmills and timber facilities. For stronger paper, which leads to stronger cardboard, certain tree species are used because of longer fibers. These tree's include spruce and fir or just coniferous trees.
Process:
Wood pulp is gathered from sawmills, old newspaper, and other various sources. Fibers are separated by eliminating the natural glue, lignin, that holds the fibers together. This is done by a pulping process where the raw material, wood, is mixed with chemicals and water. The creates a "soup" of cellulose wood fibers, lignin, water, and chemicals. This process is sometimes referred to as "kraft". Pulping can also be done by mechanical grinding but results in weaker fibers which results in weaker paper for things like newspapers and phone books. In chemical pulping bleach or coloring may be used for certain types of paper. After this the pulp is ready to go into the paper making process, which leads to the cardboard making process.
Wood pulp is gathered from sawmills, old newspaper, and other various sources. Fibers are separated by eliminating the natural glue, lignin, that holds the fibers together. This is done by a pulping process where the raw material, wood, is mixed with chemicals and water. The creates a "soup" of cellulose wood fibers, lignin, water, and chemicals. This process is sometimes referred to as "kraft". Pulping can also be done by mechanical grinding but results in weaker fibers which results in weaker paper for things like newspapers and phone books. In chemical pulping bleach or coloring may be used for certain types of paper. After this the pulp is ready to go into the paper making process, which leads to the cardboard making process.
Manufacture:
In the process of Cardboard being made first the paper that makes it layers is created. The first step of creating paper is beating and bleaching the wood pulp. After the proper color and the pulp is ready to be compacted it travels through multiple moving belts that have presses along it to compact the pulp and suction devices to drain the water from the pulp. To finish the paper it is compacted further and possibly gets a color, filler, or coating added. Once the paper is made it is transported to another factory and is fed through 3 lines, 2 liner lines and a corrugated medium line. The corrugated medium forms ridges for a strong base and has different flutes, teeth or ridges, for different sizes. The different layers are combine by heat of up to 365 degrees Fahrenheit, 175 to 180 pounds of pressure of steam, and starch glue. The glue is applied in a set of rollers called single-facer glue stations. Finally, the glue is cured with steam heated plates.
In the process of Cardboard being made first the paper that makes it layers is created. The first step of creating paper is beating and bleaching the wood pulp. After the proper color and the pulp is ready to be compacted it travels through multiple moving belts that have presses along it to compact the pulp and suction devices to drain the water from the pulp. To finish the paper it is compacted further and possibly gets a color, filler, or coating added. Once the paper is made it is transported to another factory and is fed through 3 lines, 2 liner lines and a corrugated medium line. The corrugated medium forms ridges for a strong base and has different flutes, teeth or ridges, for different sizes. The different layers are combine by heat of up to 365 degrees Fahrenheit, 175 to 180 pounds of pressure of steam, and starch glue. The glue is applied in a set of rollers called single-facer glue stations. Finally, the glue is cured with steam heated plates.
Use:
Cardboard is used for many general things in human life. The main one has to be boxes. In the process of making cardboard sometimes at the end of it's production it is sent down a conveyor belt and cut in to sheets that are later formed into boxes. Boxes are used by humans to transport items or store items and make the transportation or storage easier. Another use of cardboard is by artist in sculptures. Artists use this cardboard by using its many different forms and it is a widely popular from because any heavy duty paper is referred to as cardboard. This is an enjoyed form of art because it can be influenced so much and can have so many different designs and crafts. Artists like Marcel Janco and Ana Serrano have done cardboard art.
Cardboard is used for many general things in human life. The main one has to be boxes. In the process of making cardboard sometimes at the end of it's production it is sent down a conveyor belt and cut in to sheets that are later formed into boxes. Boxes are used by humans to transport items or store items and make the transportation or storage easier. Another use of cardboard is by artist in sculptures. Artists use this cardboard by using its many different forms and it is a widely popular from because any heavy duty paper is referred to as cardboard. This is an enjoyed form of art because it can be influenced so much and can have so many different designs and crafts. Artists like Marcel Janco and Ana Serrano have done cardboard art.
Dispose:
Cardboard is not always very durable. Many influences can make the use of cardboard no longer helpful or useful. For example, rain or water can soak a box and make it fall apart so it sometimes has to be monitored on how much water is near a piece of cardboard. Too much weight on cardboard can also make it fall apart as well. After these things may happen two things happen to cardboard usually. The cardboard is either recycled or it is wasted and sent to a waste facility or dump.
Cardboard is not always very durable. Many influences can make the use of cardboard no longer helpful or useful. For example, rain or water can soak a box and make it fall apart so it sometimes has to be monitored on how much water is near a piece of cardboard. Too much weight on cardboard can also make it fall apart as well. After these things may happen two things happen to cardboard usually. The cardboard is either recycled or it is wasted and sent to a waste facility or dump.
Creative Uses:
I believe the use of cardboard as art is a nice way of recycling because it may be new or old cardboard used and cardboard is also reused in the making of papers products.
I believe the use of cardboard as art is a nice way of recycling because it may be new or old cardboard used and cardboard is also reused in the making of papers products.
Sources:
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Corrugated-Cardboard.html
https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-do-you-make-paper-from-a-tree
https://www.widewalls.ch/cardboard-art-sculpture-artists/
https://www.indiamart.com/proddetail/cardboard-kraft-paper-14489326748.html
http://www.momtastic.com/webecoist/2011/12/19/cardboard-creations-45-recycled-works-of-art/
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Corrugated-Cardboard.html
https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-do-you-make-paper-from-a-tree
https://www.widewalls.ch/cardboard-art-sculpture-artists/
https://www.indiamart.com/proddetail/cardboard-kraft-paper-14489326748.html
http://www.momtastic.com/webecoist/2011/12/19/cardboard-creations-45-recycled-works-of-art/
Conclusion
A product's life cycle is the creation and duration of time that the product is useful all the way to the disposal and possible reuse of the product. A company must evaluate the life cycle of a product because there are sometimes regulations on waste. But also it needs to be known on the possibility of the raw material used for it becoming obsolete. A company may also consider if the product is useful or with break easily and make consumer's buy more quickly. I would change cardboard by trying to add a finish that would make it waterproof and usable for a longer period of time. This would help to eliminate some waste, but companies would sell less so prices would need to increase. Cardboard I believe won't become obsolete, but I do think that it's uses and durability will evolve so that it is more effective for consumer's. I just think that human curiosity will want to further the uses of cardboard and want to see how advanced we could make it. A trade-off is a compromise of sorts where certain desirable features are wanted but to get other desirable features it makes them incompatible, so some are lost and some are gained. I believe that some trade-offs were made during the creation of cardboard because people want the best but sometimes price or potential designs can make it impossible or just not feasible to do. It is important to recycle because since humans have started to have a manufacturing sector mass amounts of waste have started to accumulate and take up large sums of land. So if a change is not made soon even more land will be wasted for waste management and then agriculture and other aspects of human life will decline too because land is being used at such a fast rate that it can't replenish itself for use before it is needed again. Some product designers take in the idea of recycling as a business advancement because some materials in electronics and other products can be reused or even renovated and then resold back into the domestic market. Society plays a large role in recycling because there are organizations that try and protect the environment and activists that want to help so efforts are always made. Also, people who just want to help recycle play a large role because any waste that isn't in a dump is helpful. The people who don't recycle though are also a large sum of society. So society helps but at the same time makes no efforts. I can help by recycling any material that can be recycled. I would say the most important materials to try and recycle are electronics. But even making a decomposition area for old food could help to by given minerals and fertilizer back to the Earth. There are many other ways I could also help but I wouldn't be able to name all of them.