Coated Paper-Based Packaging Waste: Investigation on Sensorial Properties Affecting the Material Class Perception

Packaging waste correct sorting hugely impacts fiber-based packaging circularity. Currently, this is more crucial than ever, also due to the increased market share of fiber-based packaging. This study evaluated the relationship between the aesthetic properties and user material sorting actions of lightweight dispersion-coated and uncoated paper substrates. Unlike previous literature, no labeling or graphics were involved in this study, focusing on the physical and aesthetic properties of both coatings and substrates. Untrained panelists participated in a multi-phase (descriptive and hedonic) analysis involving a questionnaire and antonym scales about samples’ visual and tactile properties, which were also characterized. The results highlight a remarkable panelist’s ability to assess the relative gloss and roughness. Perceived roughness and mattness statistically significantly correlated to cellulosic material identification. Moreover, material sorting into the paper recycling stream was statistically significantly regulated by sample mattness, followed by sample roughness. This work suggests that, without any graphic or textual information, the combination of substrate characteristics and coating formulation strongly impacts the packaging aesthetics, hence packaging perception as paper-based material. Consequently, the correct material identification and sorting can be encouraged by proper packaging materials selection and coating development

Materials Selection and Fashion Design: strengthening reflections on fibre’s nature in fibres and textiles selection

Textile ecosystems are complex productive realities, in the eye of the cyclone when it comes sustainability-related analysis. Being characterised by very complex value-chains and interconnection of productive actors, textiles production and use represent one of the most crucial challenges for the circular and sustainable transition. Their deployment is esteemed to be in growing for the next years, therefore reflections on how to improve product and materials circularity in this sector is of increasing interest in research and industrial practice. In this contribution, authors will try to map the material properties that can influence textiles application in the fashion sector, focusing on the coupling of material selection activity and application of design strategies to anticipate at best the reflections upon textiles use and recirculation. Results of this activity are then shown and discussed to question the applicability of the reported data into a fashion design activity, to promote awareness and critical reflections upon materials use while designing new fashion goods

Design for Recycling Guidelines of Paper-Based Packaging - A Review for Packaging Designers

Circular Economy requires products and material resources to be efficiently managed and used. For packaging, recycling is crucial to close the loop. Hence, packaging designers must balance pack performance, morphology, and communication to ensure its recyclability. This is particularly true for fibre-based packaging, which is the prevalent market packaging material, forecasted to increase its usage volumes. To help designers in their activities, several bodies provided Design for Recycling Guidelines (DGs). In this work, national and European DGs are discussed, providing shared design rules ranging from the substrate and its surface treatment to the packaging components. Such design rules can enable designers’ creative process and enhance the exploration of new, efficient packaging solutions. Consequently, packaging designers may achieve a broader view and play an active role in extending fibre life time; hence, reducing landfilling or energy-recovery of valuable fibres

Sustainable Material Selection Framework: Taxonomy and Systematisation of Design Approaches to Sustainable Material Selection

Design can play a fundamental role in addressing the climate crisis and preserving the planet’s finite resources. Through design, it is possible to reduce the environmental impact of products and services right from concept stage. The elements that concur within a project are diverse and often have an impact on each other. The material is one of them, being able to influence the product, but also the business model, company relations, etc. To help the designer keep all these aspects under control, various methodologies and tools have been developed, among them design strategies and guidelines. To date, several authors have dealt with the topic, offering different perspectives and generating a critical mass of information, which differs in the level of depth and operability of the suggestions, often differing only in terminology rather than content. This inhomogeneity can confuse both professionals and students. This study proposes an ordered taxonomy of the different levels of detail and a unified terminology of the strategies and guidelines in the literature. To test taxonomy and systematisation, this article focuses on guidelines for material choice, resulting in a framework to guide the selection of materials with a view to sustainability

Materials selection for food processing professional appliances

Professional appliances are characterized by an intense use in harsh environments; therefore, they need to communicate, through materials sensorial attributes, robustness and reliability. During their lifetime, professional appliances face specific chemical compatibility problems related to daily contact with food chemicals and detergent compounds compliance, and to misuse practices. These products are developed as tailor-made solutions, designed to satisfy both client needs and usability, even in very specific operative conditions. For this reason, they are developed on one hand through a performance driven technical design process, and on the other through a sensorial oriented materials selection, to improve the user experience with the product. From the Ashby method, the implementation of a flexible materials selection process, able to match sensorial attributes with the real products performances, needs for improvements, due to the highly competitive professional appliances market. The most common design approach in the industrial production of business to business market appliances sees the designer and the engineer as separate figures, which compel respectively to the aesthetical and emotional issues and to the technical and performances requirements. Both these figures operate materials selection with two different perspectives: the lack of communication among the two roles is often due to the different levels of analysis of the process. Electrolux Professional is trying to overcome this limit using an innovative approach, being an appropriate environment to test new solutions. A unique selection method applied to real products, able to couple qualitative and quantitative properties, and to consider both the modification of the technical and chemical properties and the material sensorial perceptions along the products life, can be the driving force of an innovative materials selection approach. The related design process will be then integrated to reach in a unique step a concept that satisfies both the technical performances and the user perception requirements

System thinking & synthesis mapping to manage product material selection process

Material selection is one of the core tasks in industrial product design practice since materials are the basis of manufactured artefacts. Over time, an increasing number of characteristics and attributes have been taken into consideration as competing and influent elements on the product’s material decision. However, even if the material selection can be efficiently supported by different methodologies, tools and platforms, still in the industrial strict routine, it is difficult to invest the right amount of time in scouting possible new material solutions to upgrade the production line. This gap between theoretical approach and practical application of new materials influences significantly the shift towards a more sustainable development. In this paper, the material selection process has been analysed as a process within a sociocultural system (enterprise). All the collected information have been mapped in cooperation with company employees to create a visual narrative of the whole work. The result, hence, is a synthesis map that provides a model for professionals to manage an aware material selection activity. The systemic view of the entire material selection process is then discussed: further improvements can be developed from the perspective of sustainable development and industrial/environmental interdependences

Functional materials for Design

The main problematic of the research is to connect the stimuli-responsive behaviour of functional material to the end-user experience. To make this connection, the research was divided in layers, from the most technical at the bottom, to the most designerly at the top. The objective is to propose a set of chained tools that will eventually allow a seamless journey through all the layers and provide support for designers to use functional material in their projects

Heat-Seal Ability and Fold Cracking Resistance of Kaolin-Filled Styrene-Butadiene-Based Aqueous Dispersions for Paper-Based Packaging

Dispersion coatings are offered as alternative solutions to extrusion coating technology for paper-based packaging. In addition to providing barrier properties, waterborne dispersions may implement the processing and converting properties of coated substrates, which are of extreme interest for an effective transfer to the industry. In this work, styrene-butadiene-based aqueous dispersions were formulated considering different amounts of kaolin as pigment. The authors assessed the heat-seal ability, fold cracking resistance, and blocking tendency, comparing the results against commercial dispersion coating grades. Kaolin content dominated the sealing behavior of experimental formulations, changing the minimum heat-seal temperature from 80 °C to >140 °C for 0% and 60% kaolin solid content, respectively. On the contrary, commercial grades were mostly affected by temperature. Additionally, despite the low latex glass temperature (0 °C), experimental formulations generally showed little, if any, blocking. On the downside, increasing kaolin content eases fold cracking, showing a different magnitude according to fold direction and coat orientation yet achieving a higher moisture barrier compared to commercial grades for both folded and unfolded samples

Selection Framework for the Implementation of Functional Materials in Product Design

Concept Functional materials, also called “smart materials”, are materials that can “sense environment events, process that sensory information and then act on the environment” [1]. These materials are able to transform a given stimulus into a response. We use the general term “transition phenomenon” to describe this process. These transitions can be as diverse as, e.g.: mechanoluminescence, which is a light emission produced by the application of a strain [2], or thermoelectricity, the convertion of a temperature difference into an electric potential [3]. We designed a specific database and selection process for functional materials. The data structure is organized around their main functionality: the transition phenomenon. This database is implemented in the Cambridge Engineering Selector software, using the “constructor” functionality. Motivations and Objectives The standard selection framework proposed by Ashby [4] relies on 4 successive stages : translation, limits, objectives, documentation. It is not entirely suited to the selection of functional materials, which has to account for the relation between stimuli and responses. Results and Discussion In our database prototype, we introduce a table of transition phenomena, which is organized by families and sub-families of outputs (Fig 1). The relationship between materials and transition phenomena is made by linking the tables together and providing specific attributes that describe the stimuli-responsive properties of the materials. Future developments include tables of existing products and processes used to implement functional materials or functionalize existing ones. In this work, as the entry point to the information system is the stimuli responsive behaviour of functional materials, rather than their structure and properties. The emphasis is thus put on user experience and interaction with materials and products. References [1] M. Addington, D. Schodek, Smart Materials and technologies for the architecture and design professions, Elsevier, 2005 [2] S. M. Jeong, S. Song, K.-I. Joo, J. Kim, S.-H. Hwang, J. Jeong, H. Kim, Bright, wind-driven white mechanoluminescence from zinc sulphide microparticles embedded in a polydimethylsiloxane elastomer [3] A. da Rosa, Thermoelectricity, Fundamentals of Renewable Energy Processes, Elsevier, 2013, 149–212 [4] M. Ashby, Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, Elsevier, 1992-2005(Third edition