Materials, Processes and Manufacturing
What you must understand
You need working knowledge of material families and their properties. For timbers, know hardwoods versus softwoods, natural versus manufactured boards, grain direction, seasoning and moisture movement. For metals, know ferrous and non-ferrous, alloys, and properties such as hardness, malleability, ductility and conductivity. For polymers, distinguish thermoplastics from thermosets and know common forming methods. Include textiles, ceramics and composites, and understand why composites combine properties that single materials lack.
Processes: cutting, shaping, joining and finishing. Know the difference between wasting, addition and forming processes. Understand joining methods (adhesives, fasteners, welding, stitching) and when each is appropriate. Learn manufacturing scales: one-off, batch, mass and continuous production, and how scale affects tooling cost, unit cost and quality consistency. Understand jigs, fixtures and templates for accuracy and repeatability, plus quality control and tolerances.
Traps
Examiners frequently test justification: why this material or process for this product. Naming a process without linking it to properties or production volume earns little. A common error is confusing thermosetting and thermoplastic behaviour under heat, or assuming mass production is always cheaper regardless of quantity.
Worked example
A batch of 200 chair brackets is needed. Injection moulding would need costly tooling, so the break-even quantity is high; for 200 units, laser-cut sheet metal with jigs is more economical. Rule of thumb: total cost equals fixed tooling cost plus unit cost times quantity, so choose the process whose break-even point sits below your production run.