3.

0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

There are many ways to manufacture an earphone housing but an appropriate process
needed based upon a matching of the required shape attributes of the housing and the various
process capabilities. The first step in selecting the process is to describe the eight shape
attributes of the earphone housing. Next, a compatibility table between processes and
materials is used to choose the suitable process. A shape generation capabilities of processes
table is used with compatibility table between processes and materials to eliminate processes
that are not capable to produce the eight shape attributes of the earphone housing. The
elimination of manufacturing process will be done by comparing the attributes with the table
and eliminate the process that cannot make the shape attributes.

The choice of materials is also a major determinant for the successful functioning,
feasible and low-cost manufacture of any product. The design engineer must determine
between functional requirements and cost considerations. In some cases, there will be a real
conflict between function and cost in the selection of a material but sometimes it is easy to
select the material. There is a particular material that does the job functionally and which
minimizes the cost of production. It is the purpose of this section of the handbook to provide
information about the properties and relative costs of materials so as to aid the designer in
making such favourable choices. However, the objective is not necessarily minimum
materials cost but minimum overall cost, including the initial price of the material, the cost of
processing and assembling it with other materials into a product, the cost of guaranteeing the
durability of the product and servicing it, etc. Thus, in the long run, the lowest cost material
may be not the lowest overall cost for the product.
















3.1 selection of manufacturing process and material.
Table 1: This table shows the compatibility between processes and materials

C
a
s
t

I
r
o
n

C
a
r
b
o
n

S
t
e
e
l

A
l
l
o
y

S
t
e
e
l

S
t
a
i
n
l
e
s
s

S
t
e
e
l

A
l
u
m
i
n
u
m

a
n
d

A
l
l
o
y
s

C
o
p
p
e
r

a
n
d

A
l
l
o
y
s

Z
i
n
c

a
n
d

A
l
l
o
y
s

M
a
g
n
e
s
i
u
m

a
n
d

A
l
l
o
y
s

T
i
t
a
n
i
u
m

a
n
d

A
l
l
o
y
s

N
i
c
k
e
l

a
n
d

A
l
l
o
y
s

R
e
f
r
a
c
t
i
o
n

M
e
t
a
l

T
h
e
r
m
o
p
l
a
s
t
i
c
s

T
h
e
r
m
o
s
e
t
s

Solidification Process
Sand casting
Investment casting
Die casting
Injection moulding
Structural foam
moulding
Blow moulding (ext)
Blow moulding (inj)
Rotational moulding

Bulk Deformation Processes
Impact extrusion
Cold heating
Closed die forging
Powder metal parts
Hot extrusion
Rotatory swaging
Material Removal Processes
Machining (from stock)
ECM (electrochemical)
EDM (electrodischarge)
Profiling
Wire EDM
Sheet Forming Processing
Sheet metal
(stamp/bend)
Thermoforming
Metal Spining




Normal practice




Not applicable




Not common practice

Table 2: This table shows the shape generation capabilities of processes

















4.0 DISCUSSION
4.1 Selection of Part
We choose the earphone housing as the product part that we want to analyse. The
housing plays important part in the earphone to protect the wiring and the electronic in it.











4.2 shape attributes
Table 3: the shape attributes of an earphone shell.
Shape attributes Yes/no
Depression yes
Uniform wall yes
Uniform cross section no
Axis of rotation yes
Regular cross section yes
Captured cavity no
Enclosed cavity yes
No draft no

4.3 selection of process and material
Earphone housing is a mass production because it is only a small part and many part
must be create fast. The material use is usually ABS it is a kind of plastic that use for most of
the plastic product in the earth. This kind of material is classified into thermoplastic type.
Thermoplastic can be melted and recycle again so there is no waste when using this material.
The other thermoplastic that can be use is Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET). There are six
process that are capable to manufacture thermoplastic material that is injection moulding,
Structural foam moulding, extrusion blow moulding, injection blow moulding, rotational
moulding and thermoforming. The process has its advantage and disadvantage so we must
choose the suitable process that give the optimum quality and quantity.

The shape attributes from table 3 gives us that the earphone housing has depression,
uniform wall, axis of rotation, regular cross section, and enclosed cavity only two process
that can be used to manufacture housing of an earphone. The process that can be use are
extrusion blow moulding and rotational moulding. Both we can use the thermoplastic
material as a raw material as we can see from table 2.
Extrusion blow moulding is the process in which hollow plastic are made. Air is
blown into moulds to form items such as thermoplastic bottles, tubing and milk jugs. While
blow moulding allows factory to manufacture high volumes of plastic part. Blow moulding
machine is based on a standard extruder barrel and screw assembly to melt the polymer. The
molten polymer is led through a right angle and through a die to emerge as a hollow pipe
section called a parison. When the parison has reached a sufficient length a hollow mould is
closed around it. The mould mates closely at its bottom edge thus forming a seal. The parison
is cut at the top by a knife prior to the mould being moved sideways to a second position
where air is blown into the parison to inflate it to the shape of the mould. After a cooling
period the mould is opened and the final product is ejected. To speed production several
identical moulds may be fed in cycle by the same extruder unit.




Rotational blow moulding is a process to manufacturing hollow plastic products for
certain types of liquid vinyl, the term slush moulding is also used. Rotational moulding has
particular advantages in terms of relatively low levels of residual stresses and inexpensive
moulds. Rotational moulding also has few competitors for the production of large hollow
objects in one piece. Rotational moulding is best known for the manufacture of tanks but it
can also be used to make complex medical products, toys, leisure craft, and highly aesthetic
point-of-sale products. The principle of rotational moulding of plastics is simple. Basically
the process consists of introducing a known amount of plastic in powder, granular, or viscous
liquid form into a hollow shell-like mould. The mould is rotated and rocked about two
principal axes at relatively low speeds as it is heated so that the plastic enclosed in the mould
adheres and forms a monolithic layer against the mould surface. The mould rotation
continues during the cooling phase so that the plastic retains its desired shape as it solidifies.
When the plastic is sufficiently rigid, the cooling and mould rotation is stopped to allow the
removal of the plastic product from the mould.


When we select between the process we must consider the cost, quality of product and
the advantage or disadvantage of the process. Blow moulding would give faster rate of
production than rotational moulding because rotational moulding is a slow process. Then
when we compare the mould cost, rotational mould would give lower cost than blow
moulding because blow moulding need a extrution machine that is expensive. Rotational
moulding can make complex design but it will need a lot of time and time will increase the
cost of the part. Rotational moulding also need an additional additive must be added witch
pose as an additional cost.
From the what we discuss above it show that extrution blow moulding is more
convinient to produce earphone housing in a mass quantity. After the housing is made other
part will be assemble into the housing. Then the product will be tested and packed along the
assembly line. After that, the earphone will be sold to the market.



5.0 CONCLUSION
To choose a process we must consider these factor shape generation capability,
process capability, part requirements and material requirements need to be analyse. Other
than that, we also must consider the cost of the process which include the cost of the material,
equipment, tool, labour and other. The production rate also must be consider and also the
quality of the finish product.
Production of earphone housing used are based on the capability of the process to the
desired part and material. Production of earphone using extrusion blow moulding because it
can create the shape attributes and compatible with the product. The factor which also been
taken to choose the blow moulding process is because it is cheaper in mass production. The
rotational moulding also can be use but not for mass production.
In conclusion, there are many type of process that can make the earphone housing. So
we must choose the appropriate process that will maximise the quantity and quality but
minimise the cost and labour work.



6.0 REFERENCES
1. www.dmplastics.ca
2. www.hallamplastics.co.uk
3. http://industrialblowmolding.com/?page_id=22
4. http://www.conaplat.com.ar/pet/type_of_blow_moulding.htm