RECYCLEABLE CHAIR RESPONSE TO LOAD (50kg)

Compiled by: Kagiso Fiona Manda Date of submission:25 October 2019

Contributing authors: 2129736,212933,1839206
ABSTRACT

The aim of the project was to investigate the response of recyclable materials to load. To
understand this, we were given a project to build a chair using recyclable materials like
boxes, wood, strings etc. The strength, rigidity and balance were tested using a 50 kg weight
to check if the object could withstand the weight. We therefore built a chair using boxes and
strings that had to be able to sustain a minimum weight of 50 kg, cover a minimum seating
area of 50 by 50 cm and must be 45 cm above ground.

1. INTRODUCTION

This report will cover the development of building a chair using recyclable materials. The co-
objective which is to decide on the type(s) of recyclable material to use that you think will be
best suited to withstand the weight of 50 kg when placed on top of it. The chair must be such
that it can support the load, have a proper foot and back support and the prototype must show
the learners creativity. This also helps us understand how materials transfer loads and respond
to stress. The inspiration behind our design was the ability of the boxes to have ultimate
tensile strength and fatigue strength hence we preferred using boxes and strings and not
materials like wood because it can bend and if we put the legs of the chair such that they were
a distance apart it was going to give it more advantage to bend instead of breaking.

2. BACKGROUND RESEARCH

Stress and strength are important parameters for engineers to understand. Stress is a measure
of how much force an object experiences per unit area, and strength is a material's ability to
withstand stress. When the stress exceeds the strength of a part, it fails. Engineers determine
where the stress will be the highest on an object so that part can be redesigned or reinforced.
Engineers also specify the materials that objects, and structures are made of, so that airplanes
can fly safely, wheels do not fall off automobiles, chairs support the weight of people, bridges
support the loads that travel them, and so on.
Compression occurs when something is being squeezed together. As with the general
discussion of stress above, compressive stress is created by forces spread over an area. For
example, as you sit in a chair, the legs of the chair are experiencing compressive stresses
because they are being squeezed between you and the floor. (Shigley and Mischke.
Mechanical Engineering Design. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2001).
3. METHODOLOGY

Figure1: Dimensional analysis of a chair

Figure2: Design of prototype of chair

 4. RESULTS
Length: 46cm
Breadth:50cm
Height: 56cm

𝑭
𝝈=
𝑨
where σ = stress
F = Force [Newtons or lbs]
A = Cross-sectional area [m2 or in2]
The seat and the legs of a chair were spread out and therefore had a larger diameter which
made it strong enough to withstand the force or the stress applied to it because they are
inversely proportional. The larger the diameter of the seat and legs of the chair, the harder it
is for it to break or collapse.

FREE-BODY DIAGRAM AND CHAIR REPRESENTATION

Figure3:Representation and explaination of parts of chair

 Figure4: Free-body diagram of chair

5. RECOMMENDATIONS AND ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

The design and manufacturing can be improved by making accurate measurements since
some were not. The most challenging aspect about designing and manufacturing the chair
was figuring out how to attach the seat and the backrest such that it is also strong to be like a
seat and support load. Hence, we strongly recommend that whenever you are designing a
chair you make it such that the seat and the backrest are already attached to each other or find
some other versatile and creative way to do it. But other than that, we strongly believe that
everything about our chair was proper and on point and we would recommend the design to
any other engineer to use it.

6. CONCLUSION

Using boxes as recyclable materials we observed the response of recyclable materials towards
load, the load was tested using a 50 kg load for strength and rigidity and it was able to
withstand the weight. The boxes we used had the ultimate tensile strength as predicted and
was able to bend without breaking when a force of mass was applied to it.

REFERENCES

1. Shigley and Mischke. Mechanical Engineering Design. New York, NY: McGraw-
Hill, 2001. (Last Reviewed: 02 July 2019)