Eduqas GCSE Design and Technology key terms

A list of the materials and components needed for a product, recording quantities and costs.

Joining sheets or pages so that they remain together in the intended sequence.

Able to be broken down by microorganisms. How quickly this happens depends on the material and the disposal conditions.

The variety of living organisms, including variation within species, between species and among ecosystems.

Plant or animal material used as an energy source, including wood and specially grown crops.

A textile incorporating technology that measures a wearer’s biological information, such as heart rate.

Using ideas from living things, such as their structures or ways of working, to help solve design problems.

A diagram using labelled boxes and arrows to show the functions of parts of a system and the direction of signals between them.

A process that makes a hollow plastic product by inflating a softened plastic tube inside a mould.

A threaded fastener normally used with a nut to clamp components together.

Using adhesive to attach a fabric to a supporting layer, improving its stability and strength.

An assembly of panels forming a box-like structure, such as a cabinet body.

A supporting member that limits movement or distortion in a structure, often by forming triangles.

A process that joins heated parent metals using a molten filler metal, without melting the parent metals.

The ability of a fabric to allow water vapour from perspiration to pass through it.

A thin protective layer that can be bonded to fabric to block liquid water while allowing water vapour to pass through.

Sideways deformation of a structure under compression, such as a thin card wall bowing under a downward load.

Deliberately giving a product a limited useful life to encourage customers to replace it.

A process that selectively destroys one fibre in a blended fabric, leaving the other fibre to form a patterned, finer structure.

A sharp raised edge left on metal after an operation such as cutting or drilling.

Computer-aided design: the use of software to create and modify drawings or models of a product.

A mechanical finishing process in which fabric passes through rollers that smooth and flatten its surface, increasing lustre.

Computer-aided manufacture: the use of computer-controlled equipment to make parts from digital instructions.

A component that stores electrical charge; charging or discharging it through a resistor provides a changing voltage for timing.

The total greenhouse gas emissions associated with an activity or product, usually expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent.

Adding carbon to the surface of low-carbon steel and hardening that surface, producing a hard outer layer around a tough core.

An enclosure that houses and protects a product’s internal components.