Tactile and visual perception of injection moulded plastic parts: Tactile and visual perception

In today’s world the technical development have reached high levels in many products. This means that the technical specifications are not as high a competition factor as it has been. Therefore the visual appeal (aesthetics) and tactile perception (ergonomics) have become much more important in today’s products and are very important competition factors.

This is also the case for light switches which have been chosen as the object that this assignment with revolve around to exemplify the different plastic materials in use in our daily lives. In the light switch marked for traditional light switches the technology is almost the same for all manufactures and therefore the visual appeal is very important as a competition factor.

Traditional light switches have the button made from plastic material. It is this button that is imagined to be examined to find a plastic surface with a good visual appeal (aesthetics) and tactile perception (ergonomics). From this the following thesis has been created: What plastic material and surface texture gives the best combination of aesthetics and ergonomics in the use for buttons on light switches? Throughout the report this thesis will be examined in a number of ways including measuring of surface roughness, contact angle, gloss measurement and human perception.