MATERIALS SELECTION

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION

Chapter One

Introduction

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION
Introduction

Materials selection is an important part of a larger process of creating
new solutions to problems. This larger process is called “Engineering
Design”

Design of engineering components is limited by the available

materials, and new designs are made possible by new materials

To see how important is the material selection in the design, consider

the definition of “engineering” used by ABET in the U.S.A

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION

”Engineering is the profession in which knowledge

of the mathematical and natural sciences gained
by study, experience, and practice is applied with
judgement to develop ways to utilise,
economically, the materials and forces of nature
for the benefit of mankind”
mankind

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION
Factors Influencing Materials Selection

Issues include

Properties
Cost analysis

 Physical & Mechanical  Availability
 Materials life &
maintenance

Manufacturing
considerations

Environmental issues
 Castability / formability
 Ergonomic & safety
 Machinability / Coatability
 Recycling
 Heat treatment / Weldability
 Failure & repairability

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION
Why do we need to select a new Material ?
1. When the product is new (never produced before), the decision to
select a new material is obvious

2. With existing products (Material Substitution), selecting a new material

is due to the following:

Reduce material cost

Reduce production cost

Accommodate some changes in function

Solve some material processing problems

Take advantage of new materials or processing methods

Incorporate failure analysis recommendations

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION

Which Material ?

? Cu alloys ? Steel
Wrought Alloys
Ceramics Metals
Al alloys
Engineering
? Materials ?
Cast Alloys
2000 series
Polymers Composites 3000 series
4000 series
5000 series
Natural Mats 6000 series
7000 series

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION
Why do we need Material Selection?

Mechanical design creates

products to meet functional Function
needs

The design process is limited by

materials capabilities Casting Materials
Process Attributes: Physical
Extrusion Mechanical, Economic,

The type of material affects: Thermal, Electrical,
Environmental

Processing method Sheet

Shape attained (available) Shape
3-D

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION

Source: A. F. Ashby, “Materials

Selection in Mechanical Design”

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION
The Design Process

Engineering design is the process of devising a system, component,
or process to meet desired needs

The design process consists of several steps, each has certain

characteristics and certain tasks to be performed:

Recongnising a need (problem)

Defining the problem

Establishing specifications

Gathering information

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION
The Design Process

Generating concept solutions

Material selection usually occurs at this stage

Analysis and optimisation
Preliminary layout of design
Detail design

Evaluation

Presenting results

Approval and release for manufacturing

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION
Types of Design

1. Original Design

New idea (from scratch)

2. Development Design

Improvements of existing product

Cars, consumer products (mobile phones, cameras etc…)

3. Variant Design

Change in scale or dimensions without changing the function

e.g; desktop PC to laptop computer

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION

Mechanical Engineering Materials Engineering

Increasing complexity Increasing details

Source: M. F. Ashby, “Materials

Selection in Mechanical Design”

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION

MATERIALS DATA IN THE DESIGN PROCESS

SPECIFIC
ALL MATERIALS SHORT LIST MATERIALS

ROUGH DATA ACCURATE DATA

METALS,
STEEL,
CERAMICS, Cast Al alloy 356
ALUMINIUM,
POLYMERS,
TITANIUM, T6 condition
COMPOSITES
COPPER

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION
1. The clarification of the need involves analysing and clearly
stating the problem

The designer collects and writes down all:

Requirements

Constraints

The standards to be adhered to

The projected date of completion of the design

2. The objective of the conceptual design is to generate possible

solutions, methods to solve the problem
All ideas are accepted and evaluated according to their merits

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION

• In this stage, all information and previous knowledge are put together
so that a proper decision can be made

• Information and knowledge include:

Engineering science principles

Previous experiences

Production methods

Costs

• The output of this stage should be two or three solutions that have the
greatest chance of achieving the desired objective

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION
3. Embodiment design embodies and evaluate the two or three
conceptual solutions selected in greater detail and makes a final
choice

• The output of this stage should be drawings, specifications and

compliance to the needs of specifications of the product

4. The detail design stage considers all the large number of small but
important details to manufacture the product

• The work done at this stage must be of very high quality, otherwise
delays, higher costs and failure may occur

• The output of this stage is a set of:

Very detailed drawings and

Final specifications including: tolerance, precision, joining methods, finishing

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION
• When selecting materials, current engineering designers choose to
meet three general criteria:

1. Property profile
 Mechanical properties factor
 Life of component factors

2. Processing profile
 Physical factors
 Processing factors
 Cost / availability

3. Environment
 Codes, statutory and other factors

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION
• The selection of the material is done with all 3 criteria considered at the
same time with the PERFORMANCE & COST as the most important
factor

1. Properties profile
• Material selection based on properties profile is the process of
matching the numerical values of the properties of the material to the
requirements and constraints

2. Processing profile:
• Material selection based on processing profile is aimed at identifying
the process that will form the material into the desired final shape
including joining and finishing at the minimum cost

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION

3. Environmental profile:

• Relates to the impact of the material (its manufacture, use, reuse and
disposal) on the environment. This added constraint increases the cost
of the product

• Designing for the environment is an excellent philosophy because it

can be a good marketing tool to environment conscious customers

• Assessment of the impact of materials on the environment is done by

several approaches. The most popular is the “life-cycle analysis” or
“LCA”

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION
• Selecting a material is a difficult task due to:

1. Large number of materials available

2. Large number of processes available
3. Complex relationship between selection parameters

The problem of material selection is further made difficult by:

1. Insufficient and inaccurate property data

2. Multiple constraints

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION

• To realise the full potential of a new material the product must be

redesigned to exploit both the properties and the manufacturing
characteristics of the material.

• The essence of materials selection process is not that one material

compete against another, rather, it is that the processes associated with
the production or fabrication of one material compete with the
processes associated with the other.

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION

• Several quantitative selection procedures have been developed to

analyse the large amount of data in the selection process

• No single correct solution: Material selection requires

1. Consideration of conflicting advantages & limitations

2. Compromise and trade-off

• Similar parts which perform similar functions are produced by different

manufacturers, from different materials and different manufacturing
processes

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION
Initial Screening of Materials (new product)

• Answer questions on the nature of product, its function etc.

• Need to specify Performance Requirements
• Outline Materials Performance and Processing Requirements
• Certain materials will be eliminated and other short become candidates

1. Analysis of Materials Performance Requirements

Can be divided into five categories:

1. Functional Requirements (Materials Properties)

2. Processability Requirements

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION

3. Cost & Availability

4. Reliability
5. Resistance to Service Conditions (environment)

2. Classification of Materials Requirements

Materials Properties can be:

Quantitative or Qualitative

Essential (strength, toughness) or Desirable (processability,

weight, corrosion, reliability)

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION

Some of the methods used to classify the functional requirements
include:
1. Limit on Materials Properties

Rigid or “go – no – go” requirements (non-negotiable)

Soft requirements (negotiable)

2. Cost per Unit Property

3. Ashby’s Method (selection charts)

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION

Materials Selection Chart

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION

3. Development of alternative solutions

Search for the material(s) that best meet the requirement elected in the
previous stage

Selection from alternative solutions requires decisions. Experience and

judgment are sufficient to permit a sound decision without a formal
process
1. This is true when a candidate material possess some outstanding
characteristics or all except one has some serious deficiency

2. When there is no obvious choice, a formal process or procedure

can be used. At the end of this stage, the number of candidate
materials is narrowed down

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION

4. Evaluation of alternative materials

Having narrowed down the number of possible materials to those

that satisfy the rigid requirement, the search starts for the
material(s) that best meet the soft requirements

Several quantitative methods can be used to further narrow the

field of possible materials and matching processes to a few
optimum candidates.

Each candidate material must at least minimally satisfy all the

requirements.

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION

• However, it is also more likely that each material will possess some
characteristics that exceed the minimum requirements.

• Therefore, a formal method for rating how well each material meets
the requirements is needed because some requirements are more
important than others.

One of these methods is the “weighted Properties Method”

• Greater weight should be given to the more important requirement.

• Often, the properties we are comparing cannot be placed on
comparable terms.

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION

Another example. Weight is 4 times as important as strength, strength is 4

times as important as cost, corrosion is 2 /3 the importance of strength, etc

Weighting of attributes
Property 1/2 1/3 1/4 1/5 ratio weight

Strength 1 20 60 50 80 1.0 .14

Density 2 80 4.0 .58
Corrosion 3 40 0.66 .10
Colour 4 50 1.0 .14
Cost 5 20 .25 .04

Total 6.91 1.00

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005

 MATERIALS SELECTION

5. Decisions

• Selecting a material from among alternatives requires decisions

• Sometimes experience and judgment are sufficient to make a sound

decision without a formal process. This is true when a candidate
material possesses outstanding characteristics, or

• All except one material has serious deficiency

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Ali Ourdjini, UTM - 2005