Material Selection

Yi-Hsiang Chang & Mileta Tomovic

School of Technology
 Outline
• Historical development of engineering materials
• Properties of engineering materials
• Interaction between part material and function,
process, and shape
• General practice of material selection

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 Objectives
Students will be able to
• Recall knowledge from their previous engineering
curriculums
• Understand the interaction between different
product design elements

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 The use of materials

• Ashby (2005) 4
 The evolution of engineering
materials
Things to pay attention
– Relative importance of different engineering materials
along the historical timeline
– The development of new materials due to the innovation
of chemical and material engineering
– The employment of various materials to respond to the
demands of new product designs and manufacturing
processes

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 Engineering materials
• Metals
– Steels, cast irons, al-alloys, cu-alloys, zn-alloys, ti- Metal
alloys
• Polymers
– PE, PP, PET, PC, PS, PEEK, PA (nylons), polysters,
phenolics, epoxies
Ceramic Polymer
• Ceramics
– Aluminas, silicon carbides, silicon nitrides, zirconias Hybrid

• Glasses
– Soda glass, borosilicate glass, silica glass, glass-
ceramics
• Elastomers Glasses Elastomer
– Isoprene, neoprene, butyl rubber, natural rubber,
silicones, EVA
• Hybrids
– Composites, sandwishes, segmented structures,
lattices, weaves

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 Critical material properties
Ashby (2005), Table 3.1
• General
• Mechanical
• Thermal
• Electrical
• Optical
• Eco-properties
• Environmental resistance
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 Material properties
• General
– Density, price
• Mechanical
– Elastic moduli (Young’s, shear, bulk), yield strength,
ultimate strength, compressive strength, failure strength,
hardness, elongation, fatigue endurance limit, fracture
toughness, loss coefficient (damping capacity)

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 Material properties
• Thermal
– Melting point, glass temperature, maximum/minimum
service temperature, thermal conductivity, specific heat,
thermal expansion coefficient, thermal shock resistance
• Electrical
– Electrical resistivity, dielectric constant, breakdown
potential, power factor

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 Material properties
• Optical
– Optical (transparent, translucent, opaque), Refractive
index
• Eco-properties
– Energy/kg to extract material, CO2/kg to extract material
• Environmental resistance
– Oxidation rates, corrosion rates, wear rate constant

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 Interaction in-between
The central problem of materials selection in mechanical
design – the interaction between four elements: function,
material, process, and shape (Ashby, 2005)
– Function: Dictates the choice of both material and shape
– Material: Influence the manufacturing process (its formability,
machinability, weldability, heat-treatability, etc.)
– Process: Interacts with shape (size, precision, and cost)
– Shape (macro-shape): Depends on the materials and combination of
processes

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 Parameters to define function
• Function/performance • Aesthetics
• Product cost • Transportation & packaging
• Delivery date • Personnel
• Quantity • Service life
• Environmental issues • Noise radiation
• Safety • Operating instructions
• Quality • Human factors
• Energy consumption • Health issues
• Reliability • Government regulations
• Maintenance • Shelf-life storage
• Mechanical loading • Operating costs
• Size & weight • Environmental conditions
• Spatial constraints (Thompson 1998) 12
 Constraint-driven design
• Design parameters can be either design objectives
(especially for engineering optimization) or design
constraints (limitations)
• A product design might have multiple objectives and
multiple constraints. Conflicting constraints can be
employed as penalty functions. (We might want to insert an
example or examples here.)
• To identify feasible solutions, either the analytical methods
or the graphical methods can be applied.
• More detail can be found in the problem identification and
problem solving PowerPoint file.
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 Material selection
• Major factor: Function
• Minor factor: Shape

Function
Material
Material families, classes,
sub-classes, and members
Shape
Material attributes

Material limits and indices

Process

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 Material selection strategy
Four steps (Ashby 2005)
All mate rials
• Translate design requirements
– Express as function, constraints,
Translate de sign re quire me nts
objectives and free variables
• Screen using constraints
Scre e n using constraints
– Eliminate materials that cannot do the job
• Rank using objective Rank using obje ctiv e

– Find the screened materials that do the

job best Se e k supporting information

• Seek supporting information

– Research the family history of top-ranked
Final mate rial choice
candidates
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 Example (Ashby 2005, 6.11)
• Design requirements of pressure vessels
– Function: Pressure vessel (contain pressure p safely)
– Constraints: Radius R specified
– Objective:
• Max safety using yield-before-break criterion, or
• Max safety using leak-before-break criterion
– Free variables: Choice of material

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 Pressure vessel example
• Want σ < σ f (yield strength of the wall)
• Use K1C as plain-strain fracture toughness
– The largest tolerable crake size
K1C (for the integrity of the
vessel) for a material: M 1 = σ
f

– The maximum pressure is carried

K12C most safely by the
M2 =
material: σf

– The thinnest wall of a material is that with the largest yield

strength: M3 =σ f

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Selection of materials
M2

M1

M3 18
 Ranking of materials
Material M1 M3 Comment

(MPa)

Stainless steel 0.35 300 Nuclear pressure vessels are made of grade 316 stainless steel

Low alloy steels 0.2 800 These are standard in this application

Hard drawn copper is used for small boilers and pressure vessels
Copper 0.5 200

Aluminum alloys 0.15 200 Pressure tanks of rockets are aluminum

Titanium alloys 0.13 800 Good for light pressure vessels, but expansive

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 Selection of processes
• Each process is characterized Function
by a set of attributes: The
materials it can handle, the
shapes it can make and their
precision, complexity, and size. M aterial Shape

• Process selection is to find the

best match between process Process
attributes and design
Attributes: Material, shape
requirements. and size

Minimum section thickness,

tolerance and roughness

Minim um section,
batch size, captal cost

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 Classifying processes
• Shaping
– Primary: Casting, molding, deformation, powder, and
special methods
– Secondary: machining, heat treatment
• Joining
– Adhesives, welding, fasteners
• Finishing
– Polish, coating, paint/print, texture
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 Classes of process
(Ashby 2005, Fig 7.11)

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 Process selection strategy
Four steps (Ashby 2005)
All proce sse s
• Translate design requirements
– Identify desired material class, shape
class and process attributes Translate de sign re quire me nts

• Screen using constraints

– Eliminate processes that cannot meet the Scre e n using constraints
translated design requirements
• Rank using objective Rank using obje ctiv e
– Order (a) by desired batch size, or (b) by
relative cost
Se e k supporting information
• Seek supporting information
– Research the family history of top-ranked
processes Final proce ss choice

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Process-material matrix
(Ashby 2005, Fig. 7-16)

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 Selection of shape
• Major factor: Function, process
• Minor factor: Material
Function
Shape
Shape factors for bending and
tw isting

Material Co-selection of material and

shape

Indices that include shape

Macro/micro shape factors

Process

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 Shape consideration
• Shape factors
– Spatial limitation
– Load consideration: Axial tension, bending, torsion, axial
compression
• Macro and micro shape factors
– Structural strength
– Internal/microscopic shape
• Limitations
– Empirical limitation
– Local bulking limitation

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Process-shape matrix

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 Reference
• Ashby, M. F. (2005). Materials selection in mechanical
design. (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Elsevier
• Thompson, B. S. (1998). Creative engineering design. (3rd
ed.). Okemos, MI: Okemos Press
• Juvinall, R. C., and Marshek, K. M. (2006). Fundamentals of
machine component design. (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John
Wiley & Sons

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 Additional Reading
• NAP (1995). Computer-aided materials selection during
structural design.
• Ashby, M. F. (1999). Materials selection in mechanical
design. (2nd ed.).
• CES Materials & Process Selectors (computer-aided
material and process selection) by Granta Material
Intelligence

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 Acknowledgments
The author wishes to acknowledge the support from
the Society for Manufacturing Engineers -
Education Foundation, SME-EF Grant #5004 for
“Curriculum Modules in Product Lifecycle
Management.”

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