Materials Science and Engineering: Chapter 10. Materials Selection for Engineering Design

This chapter describes a systematic methodology for optimized materials selection and informatics to support it. The starting point is a set of technical requirements for component or subsystem. These are translated into a set of limits or target values for material properties or property combinations (“material indices”). It is then possible – given a comprehensive database of appropriate materials and their properties – to screen materials against these criteria, rank the remaining materials by their ability to maximize a target value of one or more indices, and finally draw in other associated documentation to make an optimally informed decision. The reasoning is made transparent by displaying the steps and the materials that pass and fail the screening steps on material property charts that present materials on axes of their properties or of the material indices. The full decision-making history can be captured and stored for traceability and future reference. We give examples of selecting materials to minimize the mass and cost for ties, panels, and beams. The method applies equally when the design objective is to minimize environmental impact or other criteria. Beyond this, the methodology can drive development of new materials that fill “holes” in property space. The chapter concludes with an example focusing on new lightweight hybrid materials.