Materials are categorized into a tree.
In computerized selection software, materials are stored in the above structure.
Selection process
Section titled “Selection process”Seeking the best match between design requirements and property profiles of materials. Has 4 main steps.
Translation
Section titled “Translation”Identification of requirements. The requirements include:
- Function - what does it have to do?
- Constraints - what non-negotiable conditions must be bet?
- Objective - what is to be maximized or minimized?
- Free variables - what parameters of the problem are free to be changed?
Screening
Section titled “Screening”Eliminating materials that do not meet the constraints.
Ranking
Section titled “Ranking”Materials are ranked according to certain criteria involving multiple dimensions. Done based on objectives.
Material index
Section titled “Material index”Property of property group that maximizes performance for a given design.
Supporting information
Section titled “Supporting information”A few materials are filtered through the above steps. After this, additional information (such as listed below) are considered to choose one.
- Price
- Availability