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Sahithyan's S1 -- Properties of Materials

Selection of Materials

Materials are categorized into a tree.

Classification of Materials

In computerized selection software, materials are stored in the above structure.

Selection process

Seeking the best match between design requirements and property profiles of materials. Has 4 main steps.

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

Eliminating materials that do not meet the constraints.

Ranking

Materials are ranked according to certain criteria involving multiple dimensions. Done based on objectives.

Material index

Property of property group that maximizes performance for a given design.

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