Material Selection Charts

A Material Selection Chart is a diagram with one (or a combination) of material properties
plotted on each axis. It is a slice through a multi-dimensional material-property space.
Figure 3 illustrates the concept. It shows, schematically, a chart with Young's modulus and
density on the axes. The scales are logarithmic, and span a range so wide that all materials
are included.

Figure 3. A schematic Material Selection Chart. The axes are modulus E and density . The logarithmic scales allow
performance indices to be plotted as straight lines.

When data for a given material class such as metals are plotted on these axes, it is found
that they occupy a field which can be enclosed in a 'balloon'. Ceramics also occupy a field,
and so do polymers, elastomers, composites, and so on. The fields may overlap, but are
nonetheless distinct.

Almost always, further information can be plotted onto the diagram. The longitudinal wave
speed vl (essentially the speed of sound in the material) is plotted on figure 3:

(11
)

Because of the logarithmic scales, lines of constant wave speed form a family of parallel
lines of slope 1.

A more comprehensive E- chart is shown in figure 4. Individual materials or sub-classes, like

steels or polypropylenes (PP) appear as little 'bubbles' which define the range of the
property. All of the bubbles for one class of material are enclosed in a balloon: the metals-
balloon, the polymers-balloon, and so on.

Figure 4. A modulus-density chart illustrating the selection of materials with high values of M1 = E1/2/. Contours of
constant E1/2/ appear as a family of lines of slope 2. Materials with M1 greater than a chosen value can be identified.

A Material Selection Chart with E and as axes can immediately be used to identify the
subset of materials with the greatest value of M1 = E1/2/. Taking logs of both sides of
equation 10 gives:

(12
)

Each value of M1 therefore corresponds to a line on the chart with slope 2. The larger the
value of M1, the higher lies the line. A line corresponding to M1 = 5.5 GPa1/2/(Mg/m3) is shown
on figure 4. The materials which lie above it have exceptionally high values of M1. It can be
seen that woods, engineering composites and some ceramics are the best choices for a light
stiff beam with square cross-section. Why then, are light-weight structures, such as aircraft
frames no longer made of wood? The answer lies in the cross-section shape of the beam, as
illustrated in the following section.

Another example of a materials selection chart would be a plot of yield strength (failure
strength) y versus density which would allow selection of materials for light, strong
structures. Charts with axes which are combinations of properties (axes of E / and y / ,
for instance), or which measure relative corrosion resistance or wear resistance can also be
helpful. These and other charts can be found in references [1] and [2].
References

1. Ashby MF, "Materials Selection in Mechanical Design", 3rd edition, Elsevier

Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford, UK, 2005.

2. Ashby MF, 'On the engineering properties of materials.' Acta Metall., 37 pp 1273
1293, 1989.