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ASM INTERNATIONAL
Materials, Bicycles, and Design
M.F. ASHBY
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Fig. 1 The design process, with design tools on the left and material and
\
process selection on the right. In the early stages, the emphasis is on
breadth; in the later stages, it is on precision.
(Concept modeler)
Function modeler
Material
1I
3-D solid modeler Product
"t" and =
FEM ... Simulate ...Optimize Specification
Process
8
DFA ... DFM ... Selector
Rapid prototyp~ng
/ .... 1
timized geometry can be passed to numerically controlled
: ~ 7 _ . _ _ = machining, pattern-making, or prototyping equipment. Un-
Fig. 2 (a) through (d) Concepts for man-powered transport. der development are function modelers which exploit in-
tbrmation about thc function of a component or assembly
(rather than merely its shape) to generate and scale geo-
metric models and suggest assemblies. On the horizon are
concept modelers, using associative logic to suggest new
conceptual solutions to problems. Increasingly, these tools
are interfaced to allow concurrent rather than sequential de-
sign, minimizing development time and allowing the de-
signer to make changes in shape or configuration and to
watch the consequences of the changes cascade through the
chain of linked tools.
Material and process selection (Figure 1, right-hand col-
umns) have failed to keep pace with these developments.
They appear in the "sequential" position of the second box
Fig. 3 - - A n embodiment of the concept in Fig. 2(d).
of Figure 5. New designs generally make use of materials
and processes already familiar to the designer. Could not
Analysis and development of a function structure (mode their selection be integrated into the design framework? To
of propulsion and mechanisms of motion, steering, braking, answer this, it is valuable to examine first the causes of
etc.) lead to a sophisticated embodiment (Figure 3). Optim- their separation. Look for a moment, then, at the design
ization of frame shape and section, bearings, gearing, and history of the bicycle.
other critical components leads ultimately to a three-dimen-
sional geometric model, fully dimensioned, for each com-
ponent; in total, a detailed specification (Figure 4). IlL THE DESIGN HISTORY OF THE BICYCLE
Sophisticated tools are available to the designer to help
with these tasks (extreme left column of Figure 1, and Fig- You could fill a small library with writings about the
ure 5). Shape is captured by 3-dimensional solid-modeling bicycle (a selection is listed as References 7 through 13).
tools which allow perspectives, projections, elevations, and As an example of design, the bicycle is a happy choice:
sections to be explored and which interface directly with today the bicycle is almost exactly 200 years old and en-
finite element, optimization, and simulation codes; the op- joying its second great peak of popularity. The hobby
horse---our concept in Figure 2(d)--was first in general use to ask: can all these materials be equally good for making
around 1795. By 1815, it had acquired steering, the inven- bicycles? But before delving into that, we should examine
tion of a German--the Count von Draise--with the quite what can be learned from this history.
unexpected additional benefit that one could now balance The most obvious lesson is this: technical development
on a moving bicycle. By 1838, pedals--<lirect power to the comes first and innovation in the use of materials follows
front wheel--had been added, devised, according to the later. Understandable. If you are a designer struggling to
French, by a Frenchman, Pierre Michanx. Thereafter (Fig- devise concepts, develop embodiments, analyze detail, and
ure 6), new concepts and their technical development fol- plan product manufacture, you choose materials you know.
lowed rapidly. The ball bearing, the spoked wheel, the Unfamiliar materials carry risks: a program to develop a
tubular frame, the chain drive, the free wheel, gears and new material carries heavy risks. But the sequence we see
differentials, and finally, in about 1890, Dnnlop's pneu- here, though understandable, is undesirable. A design, once
matic tire were all invented for the bicycle. By 1895, the frozen, constrains the use of materials; the potential of a
bicycle had acquired the form and functionality of the bi- new material may never then be realized.
cycle of today: it had a diamond frame, pedal power, chain An example is as follows. The standard bicycle frame is
drive, and pneumatic tires; in technical specification, there made of 1-in. tubing. An accessory industry has grown tip
is nothing to distinguish today's bicycle from that one. And around this dimension: all the things you clip, clamp, or
the perfection, so to speak, of the bicycle, was not the only screw onto bicycle frames are designed for 1-in. tubes. An
outcome of this remarkable burst of technical innovation. innovative designer seeking to employ a new material is
It created the infrastructure necessary for the development under pressure to retain this tube diameter: failure to do so
both of the automobile and the airplane: Henry Ford and divorces the new design from all the accessories available
the Wright brothers--among others--were bicycle builders to the old one. Yet the constraint of 1-in. tubing m a y - -
before they moved on to larger and (for the Wright broth- indeed does--prevent the most effective use of many al-
ers, at least) higher things. ternative materials, as we shall see subsequently. So we
The automobile all but killed the bicycle. Between 1900 return to the question: can materials selection be integrated
and 1950, the bicycle's popularity declined, and there was into the design process? We need a design-led materials
little incentive to develop it further. Indeed, it is arguable selection procedure.
that in the 100 years that have elapsed since 1895, there
have been no conceptual or technical developments in the
IV. DESIGN-LED M A T E R I A L S S E L E C T I O N
bicycle that remotely compare in their importance with the
invention of steering, of pedal power, of the chain drive, The essentials of a design-led materials selection sys-
or of the pneumatic tire. Yet, we live today in what is the tem E~4,I5~are sketched in Figure 7. Its inputs are design re-
second great era of the bicycle: and the innovation, this quirements: function, constraints, and objectives. Function
time, is materials. Since 1950, the conventional materials defines the purpose of the component: to carry bending mo-
of which bicycles were made--wood, iron, and mild ments, to transmit heat, etc. Constraints are conditions that
steel--have been replaced by a portfolio of newer materi- must be met in performing the function: first, functional
als, many of them derived from the aerospace industry that constraints such as a limit on elastic deflection or the re-
was itself first nucleated by the bicycle: low-alloy steels quirement that the component does not fail; and second,
(now the bike industry standard), filled polymers, alloys of geometric constraints which prescribe certain dimensions.
aluminum, magnesium, and titanium, and--most recently-- The objective describes the quantity to be minimized or
advanced composites. Surveying this range, one is tempted maximized: the weight, the cost, the life, etc.
iMPACT
Translator [
(materialindices)
Bending Torsion
Material Fig. 9 - - T h e loading on the bicycle frame: (a) bending and (h) torsionJ TM
Selector
M M
m
log E = log p + log C [9]
= O [41
L r defines a family of straight parallel lines of slope 1, one
line for each value of the constant C. The condition
The lightest tube which performs the function and meets
the constraints is therefore that made from the material with EI/2
=C
the greatest value of the compound property or "index." P
defines another set with slope 2. We want the subset of
M~ = - - [5] materials with the largest values of C; the appropriate fam-
P ily of lines identifies these. The indices give a method for
A change of function, objective, or constraints changes the optimal selection. Any one of the indices given previously
index. If the function were transmission of heat rather than (and there are many more) can be used in this way, plotting
mechanical load, thermal conductivity would appear in it on the appropriate slice through property space. We shall
place of endurance limit. If the objective were to minimize call these slices "material selection charts."
cost rather than weight, the density p would be replaced by Figure 11 is a planar slice. We learn more if we examine
Cmp, where C~, is the cost per kilogram of the material. nonplanar slices. Figure 12 shows the idea. If each of the
More relevant here, if the first constraint is that of stiffness axes of the chart is not made up of simple properties but
rather than strength, is that the index (derived in a similar instead functions of two or more of them, then the chart
way) becomes projects a curved surface through the space, again inter-
secting the material blobs, as shown. And if the functions
E we choose are themselves indices, the procedure allows se-
M2 = - [6] lection of materials which maximize two different indices
P
at the same time. As an example, if the two indices M 3 and
And if the second constraint--that of fixed tube radius--is M4 (Eqs. [7] and [8]) are chosen, then the materials which
relaxed and replaced by that of fixed tube shape (r/t fixed) lie near the top right of Figure 12 are those which have
then--reiterating the derivation--the index for strength be- large values of both. In the examples which follow, we
comes have used curved sections to make the selections.
Ore2/3
M3 - [7] C. Selection of Materials for Bicycle Frames
P
The method is best illustrated by example. The standard
and that for stiffness becomes bike made of the standard material (steel) has 1-in. tubes.
531
CFRPs (and wood, too) are outstanding by both criteria;
only the problem of joining has to be overcome to exploit
~ 40
6 -EL them fully.
"-7 Mg ALLOYS ,, A[ALLOYS-~"~ I
g 1 U
~ 2o POLYMERS At ALLOYS
I
~I
STEELS
L_J
V. COMPUTER-AIDED MATERIAL SELECTION
2~ J3 2" 2.~ 2'6 2.7
All this is perfectly practical.tt~J,,} Focus for a moment
[
lo.
t 111
), ' 6 8 lo z
I0 I I L
~o 60 80 too
i I I
zoo on Figure 14 (the materials charts for fixed shape) and the
PROPERTY GROUP E/# (GPo/Mg.m "3) light alloys it contains. Figure 15 is the output of a com-
puter-based selection system [a6] which implements the pro-
Fig. 13 A selection chart for strength and stiffness, with fixed tube cedure I have described here. The figure shows the same
radius, r, but tube wall thickness free.
curved slice through property space. Data, in this instance,
were drawn from a database for light alloys, so steel wood
Accessories fit this frame size, so there is an incentive--as and CFRP are not there, but otherwise, it looks very much
already mentioned--to retain it. With this constraint, what like the previous figure. The large ovals span the range of
gain in performance, in the sense of strength and stiffness properties of each alloy class: aluminum, magnesium, tita-
per unit weight, do alternative materials offer? Figure 8 nium, and beryllium. The smaller bubbles within them de-
tabulates the indices. The second column gives those for scribe individual alloys, in specified states of heat
fixed tube radius--they are the indices MI and M2 derived treatment; some of those relevant to the bicycle frame are
in Section A. labeled. The software allows selection lines to be con-
Imagine, now, a database of material properties contain- structed, isolating subsets of materials with attractive values
ing information about the materials that are, or could be, of both indices, and weighted, if desired, in the direction
used for bicycle frames. From it, we call the simple prop- of strength or the direction of stiffness. This subset can then
erties E, O-e, and p. With these, we form the compound be passed to further selection stages in which other con-
properties in the second column of Figure 8 and plot them straints (adequate toughness, availability in tubular form,
as a material selection chart. Figure 13 shows the result. weldability, etc.) can be applied, identifying the small set
The horizontal axis shows specific stiffness, and the vertical of materials which satisfy all the design requirements. More
one gives specific fatigue strength. Polymers and short-fiber important, the method can be integrated into the design
composites lie to the lower left; they are poor by both cri- framework. The inputs, as we have seen, are design spec-
teria. Continuous carbon-fiber composites (CFRPs) lie ifications: function, constraints, and objectives. The output
toward the upper right, good by both criteria. Metals-- is a short list of candidate materials, with property data
gI. CONCLUSIONS
There is evidence that in mechanical design, technical
Fig. 15--The output of a computer-aided selection system for a fixed tube innovation precedes innovation in material and process.
shape when weight is to be minimized.
While this is understandable, it is undesirable; when a new
material is introduced into an already detailed design, its
potential may never be fully realized.
which can be passed to downstream tools for simulation, The computer has greatly changed the design world. So-
finite element analysis, etc. Properly integrated for other phisticated tools exist to capture function and geometry; to
design tools, the designer could select any one of these simulate, model, and analyze; to optimize, both for me-
candidates and watch the consequence of the choice cas- chanical performance and manufacturability; and more. No
cade through the linked chain of design tools and, if the such tools exist for the selection of materials and processes,
results are unsatisfactory, could pick an alternative candi- with the result that their selection is poorly integrated into
date and follow the consequences again. the design stream. There is, today, a sense that the achieve-
We have limited ourselves thus far to the performance- ments of material science have outstripped the ability o f the
related objective of minimizing weight. Suppose, as a final engineer to apply them; and this divergence relates, at least
example, material cost rather than weight was the objective, in part, to the problem we have just defined: the inability
then, drawn from the same database, the appropriate slice of the designer to explore the potential of altemative ma-
through property space is created, as shown in Figure 16. terials in his design. A strategy is needed to deal with it.
The vertical axis is The outlines of a design-led materials selection system