Engineering Materials

MEEN-1104(2)

Dr. Sana Ullah

Assistant Professor
Department of Physics
Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering & Information Technology
 Engineering Materials
Materials Selection
Selection of materials for a particular design depends on the profile of
properties of that material. Material properties limit their performance.
Performance of a design component does not normally depend on a
single property of material. Mostly it is a combination of properties that
matter.
This suggests the idea of plotting one property against another, mapping
out the fields in property space occupied by each material class and the
subfields occupied by individual materials.
Charts so obtained condense large information and reveal correlations
between material properties and become a tool in material selection.

(from Materials Selection in Mechanical Design: Michael F. Ashby) 2

 Engineering Materials
Materials Selection
Families of engineering
materials (for mechanical
design):

Members of a family have certain

features in common. Similar
processing routes, similar properties
and mostly similar applications.

(from Materials Selection in

Mechanical Design: Michael F.
Ashby)

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 Engineering Materials
Materials Selection
Metals:
Stiff with high elastic moduli.
Soft, easily deform, when pure.
Ductility remains even after alloying, treatments.
Yield before fracture.
Least resistant to corrosion.
Ceramics:
High modulus of elasticity but brittle.
Compression strength 15 times more than strength in tension.
No ductility so very low tolerance for stress concentration.
Retain strength at high temperatures and resist corrosion.
(from Materials Selection in Mechanical Design: Michael F. Ashby)
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 Engineering Materials
Materials Selection
Polymers:
Properties depend on temperature.
Elastic modulus 50 times lower than metals.
Strength per unit weight compete with metals.
Can creep, even at room temperature.
Easy to shape, resist corrosion, low coefficients of friction.
Elastomers:
Long chain polymers above glass transition temperature Tg.
Young’s modulus as low as 10-3 GPa, increase with temperature,
have enormous elastic extension.
Hybrids:
Combination of two or more materials in a predetermined
configuration and scale. Combine attractive properties and avoid
drawbacks. 5
 Engineering Materials
Materials Selection
Materials
information
for design:
Data with
known
precision
and
provenance
is
information.

(from Materials Selection in Mechanical Design: Michael F. Ashby) 6

 Engineering Materials
Material Property Charts: Materials Selection

Property
chart of
Young’s
modulus
for family of
engineering
materials:

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 Engineering Materials
Materials Selection
Conducting heat but
not electricity:
Which materials are both
good thermal conductors
and good electrical insulators
(an unusual combination)?
Use Figure 4.10 to find out.

Answer:
The chart identifies
aluminum nitride, alumina,
and silicon nitride as having
these properties. They are
the ones at the top right.

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 Engineering Materials
Materials Selection
Materials Selection-Basics:
Basic procedure for selection of material links material and
function. A material has attributes: its density, strength, cost,
resistance to corrosion, and so forth. A design demands a certain
profile of these: a low density, a high strength, a modest cost, and
resistance to sea water, perhaps. It is important to start with the full
menu of materials as options. The task of selection, stated in two
lines, is that of:
1. identifying the desired attribute profile, and then
2. comparing this with those of real engineering
materials to find the best match.
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 Engineering Materials
Materials Selection
Selection Strategy:
Material Attributes: Selection involves seeking
the best match between the property profiles
of the materials in the universe and the property
profile required by the design.
Selection Strategies: Selection of a product, i.e.,
a new car and selection of a material for visor for
a helmet.
Translation: Design requirements for a component
(what it must do) into a prescription for a material.

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 Engineering Materials
Materials Selection
Screening (attribute limits): Allows to eliminate materials that cannot do
the job. The component must be transparent imposes limits on optical
transparency.
Ranking (material indices):
Allows to put optimization
criteria found in material
indices: measures how well a
material performs. Maximizing
or minimizing a property
maximizes performance.
Documentation is detailed profile of each candidate which provides on
earlier uses of the material, failure analyses, prices, supplies, etc.
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 Engineering Materials
Materials Selection
Minimizing Mass: A design calls for a “tie” that must carry a tensile force “F*”
without failure and be as light as possible. The length “L” is specified but the
cross-section area “A” is not. Maximizing performance here means minimizing
the mass while still carrying the load F* safely.
Objective function: m=ALρ 5.1

A is area of cross-section, ρ is
density of material. The length L
and force F* are specified and fixed.
Area is free.
We can reduce mass reducing cross-
section BUT meeting constraint of
F*. 12
 Engineering Materials
Materials Selection
F*
“A” must be sufficient to carry “F*” which requires:  f 5.2 𝜎f
is failure strength
A
Eliminating “A” between 5.1 and 5.2: 
m  (F ) (L) ( )
*
5.3
f
Functional constraint Material property
Geometric constraint

The lightest tie that will carry F* safely is that made of the material with
smallest value of material property. This is “material index” of the problem,
seeking a minimum. For specific properties it is usual to express these in
form of seeking a maximum. We invert the material property in 5.3
The lightest rod that will carry F* without failing is that with the largest
value of this index, “specific strength”.
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 Engineering Materials
Materials Selection
Note the procedure. The length of the rod is specified but we are free to
choose the cross-section area A. The objective is to minimize its mass m.
We write an equation for m: It is the objective function. But there is a
constraint: The rod must carry the load F without yielding (in the first
example) or bending too much (in the second). Use this to eliminate the
free variable A and read off the combination of properties, M, to be
maximized. It sounds easy and it is, so long as you are clear from the
start what the constraints are, what you are trying to maximize or
minimize, which parameters are specified, and which are free.

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