SELECTION CRITERIA FOR A MATERIAL

TO BE USED IN PARTICULAR
APPLICATION.

Assignment by: JUGAL SINGH

2017UMP3545
MPAE -1

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INTRODUCTION
There are several situations during the life cycle of a product when a design team selects
a material to use for a component or a joint between components – new product
development, cost reduction, improve product performance and reliability, and improve
manufacturing or assembly yields. Regardless of the situation, the goals are the same –
find the lowest cost material that enables the product’s performance and reliability.
Material Selection is one of the foremost functions of effective engineering design as it
determines the reliability of the design in terms of industrial and economical aspects.

TYPES OF ENGINEERING MATERIALS

There are a wide variety of materials available, each with its own properties,
advantages, limitations and applications. They can be broadly classified as follows:

1) Metallic Materials
2) Polymeric Materials
3) Ceramics
4) Composites
5) Others (e.g. glass, wood, semiconductors, ...)

PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS
When selecting a material for a given application the material properties must satisfy the
function and the operating conditions of the component or the structure being designed.
The properties, which directly influence the choice of material, can be summarized
under the following categories:

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 Mechanical Properties:
e.g. stiffness, strength, ductility, hardness, toughness, etc.

 Physical Properties:
e.g. density, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, etc.

 Chemical Properties:
e.g. corrosion resistance in various environments.

 Manufacturing Properties:
e.g. formability, machinability, ease of joining, etc.
The functional requirements of a product are directly determined by the mechanical,
physical, chemical properties. However, for the product to be technically
manufacturable, the material must have the right manufacturing properties. For
example, a forged component requires a material with sufficient flowability without
cracking during forging, a cast component requires a material that flows readily in the
molten state and fills the mould and on solidification does not produce undesirable pores
and cracks.

MATERIAL SELECTION
Material selection involves a complex interaction between component function,
material, process, component shape and costs. Those who select materials should at
least have a broad and basic understanding of properties of materials and their
processing characteristics. The function of the component must be clearly defined in
order that the required mechanical properties may be identified. An ideal list of
requirements may be easy to arrive at, but a material and process to satisfy all of these
requirements is unlikely to exist and an appropriate compromise must be found. It is,
therefore, important to distinguish essential properties from desirable properties, those
that can be compromised in order to achieve the essential properties.
Material selection task requires a through and scientific approach and the following
major aspects need to be satisfied:

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1.Functional properties:
The correct combination of mechanical, physical and chemical properties to meet the
function and operating conditions of the component.

2.Manufacturing properties:
Processing or fabrication properties of the material for the conversion processes needed
to convert the material into required shape, such as ease of casting, forming, joining,
and machining.

3.Economics:
Cost of the material as well as cost of processing the material into required shape. As
part of overall economics, both availability and recycling aspect should also be taken
into account.
Material properties are often quoted independent of shape but in some cases geometry
can influence the response of a component with respect to stiffness and strength, to a
considerable degree.

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Functional properties
Functionality in the operating environment is generally a high priority for material
selection of components, especially when it comes to the long- and short-term safety
and reliability of the equipment. The following sections introduce some important
factors that must be considered in material selection for small, complex components.

Corrosion resistance.
Corrosion is a major concern that dictates material selection in many operating
environments. For example, chloride ions cause stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in
stainless steels, so a material like titanium is selected because of its chloride-resistant
properties. These factors are critical because corrosion in equipment can result in a
number of negative effects, including fires, explosions and both brittle and mechanical
failures, as well as the release of hazardous gases, liquids or vapors. Oxidation is
commonly observed in materials like the stainless-steel alloys. These metals naturally
form oxide layers for corrosion protection, which can cause uneven surfaces. This
occurrence requires passivation treatment to reduce the negative effects of these oxide
layers and to keep the surfaces smooth and free of imperfections that can cause
equipment failure.

Exposure to chemicals/location of use

Materials can have adverse reactions to chemicals in various environments.
Environmental chemical factors can include high acidity and the presence of oxygen or
aqueous solutions, or even harsh cleaning or sanitizing agents. Although the production
environment may be non-corrosive, the presence of these chemicals can cause materials
to react, so a designer should consider the risks when selecting materials.

Temperature resistance
The engineer should be aware that the mechanical limits of materials can be negatively
affected by high temperatures, potentially causing thermal failure or deformation.
Materials are also selected based on temperature resistance because the effect of
extreme temperatures on materials can cause increased corrosion rates. High-
temperature materials include iron-, nickel- and cobalt-based metal alloys.

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Elasticity/Stiffness
This is a measure of elastic deformation of a body under stress which is recovered when
the stress is released. The ratio of stress to strain in the elastic region is known as
stiffness or modulus of elasticity (Young’s Modulus). When the stress goes beyond the
elastic limit the material will no longer return completely to its original dimension.

Yield (or Proof Strength)

Stress needed to produce a specified amount of plastic or permanent deformation.
(Usually a 0.2 % change in length)

Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS)

The maximum stress a material can withstand before fracture.

The relastionship between stress and strain (load and

elongation)

The diagram shows the output from a tensile test. These tests are widely used for
determining machanical properties of materials. A standard test specimen is axially
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loaded. The load is increased at a uniform rate and the specimen elongates and finally
fractures. The load is recorded as well as the elongation. The results are usually plotted
as a stress/strain graph where
stress = load/original cross sectional area
strain = increase in length under load / original length
Properties such as yield, UTS and ductility as well as the stiffness are obtained from the
plot.

Ductility
The amount of plastic deformation that a material can withstand without fracture.

Hardness
The resistance to abrasion, deformation, scratching or to indentation by another
hard body. This property is important for wear resistant applications.

Toughness
This is commonly associated with impact loading. It is defined as the energy required to
fracture a unit volume of material. Generally, the combination of a high UTS and a high
ductility results in a higher toughness.

Fatigue Strength and Endurance Limit

Fatigue failure results from a repeated cyclic application of stress which may be below
the yield strength of the material. This is known to be the most common form of
mechanical failure of all engineering components. The number of stress cycles needed
to cause fatigue failure depends on the magnitude of the stress. Below a certain stress
level material does not fail regardless to the number of cycles. This is known as
endurance limit and is an important parameter in many design applications.

Creep Resistance
The plastic deformation of a material which occurs as a function of time when the
material is subjected to constant stress below its yield strength. For metals this is
associated with high temperature applications but polymers may exhibit creep at low
temperatures.

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Manufacturing properties
Manufacturing processes are the steps through which raw materials are transformed into
a product. The manufacturing processes can be broadly classified into three categories
viz. shaping, joining and finishing processes as shown schematically in Figure1. The
selection of a particular process from a wide range of choices for a given application
requires a hierarchical classification of the processes. For example, Figure 2 depicts
how the shaping family can be expanded in different classes such as casting,
deformation, moulding, composite and powder processing, and prototyping. Next,
moulding as a class can be enlarged into a number of member processes such as
compression, rotational, transfer, injection moulding, etc. Lastly, each member process
can be identified with a number of attributes, which would facilitate the selection of a
member process for a given material, dimension, level of requisite tolerances and so on.
Similarly, Figure 3 depicts how the joining and machining family can be expanded in
different classes and actual processes. A brief description of the three broad categories
of the manufacturing processes and the corresponding classifications are outlined in the
following.

Figure 1

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Figure 2

Figure 3

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Economics of Material Selection
A major factor in the materials-selection decision typically involves the initial cost of
the material, the ease of machining and repair and the availability of the material. Cost
influences the balance between materials and machining in the case of material grades.
For example, if an engineer chooses Inconel as the material for the product, the grade
affects the machining cost. Since Inconel 600 is much easier to machine than Inconel
718, the time and cost of machining can change considerably depending on which grade
is chosen. Figure 1 shows some threaded parts that are constructed of Inconel 718.
However, note that cost is usually secondary to the other considerations that involve
consistent and reliable operation of the part in its application.

Process of Selection
The problem of selection of an engineering material for a component usually begins
with setting up the target Function, Objective, Constraints, and Free Variables. The
Function refers to the task that the component is primarily expected to perform in
service – for example, support load, sustain pressure, transmit heat, etc. The Objective
refers to the target such as making the component functionally superior but cheap and
light. In other words, the Objective refers to what needs to be minimized or maximized.
The Constraints in the process of material selection are primarily geometrical or
functional in nature. For example, the length or cross-sectional area of a component may
be fixed. Similarly, the service conditions may demand a specific component to operate
at or beyond a critical temperature that will prohibit use of materials with low melting
temperature. The Free Variables refer to the available candidate materials.

Material Index
The Material Index (M) refers to an attribute (or a combination of attributes) that
characterizes the performance of a material for a given application. The material index
allows ranking of a set of engineering materials in order of performance for a given
application. Development of a Material Index (M) for an intended service includes the
following steps.

 Initial Screening of Engineering Materials.

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 Identification of Functions, Constrains, Objectives and Free Variables.
 Development of a Performance Equation.
 Use constraints to eliminate the free variable(s) from the performance equation and
develop the material index.
Rank a suitable set of materials based on the material index

ASHBY PROCESS
An Ashby plot, named for Michael Ashby of Cambridge University, is a scatter plot
which displays two or more properties of many materials or classes of materials.

 Every Material has an array of attributes: density, strength, stiffness, thermal

expansion coefficient, refractive index, cost etc.
 Design demands a profile - for example, low density, high strength, in addition to
a design objective of minimization cost, deflection etc.
 To begin with, you have to consider all materials.
 Apply property limits - that is maximum allowed limits of a property and reduce
the number of candidate materials: for example, eliminate materials that can not
work in the service temperature range.
 Use Performance Index/ Material Index to further reduce the set of materials

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Utilizing an "Ashby chart" is a common method for choosing the appropriate material.
First, three different sets of variables are identified:

 Material variables are the inherent properties of a material such as density,

modulus, yield stress, and many others.
 Free variables are quantities that can change during the loading cycle, for example,
applied force.
 Design variables are limits imposed on the design, such as how thick the beam can
be or how much it can deflect
Next, an equation for the performance index is derived. This equation numerically
quantifies how desirable the material will be for a specific situation. By convention, a
higher performance index denotes a better material. Lastly, the performance index is
plotted on the Ashby chart. Visual inspection reveals the most desirable material.

Ashby chart with performance indices plotted for

maximum result

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PERFORMANCE INDEX
The performance, p, of a component is measured by a performance equation. The
performance equation contains groups of material properties. These groups are the
material indices. Sometimes the "group" is a single property; thus if the performance of
a beam is measured by its stiffness, the performance equation contains only one
property, the elastic modulus E. It is the material index for this problem. More
commonly the performance equation contains a group of two or more properties.
Familiar examples are the specific stiffness, E/ρ, and the specific strength, σy/ρ, (where
E is Young's modulus, σy is the yield strength or elastic limit, and ρ is the density), but
there are many others. They are a key to the optimal selection of materials.

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Methods to determine
Manufacturing process:
Process-Material matrix:
The processes are also broadly classified as shaping, joining and finishing. The dot
indicates that the pair of the material and the process is compatible. For example, sand
casting or die casting process cannot be used for processing of composite materials.
Thus, an initial screening of processes for a given material can be easily performed.
Process–Material matrix with the dot indicating a compatibility between the material
and the corresponding manufacturing process.

Process-Shape matrix:
Various manufacturing processes are capable of making these shapes. For example, a
typical turning operation creates axisymmetric shapes while extrusion, drawing and
rolling make prismatic shapes – both circular and non-circular. The sheet forming
processes can make flat or dished shapes. Certain manufacturing processes can make
three-dimensional shapes. Often a single process is unable to give the final shape of a
product and it is necessary to combine two or more processes.

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Process-Mass bar-chart:
Large components can be built up by joining smaller ones. It can be that sand casting
process, for example, is capable of producing large component while die casting or
investment casting processes can make relatively smaller sized parts.

Process-Section thickness bar-chart:

The selection of a manufacturing process also depends on the section thickness of the
part to be made. Each process has its limit over the range of the section thickness, which
it can produce. For example, surface tension and the typical nature of heat flow limit the
minimum section and slenderness of gravity-die cast shapes. Bulk deformation
processes cover a wider range of section thickness. Limits on forging pressures also set
a lower limit on the section thickness and slenderness that can be forged. Powder
forming methods are more limited in the section thicknesses they can create, but they
can be used for ceramics and very hard metals that cannot be shaped in other ways.
Special techniques such as electro-forming, plasma spraying allow manufacturing of
slender shapes

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Process – Dimensional Tolerance bar-charts:
Tolerance and surface roughness that a specific manufacturing process can provide is an
important characteristic. Manufacturing processes vary in the levels of tolerance and
roughness they can achieve economically. For example, die casting process with the
permanent metallic dies can give better surface finish compared to the same achievable
in sand casting. Machining is capable of delivering high dimensional accuracy and
surface finish when the process parameters are controlled properly. Grinding can be
adopted to achieve very high tolerance while such precision and finishing operations are
generally expensive.

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REFERENCES
1. https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/globalcontent/courses/ebm/mant/material/
2. https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/globalcontent/courses/ebm/mant/materials
/properties_of_materials/
3. https://www.slideshare.net/marcelmalenfant/5material-selection-criteria
4. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/materials-science/selection-of-material-
process
5. https://www.imetllc.com/training-article/materials-selection-great-products-
overview/
6. https://www.brighthubengineering.com/machine-design/55560-basic-facts-to-
consider-when-selecting-a-material-for-a-particular-design/
7. https://nptel.ac.in/courses/112104122/26
8. https://nptel.ac.in/courses/112101005/downloads/Module_3_Lecture_8_final.p
df
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Material_selection
10. https://nptel.ac.in/courses/112101005/5
11.http://chamilo2.grenet.fr/inp/courses/PHELMAA3SIM5PMMSEL0/document/us
eful_documents/performance_index.pdf

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