Materials Selection in Engineering Design and Manufacturing

– Concept of an Information Processing Approach

Moses Frank Oduori, Ph.D.,

Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering,
University of Nairobi, P.O. Box 30197, Nairobi, KENYA. Email: foduori@uonbi.ac.ke
and mfwedida@yahoo.com

In its essence, the materials selection process, which is a critical task in modern
engineering design and manufacturing, is regarded to be an information processing
routine. The engineering design process, including the selection of materials in design,
is regarded to be a decision making process in which choices are made from among the
available alternatives. Development of a materials selection process, or materials
selection processes, based on the principles of decision theory and information
processing is called for. The process or processes so developed should be implemented
on digital computer to take advantage of the computer’s immense capacity for
information processing. This would comprise an important component of computer-
aided engineering.

1. INTRODUCTION
All manufactured products, constructed structures, and infrastructure, everything from
toys, domestic utensils, and furniture, to agricultural, commercial, and industrial
machines, to roads, bridges, and dams, is made of material. Therefore, at some point in
the process of engineering design, decisions have to be made as to which materials and
what processes will be used in order to realize the product. The importance of materials
to mankind is perhaps best underscored by the fact that epochal eras in civilization have
been identified by the materials that were then in prevalent use. The bronze age, the iron
age, and the stone age are examples of this practice.

The engineering profession may be defined as “the art and science of harnessing the
information, materials and energy resources that occur in nature, for the benefit of
mankind.” Moreover, on a little reflection, it should be evident that the basic ingredients
of any technology are energy, information, and materials. Materials, therefore, must be
of great interest to the engineer. The engineers’ interest in materials may be attracted to
diverse aspects such as The Materials Science Aspect, and The Materials Management
Aspect. However, to design and manufacturing engineers, it is The Materials Selection
Aspect that should be of most interest. Until recently, this particular aspect has often not
been adequately addressed in the common literature on engineering design and
manufacturing.
2. THE EVOLUTION OF DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING
Design is the first step in manufacturing. Design and manufacturing probably evolved as
inevitable aspects of our lives, which arose from the need for us to make life more
comfortable and to meet the challenges that came our way. We had to make defensive
and offensive weapons such as shields, arrows, bows and spears. We had to make
working tools such as digging hoes. We also had to make clothing, shelter, and other
things that we needed. To make all these things called for the selection of materials from
available alternatives. Even without the scientific knowledge of materials and their
properties, our ancestors were still able to make sufficiently good choices and to improve
on them. Present day designs too must be continually improved.

One aspect of life that has brought about great improvements in design and
manufacturing is transportation. Among the earliest applications of that great invention,
the wheel, were probably those in materials handling and transportation. Ancient
Egyptians first used rafts for floating devices. Later on, they made dug-out canoes.
Improvements in the design and manufacture of equipment for transportation on water
continued, culminating in today’s cruise ships. On land, on water and eventually in the
air, improvements in the designs of transportation machines led to the development of
present day sophisticated devices such as the various kinds of high-speed engines and
space-going vehicles.

3. ENGINEERING DESIGN AS A DECISION MAKING PROCESS

Decision making – the choice of appropriate courses of action from among the available
alternatives – is implicit in all engineering design activities. Simply stated, the major
objective of engineering design is to realize products that will be satisfactory. To meet
this objective requires the manufacture of products with the required geometrical form
and precision, from selected materials that will be optimum for the product’s service
environment. It therefore follows that among the major decisions to be made during the
design process will be decisions that fall into the following three basic categories:
• Decisions that are concerned with the geometry of components and mechanisms.
These are often more creative than selective.
• Decisions that are concerned with the materials of construction. These are largely
selective.
• Decisions that are concerned with production processes. These too are largely
selective.

The above three categories of design decisions are not entirely independent of each other.
Consider the following examples:
• The components of a table to be made of wood would be machined (cut) and then
appropriately joined to make the complete table. On the other hand, the components

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 of a table to be made of some plastic material would be moulded and then probably
be assembled without being machined at all. This example clearly illustrates the
interaction between design decisions that are concerned with materials and those that
are concerned with manufacturing processes.
• It is not generally feasible, though it might be possible, to produce a component of
intricate shape, such as an engine block, entirely by machining. Usually, the block
is cast and then finished by machining. This example illustrates the interaction
between the design decisions that are concerned with geometry and those that are
concerned with manufacturing processes.
• The interaction between design decisions concerned with geometry and those
concerned with materials is more obvious than it might appear to be at first. For
example, liquid and gaseous materials do not possess definite shapes of their own
and cannot, therefore, be used to make components with definite shapes. For
another example, rubber should be a suitable material for the manufacture of springs,
from the point of view of its elasticity. Yet rubber cannot be formed into coil
springs due to its lack of plasticity and its very low stiffness. These examples
illustrate the interaction between the design decisions that are concerned with
materials and those that are concerned with geometry.

Geometry
and Materials
Geometry Materials
Geometry,
Materials and
Processes
Geometry and Materials
Processes and Processes

Processes

Fig. 1 – The Interactions of Geometric, Material, and Processing Decisions

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Figure 1 above illustrates the interactions of design decisions concerned with materials,
geometry and manufacturing. In addition to these three categories of decisions, other
decisions, mainly but not entirely, concerned with economic considerations play a major
role in the engineering design process.

4. MATERIALS SELECTION AND PRODUCT PERFORMANCE

To realize products that will adequately perform their designated functions, design and
manufacturing engineers need to establish clear objectives that are to be achieved. In
general, the goal should be to realize products that have the desired technical and
operational characteristics, and will satisfy the needs of society most efficaciously and
economically. The desired characteristics of a product may be classified into three major
categories, as follows:
• Those characteristics that determine the productivity of the product. For instance,
the productivity of the tractor-drawn plough can be measured in terms of the land
area that can be ploughed in unit time.
• Those characteristics that determine the economics of ownership and use of the
product. The cost of ownership of the plough is related to the cost of purchasing the
plough. Part of the cost of using the plough may be measured in terms of the energy
required to plough a unit land area, which can then be translated into the cost of fuel
used in ploughing a unit land area. Lubrication and maintenance costs also form
parts of the cost of using the plough.
• Those characteristics that determine the efficacy of the product. The efficacy of the
plough may be measured in terms of such qualities as the depth of ploughing and its
uniformity, the extent of pulverization of ploughed soil, and the extent to which
ploughed furrows are overturned. Usually, efficacy is the more difficult to quantify.

Additionally, from a commercial point of view, engineers have to be concerned with

those characteristics that determine a products sales appeal.

In an endeavor to quantify product performance, if the economic (E ) , productive (P)

and efficacious (Q) , characteristics of a product can be quantified, they may be plotted in
a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system, as shown in Fig. 2 below. Then, the
overall rating of the product may be evaluated as the magnitude of the vector sum of
these quantities. In certain cases, it may be more appropriates to assign weights to each
of these product characteristics, based on the relative importance that is attached to each
of them. Other possible indices of product evaluation could be the root-mean-square
value or the geometric mean of the quantities E , P , and Q .

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 Q − axis

ρ1
Q1
P − axis

E1
P1
E − axis

Fig. 2 – Economic, Productive and Efficacious Attributes of a Product

Economic considerations are of tremendous importance in engineering. The importance

of material cost as a component of a product’s purchase price is illustrated in Table 1
below. The data in Table 1 are of American origin [1] and should not, therefore, be
regarded as universal. Nevertheless these data indicate that material cost accounts for a
substantial portion of the product’s purchase price, hence the opportunity for reducing the
cost of ownership of a product through prudent materials selection.

Table 1 – Components of a Products Purchase Price

Cost Item Contribution to Purchase Price

Engineering 15%
Manufacturing
• Parts and Materials 20%
• Energy and Equipment 4.8%
• Direct Labour 4.8%
• Indirect Labour 10.4%
Total Cost of Manufacturing (%) 40%

Marketing, Sales and General Administration 25%

Profit 20%

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Economy in the use of a product may be achieved through:
• Enhancement of the efficiency of the product
• Elongation of the products service life
• Reduction of operating costs

The selection of materials has a bearing on all of the above. For example, prudent
selection of materials may enhance the efficiency, and elongate the service life, of a
product through reduction of such undesirable effects as frictional forces, wear and tear,
and heating. Elongating the product’s service life reduces the cost of ownership of the
product. Moreover, prudent materials selection should result in a more reliable product,
thus reducing the operational costs that may arise due to unexpected failure and
subsequent repairs.

5. THE DYNAMIC NATURE OF MATERIALS SELECTION

Advancements in engineering stimulate the development and use of new materials in
order to meet the demand for sustained progress. For example, the development of
aircraft precipitated the development of high-strength light-weight alloys, and that of jet
engines brought about the development of heat resistant alloys. Along with the
development of entirely new materials, improvements in the properties of existing
materials are also being made. For instance, over the years improved alloying elements
and better heat treatment increased the strength of structural steel threefold.

The development of cast iron with globular graphite in its cast structure (ductile cast iron)
had an even more remarkable effect. As a result of this development, the ultimate
strength of cast iron was increased six fold, on average, while many of the desirable
inherent properties of the material, such as its high resilience under cyclic loading, high
limit of endurance, high tolerance for stress concentration, and relatively low cost were
retained. These developments made cast iron a highly valuable material. It is now even
used for the manufacture of crankshafts, which in the past were exclusively made of steel.

It therefore follows that any recommendation of a material for a given application should
be regarded as only temporary. Such a recommendation needs to be regularly reviewed,
taking into account the development of new materials, improvements in the properties of
existing materials and developments in manufacturing technology. Indeed, in recent
times, along with developments in manufacturing technology, developments in materials
have proved to be among the most significant developments in engineering.

Clearly then materials selection in design and manufacturing is a dynamic rather than a
static process. The choice of materials should keep pace with developments in materials
and in manufacturing technologies.

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6. APPROACHES TO MATERIALS SELECTION
6.1 The case-history method
Often, the selection of a material is an iterative process in which prototypes are
constructed using specified materials, their performance evaluated, and if necessary the
materials used are substituted with others that are thought to suit the application more
closely. In many cases however, it is adequate to select a material on the basis of past
experience. This includes the use of data drawn from materials and design handbooks.
This approach, which may be referred to as the case history method, is based on the
premise that if a product has performed successfully in the past, then a similar product,
made of the same materials and by use of the same manufacturing processes should at
least perform adequately. This method is probably the one that is most commonly used
in Kenya.

The case-history method is often less costly and it exploits the enormous potential
benefits of experience. On the other hand, this method precludes the adoption of
advances in materials and manufacturing technology that may have been made since
formulation of the original design. Moreover, minor variations in the service
requirements of similar products may well dictate the use of completely different
materials and/or manufacturing processes. Thus, in order to reap maximum benefits, use
of the case-history method requires a careful and balanced consideration of all these
issues.

6.2 The Modification of an Existing Product

This method may be applied in an effort to achieve some desired improvement in an
existing product, for instance the reduction of cost and/or improvement in performance.
Efforts here can commence with an evaluation of the current product and the processes
by which it was manufactured. A major advantage of this method would be its
recognition of the dynamic nature of the materials selection function, leading to
incorporation, in the modified product, of new developments in materials and
manufacturing technology. However, in using this method, one must exercise great care
so as not to loose sight of any of the original requirements of the product to be modified,
lest one should make changes that will prove to be inadequate in the context of the
products overall performance.

6.3 The Development of an Entirely New Product

The most rigorous and effective approach would be to regard the task at hand as the
development of an entirely new product and, therefore, to start “from first principles.”
Here, the complete procedure of design, materials selection and development of the
sequence of manufacturing processes would be followed.

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The first step in this method would be to precisely define the product requirements. One
needs to be clear about the characteristics that the product must necessarily possess if it is
to adequately perform its intended function, in the given environment. Product
requirements may be classified into three broad categories as follows:
• Requirements arising from functional considerations
• Requirements arising from consideration of economics and customer satisfaction
• Requirements arising from manufacturing considerations

Materials must then be selected such that the resulting product will meet these
requirements in the most beneficial manner that is possible. The materials selection
process may be based on decision theory. The selection routine, illustrated as in Fig. 3
below, is seen to possess the essential characteristics of an information processing
routine, illustrated in Fig. 4 below [2], and may be regarded as such. The selection
routine may be implemented on digital computer in order to take advantage of the
computer’s speed and great capacity for handling and processing data.

Product Materials Materials

Requirements Selection Module Specifications

Materials
Information
Database

Fig. 3 – The Materials Selection Process

Although in practice some combination of the three approaches to materials selection is

probably the most likely to be adopted, the “development of an entirely new product”
approach is advocated in this presentation. To implement this approach demands for
extensive research and development work. However, once developed and implemented,
the use of the process, or processes, would be easy, economical and expeditious.

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 INPUT PROCESSING OUTPUT
OPERATIONS OPERATIONS OPERATIONS
Recording Summarizing Reporting
Classifying Sorting Reproducing
Coding Classifying Communicating
Calculating

STORAGE AND
RETRIEVAL
Storing,
Retrieving

Fig. 4 – The Information Processing Cycle

A possible flowchart for the development of such a materials selection process is given in
Fig. 5.

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 START

Study of Engineering
Materials and their
Properties

Development of the
Decision
Materials Selection
Theory
Module

Information Implementation of the

Processing Selection Process on
Digital Computer

NO
Satisfactory?

YES

STOP

Fig. 5 – Development of the Materials Selection Process

7. THE GREATER ROLE OF INFORMATION PROCESSING IN DESIGN

AND MANUFACTURING
It has been seen that materials selection is essentially an information-processing task. It
so happens that information processing plays a much greater role in the general domain
of design and manufacturing. Figure 6 below is a simplified illustration of a
manufacturing production system (MPS), in which products are designed and

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manufactured [1]. It depicts only those elements of the MPS that are essential to the
discussion at hand.

Feedback Information
Customer

Products

Inputs
Vendors Manufacturing

Process
Information

Market
Information
Production Marketing
Planning and Sales

Production
Product Design
System
Information

Engineering

Fig. 6 – Illustration of a Manufacturing Production System

The inputs from vendors into the production system include such things as electric
power, labour, physical capital and materials. All such inputs may be classified into three
categories, namely energy, information, and materials. The products obtained from the
production system may be finished goods or semi-finished materials. Within the
production system itself (within the dotted boundary), may be seen a web of information
channels interconnecting the various divisions.

Except for the manufacturing division, into which energy, materials, and information are
received and from which products are sent out, all other divisions receive information of
one kind and send out information of another kind that should be readily useable to the

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recipient division. Within the manufacturing division, in a manner of speaking, materials
are “informated”, with the aid of energy, into products. . Indeed, in their essential
functions, many of the divisions within the MPS, and in other production systems, may
be regarded as information processing centres.

Note that while product design information, for example, may be considered to be more
readily usable by the engineering division, it will be regarded to be less readily usable,
and therefore requiring further processing, by the production planning division.
Moreover, while some of the information required by the MPS is obtained from external
sources such as customers and vendors, some of this information is generated within the
MPS itself, through such activities as engineering research.

8. THE GROWING SIGNIFICANCE OF MATERIALS SELECTION

8.1 The Significance of Materials Selection in Design and Manufacturing
From earlier discussions in the preceding sections, the importance of prudent materials
selection in design and manufacturing may be summed up in the following statements:
• The number of materials available to the engineer is large and continually
increasing. Since the properties and cost of these materials vary widely, it is
imperative that materials be selected prudently if the functional and service
requirements on products are to be met in the most beneficial manner.
• Some manufacturing technologies may not be successfully applied to all materials.
Therefore, the rational choice of material has to be made with the manufacturing
process in mind.
• To be competitive requires the timely manufacture and sale of high quality products.
The quality of products is generally dependent on the materials from which the
product is made.
• In many cases, materials have a direct relationship with the appearance of a product,
and therefore its sales appeal.
• The cost of a product has a direct relationship with the cost of the materials of which
it is made. Furthermore, the choice of materials frequently influences the cost of
processing. Improper choice of material may lead to very costly processing.
• Failure of a product can result in injury or even loss of the lives of people. These
may also lead to very costly litigation. In many cases of such failure, improper
choice of materials is a significant causal factor.

8.2 Materials and Conservation of the Environment and Our Natural Resources
Design requirements are getting more stringent by the day. One reason for this is the
need to conserve our dwindling natural resources. There is an absolute limit to the

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quantities of many of the materials available here on earth. Therefore, these resources
must be utilized efficiently and be recycled whenever possible.

Another reason for stringent design requirements is the need to conserve our physical
environment. Prudent selection and use of materials should help to achieve these ends.
For instance:
• The high demand for timber in the construction industry may be depleting our
forests. We can conserve these forests through development and use of materials
other than timber. It would be even better if such alternatives to timber happened to
be recycled or waste materials such as sawdust.
• In recent years, the increased use of plastics, such as the polyethylene bags used for
packaging, has posed the menace of littering and polluting our environment. The
use of bio-degradable alternatives such as sisal and paper bags should eliminate this
menace.

8.3 Materials and Technological Breakthroughs

In some instances revolutionary technological advances are brought about by
breakthroughs in materials technology. Consider the following examples:
• The modern digital computer and the information revolution could not have been
possible without the discovery of the group of materials known as semiconductors.
• The reciprocating piston internal combustion engine is one of the most important
technological developments of our times. The thermal efficiency of this device can
be substantially increased through the development of what is known as the
“adiabatic” engine. The adiabatic engine would require that the cylinder block be
made of a material with the thermal insulation of ceramics and, perhaps, the
mechanical properties of cast iron. Clearly then, development of the adiabatic
engine awaits a breakthrough in materials technology.

Thus, the ever growing significance of prudent selection and use of materials is clearly
evident and therefore ever greater attention must be paid to the selection of materials.

9. CONCLUSIONS
1. All manufactured products are made of materials. All constructed structures are
made of materials. All infrastructure is made of materials. Thus, the prudent
selection of materials is critical in modern engineering design and manufacturing.
2. The engineering design process, including the selection of materials in design, is
essentially a decision making process in which choices are made from among the
available alternatives.

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3. In its essence, the materials selection process is an information-processing task. As
such it can be implemented on digital computer, taking advantage of the computer’s
immense power in the processing of information. Then, materials selection will
comprise an important component of computer-aided engineering.
4. The development of rational materials selection processes is called for. The
necessary research and development work should require substantial expenditure of
time and effort, but should not necessarily be expensive in material terms since it
would mainly consist of acquisition and utilization of information so as to develop
the necessary software. Once developed, the use of such software should be easy,
inexpensive and expeditious. This is an area in which universities and industry can
collaborate for the benefit of all.

REFERENCES
1. DeGARMO, E. P.; J. T. BLACK and R. A. KOHSER (1988), Materials and
Processes in Manufacturing, 7th Edition, Macmillan Publishing Company, New
York.
2. ROBICHAUD, BERYL; EUGENE J. MUSCAT and ALIX-MARIE HALL (1989),
Introduction to Information Processing, 4th Edition, Gregg Division, McGraw-Hill
Book Company, New York.

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