Materials Selection-Chaos or Cooperation

Abstract

Selection and specification of materials is an important part of the design and development process of the simplest component or the most complex system. It also is one of the most difficult and controversial items. The difficulties confronting the people involved in materials selection and specification are numerous, and can be divided into objective and subjective difficulties. The objective difficulties are the staggering and rapidly increasing number of materials available; the broad range of properties of such materials, depending on processing conditions; the numerous factors to consider in selection such as functional performance, manufacturability, availability, and cost, etc. The subjective difficulties center around the problems of information and communication--or, rather, the lack of these items. To avoid chaos that results in less-than-optimum performance, poor reliability, high cost, and further polarization of the people involved, the magnitude of the problem has to be realized. Furthermore, design engineers and materials specialists must be willing to communicate and to utilize the large number of available methods, devices, and vehicles in order to arrive at proper materials selection. This paper describes available sources of materials information, and surveys the communication vehicles between the designer and the materials specialist. It points out the responsibilities of both parties in providing proper input in the materials selection process. It also suggests some organizational approaches to provide optimum materials support for the design engineer.