Multi-criteria Decision Analysis for Supporting the Selection of Engineering Materials in Product Design

This book describes the growing field of multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) as applied to materials selection in product design. Useful in academic and research contexts, as well as to practitioners in materials engineering and design, it aids readers in producing successful designs by improving the decision-making process in materials selection.

It is a constant challenge for designers, even when educated in the fundamentals of materials and mechanical engineering, to select the best materials to satisfy complex design problems. Current approaches to materials selection range from the use of intuition and experience to computer-based methods including electronic databases and search engines. Increasingly, MCDM methods are proving effective in materials selection for complex design problems. These methods supplement existing quantitative methods, such as selection charts, by allowing simultaneous consideration of design attributes, component configurations and types of material.

• Discusses the rationale for optimal materials selection in the context of achieving the best engineering design
• Describes methodologies for supporting enhanced decision-making in materials selection
• Includes end-of-chapter review questions and practical case studies from biomedical and aerospace engineering applications

This book is intended for researchers in materials engineering disciplines and in operational research in the area of multi criteria decision analysis. It can also be used as a reference text for engineering practitioners (from aerospace to biomedical) to help select the best material(s) for advanced design applications.

Preface

List of Figures

List of Tables

Chapter 1. The Importance of Decision Support in Materials Selection

1.1 Introduction to Materials Selection

1.2 Background and Justification for Formalized Materials Selection

1.3 Decision-Making and Concession in Product Design

1.4 The Position of Materials Selection in the Engineering Design Process—from Concept to Detail Stages

1.5 Understanding the Functional Requirements and Design Criteria in Selecting Materials

1.6 The Relationship Between Materials Selection and Processing

1.7 The Significance of Design Adaptation and Materials Substitution

1.8 Materials Selection and Sustainable Products

1.9 Qualitative Versus Quantitative Approaches to Materials Selection

1.10 The Role of Computer-Based Materials Selection and Materials Databases

Review Questions

References

Chapter 2. Screening of Materials

2.1 Justification for an Initial Screening Process

2.2 Introduction to the Use of Material Attributes

2.3 Material Indices and Critical Material Aspects Used by Product Designers

2.4 Brief Review of Current Formalized Screening Methods

2.5 Materials’ Property Charts (the “Ashby” approach)

2.6 Materials Identification and Use of Computer-Based Tools

Review Questions

References

Chapter 3. Multi-criteria Decision-Making for Materials Selection

3.1 Introduction to Multi-criteria Decision-Making

3.2 MCDM as a Subdiscipline of Operations Research

3.3 Justification for Applying MCDM in Materials Selection

3.4 Application of MODM and MADM in Materials Selection and Design

3.5 Utilizing Outputs from Finite Element Analysis as Inputs to MADM in Materials Selection

Review Questions

References

Chapter 4. Multiattribute Decision-Making for Ranking of Candidate Materials

4.1 Rationalization for Using Multiple-Attribute Decision-Making

4.2 Introduction to the Ranking of Materials

4.3 Structure of Data in Materials Selection

4.4 Normalization of Criteria in MADM

4.5 Weighting Procedure of Criteria

4.6 Some Recent MADM Methods Being Used in Materials Selection

4.7 Aggregation Method for Complex Materials Ranking Problems

4.8 Use of Ranges of Values for Properties of Materials as Opposed to Discrete Values

4.9 Computer Implementation—Application of Spreadsheet and Mathematical Analysis Techniques to Facilitate the Analysis of Ranking Problems

Review Questions

References

Chapter 5. Case Studies of Using Materials Ranking

5.1 Rationale for Case Studies

5.2 Materials Selection for Biomedical Implants

5.3 Materials Selection for Aircraft Structure Repair

Review Questions

References

Chapter 6. Future Developments

6.1 Overview of the Current Situation

6.2 The Development of Decision-Making Methods for Actual Design Scenarios

6.3 The Application of MCDM Methods to Complex Materials Selection Problems

References