CE1313 Properties of Materials

MATERIALS SELECTION
& DESIGN
LECTURE TOPICS…..

•Materials Selection – screening process

• Material Selection Charts

• Performance Index

• Design Guidelines

• Materials Selection – vaulting pole, spark plug

LEARNING OUTCOMES

•Understand the process of material selection

• Understand the process of obtaining the performance

Index

• Select an appropriate material using a Material Selection

Chart

• Describe the materials used in a spark plug

explain why they were selected for their application
 Basic material properties
Mechanical properties Thermal expansion
General
Weight: Density , Mg/m3
o
Expense: Cost/kg Cm, $/kg 

Thermal strain
Mechanical
Stiffness: Young’s modulus E, GPa
Expansion
Strength: Elastic limit y , MPa coefficient, 


Ductile materials
Fracture strength: Tensile strength ts , MPa Temperature, T

Elastic limit, y Brittleness: Fracture toughness Kic , MPa.m1/2 Thermal conduction

Stress 

x
Thermal
Expansion: Expansion coeff. , 1/K
T1 To
Young’s modulus, E
Conduction: Thermal conductivity , W/m.K Area A Q joules/sec
Strain 
Brittle materials

Heat flux, Q/A

Electrical
 Tensile (fracture)
Stress 

strength,  ts Conductor? Insulator?

 Thermal
conductivity, 
Young’s
modulus, E (T1 -T0)/x
Strain 
Stiff
Strong All OK !
Tough
Light

Not stiff enough (need bigger E)

Not strong enough (need bigger y )

Not tough enough (need bigger Kic)

Too heavy (need lower )

MATERIALS INFORMATION FOR DESIGN

The goal of design:

“To create products that perform their function effectively, safely, at
acceptable cost”
What do we need to know about materials to do this? More than just
test data.
Data Statistical Selection of Economic analysis
capture analysis material and process and business case

Mechanical Properties
Bulk Modulus 4.1 - 4.6 GPa
Compressive Strength 55 - 60 MPa
Ductility 0.06 - 0.07

$
Elastic Limit 40 - 45 MPa
Endurance Limit 24 - 27 MPa
Fracture Toughness 2.3 - 2.6 MPa.m1/2
Hardness 100 - 140 MPa
Loss Coefficient 0.009- 0.026
Modulus of Rupture 50 - 55 MPa
Poisson's Ratio 0.38 - 0.42
Shear Modulus 0.85 - 0.95 GPa
Tensile Strength 45 - 48 MPa
Young's Modulus 2.5 - 2.8 GPa

Test Test data Design data Potential Successful

applications applications

Characterisation
Selection and implementation
DATA ORGANISATION

Kingdom Family Class Member Attributes

Density
• Ceramics Steels 1000 Mechanical props.
2000 Thermal props.
• Polymers Cu-alloys
3000 Electrical props.
Materials • Metals Al-alloys 4000
Optical props.
• Natural Ti-alloys 5000
Corrosion props.
6000
• Foams Ni-alloys Supporting information
7000
• Composites Zn-alloys 8000 -- specific
-- general

A material record
MODULUS OF MATERIALS

Steel WC

Copper
CFRP

Alumina

Aluminium GFRP
PEEK
Zinc Glass Fibreboard
PP
Lead
PTFE

Metals Polymers Ceramics Composites

Selection rarely dependent on a single parameter

Often consider the weight of the article
MATERIALS SELECTION

Materials properties LIMIT performance.

Usually a COMBINATION of properties are important

eg. strength-to-weight ratio; f / 

Stiffness-to-weight ratio; E / 
MATERIALS PROPERTY CHART
1000
Ceramics

100

Young’s modulus E, (GPa)

Composites

10 Woods

Metals

1
Foams
Polymers

0.1

Elastomers
0.01
0.1 1 10 100
Density (Mg/m3)
Modulus - Density
Silicon Carbide
Alumina Tungsten Carbides
1000 Boron Carbide
Silicon Steels Nickel alloys
Al alloys
Copper alloys
100 Mg alloys
Zinc alloys
CFRP
Bamboo Titanium
(GPa) GFRP
Wood
(GPa)
10 Concrete Lead alloys
Plywood PET
(typical)

PVC
modulus

PP PUR
1
PE
Young's Modulus

Rigid Polymer Foams PTFE

Young’s

0.1
EVA

Cork Silicone

0.01

Flexible Polymer Foams

Polyisoprene
Polyurethane
1e-003 Butyl Rubber

Neoprene
1e-004
0.01 0.1 1 10
Density (typical) (Mg/m^3)
Density (Mg/m3)
METHODOLOGY FOR MATERIALS
SELECTION

Selection has 4 basic steps

1. Translation of design requirements into a material
specification
2. Screening out of materials that fail constraints
3. Ranking by ability to meet objectives; material indices
4. Search for supporting information for promising candidates
MATERIAL SPECIFICATION
Design requirements
“Translation”

Analyse:
Function
What does the component do ?

Constraints
What essential conditions must be met ?

Objectives
What is to be maximised or minimised ?

Free variables
Which design variables are free ?

From which we obtain …

• Screening criteria: go / no-go criteria (usually many)
• Ranking criteria: an ordering of the materials that “go”
MATERIAL INDEX

STRUCURAL INDEX

p = f (F) f(G) f (M)

geometric
performance
parameters

functional
requirement MATERIAL
eg. tensile load, PERFORMANCE
INDEX
MATERIAL FOR A PAUL VAULT

Function?
 Constraints
length fixed

Objectives
• maximum flexibility
for amount of material
lightweight rod

Free Variable
Material
Radius
MATERIAL FOR A VAULTING POLE

• radius r, length l
• assuming solid rod, held at one end
 built-in cantilever
3
Fl r 4
= I=
3EI 4
mass = density ()  volume ( r2 l)
mass =    r2 l minimize mass
r is a free variable and is eliminated
F 
mass  5
4l /3
 E
MATERIAL FOR A VAULTING POLE

F 
mass  5
4l /3
 E
M = E 1/2 / 

 material index

Taking logs on both sides

log M = ½ log E – log 

log E = 2 log  + 2 log M

MATERIAL FOR A VAULTING POLE

log E = 2 log  + 2 log M

A plot of log E vs log  will yield a family of straight lines

all having a slope of 2

The lines are termed design guidelines

ALL materials that lie on these lines will perform equally

well in terms of stiffness-per-mass

Materials lying above the line will perform better than one
below  selection zone
MATERIAL FOR A VAULTING POLE

4
The selection
3 1 Wood: Cheap, light, but
variable
2
2 CFRP: The best choice,
more control of design
3 Beryllium: cost (and
1 toxicity) rules it out
4 Ceramics: But fracture
toughness inadequate
MATERIAL FOR A VAULTING POLE
Process:

Position design line with a small group of materials

above it

These are the material with the largest values of M

These materials potentially offer the best choice, but

must
satisfy other design criteria eg. toughess, cost
Material M(GPa)1/2/(Mg/m3) Comments

Woods 5-8 Cheap, but natural variability

CFRP 4-8 As good as wood, more control
of properties
GFRP 2-3.5 Cheaper than CFRP, but low
M, thus heavier
Ceramics 4-8 Good M, but toughness low
 MATERIAL SELECTION CHART
May impose additional property limits eg E  10GPa
MATERIALS SELECTION CHART
MATERIALS SELECTION

Material for a pauling vault:

Traditionally wood, but CFRP even better

What are modern vaulting poles made from?

MATERIALS
SELECTION
CHARTS
 MATERIALS SELECTION: INSULATOR FOR
AUTOMOTIVE SPARK PLUG

•delivers spark to ignite petrol vapour / air mix

• very high voltage required
• vast number of firing repetitions
• huge numbers needed
• ease of manufacture
• cost
COMPONENTS

3 main parts

central shaft including electrode

insulator
body including electrode
PERFORMANCE

spark
gap

section of spark plug, showing the spark gap

which must withstand the aggressive
high temperature environment
COMPOSITION OF COMPONENTS

Insulator :
•have high electrical resistivity and reasonable thermal conductivity

Central Shaft :
• mild steel, steel nut
• Cu insert to conduct heat away
from electrode
•Ni alloy tip
SPARK PLUG INSULATOR

Specification

Function Spark-plug insulator

Objectives Minimise material cost

• Good electrical insulator

Constraints
• Breakdown V > 20 MV/m
• Tolerate temp. > 600 C
• Resist thermal shock of 100 C

Free • Material
variables
SPARK PLUG INSULATOR

• Constraints: Good insulator; Vmax > 2.107 V/m; Tmax > 873 K
Temperature change
Thermal Strain  =  DT (1)
T-expansion coefficient
Insulator
Young’s modulus

Stress: =E (2)

Body
Elastic limit shell

Fracture when:  = el in tension (3)

Central
Combining (1) to (3) gives allowable T-shock: electrode

σ el
ΔTmax 
Eα
Impose DT > -100K as a constraint, then minimise material cost
MATERIALS FOR SPARK-PLUGS
10000

Search
Silica
region

Thermal shock resistance (C)

Silicon Nitrides
Glass Ceramics
1000

Aluminas
Aluminium Nitrides

100

Selection: Alumina Additional constraints:

Good insulator
Breakdown potential > 20 MV/m
Maximum service temperature > 873 K

10
1 10 100
Price (typical) (GBP/kg)
Approximate material cost ($/kg)
SUMMARY
Material Selection Charts provide an effective process
of comparing many materials at the same time

The many demands placed on the spark plug results

In the selection of several materials
RESOURCES

• Ashby, M. F. , Materials selection in mechanical design

[electronic resource] / Michael F. Ashby.2nd
ed.Publisher:Oxford ; Boston : Butterworth-
Heinemann, c1999.Material type:[electronic resource] /
Chapter 4