Table Of ContentMulti-criteria Decision Analysis
for Supporting the Selection
of Engineering Materials in
Product Design
Multi-criteria Decision Analysis
for Supporting the Selection
of Engineering Materials in
Product Design
Ali Jahan
Department of Industrial Engineering,
Semnan Branch, Islamic Azad University,
Semnan, Iran
Kevin L. Edwards
School of Engineering & Applied Science,
Aston University, Birmingham, UK
Editor-in-Chief, Elsevier’s journal Materials and Design
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PREFACE
The aim of this book is to provide the means for designers to produce
successful engineering product design by improving the decision-
making when choosing materials. The choice of the best material from
a range of alternative materials greatly impacts the eventual technical
success of a product and avoids undesirable cost implications and pos-
sible premature failure in the market place. An improper selection of
material can adversely affect productivity and profitability, and even
undermine the name of an enterprise because of the growing demands
for through-life and extended manufacturer responsibility.
It is a constant challenge for designers, even when educated in the
fundamentals of materials and mechanical engineering, to be able to
optimally select materials to satisfy complex design problems, faced
with the vast range of materials available. Current approaches to mate-
rials selection range from the use of intuition and experience to more
formalizedmethods.Thelatterisalsoavailableincomputer-basedform
and includes electronic databases with search engines to facilitate the
materials selection process. Recently, multi-criteria decision-making
(MCDM) methods have begun being applied to materials selection,
demonstrating significant capability for tackling complex design
problems. Therefore, this book describes the growing field of MCDM
applied to materials selection and has been prepared to assist academic
teaching and research as well as practitioners involved in materials
engineeringanddesign.
The methods described in the book draws on the published efforts
of other prominent researchers in the field, particularly the work of
Prof. Mike Ashby. The current approaches developed and new ideas
proposed complement and enhance existing materials selection and
MCDM methods and when combined strategically help to ensure a
more informed choice of materials if the design problem being ana-
lyzed is complex in nature.
Lecturers in materials engineering need to be able to explain to stu-
dents how suitable materials can be appropriately selected to satisfy a
x Preface
given set of engineering design requirements. Currently, a lot of univer-
sities and colleges use materials selection charts (the “Ashby”
approach) and its computer software implementation, the CES
Selector from Granta Design Ltd., to help teach materials selection.
The use of MCDM supplements the capability of the materials selec-
tion chart method, allowing more advanced design applications to be
considered. There are a lot of printed materials books available, but
most are presented from a materials science perspective. There are
fewer books available on materials engineering, with some containing
a chapter on materials selection. There are even fewer books devoted
solely to materials selection. Not many of these books address the sub-
ject quantitatively, limiting their application to simple component
design. To the best of the authors’ knowledge there are currently no
e-books published on materials selection and this book aims to supple-
ment the materials selection chart approach.
The book is designed for researchers and decision makers in apply-
ing MCDM methods, especially multiattribute decision-making meth-
ods, and will be of interest to students, academics, and designers in
the different field of engineering and design. This book will be useful
for final stage undergraduate and postgraduate level teaching of
materials, mechanical engineering and product design programs. It
will be invaluable for researchers in materials engineering disciplines
and in operational research, specifically multi-criteria decision analy-
sis. It can also be used as a reference text for engineering practitioners
to help select the best material(s) for advanced design applications.
Chapter 1 explains the position of materials selection in the engi-
neering design process. Chapter 2 gives an overview of screening meth-
ods used in materials selection. Chapter 3 provides an introduction to
the use of MCDM for materials selection. Chapter 4 describes method-
ologies for supporting enhanced decision-making in materials selection
and supplements existing quantitative methods by allowing simulta-
neous consideration of design attributes, component configurations,
and types of material. Chapter 5 provides practical case studies in
biomedical and aerospace engineering applications, demonstrating the
scope and use of the methods. Chapters 1(cid:1)5 conclude with a set of
review questions to help readers check their understanding of the sub-
ject. The last chapter concludes with suggestions for further research to
support advanced decision-making in materials selection, allowing the
full potential of MCDM to be realized.
Preface xi
The methods described in the book have been implemented in pro-
totype form as spreadsheet and mathematical analysis tools but have
the potential to be implemented as commercial computer software;
either stand-alone linked to electronic materials databases or integrated
into existing search engines used in materials selection. Some of the
work described is in a developmental state and therefore notification
of possible errors and areas of further improvement are most welcome.
It is hoped that readers will find the ideas presented to be interesting
and helpful when put into practice or in further studies.
Finally, the authors would like to acknowledge colleagues for helpful
comments and thank their wives and families for the support and encour-
agement given during the preparation of the book.
Ali Jahan
Kevin L. Edwards
LIST OF FIGURES
1.1 Hybrid materials combine the properties of two (or more) 2
monolithic materials
1.2 Materials selection and continuous improvement in product 5
development
1.3 The interaction between material, function, shape, and 5
process
1.4 The different stages for materials and process selection in 9
design
2.1 Materials selection basics 20
2.2 Design analysis and determining materials selection criteria 21
2.3 Screening methods in materials selection 22
2.4 Principles of the chart method 25
2.5 Identifying competing materials in the chart method 26
2.6 An example materials selection chart. It is clear to see the 26
material families and how the properties (Young’s modulus
and density in this case) are similar in each group
2.7 Example materials selection chart: Young’s modulus 27
versus cost
2.8 Example materials selection chart: Resistivity versus cost 27
3.1 The trade-off plot for materials selection of a lightweight 35
design, showing dominated and nondominated solutions
3.2 Extension of systems-based, top-down materials design from 36
parts, subassemblies, assemblies, and components to
hierarchical levels of material structure in concurrent
materials and product design
3.3 Simultaneous consideration of material, structure, and 37
process for optimum design
4.1 Ranking in materials selection steps 44
4.2 Structure of data in materials selection 45
4.3 Flowchart for objective, subjective, and dependency 57
weighting in materials selection
4.4 Flowchart of comprehensive VIKOR method for materials 63
selection
xiv ListofFigures
4.5 Position of aggregation technique in the materials selection 69
process
4.6 Dealing with incomplete and interval data in target-based 73
materials selection problems
4.7 Decision matrix and formula in MS Excel for normalizing 74
data
4.8 Key functions for TOPSIS 75
4.9 Matrix multiplication in MS Excel 76
5.1 Typical form and position of hip joint prosthesis 85
5.2 The stages applied for hip prosthesis materials selection 90
example
5.3 The main components of a total knee replacement 91
5.4 Composite bonded repair patch being applied to an aircraft 99
structure
6.1 MCDM as a tool for material design/selection 108
LIST OF TABLES
3.1 A Typical Multiple Attribute Decision Problem 33
3.2 Hypothetical Data for Materials Selection of a Lightweight 34
Design
4.1 Normalized Values (Higher Is Better) of Hypothetical Data 45
for the Wingspan Structure in an Aircraft and Ranking
Results Using Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) Method
4.2 Some Well-Known Dimensionless Methods in MADM for 48
Cost and Benefit Criteria
4.3 Normalization Methods Proposed in Materials Selection for 49
Cost and Benefit Criteria
4.4 Some Normalization Methods That Cover All Types of 50
Criteria
4.5 Different Methods for Combining Weightings 59
4.6 Comparison of Several Recent Ranking Methods Used in 66
Materials Selection: Some Advantages and Limitations
4.7 A Typical Multiple Attribute Decision Problem with 70
Interval Data
4.8 Comparison of Interval Numbers 71
4.9 Function of Sum of Squares of Differences of the Two 76
Arrays
5.1 Decision Matrix for Hip Joint Prosthesis Materials Selection 86
5.2 Correlation of Criteria and Weighting of Dependency for a 87
Hip Joint Prosthesis
5.3 Normalizing of Hip Joint Prosthesis Materials 88
5.4 Objective Weightings 89
5.5 Final Weightings Using Different Effect of Subjective, 89
Objective, and Dependency Weightings
5.6 Aggregated Result and Individual Ranks of Hip Prosthesis 90
Materials that Generated by Extended TOPSIS, and
Comprehensive VIKOR with Different Weightings
5.7 Properties of Candidate Materials for Femur Component 92
Materials Selection
5.8 Value of Materials Selection Factors in Format of 11-Point 93
Scale
xvi ListofTables
5.9 Decision Matrix for Femur Materials Selection with 94
Quantitative Data
5.10 Determination of Relative Importance of Criteria Using 95
MDL Method
5.11 Required Parameter for Normalization of Femur Materials 96
5.12 Normalized Data for Femur Materials 97
5.13 Interval Numbers for S, R, and Q for Femur Materials 98
5.14 Comparing Ranking Orders of Candidate Materials for 98
Femur Component
5.15 Candidate Materials, Weightings, and Objectives for Patch 100
Repair
5.16 Required Parameter for Normalization of Patch Repair 101
Materials
5.17 Normalized Values of Patch Repair Materials 102
5.18 Interval Numbers for S, R, and Q for Patch Repair 103
Materials
