Material selection is one of the major points that should be taken into account seriously in the engineering design stage. Each material has various properties such as mechanical, thermal, electrical, physical, environmental, optical and biological properties. However, it is a well known fact that only a limited number of design engineers have a thorough knowledge on all these properties of a specific material, which is planned to be used in the manufacturing of the product. Therefore, the design engineer should be guided in selecting the most suitable material.
In the scope of this thesis, the aim was to develop”Web Design” and a software package for material selection to help the design engineer in his decision making process. Since some materials is a widely used material in industry, it was selected as a material class among whole engineering materials, and a database covering all the necessary properties was constructed. These properties include chemical, mechanical, thermal, electrical and physical properties for some of the materials. The database developed by using “Visual Basic .Net’ and also contains different material standards and can be updated if the user wants.3
It is expected that an information source such as the proposed database will provide all the necessary facts and figures to aid both designers and manufacturing engineers. Here in thesis we incorporated into the system are two main futures, browse and search. These allow the user to sift through information manually or enter multi-constraint criteria respectively. Retrieval of information is achieved by in-built queries and information is displayed.
The software package was developed for Windows environment by using Microsoft Visual Basic .Net in the program, materials can be searched for the list of suitable materials by entering application areas and properties such as chemical component, yield strength, heat capacity and electrical resistance. In addition to this, lists of materials can be created by selecting the appropriate material standards.
Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Importance of Material Selection System
1.2 Suitable material for product design and their development
1.3 Analysis of mechanical parts
1.4 Objective of the Present work
1.5 Thesis Layout
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Product Development and material selection
2.1.1 Physical factors
2.1.2 Mechanical factors
2.1.3 Processing and fabrication factors
2.1.4 Life of component factors
2.1.5 Cost and availability
2.2 Material Databases
2.3 Approaches to development of product design
2.4 Development of the web design
2.5 Development of software tools
2.6 Roles and Responsibilities
3. MATERIALS DATA AND INFORMATION
3.1 References for Sources of Data
3.2 Structure of Material Databases
3.3 Material Selection System
3.4 Properties of Engineering Materials
3.5 Material selection
3.6 Design Process
3.7 The art of selection
3.7.1. Example
3.7.2. The two key stages of selection
3.7.3. Relationships in selection
4. PRODUCT DESIGN
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Descriptive models
4.2.1 Concept design
4.2.2 Embodiment design
4.2.3 Detailed design
4.2.4 Breadth versus Precision
4.2.5 Areas of computer involvement
4.2.6 Database software in current use
4.5 The world of materials
4.6 Relation between Material Selection and Design process
4.7 Relation between Material Selection and Process Selection
4.8 Knowledge-Base Systems
5. DEVELOPMENT OF THE DATA BASE
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Data Concept of the System
5.3 Engineering Materials Used in the Database
5.4 Broad Range of Applicability of the Database
5.5 Identification of the material database
5.6 General Information about Properties in the Database
6. DATABASE DEVELOPMENT
6.1 Data Structure
6.2 Operations in the Database
6.3 Web Design development
6.3.1 Introduction
6.3.2 Modules in the Program
6.3.3 Property Displaying Module
6.3.4 Search Module
6.3.5 Selection Module
6.3.6 Update Module
7. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
7.1. Minimum System Requirements
7.2. Main Window of the Program
7.2.1 Properties
7.2.2 About
7.3 Discussion
8. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE WORK
Objectives and Research Focus
The primary objective of this work is to develop a user-friendly, web-based software application that assists design and manufacturing engineers in the complex process of material selection. By centralizing material property data, the system aims to streamline decision-making, facilitate the retrieval of information through browsing and multi-constraint searching, and improve the overall efficiency of the engineering design process.
- Development of a comprehensive material database using Visual Basic .Net.
- Implementation of browsing and searching functionalities for material property retrieval.
- Integration of material selection and data management to support mechanical component design.
- Creation of an update module to maintain data accuracy and allow for system expansion.
- Support for technical analysis through the linkage of material properties to product design requirements.
Excerpt from the Book
Material selection plays a vital role in the recent product development process scenario.
With the Manufacturing concepts keeping in fact, present day industry faces lot of problems in the selection of suitable material for particular design of a product. However a suitable design of software tool in concurrence with design and analysis of a product and selection of proper material is to be modeled. Present work proposes a method which is user friendly for the web design to the needs of present day design and manufacturing Engineers.
1.1 Importance of Material Selection System
Material data is the basic requirement in engineering design of a product. A material engineer should be aware of all possible alternative materials not to miss any opportunity in the design process. Tens of thousands of materials are available to engineers and the number is increasing faster at present than ever before. Each material has numerous mechanical, thermal, electrical, physical, environmental, optical, biological and other properties that are relevant to engineering design. No engineer can be familiar with more than a small subset of this information. Although is possible to narrow down these alternatives by using Past experiences or some global charts and tables, still tedious and time consuming task to select the materials from handbooks or supplier catalogs.
Chapter Summaries
CHAPTER - 1 INTRODUCTION: This chapter outlines the critical role of material selection in product development and introduces the motivation for developing a specialized web-based software tool.
CHAPTER – 2 LITERATURE REVIEW: This section surveys existing material selection methodologies, computerized databases, and the evolution of product design approaches.
CHAPTER-3 MATERIALS DATA AND INFORMATION: This chapter analyzes the requirements for material data, discusses database structures, and details the art of material selection in design.
CHAPTER - 4 PRODUCT DESIGN: This section explores descriptive models of the design process and the relationship between material selection, process selection, and computer-aided systems.
CHAPTER-5 DEVELOPMENT OF THE DATA BASE: This chapter details the construction and data concepts of the proposed database, focusing on optimization and applicability.
CHAPTER-6 DATABASE DEVELOPMENT: This chapter covers the technical aspects of the software, including data structure, algorithms, and the functionality of web design modules.
CHAPTER-7 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: This section demonstrates the implementation of the program, outlines system requirements, and presents a performance evaluation.
CHAPTER-8 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE WORK: This chapter summarizes the project's contributions and suggests future enhancements for the material selection system.
Keywords
Material Selection, Engineering Design, Database Management, Web Design, Mechanical Components, Visual Basic .Net, Software Tools, Product Development, Material Properties, Material Standards, Data Retrieval, Concurrent Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Computer-Aided Design, Material Identification.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this research?
The work focuses on developing a web-based material selection system that aids engineers in navigating the vast landscape of engineering materials for design purposes.
What are the main thematic areas covered in the document?
The core themes include material data structures, the engineering design process, the integration of material and process selection, and the development of software modules for material retrieval.
What is the main goal of the proposed software?
The goal is to provide a user-friendly platform that allows engineers to search for, retrieve, and evaluate materials based on specific multi-constraint criteria, thereby reducing design time.
Which methodology is employed in the study?
The study uses a systems-engineering approach, implementing a relational database structure and developing a specialized web-based interface using Microsoft Visual Studio .Net.
What is the purpose of the main software modules?
The modules enable core functions such as displaying properties, searching by designation or application, selecting materials based on constraints, and updating the database with new entries.
How would you describe the key characteristics of this system?
The system is characterized by its relational construction, data-observing ease, flexibility, expandability, and its capability to provide direct access to comprehensive material information.
How does the system handle material identification across different standards?
The system utilizes unique "Item Numbers" to manage and link materials, allowing users to reference standard names, designations, and material numbers efficiently.
What is the significance of the "Update Module"?
It is vital for the long-term applicability of the database, as it permits users to load custom records and remove obsolete information, ensuring the database remains current.
- Citar trabajo
- Aditya Kolakoti (Autor), P Surya Nagendra (Autor), 2006, Web design for the material selection for mechanical components, Múnich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/280845
