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The first step in creating a successful product is selecting its materials. These materials should provide not only aesthetic value but also functionality and cost-effectiveness. Indeed, the choice of materials (metals, ceramics, glasses, polymers, hybrids, etc.) can profoundly impact the end product, affecting its durability and performance.
There are mainly three categories of engineering materials: metals, nonmetals, and hybrid options. These materials vary significantly in weight, electrical or thermal conductivity, and corrosion resistance. Learn more about them below.
Key Factors in Material Selection for Products
It doesn’t matter the size of the project: it could be tensile strength for a bridge or circuit boards for electronic devices. The selection of their components typically follows three primary criteria: cost and availability, environmental issues, and mechanical properties.
Those criteria narrow the search to the best materials within a given budget, with mechanical features ensuring that the product won’t damage the environment. Additionally, components and manufacturing techniques can be chosen to reduce the product’s carbon footprint.
Nowadays, companies use complex technology to help at every step of the design and prototype process. There are vast material databases with critical information about each component, decision matrices that will rank these materials according to the project’s needs, and advanced simulation software to test how the product will react to different situations and environments.
Types of Engineering Materials: Metals, Nonmetals, and Hybrids
Here’s how designers and engineers choose the suitable materials for each project, whether it be metals or non-metals necessary for the project.
Metals
Metals are perfect thermal and electrical conductors. Metallic components are present in countless applications (from smartphones to satellites) and are known for being resistant and long-lasting. There are ferrous and nonferrous metals, which include iron in their composition, and nonferrous metals (copper, silver, aluminium, etc.).
The first type is highly magnetic but has low corrosion resistance. Conversely, nonferrous metals are nonmagnetic and much more resistant to corrosion. Nonferrous metals are also great thermal and electrical conductors.
Nonmetals
The nonmetals family includes plastics, glasses, ceramics, elastomers, thermoplastics, and polymers. They have little conductivity and melt at low temperatures, except for graphite and diamond. Thermoplastics are heated to be shaped differently, solidifying again once it’s cooled. There are nonmetal-based products everywhere: furniture, decoration objects, coffee mugs; the list is endless.
Hybrid
Hybrid materials use different combinations of polyamides for injection moulding of any desired shape. They also include steel or stainless steel combinations with PU, PVC, EVA, and other recovered plastic materials to build pipes, for instance.
How Material Selection Affects Product Usability
Material selection plays a crucial role in determining the effectiveness of engineering products. For example, a gear in a mechanical system can be made from various materials depending on its operating environment. Hardened steel gears are ideal for heavy-duty applications due to their strength and wear resistance, while lightweight polymer gears may be preferred in applications where weight reduction is essential and loads are moderate. In essence, the choice of material directly impacts the product’s performance, durability, and suitability for specific engineering applications.
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