Choice of materials and assemblage

This course focuses on the principles of material selection for structural applications in key industry sectors including transportation, sports and medical. Students will learn to integrate considerations of manufacturing processes, assembly methods and end-of-life recycling into their material selection strategies. We will explore established methodologies, such as those developed by Ashby and Bréchet, which use performance indices to guide material selection. These methodologies will be presented, applied and critically evaluated. Particular emphasis will be placed on surface treatments, joining techniques and composites, and how their properties can be tailored to optimise performance for specific applications, including components, architectural elements and construction processes.

The first part of this course is dedicated to the selection of materials and forming processes. The search for new levels of performance in the manufacture of a part and the desire to innovate means that a multi-criteria approach must be adopted from the design stage when selecting a material or structure. The second part deals with material assemblies and interfaces. Real applications will be examined. Introduction to material selection: design methodology, property maps, performance indices, form considerations, multi-criteria selection Composite materials: processing, micro and macroscopic behaviour, optimisation of reinforcement architecture, recycling Surface treatments: solid-solid interface, adhesion, structural bonding...