ABSTRACT
Material selection and design is a critical element in product design and prototyping.
One reason material selection is important is the cost of material may be more than 50%
of the total cost. For example, in the auto industry, material cost is about 70% of the
total cost. In the shipbuilding industry, material cost is about 45% of the total cost. While
the cost of a can of Coke may be from 50¢ to $1, the liquid itself is about 2¢, the container
material is about 10¢, and manufacturing cost is about 5¢. The second reason that material
selection is important is due to the fact that it will affect the manufacturing process. In
other words, when a material is selected, its manufacturing method is selected, and thus
may impact many factors such as product cost, labor, equipment, etc. For example, when
plastic is selected as the product material instead of sheet metal, a manufacturing process such
as injection molding is selected instead of a process such as stamping. This chapter
focuses on prototyping materials, material properties, and the related material selection
processes.
