Materials Selection Criteria for Civil Engineering Projects - Coursework Example

Materials selection criteria for civil engineering projects. The prime objective of this paper involves finding out the materials selection criteria for civil engineering projects. The end of the selection of different materials can never be the end of the respective design process. There are many materials that are yet to be introduced. These materials need to perform the processes of design in a satisfactory manner and not just for few days, but rather for a longer duration of time. Civil engineers and designers need to consider the manner in which the performance of the material can be improved in different aspects. The process of material selection is a process that is continuous. Introduction The selection of material in engineering is an extremely vital element. In the selection of a certain material, there are different types of engineering designs fact and criteria that need to be considered. This is one of the most relevant functions in the effective designs of engineering. It helps in determining the reliability of the designs in the form of the economical and industrial aspects. In many cases, one great design could fail to have the profitability when it does not have the necessary combinations of the material. This means that it is extremely vital for a company to identify the appropriate material for the specific design. This included the manner in which the company would obtain the appropriate design for the material. In this regards, civil engineers need to use many material facts to realize the most appropriate decision. They need to concentrate on the traits of the material that are identified as being potential for the respective design. In order to understand the material selection, this paper explores the materials selection criteria for civil engineering projects. Main text. Mechanical properties When a specific design be produced, there is need for the design to be subjected to different practices of manufacturing on the design process and material. In the product completion it is expected to be suiting for the whole service phase. For one to predict the reliability of the requirements, the material should be in a position to withstand a specific load. This means that the material need to possess a certain level of stiffness and strength. The material that is selected, on the other hand, should be examined to ascertain their stiffness and the strength values. After this the potential material will be inspected to identify the required traits (Wassel, Walls & Steele, 2002). In civil engineering designs, the selection of material is of high concern since the mechanical engineers posses great deals with different loads and the variation of the temperature. Wear of the material Wear will always become a challenge whenever the materials do contact each another within the given product design. It is, therefore, prudent for civil engineers to select the material with the appropriate wear resistance. There are different types of techniques that may be helpful in improving the resistance of wear for the materials thus making them be suited for the given application. This is one vital factors that has to be considered in the selection of the material for specific designs. In the process of engineering designs this should be considered with appropriate care. Corrosion The relevance of the material selection in the field of engineering is vivid in the environments of corrosion. One of the vital criterion for the engineering designs involves being open to the environment for a lengthy duration of time. A number of materials have a high possibility of corroding during service following the environment of service. The material such as iron can easily corrode especially when it is not made to have a high resistance to corrosion. It needs to be assured that the material would have the ability of being used in specific designs before their selection. Different methods of surface coating such as painting and cathodic protection are some possible ways through which the service life and effect is increased. Ability to manufacture Even though the material has the capability of using the design, it could be challenging for it to be manufactured. This is specifically applied in the designs of mechanical engineering. Once the selectee criteria overlooked the process of manufacturing would be extremely costly hence leading to a product that is unprofitable. In this regard, before the selection of the material it vital for the civil engineers to consider the manufacture ability. The facts are greatly varied with the category of the manufacturing method. In this case, when a gear is produced, the dimensions should always be accurate. In this case, the application need not to give the expected performance. For the dimensions to be accurate, the material would be machined during the production to give the required performance. This means that the material selected need to be able to be machined using reduced cost (Tatiana, Dimitris and Moustakas, 2013). Cost The cost of the material is one critical factor that should be considered in the selection of material for the specific design in most of the products because they do face a number of severe market competitions. In this case, the metal and the valuable material would be replaced by the plastics in different designs. The factor of cost could be neglected whenever the performance is of high priority. In the estimation of the cost all the factors of cost needs to be considered in order to get a value that is reasonable. These costs include processing, transportation, and processing. The different types of metal and the restoration extra-coronal are onlay, crowns, and shims. The cores and the cast posts can result into specific difficulties during the selection of material. The purchase strategy has been established to be based on the selection process and strategy of the company of the supplier, which is influenced by the strategy of the company. In a longer duration of time the United State has held the believe of employing large suppliers numbers in order to reduce the risk of purchase. The idea is nolonger common. Many companies do prefer to work with the suppliers who have experienced favorable performance in their last ten years. The process of optimizing the supply chain may lead a reduction in the total supplier numbers. To date, economic pressure is making different c on companies to concentrate on the alloys that are less expensive. These alloys may have low noble metals concentration and are made up of the base metals. During the selection process one would consider the different categories of alloys and the factors that affect the process of selection. Some of these factors include handling and castability, cost, resin bonding, physical properties, tarnish and corrosion, and biocompatibility. From the year 1950, the selection of an alloy for the restoration of the cast involves selecting the material specification of the alloy of high gold with over seventy five percent of the platinum and the gold content (Ehsan, Parviz and Azadeh, 2013). The alloy soft type 1 has noble metal (approximately eighty three percent) having the hardened alloy with a high quantity of copper and silver. These include type11, 111, and 1V. The type I alloy is applied for the small inlays, type II is used in the larger inlays, type three is applied in the bridges and crowns, type IV is used in the denture partial framework. During the 1970s the price of gold increased four folds leading to the adoption of alloys that were less expensive having minimum Karat (Ehsan, Parviz, and Azadeh, 2013). The palladium white gold was the noble constituent of the different alloys. Some of these alloys include gold-silver-copper-palladium, silver-palladium, palladium-tin, and palladium-copper. A study conducted in this field reported that palladium had the strong effect of whitening implying that the alloys have a silvery look unless the golden content was above forty percent of gold and below six percent palladium (Janke et al, 2005). The silver and the palladium will always absorb oxygen whenever in a molten state resulting into the porous casting particularly when the buttons of casting are reused. The reduction of gold content will reduce the specific, some gravity making the casting to have minimum reliability in comparison to the alloy of gold. The alloys that are less dense have reduced the kinetic energy in the process of casting which will reduce the molten metal penetration in the mould. Additionally, authorities assert that in ideal situations all commercialized alloys will lead to the casting that is acceptable. The experiences show that the technicians would find these conditions difficult to be realized. A study conducted in this field reported that the SMAs (sharp memory alloys) involve the metallic his material are components that have great ability of enhancing the structures of civil engineering. They are referred to as the smart materials. The simple definition of their high material nonlinear behavior in terms of eh effect of memory shape, martensite damping, super elasticity, and stiffness variability determine the required type of material. This study asserted that the obtained data would result into more constrictions. The current ideas in using SMAs in the structures of civil engineering (Wassel, Walls, & Steele, 2002). In this case, the porous casting might result from the casting buttons that are reused. Other alloys, such as those from noble content of metal can easily corrode. The ability of the cheap alloys in causing lichenoid reaction has not been identified. Conclusion d factors The highlighted factors are considered as being of material that a priority in material selection for the design. There are different types of factors that are essential in a specific product. In other cases, some properties of the material would be dominant over the other traits. For instance, the electric conductivity of the material is useful hence would be given more priority. In civil engineering, the light weight designs are vital for the section materials. In other cases aluminum would be preferred to steel (van Kesteren, Stappers, and de Bruijn, 2007). The inability of realizing the maximum temperature of operation is one reason behind the exclusion of the most appropriate material for some high temperatures. After the selection of some material, the appropriate material would be the one that provide the minimum cost and a maximum performance. The constituent and product structures components need to satisfy the high requirement during operation. The human and economic cost of the failure in imposing the service is a big responsibility for individuals and organizations who develop the new materials thus selecting and integrating material to form a final engineering designs. One critical trait of a successful development of the product involves the appropriate selection of the material. A vivid understanding of the available material, their limitation and application is helpful in the selection of communication with laboratories. A better understanding of the material selection will provide better informed decisions in indirect selection of material. There different types of material that have existed even before the indirect restoration. Some example includes the ceramics, metal, resin composites and metal-ceramics. References Ehsan E., Parviz G., and Azadeh, B., 2013. Using ANP and AHP for the Supplier Se lection in the Construction and Civil Engineering Companies; Case Study of Iranian Company. Journal of Civil Engineering, 17(2):262-270 Tatiana, T., Dimitris, K., and Moustakas, N., 2013. Methodological Study for Optimizing Material Selection in Sustainable Product Design. J of industrial ecology. 12035 Wassel, R., Walls, A., & Steele, J., 2002. Crowns and extra-coronal restorations: Materials selection. British Dental Journal 192, 199 - 211 Top of Form Janke, L., Czaderski, C., Motavalli, M., and Ruth, J., 2005. Applications of shape memory alloys in civil engineering structures Overview, limits and new ideas. Material and structures, 38,(5) 578:592. van Kesteren, I., Stappers, J., and de Bruijn, J., 2007. Materials in Products Selection: Tools for Including User-Interaction in Materials Selection. International journal of design, 1(3). Read More