Mechanical Engineering- Mechanical Project - Essay Example

Other than strength and stiffness of materials, other properties like electrical conductivity could become essential when making material selection. The desired function of the intended structure remains the leading elements providing a guideline of material properties. When desired material properties cannot be achieved within any natural material, engineers must construct materials meeting the required structural properties. This includes combining different materials to produce a unique material having the desired chemical and physical properties.

This combination of material could be attributed to the development of reinforcement technology utilised in changing properties of materials to meet structural requirements. In metallic materials, the combination of different materials, creating alloys continues to be utilised in enhancing strength of metallic elements. Steel, for example, remains a common utilised material for many engineering structures. The constituents of steel include iron and carbon at different ratios, depending on the desired material strength.

Iron remains a material prone to rusting and combination with carbon reduces the rusting property, attributed to iron. Composites could be described as materials made from a combination of materials having different physical and chemical properties, to produce a material with unique properties. The individual properties of the constituent materials become dissolved and the developed material exhibits independent properties (Waterman 2007). Different composites exist within the engineering industry,