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You can view and listen to a recorded presentation demonstrating the use of
the CES EduPack software to complete this case study. The following text is a
short summary of the case study.
A. High stiffness
B. High strength
C. High toughness
D. Low weight
This materials selection (or 'Ashby') chart is interactive. We can highlight materials and label them to
find out what they are and choose materials from the list to find them on the graph. Clicking on a
material name takes us to the material record with its information about the material. These and other
features make the graph a tremendous tool to help students think about materials and their properties.
You could, for example, show how families of materials tend to cluster on the graph, leading to a
discussion of bonding mechanisms.
For more on this topic, and to see some of these features, view the case study recording
Performing a selection
To choose a material for our hypothetical aircraft wing, we begin with all 64 materials in the level 1
database. At the outset, we identified high stiffness and strength as requirements for our aircraft wing.
We can select on the graph those materials with high values of both properties. The software can then
be used to progressively apply our other requirements.
For more detail, and to see all of the selection stages, view the case study recording
This plot helps us to reach a conclusion in our exercise. Carbon fiber composites are the lighter
material but are currently about an order of magnitude more expensive that aluminum alloys, so these
alloys are the material of choice for most commercial aircraft. The graph could be used as a tool to
discuss trade-offs in designe.g., how composite materials may be used in less cost-sensitive
applications.
The charts above use level one of the CES EduPack database. Switching to level three shows many
more materials on the plot, including spcecific types of the generic materials classes shown above.
Such detail is useful for higher level coursesfor example, final year projects.
For more detail on trade-offs and level three data, view the case study recording
Benefits of the case study
This simple aircraft wing case shows how the CES EduPack can be used by teachers and students to
explore:
Materials, materials classes, their properties, and the science behind them
Applications for these materials
The technical factors to consider in materials selection and the selection process itself
Real-life considerations in engineering decisionssuch as cost and the need to trade off
properties
It also shows how CES EduPack can support different levels of teaching.