DESIGN

Design is a procedure either to formulate a

plan for the satisfaction of a specified need
or to solve a problem.
If the plan can create something having a
physical reality, then the product must be of
following characteristics:
a) Functional: The product must satisfy the
intended need and customer expectation
b) Safe: It should not be hazardous to the user,
bystanders, or surrounding property.

c) Reliable:

The product should perform its

intended function satisfactorily or without failure
at a given age.
d) Competitive: The product must be a
contender/contestant in its market.
e) Usable: It should be user friendly. It must
accommodate human size, strength, reach, force,
power, and control.
f) Manufacturable: It should consist of minimum
number of parts. It must be suitable to mass
production, with controlled dimensions, distortion
and strength.
g) Marketable: It can be bought and repaired very
easily.

Mechanical Engineering Design (MED)

A design needing the skill or knowledge involved in
all the disciplines of Mechanical Engineering i.e.
Mechanics of solids and fluids, mass and
momentum transport, manufacturing processes,
processing and production of energy, tools of
transportation, techniques of automation, etc.

Some phrases as examples of MED

Machine design, machine-element design,

machine-component design, systems design,
and fluid-power design.
Some special examples of MED
Internal combustion engine design, turbo-machinery
design, jet engine design, HCAC system design, etc.

Interaction between Design Process

Elements
The complete design process is shown here.
Depending on the nature of the design task, several
design phases may be repeated through the life of
the product.

Some important steps used in design process

Recognition and Identification

Usually design begins when someone recognizes a
need, and then decides to do something about it.
It is considered as a highly creative act.
A need is easily recognized after someone else has
stated it.
There is a distinct difference between the statement
of the need and the identification of the problem.
The problem is more specific.

 If the need is for cleaner air, the problem may

be that of reducing the dust discharge from
power plant stacks.
Definition of problem must include all the
specifications for the object needs to be
designed.
The specifications include input and output
quantities, the characteristics and dimensions of
the space required for the object, all the
limitations on these quantities.

 The synthesis of a scheme connecting possible system

elements is also called the invention of the concept.
It is basically the selection of possible mechanism or
combination of mechanisms to accomplish the desired
task.
Analyses are required to be performed to evaluated the
system performance i.e. better or satisfactory.
Synthesis schemes that do not survive analysis are
revised, improved, or discarded.
Schemes with potential are optimized for best
performance.

Evaluation is a significant phase of the

total design process.
It is the final proof of a successful design,
and involves the testing of a prototype in
the laboratory.
Communicating the design to others is the
final, vital presentation step in the design
process.

 Design Considerations
Design consideration is referred to as a
characteristic that influences the design of the
element or the entire system
For example, strength required for an element is
an important factor in the determination of
geometry and dimensions of the element
Thus strength is an important design
consideration.
Following
are
important
characteristics
considered in a given design situation:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

Functionality
Strength/stress

14
15
Distortion/deflection/stiffness 16
Wear
17
Corrosion
18
Safety
19
Reliability
20
Manufacturability
21
Utility
22
Cost
23
Friction
24
Weight
25
life
26

Noise
Styling
Shape
Size
Control
Thermal properties

Surface
Lubrication
Marketability
Maintenance
Volume
Liability
Resource recovery

Codes and Standards

A standard is a set of specifications for parts,
materials, or processes, required to achieve
uniformity, efficiency, and a specified quality.
The major purpose of standard is to place a
limit on the number of items in the
specifications in order to provide a reasonable
inventory of tooling, sizes, shapes, and
varieties.
A code is a set of specifications for the
analysis,
design,
manufacture,
and
construction of something.
The purpose of a code is to achieve a specified
degree of safety, efficiency, and performance or
quality.

Safety codes do not give absolute safety.

Absolute safety is impossible to obtain.
All of the organizations and societies listed
below have established specifications for
standards and safety or design codes:

Aluminum Association (AA)

American Gear Manufacturers Associations (AGMA)
American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC)
American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI)
American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
American Society for Metals (ASM)

 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)

American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM)
American Welding Society (AWS)
American Bearing Manufacturers Association
(ABMA)
British Standards Institution (BSI)
Industrial Fasteners Institute (IFI)
Institution of Mechanical Engineers (I. Mech. E.)
International Bureau of weights and measures
(BIPM)
International Standards Organization (ISO)

Material strength and Stiffness

The standard tensile test is used to obtain a
variety of material characteristics and strength
for the design.
A typical tension-test specimen with original dia.
d0 and gauge length L0 is shown in Fig. 3.1.
The specimen is then brought under tension by
load P to get the deflection.
The stress produced is:

= P/A0 ; where A0 = /4. d02

 If the deflection, or extension of gauge length is

L - L0, the strain is given as:

= (L L0)/L0
The results are plotted in Fig. 3.2 for ductile and
brittle materials. Ductile materials deform much
more than brittle materials.
Point pl in Fig. 3.2a is called the proportional
limit. Up to this point = E
(Hooks law)
where E is constant of proportionality known as
Youngs modulus
E is a measure of the stiffness of a material.

 Point el in the figure is called elastic limit.

If the specimen is loaded beyond this
point, the deformation is known as plastic.
Between pl and el the diagram is not a
perfectly straight line.
Many materials reach a point where strain
increases rapidly without corresponding
increase in stress. This point is called yield
point.

 Some materials, especially brittle materials do not

have an obvious yield point.
For this reason, yield strength Sy is defined by an
offset method as shown in Fig. 3.2, where line ay is
drawn at slope E.
The ultimate, or tensile, strength (Su or Sul)
corresponding to point u in figure is the maximum
stress reached on stress-strain diagram.
Some materials exhibit downward trend after the
maximum stress is reached and fractured at point f.
However, materials such as cast irons and highstrength steels fracture earlier such that points u
and f are identical as shown in Fig. 3.2b.

 Strength is a built-in property of a material, or of a

mechanical member because of the selection of a
particular material or process or both.
Stress is something that occurs in a part, usually as a
result of its being assembled into a machine and
loaded.
The stress calculated by the formula = P/A0 is not
true stress but is engineering stress because it is
based on the original area before the load is applied.
Actually, true stress is larger than engineering stress
because area reduces when the load is applied.
To get the true stress area and load must be
measured simultaneously during the test.

 In ductile materials, as shown in Fig. 3.2a,

stress decreases from point u to f. Beyond
point u the specimen begins to neck.
So, the true stress is much higher than
engineering stress at the necked section.
Contrary
to
engineering
stress-strain
diagram, true stress-strain diagram is based
on true stress as well as on true strain.
True strain or logarithmic strain is the sum of
the incremental elongations divided by the
current gauge length at load P:

= ln (L/Lo)

Hardness
The resistance of a material to penetration
by pointed tool is called hardness.
Following are the two important methods
used to measure the hardness:
Rockwell hardness test: It has good
reproducibility, and thus measurements are
easily and quickly made by it.
Hardness number is read directly from a
dial.
The indenters are described as a diamond,
a 1/16 in-diameter ball.

 The Brinell hardness test: is used for

general purpose in which a force is applied
through an indenting tool.
The hardness number (HB) is found as a
number equal to the applied load divided by
the area (spherical surface) of indentation.
The units of HB are the same as those of
stress.
Both methods are nondestructive in most of
the cases which is a clear advantage.

Hot-Working Processes
A process in which a metal is heated above its
recrystallation temperature. e.g. hot rolling, forging, hot
extrusion, and hot pressing.
Hot rolling: is used to produce particular shapes and
dimensions of a material bar of steel, aluminum,
magnesium, and copper (See Fig. 3-10).
Tubing can be manufactured by hot-rolling strip or plate
Seamless tubing is manufactured by roll-piercing a solid
heated rod with a piercing mandrel.
Extrusion: is the process by which great pressure is
applied to a heated metal billet or blank, causing it to flow
through a restricted orifice.
This process is more common with materials of low melting
point such as Al, Cu, Mg, Pb, Zn.

 Forging: is the hot working of metal by

hammers, presses, or forging machines.
It produces a refined grain structure that
results in increased strength and ductility.
Comparing with castings, forgings have
greater strength for the same weight.
Drop forgings can be made smoother and
more accurate than sand castings.
However, the initial cost of the forging dies is
greater than the cost of patterns used in
castings.

Cold-Working Processes
Cold working is defined as the forming of the metal
at low temperature (usually room temperature).
Cold-worked parts require less machining, are
more accurate, and have a bright new finish relative
to hot-worked parts.
Cold-finished bars and shafts are produced by
rolling, drawing, turning, grinding, and polishing.
The largest percentage of products are made by
the cold-rolling and cold-drawing processes.
Cold-rolling is now used mostly for the production
of wide flats and sheets.

 Both cold-rolling and cold drawing have the

same effect upon the mechanical properties.
A cold-working process does not change the
grain size, however distorts it.
Cold-working causes an increase in yield
strength, ultimate strength and hardness, but
a decrease in ductility (See Fig. 3-11).
Some other cold-working processes are
heading, roll threading, spinning, stamping,
blanking, coining, forming, and shallow
drawing.

The heat treatment of steel

The time and temperature controlled processes
that relieve residual stresses and/or modifies
material properties of steel are called heat
treatment of steel.
The material properties of steel include hardness
(i.e. strength), ductility, and toughness.
The common heat treatment operations are as
follows:

Annealing:

The heating of a material to a

temperature that is approximately 100F above the
critical temperature is called annealing.

 The material is held at this temperature for a time

that is sufficient for the carbon to dissolve and
diffuse through it.
Then the material is cooled slowly in the same
furnace till the complete transformation is achieved
to have a full anneal.
Annealing is used to soften a material and make it
more ductile, to relieve residual stresses, and to
refine the grain structure.
Normalizing is a process included in annealing.
In this process, parts are heated to a slightly higher
temperature than in full annealing.
Parts are then cooled in still air at room
temperature. This cooling is more rapid than that
used in full annealing.

 Quenching: A controlled cooling rate of the

material through water and oil media to get the

desired hardness is called quenching.
Normalizing (cooling in still air) is an example of
mild quench.
The oil quench is quite slow but avoids the cracks
caused by the rapid expansion of objects.
Water quenching is used for carbon steel, medium
carbon, and low alloy steels.
The effectiveness of quenching depends upon the
fact that a cooled austenite structure does not
transform into pearlite instantaneously. But it
requires time to initiate and to complete the
process.

 When the material is cooled rapidly to 400F

or less, the austenite is transformed into a
structure called martensite.
Martensite is a supersaturated solid solution
of carbon in ferrite. It is the hardest and
strongest form of steel.
The rapid cooling of steel between 400 and
800F and then holding it for a sufficient time
results in the transformation of austenite into
bainite.
Bainite is an intermediate structure of
pearlite and martensite.

 Tempering: The relieving of a steel specimen from the

internal stresses by a modest heating process is called
tempering or drawing.
It is a combination of stress relieving and softening of
specimen.
After the hardening of a specimen during quenching process,
it is reheated to some temperature below the critical
temperature for a certain period of time. Then allowed to cool
in still air.
The temperature to which it is reheated depends upon the
composition and the degree of hardness and toughness
required.
This reheating process releases the carbon held in the
martensite, forming carbide crystals.
The structure obtained is called tempered martensite.
It is a superfine dispersion of iron carbide in fine-grained
ferrite.