Unit 2.

Material property charts:

Mapping materials

Mike Ashby
Department of Engineering,
University of Cambridge

Created with Ansys Granta EduPack 2024R1 ©2024 ANSYS, Inc.

Learning objectives for this lecture unit

Intended Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and
Understanding of material families and their property relationships
Understanding

Skills and Abilities Ability to create material property charts for specific purposes

Values and Attitudes Grasping a broad view of materials information, the big picture

Resources
 Text: “Materials: engineering, science, processing and design” 4th edition by M.F. Ashby, H.R. Shercliff and D. Cebon, Butterworth
Heinemann, Oxford, 2019, Chapters 1-2
 Text: “Materials Selection in Mechanical Design”, 5th edition by M.F. Ashby, Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford, 2016, Chapters 1-2
 Texts: Callister, Budinski, Askeland and others – recommended reading in records
 Software: Ansys Granta EduPack

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Outline of lecture unit 2

 Exploring relationships: property charts

 Making charts
 Custom subsets, adding your own
materials
 Report writing

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Bar charts
Data sheets = numbers, words
We want meaning Property charts

Bar chart 103

Steel WC
Copper
102
CFRP

10 Aluminum Alumina
Zinc
Lead Glass GFRP
1Many
PEEK
decades Fibreboard
10-1 PP

PTFE
10-2

Metals Polymers Ceramics Hybrids

10-3
Log scale

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Bar-chart created with Granta EduPack
Materials
with high
modulus
Metals

Polymers

Elastomers
Materials
with low
modulus

Metals Polymers Ceramics Hybrids

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Which courses? Campus-wide?

Materials science General engineering Polymer engineering

Aerospace engineering Architecture Bioengineering

Product design Environmental engineering Sustainability assessment

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Bubble charts
Bubble
chart

Families occupy
discrete fields

Log scales

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Bubbles chart created with Granta EduPack

Display Box:
Materials with
high Modulus and
Density

Display line:
Materials
with constant
specific stiffness
[E/]

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Creating Charts – choosing materials to plot

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Creating Charts – single property charts

Bar chart

Property
Choose:

X-Axis Y-Axis
Bubble chart
List of properties

Property 1
 Density
 Yield strength
 Young’s modulus
 etc.

Property 2

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Creating Charts – advanced property charts

Modulus / Density
Bar chart

Modulus / Density

Choose:
+ - / * ^ ( )
X-Axis Y-Axis

Modulus / Density
List of
Bubble properties
chart
List of properties
Advanced  Density
 Density  Yield strength
 Yield strength  Young’s modulus
 Young’s modulus
 etc.
 etc

Yield strength / Density

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 The Chart tool bar
Materials Chart Annotation Data highlight tools*
Selection Tools Tools
Delete lines & Curve Change to nearby record
boxes User defined records
Box selection Arrow
Synthesized records
Index line Text Reference Record
Favorite records

Zoom in Show family Hide failed

Chart settings envelopes results
Zoom out *these icons will be grayed
Show results from out unless (1) record type is
Cursor Autoscale available in project or
all enabled stages
(2) single material is
Chart Scale selected on chart
Choosing data shown in chart
Tools

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Materials selection chart tools- line and box

annotation,
For selection, click “Show
choose
line for display
maximize only”
or minimize

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Annotation tools- curve, arrow, and text

Use text, arrows, and curves to increase

clarity of information presented

Right click to format line/text

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How to make a custom material subset for a selection project

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Changing the chart settings (labels etc)

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 Making your own records in Tools and other ways

Can also right-click on a chart

to add records, but will only be
able to add the attributes from
that chart!

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Manage your charts in Tools

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Saving projects, report writing

Paste
Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS)
Open project Description
Image

Save project
Cut Copy - Paste
Print …….
Copy _
Caption
1. ABS pellets. © Shutterstock 2. ABS allows detailed moldings, accepts color well, and is non-toxic

Clip- and tough enough to survive the worst that children can do to it. © Gettyimages
The material
ABS (Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) is tough, resilient, and easily molded. It is usually opaque,

Paste…. although some grades can now be transparent, and it can be given vivid colors. ABS-PVC alloys are
tougher than standard ABS and, in self-extinguishing grades, are used for the casings of power tools.

board To
Compositional summary
Block terpolymer of acrylonitrile (15-35%), butadiene (5-30%), and styrene (40-60%).
General properties
Density 1.01e3 - 1.21e3 kg/m^3
Price * 2.5 - 3 USD/kg
Date first used 1937

WORD Mechanical properties

Young's modulus
Shear modulus
1.1
0.319
-
-
2.9
1.03
GPa
GPa
Bulk modulus 3.8 - 4 GPa
Poisson's ratio 0.391 - 0.422
Yield strength (elastic limit) 18.5 - 51 MPa
Tensile strength 27.6 - 55.2 MPa
Compressive strength 31 - 86.2 MPa
Elongation 1.5 - 100 % strain
Hardness - Vickers 5.6 - 15.3 HV
Typical uses
Safety helmets; camper tops; automotive instrument panels and other interior components; pipe
fittings; home-security devices and housings for small appliances; communications equipment;
business machines; plumbing hardware; automobile grilles; wheel covers; mirror housings;
refrigerator liners; luggage shells; tote trays; mower shrouds; boat hulls; large components for
recreational vehicles; weather seals; glass beading; refrigerator breaker strips; conduit; pipe for drain-

For best results waste-vent (DWV) systems.

Tradenames
Claradex, Comalloy, Cycogel, Cycolac, Hanalac, Lastilac, Lupos, Lustran ABS, Magnum, Multibase,
Novodur, Polyfabs, Polylac, Porene, Ronfalin, Sinkral, Terluran, Toyolac, Tufrex, Ultrastyr Metals Polymers Ceramics Hybrids
Paste Special - Links
Reference
ProcessUniverse

Device Independent Bitmap. Producers

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Summary

• Material property charts gives meaning to data

• The texts contain many charts – you can copy them for teaching

• Project files for many charts can be downloaded from the Granta website

• Granta EduPack lets you make any chart you want

• You can visualize any database, and add your own records

• Comprehensive report-writing facilities

• Data Visualization Selection

(understanding the data) (using the data)

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 Lecture unit series
PowerPoint lecture units, as well as many other types of resources, can be found in the Ansys Education Resources webpage.

Finding and Displaying Information Sustainability

Unit 1 The materials of engineering What is a sustainable development? A materials perspective
Unit 2 Material property charts: mapping materials Exploring Critical Materials using Ansys Granta EduPack
Unit 3 The Elements database: properties, relationships and resources Special Topics
Material Properties The Built Environment: materials for construction
Unit 4 Manipulating properties: composition, microstructure, Structural sections: shape in action
architecture
Materials in industrial design: Why do consumers buy products?
Unit 5 Designing new materials: filling the materials-property space
Unit 6 Materials Science and Engineering The Design database for Products
Selection The Medical Devices database
Unit 7 Material selection: translation, screening, ranking, documentation The Battery Designer tool
Unit 8 Objectives in conflict: trade off methods and penalty functions Advanced Teaching and Research
Unit 9 Material and shape: materials for efficient structures Advanced databases: a lightning tour
Unit 10 Manufacturing processes and cost modeling The Aerospace edition
Unit 11 Eco-informed material selection The Polymer edition
Unit 12 Eco design and the Eco Audit tool The Synthesizer tool: hybrids and other models
Materials for Bioengineering
www.ansys.com/education-resources
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© 2024 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.
© 2018 Mike Ashby

Use and Reproduction

The content used in this resource may only be used or reproduced for teaching purposes; and any commercial use is strictly prohibited.

Document Information
This lecture unit is part of a set of teaching resources to help introduce students to materials, processes and rational selections.

Ansys Education Resources

To access more undergraduate education resources, including lecture presentations with notes, exercises with worked solutions, microprojects, real
life examples and more, visit www.ansys.com/education-resources.

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