Multi-criteria material selection of monolithic and multi-materials in engineering design

A tool to support designers in comparing the performances of multi-materials with those of other materials and to guide their selection for a given application is discussed. Particulate and fibrous composites can be included in a materials database, allowing direct comparison and selection by established material selection methodologies in the catalogue approach. A common design strategy for multi-materials is to tailor them to fulfill the design requirements as losely as possible by varying either constituents, configuration or scale. The basis for the selection of materials in forming multi-materials is to use the desirable attributes of one monolithic material to compensate for the inadequate attributes of others.