Selection of materials in the design process.

Abstract

The selection of materials in the Design process has a great influence on its quality, however, it was found that this aspect has not been investigated in depth in the ISDi. Due to its importance and impact on the quality of a good design, methodologies that guide how to make the selection of the material based on previously established criteria have been studied and developed worldwide. In this way, a single type of material is selected, which should be the most appropriate for the intended purpose. Most of the methods are based on the availability of a wide range of materials, which must be analyzed to gradually reduce the range of possibilities, either with the help of: recommendations (traditional methods), material maps (graphic method) or written information found in bibliographic sources or in the form of software in virtual databases. In general, to reduce the number of materials, the starting point is the properties required by the product to be designed and is based on criteria such as: availability, ease of obtaining, service life, environmental factors and costs, among others. In this way, a single type of material is selected, which should be the most appropriate for the intended purpose. A tool is proposed that helps ISDi students to make this selection following a sequence of logical steps and in a coherent way with the design process, analyzing some of these methods, adapting them to the conditions of the ISDi and the design process that is used. he is currently still in the institution. In this way, a tool is developed that facilitates the selection of materials, the use of which is explained in detail and exemplified for a better understanding.