Course Overview
Materials Selection for Engineering Design
Choose materials systematically using performance, environment, manufacture, lifecycle, and cost — not familiarity alone.
Learn systematic methods for selecting materials based on mechanical performance, environment, manufacturability, lifecycle requirements, and cost.
Why This Course Matters
Material selection influences strength, weight, corrosion resistance, wear, manufacturability, reliability, sustainability, and cost. Selecting a familiar material without comparing the actual requirements can lock a design into avoidable compromises.
Materials and failure decisions sit at the intersection of design, manufacturing, loading, environment, inspection, and service history. Professionals who can identify damage mechanisms and interpret physical evidence bring greater clarity to reliability, integrity, and root-cause decisions.
This course is designed to close that capability gap with structured, engineering-focused learning that strengthens both technical understanding and professional judgement.
What This Training Helps You Achieve
Learn systematic methods for selecting materials based on mechanical performance, environment, manufacturability, lifecycle requirements, and cost. The training is designed to help you apply this knowledge with greater confidence across materials selection, inspection, failure investigation, structural integrity, and life assessment, while making assumptions, limitations, and technical reasoning easier to explain and defend.
Why Engineers Take This Course
Translate requirements into material criteria
Develop stronger capability in translating design requirements into material-selection criteria, and use that understanding to support more credible decisions in materials selection, inspection, failure investigation, structural integrity, and life assessment.
Compare material families systematically
Develop stronger capability in metals, polymers, ceramics, composites, and hybrid choices, and use that understanding to support more credible decisions in materials selection, inspection, failure investigation, structural integrity, and life assessment.
Balance performance, manufacture, environment, and cost
Develop stronger capability in documenting material choice and managing uncertainty, and use that understanding to support more credible decisions in materials selection, inspection, failure investigation, structural integrity, and life assessment.
What You’ll Explore
- Translating design requirements into material-selection criteria
- Material-property families and performance indices
- Strength, stiffness, toughness, fatigue, wear, and temperature requirements
- Environmental resistance and corrosion considerations
- Metals, polymers, ceramics, composites, and hybrid choices
- Manufacturing-process compatibility and joining constraints
- Cost, availability, lifecycle, and sustainability considerations
- Screening, ranking, trade-offs, and structured selection methods
- Documenting material choice and managing uncertainty
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Explain and apply the core principles associated with translating design requirements into material-selection criteria.
- Interpret engineering information related to material-property families and performance indices.
- Evaluate practical considerations involving strength, stiffness, toughness, fatigue, wear, and temperature requirements.
- Recognise key assumptions, limitations, and risks associated with metals, polymers, ceramics, composites, and hybrid choices.
- Use structured engineering judgement when working with screening, ranking, trade-offs, and structured selection methods.
- Connect analysis and technical evidence with documenting material choice and managing uncertainty.
- Approach materials selection for engineering design work with greater technical confidence, discipline, and credibility.
Who This Is For
- Mechanical and product design engineers
- Materials and manufacturing engineers
- Engineers responsible for specification and component development
- Graduate engineers learning structured material-selection methods
- Technical professionals comparing alternative materials for new designs
Why Build This Skill Now
Engineering teams are expected to make faster decisions while still demonstrating sound technical judgement, traceability, and awareness of risk. Building capability in materials selection for engineering design gives you a stronger basis for reviewing assumptions, challenging weak conclusions, and contributing more effectively when technical decisions matter.
If you want to strengthen your understanding of this subject, improve the quality of your engineering judgement, and build capability that can be applied across real projects, this course is a strong next step.
Related Topics
materials selection, engineering materials, material selection process, Ashby method, mechanical properties, materials design, material performance, materials engineering, corrosion resistance, manufacturability, material cost, design requirements, metals polymers composites, material compatibility, engineering design
