An application of Quality Function Deployment method in engineering materials selection

Abstract In transition from concept design to detail design, designers and engineers need to find specific materials to optimize performance of the systems. The large number of materials and the wide range of manufacturing processes cause engineers always to seek new materials selection methods. In this research work a new method so called QFD method, which employs materials indices, is introduced. The method enjoys a combination of Ashby’s materials selection concepts with the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) tool. The QFD method, which is modified here to fit the materials selection field, provides the designer with the required weighting factors for the material indices. Incorporation of House of Quality makes it possible to add the effects of the interrelationship of the material indices to the calculation of the required weighting factors. Also, considering the material indices would preserve the generality and quality of the results. The results show that the method can provide comparable outputs to the existing methods. Also, the results prove that considering materials selection methods like MDL and Z-transformation which employ material properties instead of material indices would not adversely affect the results. Though, some differences could be noticed and also the QFD is capable of analyzing much more complicated problems.