WEEK 4

This week was scheduled to be an asynchronous lesson and we were tasked to do an assignment regarding materials selection for products using the knowledge we have learnt in Year One Material for Design module. We also had some revision videos that revised some concepts we learnt in the past. In this blog entry, I will talk about a method we use for material selection.

Material Selection Method: COWS! 🐄🐮

So when we are selecting materials to manufacture a product with, we have to go through, research a lot on the materials and select physical, thermal and mechanical properties suitable for the product use. Sometimes, there will be a lot of factors / properties we have to consider and we can't possibly be able to decide on a specific material with information scattered all over.

Therefore, we have to use this material selection method called COWS, which means Criteria, Options, Weightage and Score.

Firstly, we set criteria that the options should meet and set available options. Next, we will assign weightages to the different criteria. With all of these in place, we can start giving scores to our options according to the criteria and the highest scoring option will be the one chosen.

For this method, it uses a fair scoring system as there will be weightages assigned to each criteria, stating the importance of the criteria when selecting the material. After, a score of 1 to 3 will be given, 1 being the worst and 3 being the best. Then an overall percentage will be calculated after accumulating all of the scores and multiplying them by their respective weightages. Thus, the most suitable material can be selected as it will have the highest percentage.

There are plenty of reasons why using COWS is better when you are selecting materials.

First, this method is relevant and commonly used in everyday material selection context as we are using specific set requirements to judge the materials and selecting the most suitable one to implement and construct our product with. Thus, being able to come up with a right and economical material for the right product.

Secondly, the method is also feasible as it helps to organize and quickly sorts out important information and groups them accordingly to easily judge the materials and score them.

Group Assignment!!! ✋👊

The assignment that we are tasked to complete was about us selecting the most suitable material for the razor blade and the body of a disposable safety razor for men.

Information for the assignment was given as followed:

Therefore, to complete this group assignment, our group decided to folk out time during the public holiday to complete the assignment and submit a quality work.

Firstly, we split the time we scheduled into 2 parts, on the razor blade and on the shaver body.

We started off with the razor blade as it seemed easier due to the limitations of some materials, causing us to narrow down our search to only metals in order to better suit a typical razor blade manufacture.

Then, we moved on to the material selection of the shaver body where we chose many materials of different properties and types that we deemed feasible for the use of a shaver body.

After much pondering, we have come out with different materials, requirements and properties that will be used and they must fulfil the requirements for that product to function the way it is supposed to. We spent hours working on it and managed to fabricate something up in the end that answers the question and the assignment that was tasked to us.

This pretty much sums up how ICPD went during the week 4 asynchronous lesson. Okay yes, time to sleep! NIGHTS! 👋