Materials Selection in Mechanical Design

‘Design’ is one of those words that means all things to all people. Every manufactured thing, from the most lyrical of ladies’ hats to the greasiest of gearboxes, qualifies, in some sense or other, as a design. It can mean yet more. Nature, to some is Divine Design, to others it is design by Natural Selection, the ultimate genetic algorithm. The reader will agree that it is necessary to narrow the field, at least a little.