As product designers we deal with materials every day, but it’s a messy world out there and a surprising (or maybe not so surprising) number of materials websites suck.
These ones don’t. I promise.
MatWeb
MatWeb is the big daddy when it comes to engineering materials. Their enormous selection of generic (i.e. polycarbonate) and proprietary (i.e. Lexan) materials is unsurpassed.
It also has an Advanced search function that lets you narrow by property, and (for a little bit of $$$) will let you download data right into Solidworks or ANSYS for FEA.
Azom
The biggest difference between Azom and Matweb is that where MatWeb is search-based, Azom is list-based. Not so great when searching for a yield strength on a specific formulation of Cycoloy, but much nicer for skimming.
The biggest downside is that I am not seeing brand names (like Cycoloy), just the generic versions (like PC/ABS)
Also I suppose it’s worth mentioning that they’ve got an iphone app.
mtrl.com
While the selection isn’t as deep as a MatWeb or Azom, the database touches on almost every type of material. Add in a slick interface and a really good (albeit short) set of images on material processing and you’ve got a top-knotch resource.
PolyOne Product Finder
PolyOne only deals in plastics, but this site has a slick filtering app that narrows down to a specific material (complete with brand-name) based on generic material, availability, and manufacturing process.
material.nl
You are unlikely to find any seriously technical specifications… and that’s ok. What you will find are a unique set of finished materials (as opposed to raw materials) that might just be appropriate for your design.
They’ve also got a step up on the other sites when it comes to soft goods.
Ecolect
I had the pleasure of attending an Ecolect’s “materials petting zoo” a while back. While you wont hear anyone describing their database as exhaustive, they do a pretty swell job at exposing new, sustainable materials.
What do you think? Do you use any other great resources for material information?
Related posts:
- green plastics search engine
- when to use nonlinear finite element analysis
- pre-consumer vs post-consumer recycled content
Article by chris loughnane
Chris is Design Engineer + Sustainability Advocate at a Boston area design consultancy and has written 127 sweet posts for the Product Development Notebook.
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