Systems and Methods for Selecting a Material That Best Matches a Desired Set of Properties
Disclosed herein is a method for selecting a material that most closely matches a desired set of properties, the method comprising: obtaining at least one input parameter from a user; retrieving actual property values for at least one preliminary matching material from a global data repository; determining a match between each preliminary matching material matches and a desired set of property values; and outputting the results to the user.
1 . A method for selecting a material that most closely matches a desired set of properties, the method comprising:
obtaining at least one input parameter from a user;
retrieving actual property values for at least one preliminary matching material from a global data repository;
determining a match between each preliminary matching material matches and a desired set of property values; and
outputting the results to the user.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining step comprises:
calculating an index value for each actual property value of each preliminary matching material;
scoring each property value to create a scored property value;
weighting each scored property value by talking a priority value for each property into account to create a weighted scored property value; and
calculating an overall match score for each preliminary matching material.
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one input parameter obtained from the user is a minimum acceptable property value or a maximum acceptable property value for a property, the index value is calculated using the formula:
Index
value
=
Actual
property
value
Desired
property
value
4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one input parameter obtained from the user is a range of acceptable property values for a property, the index value is calculated using the formula:
Index
value
range
=
Actual
property
value
-
(
LOW
+
HIGH
)
/
2
HIGH
-
LOW
wherein LOW is the minimum value of the acceptable range and HIGH is the maximum value of the acceptable range.
5 . The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one input parameter obtained from the user is a minimum acceptable property value for a property, the scored property value is calculated using the fuzzy membership function:
Scored
property
value
=
1
1
+
exp
[
-
Slope
(
Index
value
-
Crossover
)
]
wherein Slope=15 and Crossover=0.95.
6 . The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one input parameter obtained from the user is a maximum acceptable property value for a property, the scored property value is calculated using the fuzzy membership function:
Scored
property
value
=
1
1
+
exp
[
-
Slope
(
Index
value
-
Crossover
)
]
wherein Slope=−15 and Crossover=1.05.
7 . The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one input parameter obtained from the user is an acceptable point value for a property, and the desired property value for that property equals zero (0), the scored property value is one (1).
8 . The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one input parameter obtained from the user is an acceptable point value for a property, and the desired property value for that property does not equal zero (0), the scored property value is zero (0).
9 . The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one input parameter obtained from the user is an acceptable point value for a property, and:
Actual property value<DPV*0.9
wherein DPV=desired property value, the scored property value is zero (0).
10 . The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one input parameter obtained from the user is an acceptable point value for a property, and:
DPV*0.9.ltoreq.Actual property value<DPV
the scored property value is calculated using the fuzzy membership function:
Scored
Property
Value
=
(
DPV
*
0.1
)
-
DPV
+
APV
(
DPV
*
0.1
)
wherein DPV=desired property value and APV=actual property value.
11 . The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one input parameter obtained from the user is an acceptable point value for a property, and:
Actual property value=DPV
wherein DPV=desired property value, the scored property value is one (1).
12 . The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one input parameter obtained from the user is an acceptable point value for a property, and:
DPV<Actual property value.ltoreq.DPV* 1.1
the scored property value is calculated using the fuzzy membership function:
Scored
Property
Value
=
(
DPV
*
0.1
)
+
DPV
-
APV
(
DPV
*
0.1
)
wherein DPV=desired property value and APV=actual property value.
13 . The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one input parameter obtained from the user is an acceptable point value for a property, and:
Actual property value>DPV* 1.1
wherein DPV=desired property value, the scored property value is zero (0).
14 . The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one input parameter obtained from the user is a range of acceptable property values for a property, and the index value for that property is less than −1, the scored property value equals zero (0).
15 . The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one input parameter obtained from the user is a range of acceptable property values for a property, and:
−1.ltoreq.Index value<−0.5
the scored property value is calculated using the fuzzy membership function:
Scored property value=2(1.0+Index value).
16 . The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one input parameter obtained from the user is a range of acceptable property values for a property, and:
−0.5.ltoreq.Index value<0.5
the scored property value is one (1).
17 . The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one input parameter obtained from the user is a range of acceptable property values for a property, and:
0.5.ltoreq.Index value<1
the scored property is calculated using the fuzzy membership function:
Scored property value=2(1.0-Index value).
18 . The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one input parameter obtained from the user is a range of acceptable property values for a property, and the index value for that property is greater than one (1), the scored property value is zero (0).
19 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the weighted scored property value is calculated using the formula:
Weighted scored property value=Scored property value * Priority value
20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein a high priority exists for a property, a priority value of 4 is assigned to that property, a medium priority exists for a property, a priority value of 2 is assigned to that property, and a low priority exists for a property, a priority value of 1 is assigned to that property.
21 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the overall match score is calculated using the formula:
Overall
Match
Score
=
Sum
of
all
weighted
score
property
values
S
um
of
all
priority
values
22 . The method of claim 2 , wherein each preliminary matching material comprises an engineering thermoplastic.
23 . A system for selecting a material that most closely matches a desired set of properties, the system comprising:
a means for obtaining at least one input parameter from a user;
a means for retrieving actual property values for at least one preliminary matching material from a global data repository;
a material selection algorithm operable for determining a match between each preliminary matching material and a desired set of property values; and
a means for outputting the results to the user.
24 . The system of claim 23 , wherein the material selection algorithm is further operable for:
calculating an index value for each actual property value of each preliminary matching material;
scoring each property value to create a scored property value;
weighting each scored property value by taking a priority value for each property into account to create a weighted scored property value; and
calculating an overall match score for each preliminary matching material.