Application of MCDM method in material selection for optimal design: A review

The principal purpose of this paper is to present a methodical review of application of Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) method in material selection. The study reviewed a total of 55 papers, published from the year 1994–2019. The papers reviewed were majorly from high ranking journals and were extracted from different databases such as Web of Science (WoS), Scopus and Google scholar. In order to have understanding of the various MCDM methods applicable for material selection, some of the MCDM tools were briefly discussed. Next, a detailed reviewed of the MCDM tools are performed and summaries in a tabular form with respect MCDM decision criteria, method utilised and application areas, year of publication and country of application. Furthermore, papers are analysed based on decision criteria, MCDM methods and application areas, year of publication, journal type and country of application. The results of the analysis indicated the following: the hybrid method which is the combination of two or more MCDM methods is the most applied technique for material selection in all application areas identified; the most commonly applied decision criteria for selecting optimum alternative is cost; the highest number of articles on material selection was published in 2013; the most significant journal is materials and design and finally, the country with the highest application of MCDM method is India. It can be concluded that MCDM technique is a very useful tool in making decision with respect to material selection.