A systematic review on material selection methods

Technological advancements and the growing material set in the world have created a large variety of options for industrial designers, but little attention has been given to the tools and methods that support material selection processes. In this paper, we report on a comprehensive systematic literature review (SLR) guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement on methods or approaches reported for supporting material selection processes. This review covers various published literature, spanning from 2000 to 2018. The purpose is to examine in detail the evolution of the extensive body of research, its research streams and to position possible areas for further research. A classification framework consisting of six categories of selection approaches was derived from the extensive literature. Additionally, a detailed analysis of predominant approaches was presented along with their advantages and limitations with respect to the material selection domain. Taken together, the insights gained from this study may be of assistance to new researchers and practitioners who are looking for potential selection methods for their specific applications. The review also found that there is an increasing trend of research in recent years in the area of OR-based method application specifically on the multi-criteria decision-making supporting material selection processes.