Case-based reasoning as a tool for materials selection

Material properties of metals, especially steels, can be influenced and varied by different heat treatments. The objective of a heat treatment is usually to achieve a high level of performance at a minimum cost. Therefore, it is essential for a designer to select a material and a heat treatment process that together will ensure this objective. In the presented study case-based reasoning (CBR) is used as a tool for selection of the material and heat treatment process from a database containing material properties of a number of steels and heat treatment processes. The CBR technique has a great potential for other tasks in the mechanical design process as well. It is a suitable technique for searching in partially structured databases with information about different technical solutions applied in a company, failure analysis, etc.