Development of a metal selector system

There are an increasing number of different material types currently available for a number of industrial applications. A designer must not only have the ability to decide upon a suitable material for a specific product but also be able to optimise that choice. It is expected that an information source such as the proposed database will provide all the necessary facts and figures to aid both designers and manufacturing engineers. In this paper, a metal selecting system is designed and developed for use in design and manufacturing applications. Incorporated into the system are two main features, browse and search. These allow the user to sift through information manually or enter multi-constraint criteria respectively. Retrieval of information is achieved by in-built queries and information is displayed in two media, forms and reports, with printouts available. All features can be used as part of a sequential screening process, guiding the user to an eventual metal shortlist or selection.