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The use of CES EduPack at all levels of Higher Education
Arlindo Silva1, Mike. F. Ashby2, Hannah Melia3 1Materials Education Consultant, Edu. Division, Granta Design Ltd., Cambridge, UK
2Emeritus Professor, Dep. Engineering, Cambridge University, UK
3Teaching Resources Team Leader, Edu. Division, Granta Design Ltd, Cambridge, UK
1st Edition, December 2012
© 2012 Granta Design Limited
Synopsis
At the time of writing, CES EduPack is used in over 800 colleges and universities
worldwide. In order to understand the use of CES EduPack around the world, a
selected number of academics were contacted by Granta Design to establish how
they use CES EduPack with their students. This paper compiles that information.
Figure 1 depicts the countries from where contributions were received. In the
following pages, the paper recounts the experiences that academics have had with
CES EduPack, in some cases for more than 15 years, in other cases with hundreds
of students. This paper is divided into several sections according to different levels of
higher education, from undergraduate to PhD level, followed by the use of CES
EduPack in pre-University courses and in design projects across different
Universities. A list of contacts for the contributing academics, whose effort and time
we greatly appreciate, is provided at the end. Although the paper is not intended as
the ultimate reference about CES EduPack, it nevertheless provides useful
information about exciting things being done worldwide and can potentially give you
fresh ideas to use in your teaching.
Figure 1. The countries from which some institutions contributed to this paper. The map was drawn in CES
EduPack with a database of “States of the World” available from our Teaching Resources Website.
Contents Synopsis ................................
Introduction ................................
CES EduPack in undergraduate courses
CES EduPack in MSc courses
CES EduPack in PhD courses
CES EduPack use in pre
Professors’ views on the use of
List of contacts ................................
References ................................
Introduction
Materials teaching has been a topic of extensive concern in recent years. Teaching
of materials science to materials science students has manage
somewhat over the years. However, the same topic taught to students of other
disciplines has evolved substantially (
breadth has increased dramatically not least because the number of com
available materials has increased
about materials has therefore to cope with increasing content, and
context where the competition for space in the engineering curricula is fierce.
technological development
broaden what have become the traditional boundaries of engineering (Dym et al.
2005). The subject of Materials is naturally
engineering (see Figure 1)
research into new materials and at the same time enables breakthrough designs with
1 The International Counsil of Systems Engineers
2 Conceive, Design, Implement, Operate
Figure 2. Materials as a bridging Science.
2
...............................................................................................................
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in undergraduate courses ..............................................................
in MSc courses ............................................................................
in PhD courses ............................................................................
use in pre-University studies .......................................................
Professors’ views on the use of EduPack ...........................................................
................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................
teaching has been a topic of extensive concern in recent years. Teaching
of materials science to materials science students has manage
somewhat over the years. However, the same topic taught to students of other
disciplines has evolved substantially (Silva et al. 2012). It is interesting to note that its
breadth has increased dramatically not least because the number of com
available materials has increased significantly in the last three decades. Teaching
about materials has therefore to cope with increasing content, and
context where the competition for space in the engineering curricula is fierce.
Interdisciplinarity is being
pursued at both undergraduate
(Bronet et al. 2003, Silva et al.
2009a) and graduate (Silva et
al. 2009b) levels. The search
for interdisciplinary knowledge
has long been identified as
mandatory for today’s
technological and inn
leaders. This is one of the
goals of INCOSE
Initiative2 and the multiple
graduate level programs
worldwide. Akay calls in his
work for a “renaissance
engineer”, bridging the gaps
between the extremely
specialized engineers that
were at the root of rapid
technological development (Akay, 2008). Others also acknowledge the need to
broaden what have become the traditional boundaries of engineering (Dym et al.
2005). The subject of Materials is naturally at a crossroads, bridging science and
(see Figure 1). It feeds Science with design requirements that drive
research into new materials and at the same time enables breakthrough designs with
The International Counsil of Systems Engineers – http://www.incose.org Conceive, Design, Implement, Operate – http://www.cdio.org
Figure 2. Materials as a bridging Science.
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............ 21
....................... 22
........................... 22
.................................... 24
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teaching has been a topic of extensive concern in recent years. Teaching
of materials science to materials science students has managed to stabilize
somewhat over the years. However, the same topic taught to students of other
. It is interesting to note that its
breadth has increased dramatically not least because the number of commercially
in the last three decades. Teaching
about materials has therefore to cope with increasing content, and to do so in a
context where the competition for space in the engineering curricula is fierce.
y is being
pursued at both undergraduate
2003, Silva et al.
2009a) and graduate (Silva et
) levels. The search
for interdisciplinary knowledge
has long been identified as
mandatory for today’s
technological and innovation
leaders. This is one of the
goals of INCOSE1, the CDIO
and the multiple
graduate level programs
Akay calls in his
work for a “renaissance
engineer”, bridging the gaps
between the extremely
specialized engineers that
he root of rapid
Others also acknowledge the need to
broaden what have become the traditional boundaries of engineering (Dym et al.
, bridging science and
. It feeds Science with design requirements that drive
research into new materials and at the same time enables breakthrough designs with
3
Where T.U.Lisbon, Portugal
Level 2nd
Year, BSc Mech. Engineering
Course Materials in Engineering Since 2009
Why The course was outdated, boring,
un-motivating and had high fail
rates
Audience 250 students
Benefits Students have a much better
understanding of materials in the
broadest sense and numbers in
properties gain meaning!
new materials. It is precisely these characteristics that make the teaching of materials
extremely important to the next generation of engineers (Silva et al. 2012).
This paper explains how the implementation of CES EduPack in established courses
for a wide range of higher education programs can help educators to balance the
inherent breadth of information on the topic with the necessary depth of knowledge
required from the students upon completion of the course. Several case studies of
active use of CES EduPack in a number of higher education institutions in several
countries are presented and discussed. The courses range from introductory
materials science to capstone design courses, and go on into MSc and PhD levels.
The use of CES EduPack in pre-University courses is also briefly discussed. The
links to manufacturing processes and environmental impact will also be addressed.
CES EduPack in undergraduate courses
CES EduPack is used at the Instituto Superior
Tecnico (IST), the Technical University of
Lisbon, Portugal, in the course on Materials
in Engineering. This course is the second
core course on Materials related topics – the
first being a freshman course on Materials
Science – in a three year Mechanical
Engineering degree. Whilst the Materials
Science course, at the freshman level, uses a
traditional bottom-up approach starting with
the atoms and ending up in materials’
properties, this new course assumes a
design-led approach, closing the cycle of what
would be called a basic materials education for mechanical engineers. Other courses
will then follow, some of them elective, like Mechanical Behaviour of Materials, or
Composite Materials, as examples. The Engineering Materials course also has a
laboratory component in which different materials are tested under tension and
impact, and hardness is measured on standard metal coupons. A total of 250
students take this course every year. The faculty team generally finds that this
design-led approach, together with materials testing in the lab, helps in strengthening
the students’ perception of strength, stiffness and hardness to name just a few.
Figure 3. Examples of a part proposed for selection of materials and processes at the Technical University of Lisbon. From left to right: a vertical aero generator, structure of a bathing chair for the elderly and a pedal box
for a Formula Student/SAE racing car.
4
Where Uni. Birmingham, UK
Level 1st Year, BSc Materials, Civil,
Chemical and Mechanical
Engineering
Course Properties and
Applications of Materials Since 2007
Why Previous experience with CES
EduPack in advanced course
Audience 350 students
Benefits Can be used as a “textbook”
resource. Students like the
software, some use it for other
courses even if it is not required
“�[general objectives
are for] students to have
an appreciation of
materials properties
(mechanical / physical
etc), [and] to discuss
how to identify key
properties for an
application and be able
to select a material for
that application based
on the properties
identified. EduPack
supports this”
Dr Claire Davis
CES EduPack is used throughout the course. Also, the visual nature of most of the
resources used has helped to retain students in class for the best part of the
semester, and provides an excellent overall perspective of the positioning of each
family of materials.
The software is used in most of the classes to visually exemplify theoretical
constructs with data from real materials. Some of the slides and figures presented in
class come from the teaching resources available from Granta’s Teaching Resources
Website, with some modifications to fit with the style of teaching and language of the
professor. It is also used in the final exam, where a material property chart is
presented, especially built for that purpose, on which the students need to perform
some calculations, supporting decisions on the best material for a given application,
with a set of objectives, requirements, constraints and free variables. A selected
group of students are involved in project work.
They have to select the appropriate material
for a number of parts in a product designed in
another course. They have to also decide
what will be the manufacturing process for a
given batch size (Silva and Fontul, 2012).
Figure 3 shows examples of parts and
products proposed for material and process
selection.
The University of Birmingham, UK has
been using CES EduPack since 2007 in a
course on Properties and Applications of
Materials. The course is taught to
approximately 350 students as a core course
for the Materials, Civil, Chemical and Mechanical Engineering and BioMedical BSc
programs. Dr Claire Davis, head lecturer for this course, understood and used the
Ashby selection diagrams from a previous experience in
lecturing and knew that the database was a good and
reliable source of data for students. Also, since the
students need CES EduPack in subsequent courses
on their program, this would ensure some continuity.
In this first year course, the software is used more like
an interactive textbook resource for definitions of
properties and to support general understanding of
properties discussed in lectures. The general
objectives of the course are “for students to have an
appreciation of materials properties (mechanical /
physical etc), be able to define these properties and
know how they are measured”. Also,
they need to be able to “discuss how to identify key
properties for an application and to select a material
for that application based on the properties identified”
according to Dr Davis. The EduPack, although not
considered essential to support these general
objectives, is certainly considered desirable, as it
5
illustrates the properties under study with
reliable data. Selection charts are not
used in this course, although other
courses use it at the University of
Birmingham. The software is made
available on all Engineering computer
clusters and additional CDs for personal
use are made available to students who
request them.
An example of a short exercise is given
in Figure 4. Pre-1992, UK 1p and 2p
coins were made from bronze (97wt%
copper; 2.5wt%zinc and 0.5wt% tin). However, since September 1992 the coins have
been made from a mild steel core and electroplated in copper. Students are then
asked to a) Calculate the cost of the ‘new’ and ‘old’ coins, and b) Compare the
densities of bronze and mild steel and determine how the mass and diameter of the
coins were kept consistent for both types of coins.
Longer exercises revolve around different topics, depending on the program the
students come from when taking the course on Properties and Applications of
Materials. Examples based on golf club shafts (Sports Materials students), hip
replacement prostheses (BioMedical Engineering students) or large telescope mirror
supports (Mechanical Engineering students) may be assigned (see Figure 5).
The Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft in Berlin, Germany (HTW Berlin) is
also a user of CES EduPack since 2010. A total of approximately 200 students use it
every year for a number of courses, from first to fourth year of study. The modules on
Materials Science 1, 2 and 3 all run in the first year of the BSc degrees for
mechanical engineers and automotive engineers. Another course on Materials and
the Environment is taken by 4th year students with a very diverse background:
economists with specialty in engineering, life science engineering and regenerative
energy engineering. Dr Anja Pfennig finds CES EduPack really useful, both to her
and her students: materials science comes to life for engineering students “by
Figure 5. Examples of longer exercises at the University of Birmingham (Davis 2009)
Figure 4. A short exercise around copper at the University of Birmingham (Davis 2009)”
6
Where University of Porto, Portugal
Level 2nd/
3rd
Year, BSc Mech. Eng.
Course Materials Science &
Engineering, Materials for
Mechanical Construction I
and II Since 2007
Why Mainly for the wealth of
information in the database
Audience 450 students overall
Benefits Finding everything in just one
place with enough accuracy and
reliability
“�[materials science]
comes to life for
engineering students by
enhancing the fun of
use of tools that let you
do things without you
knowing that you are
actually studying”
Dr Anja Pfennig
Where Hochschule für Technik und
Wirtschaft (HTW) Berlin, Germany
Level 1st to 4
th Year
Course Materials Science 1, 2 and 3
Materials and the
Environment Since 2010
Why Breadth of study and fun to use
Audience 200 students overall
Benefits More general view of materials
science and the ways in which it
touches on different fields of study
enhancing the fun of use of tools that let
you do things without you knowing that
you are actually studying”. CES EduPack
is used for demos in class, to solve
homework and exercises given to
students and also for project work. The
software is installed permanently in the
University computer lab, and some
students have it installed on their laptops.
Dr Pfennig also makes extensive use of
Granta Design’s teaching resources, as
she finds them very helpful in areas where
she needs some extra guidance and new ideas for exercises. The joint use of CES
EduPack and the other teaching resources helps the students to acquire a more
general view of materials science and the ways in which it touches on different fields,
something that is particularly interesting for the 4th year
course on Materials and the Environment but also of
value for the 1st year students.
Installing CES EduPack and teaching with it took time
in thinking about the goals of the course, where and
how to apply CES and how to assess the student’s
work. Nevertheless, it supports very well the objectives
of the courses where it is used – some of the learning
outcomes of the Materials Science 1, 2 and 3 modules
are: understanding the interdependence of material
properties, get a feeling for what are the values of the
often used engineering properties, knowing how materials behave, and how can
properties be manipulated theoretically. These can all be immediately illustrated with
charts, , e.g. hardening mechanisms of metals and their influence on mechanical
properties, or to show the influence of carbon content in steels on their strength. In
the module on Materials and Environment “students love to play with options of
materials or end-of-life to optimize their designs or just compare their results to those
of the other student groups”. However, because the Eco Audit tool is so easy to use,
students often neglect the scientific
background needed to discuss the results,
or the huge variability of the data, so this
often needs to be stressed during class.
Students find it very rewarding to use CES
EduPack and often look for ways of
retaining a copy of the software, even if it
is not required in other courses.
The School of Engineering at the
University of Porto, in Portugal (FEUP)
uses CES EduPack as a campus wide
resource. Several courses at the
undergraduate level use it in different
“�the need to discuss
on a multidisciplinary
level all the restrictions
and goals of the [wheel
rim] project”
Prof Cesar Azevedo
ways to support teaching.
Engineering the students have a brief introduction to the software, looking for data on
Mechanical Construction II, focused mainly on ceramic materials, the students have
two assignments on which they have to produce reports. The first assignment is an
analyis and discussion of a published scientific paper, while the second assignment
focuses on a particular real
plugs, to sinks, to kitche
students have to come up with manufacturing processes capable of producing that
part, describe what is the chemical composition a
also how the processing will affect the
on all of these aspects. CES
further down. The push to a
active researcher and lecturer in several fields
EduPack short course from
The University of São Paulo
is a user of CES EduPack
students have access to the software in a
room specifically used f
Materials Selection during
study in their Mechanical Engineering
program (in Brazil, the undergraduate degree
in Engineering takes 5 years to complete).
After a one hour class explaining the
principles, the students have
period to cover a number of hands
exercises for assessment
project covering materials selection and
easily to the software, but they would like
Figure 6. Wheel rims as a materials selection project.
7
Where University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
Level 5th Year, BSc Mech. Eng.
Course Materials SelectionSince 2007
Why Need for an effective teaching tool
Audience 60 students
Benefits Support for multid
discussions on how materials
selection affects/ is affected by
non-technical constraints
ways to support teaching. In the first year course on Materials Science and
Engineering the students have a brief introduction to the software, looking for data on
the material records and comparing different classes of
materials. In the second year course of Materials for
Mechanical Construction I, and because this course is
specifically dedicated to metallic materials, the students
also use CES EduPack to find materials data. They
also want to get information on manufactu
processes and materials suppliers for extended, more
accurate information on, for example, thermal
treatments. In the third year course of Materials for
Mechanical Construction II, focused mainly on ceramic materials, the students have
on which they have to produce reports. The first assignment is an
analyis and discussion of a published scientific paper, while the second assignment
focuses on a particular real-life ceramic component (examples range from spark
hen knives or even tool bits). For both assignments the
students have to come up with manufacturing processes capable of producing that
part, describe what is the chemical composition and properties of the ceramic,
how the processing will affect them. They use CES EduPack to get information
on all of these aspects. CES EduPack is also used at higher levels of study
further down. The push to a campus wide license was driven by Prof
active researcher and lecturer in several fields related to materials, who took the CES
short course from Prof Mike Ashby in Cambridge in 2010.
o Paulo (USP), Brazil,
EduPack since 2007. The
students have access to the software in a
room specifically used for the course on
during their 5th year of
study in their Mechanical Engineering
program (in Brazil, the undergraduate degree
in Engineering takes 5 years to complete).
After a one hour class explaining the
principles, the students have a two hour
period to cover a number of hands-on
assessment using the software. They also have to present a final
project covering materials selection and Eco Audit, in teams. The students adapt very
easily to the software, but they would like to have ethanol as a fuel for
Figure 6. Wheel rims as a materials selection project.
University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
Year, BSc Mech. Eng.
Materials Selection
Need for an effective teaching tool
60 students
Support for multidisciplinary
discussions on how materials
selection affects/ is affected by
technical constraints
n the first year course on Materials Science and
Engineering the students have a brief introduction to the software, looking for data on
the material records and comparing different classes of
terials. In the second year course of Materials for
Mechanical Construction I, and because this course is
specifically dedicated to metallic materials, the students
to find materials data. They
to get information on manufacturing
processes and materials suppliers for extended, more
, for example, thermal
. In the third year course of Materials for
Mechanical Construction II, focused mainly on ceramic materials, the students have
on which they have to produce reports. The first assignment is an
analyis and discussion of a published scientific paper, while the second assignment
life ceramic component (examples range from spark
es or even tool bits). For both assignments the
students have to come up with manufacturing processes capable of producing that
nd properties of the ceramic, and
to get information
is also used at higher levels of study – see
Prof Jorge Lino, an
related to materials, who took the CES
using the software. They also have to present a final
The students adapt very
to have ethanol as a fuel for Eco Audit
8
Where Vestfold University College,
Norway
Level BSc in Product Design
Course Production and Materials
Technology, Advanced
Materials Selection Since 2007
Why Easily find information about
materials and processes
Audience 60 students overall
Benefits Students get more familiarity with
materials and processes and find
it easier to select them for specific
applications
calculations (in Brazil, ethanol is ubiquitous as an automobile fuel).This year’s project
for all teams is to select materials for wheel rims for different vehicles (see Figure 6).
They will have to use multiple objectives and multiple constraints to come up with
materials, and then compare their results with real life wheel rims. The analysis also
creates the opportunity for deeper discussions on eco-design. Prof Cesar Azevedo
needed a teaching tool to help him move from the research institute where he was
based to a teaching position at the University of Sao Paulo, and he found just that in
CES EduPack back in 2007. He found very good background support on Granta’s
Teaching Resources Website in the form of PowerPoint lectures and ready-made
exercises and projects that he then adapts to his teaching. Prof Azevedo further
considers that, looking back, it was actually easier to implement this course than he
thought at first. His emphasis during the course is to make the students understand
that selecting materials and processes is directly dependent of the boundary
conditions of the project (the constraints of the design) and these are not only
Engineering-dependent, but also have a social
and cultural dimension. This “creates the
need to discuss on a multidisciplinary level all
the restrictions and goals of the project” and
CES EduPack is very supportive of this
pedagogic aim.
Prof Ellen Husa at the Faculty of Technology
and Maritime Sciences, Vestfold University
College, Norway relies on CES EduPack to
teach two undergraduate courses in the BSc
in Product Design: the 2nd year course on
Production and Materials Technology and the
3rd year course on Advanced Materials
Selection. Prof Husa started using CES
EduPack after attending one of Prof Ashby’s
short courses in Cambridge as it looked like very interesting software, in which
information about materials was easily searchable and material properties were
explained very simply. Furthermore, the links between materials and manufacturing
processes are done in a way that their structured selection is very straightforward. In
the more introductory course the students have to do a set of exercises to which
some classes are allocated during the semester. In the more advanced course the
students work for two hours every week of the semester using CES EduPack and in
the end they have a project where they have to choose materials and manufacturing
processes for an electronic device for use in a maritime environment. In this latter
course, Prof Husa uses the resources available from Granta’s teaching resources
website extensively, together with one of Prof Ashby’s textbooks (Ashby, 2011).
Overall, CES EduPack is versatile enough that it is possible to use a structured
selection methodology or just go about searching for a material that does the job. In
either case, the student is supported by the software and learns about materials and
processes while using it. The College has a computer room with the software
installed in all computers, but also gives the software to students who want to have it
installed in their laptops, an option that some students take up.
9
Where University of Pretoria, South
Africa
Level BSc in Interior Architecture,
various BEng
Course Material Studies, Materials
Science Since 2005
Why Personal contact with Prof Mike
Ashby
Audience 1425 students overall
Benefits Get a “feel” for material properties
and use of process universe and
shape together
“� it enabled [�] non-
engineering, visually
oriented students to get
a ‘feel’ for material
properties. Furthermore,
they used the software
to make materials and
process choices
suitable for their
projects.”
Dr Dick Groot
“The survey completed
by 171 students show
that 91% of students
say the software is
applicable to this
course and 81% of
students would like to
learn more about [it]”
Dr Jacqueline Morkel
The Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical
Engineering at the University of Pretoria, South
Africa uses CES EduPack as a campus wide resource
to support, among others, a course on Material Studies
for 25 students of the 3rd year of a BSc degree for the
Department of Interior Architecture, taught by Dr Dick
Groot and a 1st year Materials Science course taught to
1400 BEng students by Dr Jacqueline Morkel. It is very
interesting to understand how students from a non-
Engineering background deal with materials. The
software helped the students to obtain visual
representations of material attributes with which they
were not familiar, such as tensile strength or fracture
strength. Being non-engineering students, the use of
suitable graphs, enabled them to get a “feel” for material properties and understand
how different materials relate to one another. They get familiarized with the
software’s concepts and functions by means of combined demonstrations and
tutorials done mainly hands-on in a computer laboratory (although students can also
have the software in their own laptops if they want to) during about four sessions of 3
hours each during the semester, where some of Granta’s website material is made
available for self-study.
A project has to be done in teams, the
emphasis of which is materials and process
selection, rather than the design. In this
project, the students have to consider
various factors, of which materials and
process selection are the most important.
They also need to complete an Eco Audit,
using the software tools. The results of this
have to feed back into the materials and
process choices. At the end of the semester
a complete written report is required for the
project, as well as an oral presentation.
Instead of detailed lectures on materials
attributes, the approach is for the students to
explore for themselves, after a brief introduction, using
the software. The simple user interface facilitates this,
as well as the backup of the help pages, in-depth help
material, and the video tutorials. Being design oriented
in the first instance, the students are also introduced to
the concept of breaking down their design into
elementary generic shapes using the shape
classification in the software, and from there making
shaping process selections, and then using the tree
function to find materials compatible with the selected
shaping method. This is a powerful approach for design
students.
10
Where University of Applied Science,
Zwickau, Germany
Level BSc of Automotive, Mechanical,
and Textile Engineering
Course Materials Science, Non-
Metallic Materials, Light
Metals, Composite
Materials Since 2004
Why Previous experience with CES for
research, ability to create charts
and diagrams
Audience 250 students overall
Benefits Huge amount of data, clear plots,
knowledge acquired is used in
other courses downstream
Faculty has seen over the past few years more requests for the package at
postgraduate level, as the undergraduates move through to advanced studies. This
has progressed to the point where they offer an introduction to the use of the
software for all honours level students in architecture, interior architecture and
landscaping architecture. The student feedback varies from feeling rather hesitant at
first to a full appreciation of the power and applicability of CES EduPack when the
students reach their honours studies. The Department of Interior Architecture is very
happy with the improvement in the students’ knowledge of materials and processes
achieved through this module. The software is also used in the first year course on
Materials Science, using graphs and screen shots of CES EduPack during lectures,
after which assignments are given to students. The students either download CES
EduPack onto their computers or use the copies installed in the computer labs. The
course goes through an “overview of materials, their properties and then specifically
looks in detail at mechanical properties of
materials. Segments of the theory of this
subject [are] well supported and graphically
presented by the software”. A survey was
recently completed “to get feedback from
students as this was the first semester of
using CES EduPack. The survey completed
by 171 students show that 91 % of students
say the software is applicable to this course
and 81 % of students would like to learn more
about [it]”.
The Westsächsische Hochschule Zwickau
(WHZ), University of Applied Science,
Germany has been using CES EduPack
since 2005 in a number of courses at the
undergraduate and master levels, for
Automotive, Mechanical and Textile
Engineering. Prof Holger Klose is involved in teaching courses at both levels, and he
finds that the true power of CES EduPack is to have a huge amount of data in just
one place, with the ability to plot clear charts of material data that help you explain
properties for different material groups and rank specific materials as you want. Prof
Klose not only uses the graph functionality, he also uses the literature available from
Granta’s teaching resources website, especially the poster charts for explaining
concepts during the laboratory classes. He found it very easy to use EduPack in his
lectures, as it is extremely intuitive and also very user friendly for students. They can
use it via the computer pools at the University and its use is broadening to other
courses to produce seminar papers (projects of 3 to 6 months) that all students have
to complete and also the diploma projects (6 months in length, typically at the end of
their BSc). One of the tools used in Zwickau is the Eco Audit tool. It requires a
special care in discussing the assumptions made and the future consequences of
present actions in terms of design, providing very enticing and fruitful discussions in
class, leading to deeper understanding of the topic.
Lund University in Sweden is using CES EduPack at the undergraduate and
Master levels, for programs on Mechanical Engineering. The courses range from a
11
Where De Montfort University, UK
Level BSc Product Design
Course Reverse Engineering,
Major Project, Innovative
Design Since 2009
Why To provide more content on
materials and processes
Audience 60 students overall
Benefits Help making the students more
independent in their search for
materials and manufacturing
processes; make the students
aware of more materials and
processes
“�dwell deeper in the
principles of materials
selection, challenge
design brief criteria, and
discuss issues relating
to the environment”
Philippe Radlovic
Where Lund University, Sweden
Level BSc Engineering and Design
Course Introduction to
Mechanical Engineering Since 2007
Why Much better compared to
conventional teaching
Audience 150 students
Benefits Easy and fast way to compare
materials and processes, leading
to deeper knowledge and more
acute critical judgement of
decisions
first year Introduction to Mechanical
Engineering to the MSc level courses on
Materials and Process Selection, and
Recycling Technology. Professors Johan
Persson and Lanny Kirkhorn are users in
these courses since 2007. The MSc level
courses are dealt with separately in this
paper, further down. The first year course,
taking around 150 students each year,
deals with general knowledge about
materials. The students have to do
homework using CES EduPack on their
own computers, some supervised
exercises in class and also longer projects. Both the students and faculty find the
software very user friendly and easy to master at this basic level. The most important
benefit that Profs Persson and Kirkhorn have found in using CES EduPack is that it is
a very easy and fast way of “comparing materials”. They use demos and charts
during classes and find some useful support from Granta’s teaching resources
website.
Students from the BSc in Product Design at
De Montfort University, Leicester, UK have
used CES EduPack since 2009. Several
courses across all years of study use
EduPack: Reverse Engineering 2nd year,
Major Project 3rd year and Innovative Design
4th year. Philippe Radlovic was entrusted with
the task of lecturing specifically about CES
EduPack across all of these modules and got
a good understanding of how CES EduPack
could help his students. He found that “the
teaching of CES EduPack needed to be
embedded not only in materials and
processes teaching but also across all years
of teaching to reap [its full] benefits”. For him,
this approach is something that requires some
effort but can potentially have very high returns, and this approach is still being
implemented at De Montfort University.
Students in their second year use it to understand
principles of materials selection, understand the
consequences of such choices on the environment,
and to learn about different properties and their real life
consequences. Third year students use CES EduPack
to look for suitable new materials, select materials for
their projects, improve their selections with graphs and
other tools, and to weigh and improve the
environmental burden of their designs. Fourth year
students use it to “dwell deeper in the principles of
materials selection, challenge design brief criteria, and discuss issues relating to the
environment”. Students find that
to get “the wrong” answer from a selection project.
actually “does not give answers, just possibilities to explore
approach to foster in-class discussion
very useful to show/demonstrate the potential and ad
compare different designs.
Prof John Metcalf runs a 2
Materials and Process Selection at the
Sheffield Hallam University, UK
is taught to multiple Bachelor programs:
Mechanical, Aerospace, Aeronau
Forensic, Materials, and Automotive
Engineering, and also to Design Technology,
Sports Technology and Computer Aided
Design Technology. Other courses end up
using it as well because it is installed in the
University computer lab. When
started teaching the course
EduPack was already used by his predecessor. N
his “teaching to a deep level of learning
starting with some basic functions like browsing
students complain that “searching does not work like Google”. The assignments get
more complex as the semester progresses, from design limiting properties, to
interpretation and formulation of objectives and constraints, to se
eco audits.
Longer projects are also done on topics as diverse as selecting materials
manufacturing processes
very powerful tool for selecting materials and processes,
thought into how best to convey it to the students, especially for manufacturing
processes: CES EduPack
supports teaching very well, but students often face some difficulties doin
translation of the selection problem into objectives, functions, constraints and free
variables, and grasping the concept of a material performance index and this
requires added effort from the Professor. Putting the whole topic of materials
Figure 7. Knife blades
12
Where Sheffield Hallam University, UK
Level Various BSc programs
Course Materials & Process
SelectionSince 2005
Why It was inherited from the previous
Professor
Audience 140 students
Benefits Supports teaching to a deep level
of learning; massive database of
reliable data
materials selection, challenge design brief criteria, and discuss issues relating to the
Students find that advanced use it is not as easy as it look
” answer from a selection project. In Philippe Radlovic’s words, it
not give answers, just possibilities to explore” which is a very good
class discussion. The graph function and the Eco
very useful to show/demonstrate the potential and advantages of a design a
compare different designs.
John Metcalf runs a 2nd year course on
Materials and Process Selection at the
Sheffield Hallam University, UK. The course
is taught to multiple Bachelor programs:
Mechanical, Aerospace, Aeronautical,
Forensic, Materials, and Automotive
Engineering, and also to Design Technology,
Sports Technology and Computer Aided
Design Technology. Other courses end up
using it as well because it is installed in the
University computer lab. When Prof Metcalf
tarted teaching the course in 2005 CES
was already used by his predecessor. Nevertheless, it really does support
his “teaching to a deep level of learning”. Several assignments are given to students,
starting with some basic functions like browsing and searching, although some
students complain that “searching does not work like Google”. The assignments get
more complex as the semester progresses, from design limiting properties, to
interpretation and formulation of objectives and constraints, to selection
Longer projects are also done on topics as diverse as selecting materials
manufacturing processes for knife blades or engine blocks. The Ashby approach is a
very powerful tool for selecting materials and processes, but it requires time and
thought into how best to convey it to the students, especially for manufacturing
EduPack makes it as easy as possible. Overall, the software
supports teaching very well, but students often face some difficulties doin
translation of the selection problem into objectives, functions, constraints and free
variables, and grasping the concept of a material performance index and this
requires added effort from the Professor. Putting the whole topic of materials
Figure 7. Knife blades and engine blocks as materials and processes selection projects.
Sheffield Hallam University, UK
Various BSc programs
Materials & Process
Selection
It was inherited from the previous
140 students
Supports teaching to a deep level
of learning; massive database of
reliable data
materials selection, challenge design brief criteria, and discuss issues relating to the
as easy as it looks. It is easy
Radlovic’s words, it
which is a very good
co Audit tool are
vantages of a design and to
ly does support
”. Several assignments are given to students,
and searching, although some
students complain that “searching does not work like Google”. The assignments get
more complex as the semester progresses, from design limiting properties, to
lection, and finally to
Longer projects are also done on topics as diverse as selecting materials and
The Ashby approach is a
but it requires time and
thought into how best to convey it to the students, especially for manufacturing
Overall, the software
supports teaching very well, but students often face some difficulties doing a full
translation of the selection problem into objectives, functions, constraints and free
variables, and grasping the concept of a material performance index and this
requires added effort from the Professor. Putting the whole topic of materials
and engine blocks as materials and processes selection projects.
13
Where UCFEI, São Paulo, Brazil
Level Various BSc in Engineering
Course Metallic Materials,
Manufacturing Processes
and Materials Selection Since 2008
Why Need for strong correlation
between materials properties,
processing and their performance
in engineering projects
Audience 160 students overall
Benefits Wealth of data, structured
selection methodology, links with
manufacturing, students love it!
Where University of Cambridge, UK
Level BSc Engineering, Manufacturing
Engineering
Course Materials, Bicycle Design Since Since the 90’s
Why To take a design-led approach,
visually appealing
Audience 350 students overall
Benefits Help in understanding the issues
in matching materials and
processes to a design
selection into an overall environmental perspective, within the history of mankind also
takes some effort from the Professor, as well as discussing what are the active
constraints and how best to visualize them in a way that captures the students’
attention. Above all, the students appreciate the approach and realize how good it is,
and feel they would be much more confident having it in their real life jobs. They
understand the relevance of materials and
processes selection and acknowledge the
privilege to access a massive database without
having to disperse on books and on-line
searches and potentially getting data that is
unreliable.
The University Center of FEI in São Paulo,
Brazil uses CES EduPack as a campus wide
resource in various courses on their
undergraduate Engineering programs: Metallic
Materials on their 3rd year taught by Prof
Mauricio Silva and Correlation of
Manufacturing Processes and Materials
Selection on their 5th year taught by Prof
William Naville. Profs Silva and Naville found the
approach very easy and had help from their colleague Prof Rodrigo Magnabosco that
used to teach their course with the software previously. The software is used during
class by the students in the computer labs (students do not have a copy on their
laptops) and then they use it outside of class to do homework and projects. The
materials selection methodology is the base line for the 3rd year course, while the
link between materials and manufacturing processes is the most important topic for
the 5th year course.
It was noted by Profs Silva and Naville that their students get excited by solving
problems using the software, and the 5th year students feel somewhat frustrated that
they are only aware of CES EduPack very late in their degree programs. Prof Naville
also finds that there must be some effort in the classroom to explain to the students
that the results coming from a selection project must be discussed and understood
by the students, and not simply accepted as the ultimate truth, and that is the true
power of CES EduPack. Also, the difficulty of CES EduPack in dealing with a chain of
manufacturing processes, as is commonly the case in real life to produce a
component, provides points of discussion in class and forces students to interact
more closely with the software to try
alternative processes.
The University of Cambridge, UK has been
using CES EduPack since mid 90’s as a
campus wide resource and has been
accumulating experience in teaching with it at
both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Prof Hugh Shercliff has been involved in this
process from the beginning, first in
developing the materials selection
14
Where M.I.T., USA
Level BSc Materials Science and
Engineering
Course Economic and
Environmental Issues in
Materials Selection Since 2005
Why Provide students with a broad
database
Audience 35 students
Benefits Having access to the large
database and wealth of data,
especially eco
“�to develop teaching
methods around
property charts (e.g.
‘process trajectories’ to
illustrate process-
microstructure-property
pathways in pairs of
properties)”
Prof Hugh Shercliff
“�understand what the
issues are in matching
materials and processes
to a design, and how
aspects of the design,
the material and the
process can strongly
interact”
Prof Hugh Shercliff
“�a comprehensive
perspective on the
materials selection
process”
Dr Randolph Kirchain
methodology as a research activity and then in
restructuring the general introduction Materials course for
all engineering students, and he finds the software
tremendously helpful as a multi-purpose tool, backed with
reliable data and giving some visual appeal with useful
charts to otherwise boring and tedious tables of data.
Since assessment is still done essentially in written
exams, CES EduPack is also used to printout hardcopy
charts for use in the exams.
Prof Shercliff uses CES EduPack occasionally for research,
but mostly “to develop teaching methods around property charts (e.g., ‘process
trajectories’ to illustrate process-microstructure-property pathways in pairs of
properties)”. The students of the introductory 1st year course on Materials have
lecture demos and question sheets that can be done
using CES EduPack or printed charts. These question
sheets revolve around, for example, lightweight
material selection or process selection. These students
need to understand “what the issues are in matching
materials and processes to a design, and how aspects
of the design, the material and the process can strongly
interact”. What CES EduPack is less good at doing is
helping the teaching of what to ask about a product in a
systematic way, and this is where an experienced
academic is essential to help guide students in the
correct path. Having a catalogue of answers is not as
important as knowing what questions to ask and where to find the data when
selecting materials for a specific application,
in Prof Shercliff’s opinion. When it comes to
sustainability issues, using numbers instead
of adjectives to quantify impacts is
extremely important, and CES EduPack
supports the data side well. Methodologies
for applying systematic analysis to choose
materials and processes – with an “inherent
risk in students being too automatic and
stopping thinking about what they are
doing”, are also a strong point of CES
EduPack.
The Massachusetts Institute of
Technology in the USA has been using
CES EduPack since 2005. Dr Randolph Kirchain uses it
to support his teaching in the Junior/Senior course on
Economic and Environmental Issues in Materials
Selection to the BSc in Materials Science and
Engineering. He wants to give his students “a
comprehensive perspective on the materials selection
process”. Because the students select their own
15
Where Case Western Reserve
University, USA
Level BSc Engineering
Course Chemistry of Materials,
Introduction to Materials
Science and Engineering,
Materials and Energy Since 2007
Why Curiosity, and having seen ‘Ashby
plots’ in our textbook (Callister)
Audience Around 700 students
Benefits Accuracy of data enables focus
on science and engineering
“The ability that the
software affords to
explore issues of
resource consumption
associated with
materials manufacture
and use has enabled me
to [�] integrate a
lifelong interest in
sustainability into my
professional activities”
Prof Mark De Guire
projects, they need a sufficiently broad database of materials and eco properties data
to support them. CES EduPack is used by Dr Kirchain to show examples and
illustrate concepts, so that the students can then use the software in their own
projects. They become very engaged in their projects, as they are the ones that have
to define the problem and then solve it, so asking the right questions becomes as
important as answering them. There is no negative feedback from students as far as
CES EduPack is concerned, but they would like to have more advanced cases where
the tool is applied, to serve as examples for their own projects. Introducing the
software in teaching was “very easy” and students enjoy having access to all the data
in just one place, because their projects generally involved a laborious and time
consuming search for data from various
sources.
The Case Western Reserve University in
the USA has been using CES EduPack
since 2007, and as a Campus wide
resource from 2008 onwards. In particular,
it is used in three undergraduate courses
lectured by Prof Mark De Guire, to
engineering students. What led Prof De
Guire to start using CES EduPack was
“Curiosity, and having seen ‘Ashby plots’ in
our EMSE 201 textbook (Callister) [R] I
became persuaded of its wider utility in
teaching materials science and
engineering”. It took a moderate effort to embed CES EduPack in his teaching “but
the benefits were worth it”.
The tutorials available directly from the software were very helpful in getting the
students up to speed: one way Prof De Guire found to “entice the students to use
tutorials [was to make the first homework problem as a] ‘scavenger hunt’ where the
answers are encountered while going through the tutorials”. He found a number of
benefits in using CES EduPack, among which “exercises in materials selection
became much more interesting and multidimensional”, and probably most important,
he did not have to worry about the accuracy of data in
the students reports, while the students “did not have
to search through countless volumes of literature to
find them”. The focus of the course then became the
“science and engineering: relationships between
different materials and their properties; broad
generalizations (e.g. levels 1 and 2 in the databases)
or highly specific variations within a material class
(level 3)”. Prof De Guire further explains that the
software enabled a much wider perspective on
materials as a broad topic of teaching and research
allowing him to “embark on new directions [R] and
integrate a lifelong interest in sustainability into my
professional activities”.
16
Where Delft University of Technology,
The Netherlands
Level BSc in Industrial Design
Engineering
Course Industrial Manufacturing Since 2007
Why high-quality material data and
information on manufacturing
processes and process selection
Audience 300 students
Benefits Material data and useful
information on manufacturing
processes
“The course has
received three awards
for ‘Best Bachelor
Course’ from all
students over a five-year
period. EduPack
contributes to this”
Dr Erik Tempelman
He is now developing an upper-undergraduate-level course on Materials for Energy
and Sustainability to be required for majors in Materials Science and Engineering
(and elective for other disciplines). This endeavour would have been made more
difficult and time consuming “without the availability of CES EduPack, as a hands-on
complement to the books by Ashby (Materials and the Environment), Mackay
(Sustainability — Without the Hot Air) and Allwood et al. (Sustainable Materials with
Both Eyes Open)”. Overall, CES EduPack supports a number of teaching objectives:
awareness of the ranges of values of a wide variety of materials properties across
many classes of materials; appreciation of the underlying causes of relationships
among various materials properties; ability to solve certain materials selection
problems graphically; understanding of the resource consumption involved in the
manufacture, use, and end-of-life treatment of engineering materials. The students
download the software from a central server if they want to use in their own laptops,
or use the installed copies in the student computer labs at the University. They use it
to solve assigned homework problems for the 1st year courses of Chemistry of
Materials and Materials and Energy and the 2nd to 4th year course on Introduction to
Materials Science and Engineering taught by Prof De Guire. Some students also use
it in senior design projects, summer
internships and sponsored design
competitions.
The Delft University of Technology, The
Netherlands, has a campus wide license of
CES EduPack since 2007. CES EduPack is
used across multiple courses in their BSc
program on Industrial Design Engineering,
where “having a copy of the EduPack is
mandatory for students”. It is used not only
in the various design engineering courses,
but also in design projects, notably the 2nd
year project on Product Embodiment &
Detail Design. One of the various design engineering courses that use CES EduPack
is the 2nd year course on Industrial Manufacturing, coordinated by Dr Erik
Tempelman. CES EduPack is “part and parcel of our
new BSc program, first introduced in 2007” in Dr
Tempelman’s words, and the benefits of using it range
from having materials data at hand to creating
awareness among students to the information on
manufacturing processes. Simple demos in plenary
classes together with homework questions worked by
small groups of students with teachers’ assistance are
used effectively in this course. There are “important
differences in how we approach manufacturing
processes in our course as compared to how the
EduPack is structured”, but the use of the software is fairly straightforward. The
course revolves around the “manufacturing process triangle”, where the students are
made aware of the complex interaction between function, cost and quality and the
trade-offs that need to be put in place to manufacture stuff. A large portion of the
students use MacBooks, but “running the software via BootCamp or similar appears
17
Where Zhejiang University, P.R.China
Level MEng Materials Engineering
Course Materials Design &
Processing Since 2011
Why Previous experience as a student
Audience 30 students
Benefits Very good support not only from
the software, but also from the
lectures and exercises on the
teaching resource website
“I personally feel that
the teaching resources
offered on [the] website
have been really
supportive for my
lecture preparation and
students guidance”
Dr Xiang Li
Where Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea,
Universidad Jaime I, Universidad
de Cádiz, Spain
Level Undergraduate, various programs
Course Design, various Since 2012
Why Need of universal baseline data
Benefits Having used EduPack in
Materials Science courses, using
it again in a design project is
straightforward
to give little difficulty”. This course has received three awards for Best BSc course
from all students over a five year period. CES EduPack also contributes to this, as a
background tool for data and information on manufacturing processes.
CES EduPack also serves as a tool to
support interuniversity teaching. idM@ti is
an interuniversity network for innovative
teaching in the field of Materials Science
and Engineering that was created in 2010
by the initiative of seven Spanish
universities and is widely open to all the
Spanish speaking community. The network
aims to share experiences and educational
resources with continuous improvement in
teaching as its ultimate goal. In 2012 a new
experience in ‘’Project Based Learning’’ involving three universities in this network:
Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, Universidad Jaime I, and Universidad de Cádiz was
setup. The project has been developed with students from different engineering
disciplines (Industrial Engineering and Industrial Design), with previous knowledge on
Materials Science. The project objectives are slightly different at each university but
they all share a common aim: to elaborate a proposal to launch a new product to the
razors market, with students taking the roles of Industrial Designers and Materials
and Process Engineers. For the development of this product, the teams had
meetings where they discuss the organisational tasks, the approaches to use, the
results and the proposal itself with the support of CES EduPack. During this project,
the students are encouraged to contact their peers from other universities and share
information. The experience has been extremely positive from the perspectives of
both students and academics.
CES EduPack in MSc courses
Dr Xiang Li is an academic at the Department
of Materials Science and Engineering at the
Zhejiang University, People’s Republic of
China, where CES EduPack is used to teach
a course on Materials Design and Processing,
at an MSc level. The course has been running
in the current format since 2011, when Dr Li
decided to use the software with a class of 30
students. He
studied in the
UK before
returning to
China, and he had a very good experience with the
use of CES EduPack as a student. The teaching
resources available from the Teaching Resources
Website gave him real support for preparing
lectures and devising case studies and exercises.
He then used mostly charts plotted with CES
Prof Ashby to build his own lectures. In the end, embedding the software in his
teaching was quite easy, because students do mostly project work and weekly
homework assignments using CES
previous courses on Materials Science, so the students should all have prior
knowledge about basic concepts around materials and manufacturing. This course is
more about using the knowledge to make
informed decisions and being able to use
data to select materials and processes in a
structured way.
As mentioned previously, the School of
Engineering at the University of Porto,
Portugal (FEUP) uses CES
campus wide resource. The students have
prior knowledge of the software (see above)
and take full advantage of the structured
selection procedures in the course on
Materials Selection in their 2
Automotive Engineering. They u
range of variables and constraints, at the level that best suits their interest. The group
design background, where knowledge about materials is often trans
superficially than in engineering. CES
background knowledge on materials with the use of the science notes
more visual way of engaging with
way of learning too. Projects that require a certain level of concept design are given
to students, and a part of these have to do with selecting appropriate materials and
processes. One such example is given in Figure
Figure 8. A highway lighting system that takes advantage of wind, either natural or induced by the moving cars, to produce energy to
supply the lamps at night.
18
Where University of Porto, Portugal
Level Various MSc programs
Course Materials Selection,
Materials & ProcessesSince 2008
Why Selection tools, wealth of data
Audience 50 students ov
Benefits Very good data for design
projects, but also support for
different background knowledge
of students taking the courses
He then used mostly charts plotted with CES EduPack and parts of lecture units from
Ashby to build his own lectures. In the end, embedding the software in his
teaching was quite easy, because students do mostly project work and weekly
omework assignments using CES EduPack. The course taught by
previous courses on Materials Science, so the students should all have prior
knowledge about basic concepts around materials and manufacturing. This course is
knowledge to make
informed decisions and being able to use
data to select materials and processes in a
As mentioned previously, the School of
University of Porto,
(FEUP) uses CES EduPack as a
ce. The students have
prior knowledge of the software (see above)
and take full advantage of the structured
selection procedures in the course on
Materials Selection in their 2nd year of the MSc on Production, Development and
Automotive Engineering. They use the software for selecting materials with a wide
range of variables and constraints, at the level that best suits their interest. The group
of students taking this course
is small, allowing for a better
interaction among students.
In the MSc program of
and Product Development,
with an intake of around 25
students every year, CES
EduPack is used in two
courses: Materials and
Processes, and Project Lab.
While in the first course the
software is explained in class
and some exercises are
worked by the
second the students use the
software to select materials
and manufacturing processes
for specific applications. The
students in this MSc program
usually come from a product
design background, where knowledge about materials is often trans
superficially than in engineering. CES EduPack lets the students acquire some
background knowledge on materials with the use of the science notes
more visual way of engaging with them because they generally have a more visual
. Projects that require a certain level of concept design are given
to students, and a part of these have to do with selecting appropriate materials and
processes. One such example is given in Figure 8, where the student has to select
A highway lighting system that takes advantage of wind, the moving cars, to produce energy to
supply the lamps at night.
University of Porto, Portugal
Various MSc programs
Materials Selection,
Materials & Processes
Selection tools, wealth of data
50 students overall
Very good data for design-build
projects, but also support for
different background knowledge
of students taking the courses
and parts of lecture units from
Ashby to build his own lectures. In the end, embedding the software in his
teaching was quite easy, because students do mostly project work and weekly
. The course taught by Dr Li builds on
previous courses on Materials Science, so the students should all have prior
knowledge about basic concepts around materials and manufacturing. This course is
year of the MSc on Production, Development and
se the software for selecting materials with a wide
range of variables and constraints, at the level that best suits their interest. The group
of students taking this course
is small, allowing for a better
interaction among students.
In the MSc program of Design
and Product Development,
with an intake of around 25
students every year, CES
is used in two
courses: Materials and
Processes, and Project Lab.
While in the first course the
software is explained in class
and some exercises are
students, in the
second the students use the
software to select materials
and manufacturing processes
for specific applications. The
students in this MSc program
usually come from a product
design background, where knowledge about materials is often transmitted more
lets the students acquire some
background knowledge on materials with the use of the science notes and provides a
generally have a more visual
. Projects that require a certain level of concept design are given
to students, and a part of these have to do with selecting appropriate materials and
, where the student has to select
19
Where Catholic University of Leuven,
Belgium
Level MSc in Science and Engineering
Course Materials Selection Since 2008
Why Awareness of Ashby’s textbooks
Audience 200 students
Benefits Better understanding of the link
between processing,
microstructure and properties
when comparing materials
Where Lund University, Sweden
Level MSc Engineering and Design
Course Materials and Process
Selection, Recycling
Technology Since 2007
Why Much better compared to
conventional teaching
Audience 40 students overall
Benefits Deeper knowledge and more
acute critical judgement of
decisions when selecting for
materials and processes
“�the software is very
straightforward and the
textbooks provide a solid
background and
support”
Dr Kim Vanmeensel
“�much better when
compared to
conventional [ways of]
teaching”
Prof Johan Persson
materials and manufacturing processes to produce the turbines attached to a
highway lighting system to produce energy.
At the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven,
Belgium Dr Kim Vanmeensel lectures a
course on Materials Selection for an MSc
program in Science and Engineering. Prior
knowledge of Prof Ashby’s books and
awareness of the bubble charts led to the
decision of using CES EduPack in the course
since 2008. The extensive resources
available to academics through Granta’s
teaching resources website is also used by Dr
Vanmeensel, combining his own material,
often created with CES EduPack with existing lecture units. Implementing the
software in teaching takes some time, but “the software
is very straightforward and the textbooks provide a
solid background and support”. The software is
available in the computer rooms, but plans are being
made to have the students install copies in their own
laptops. The students are asked to select materials for
a specific product/component that usually involves
consideration of thermal and mechanical constraints
and in the end they also have to use the Eco Audit tool.
With this, students are meant to understand that materials selection really depends
on the type of loading a component experiences and learn to critically compare
appropriate materials for a specific component, including the way of shaping them.
Since the students taking this course have a materials science background, the link
between material production and manufacturing, the generated microstructures and
the thermal / electrical / mechanical properties that derive from that are particularly
important. CES EduPack supports this very
well and Dr Vanmeensel notes that some
students keep using the software in other
courses, even if it not required. At another
campus in KULeuven, Dr Jan Ivens has had
a similar experience in the same course.
As mentioned previously, Lund University,
in Sweden has used CES EduPack at an
MSc level since 2007. The courses on
Materials and Process Selection, and
Recycling
Technology,
taught by
Professors
Johan Persson and Lanny Kirkhorn are from the
Mechanical Engineering degree program. Besides
homework and supervised exercises in class, students
20
“� [an exposure to]
systematic material
selection plus an
awareness of
engineering issues, in
particular,
manufacturing
opportunities and
limitations associated
with selections”
Dr Colin Burvill
Where University of Cambridge, UK
Level MSc Manufacturing Engineering,
MPhil Industrial Systems and
Manufacturing
Course Sustainable
Manufacturing,
Manufacturing Processes Since Since the 90’s
Why Project work, wealth of data
Audience 50 overall
Benefits Help in understanding the issues
in matching materials and
processes to a design
Where University of Melbourne, Australia
Level MSc Mechanical Design
Course Design & Manufacturing I Since 1997
Why Materials selection is more than
stress and stiffness
Audience 100 students
Benefits Systematic materials selection
and awareness of the link with
manufacturing
also do longer projects using CES EduPack. The students are required to get in
depth knowledge about materials and processes but also about selection
methodologies for both. The software supports this very well and is much better
when “compared to conventional [ways of] teaching”, according to Profs Persson and
Kirkhorn.
The University of Melbourne, Australia is
an early adopter of CES EduPack. It has
been present at that institution since the
1990s. It is used at an MSc in Mechanical
Design on the Design and Manufacturing I
course by Dr Colin Burvill. A very extensive
experience in the use of the software leads
Dr Burvill to state that the most benefit it
brings to his students is an exposure to
“systematic material selection plus an
awareness of engineering issues, in particular, manufacturing opportunities and
limitations associated with selections”. The software is used in lectures, workshops,
student assignments and in preparing problems for the final exams. The introduction
of the selection methodology is “not without conceptual hurdles, for example size
factor is a conceptual hurdle for students [but] the
various texts are of great assistance”. The software can
only be used in the computer labs from the School of
Engineering, whereas during the exams, the students
have paper copies of selected or specially prepared
charts.
Overall the software supports teaching very well. It
further enables students to be aware that “successful
design is not only associated with structural integrity
(stress and deflection calculations) but that issues such
as material selection can have a substantial bearing on
whether the eventual products are successful. Material
selection has implications – manufacturing,
availability, reliability, end-of-life
recyclability, etc.”. Dr Burvill uses a number
of case studies alongside CES EduPack,
like the evolution of materials in aircraft
structures from wood to CFRP, or the video
on “The Flight of the Gossamer Condor”, a
human powered airplane. Together, these
help contextualizing the inherently dynamic
nature of the materials selection problem.
A few courses at the Masters level also
have support from CES EduPack at the
University of Cambridge, UK, as previously
mentioned, at two graduate programs: the MPhil in Industrial Systems and
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Where Joint degree, various Univ. in
Portugal, with MIT, USA
Level 1st Year, PhD Engineering
Course Technology Evaluation &
Selection Since 2008
Why Need for breadth and depth of
resources
Audience 20 international students
Benefits Supports different background
knowledge
“�CES EduPack for
this design-build project
is crucial, as students
need to build a working
prototype for their
product by the end of
the project [in a] limited
amount of time available
[�] so a thorough
selection of materials is
of the essence”
Prof Arlindo Silva
Manufacturing and the MSc in Manufacturing Engineering. In the latter program, a
course on Manufacturing Processes includes a lecture using extensively the Eco
Audit tool from CES EduPack and also some coursework activity. In the former
program the software is mostly used for individual student projects, often outlining
potential databases for different classes of products. Recent examples of these
projects include: joining methods for structural glass, recycling of medical products,
sustainable design of panels for buildings,or fibre-based products and textiles. Since
all the students have had prior knowledge of CES EduPack in their programs, its use
now becomes more of a stand alone use with guidance from the tutors, where the
selection tools and the links between materials, manufacturing and the specialized
databases come into play when necessary. Prof Shercliff stresses, though, that
because students by now understand how the selection methodology works, they
can stop thinking about it when developing their projects and just do it automatically
without thinking deeply about the questions they are asking the software. As a
consequence, a sound analysis of the selection outcomes is fundamental to get
meaningful results and eventually iterate several times and experimenting with
different objectives, functions and constraints.
CES EduPack in PhD courses
The PhD program on Leaders for Technical
Industries, a joint initiative between three
Portuguese Universities (University of
Minho, University of Porto and the
Technical University of Lisbon) and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Cambridge, USA, is one example of
integration of interdisciplinary knowledge. A
project across two PhD courses on this
program, the Product Design and
Development course (PDD) and the
Technology Evaluation and Selection course (TES) takes
advantage of the courses being taught simultaneously
and builds on the knowledge coming from both to
design and develop a product that has to be
competitive in the market. Because these two courses
are taught at the same time, this offers the opportunity
to complement both courses in terms of breadth of
learning, without losing the necessary depth of a PhD
level course. By using a common project, the student
will experience the usual breadth of the PDD course,
from product planning to production ramp-up, and the
depth of the TES course. The TES course is based on
three major topics: engineering economics, materials
and process selection methods, and process-based
cost modeling, with some marginal coverage of multi
attribute utility analysis and environmental impact
issues. During the semester, the students are expected to
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turn in several homework assignments meant to keep them on track with their project
work. Each of the homework assignments has feedback from faculty – some from
PDD and some from TES faculty (Silva et al. 2009b; Dori and Silva 2010). Even
though the in-class time is very short, compared to an average semester, students
are always accompanied by faculty feedback on their work. CES EduPack is used
extensively in the TES course lecturing and in the joint project. It provides, with its
level structure, the necessary depth for those students that have a strong
background on Materials but also a quick and easy introduction to Materials for those
who have different backgrounds (like architecture, product design, management, or
economics). The support of CES EduPack for this design-build project is crucial, as
students need to build a working prototype for their product by the end of the project,
and the limited amount of time available means that there isn’t much room for testing
and iterating, so a thorough selection of materials is of the essence.
CES EduPack use in pre-University studies
A lighter version of CES EduPack is also used in French pre-University studies. More
exactly at the Lycées level (16-18 years old students) who take a three year diploma,
”Le Baccalauréat” (BAC) in different fields of study that will then allow students to
apply for Universities, Engineering Schools and other educational paths. At the
moment CES EduPack is mostly used in the STI2D BAC (Industrial Sciences and
Technologies and Sustainable Development) which aims to teach students about
sustainability (with emphasis on materials and eco-design). More and more lycées
use it in other scientific BAC areas.
Granta is currently working on an even more simplified version for use in Collèges
(12-16 years old students). Professors Jean Philippe Maffre and Jean-Noel Chouard,
from the Lycée Pre de Cordy, Sarlat and the Lycée Victor Berard, Morez,
respectively, have used CES EduPack for a number of years. They both lecture in
Lycées in the BAC STI2D field of study, but also at the BTS level (for technicians
education, post-BAC). They find that it conveys a very simple approach to materials
and processes, but also supports independent study and new ways to discover
materials and manufacturing processes, and how they can be selected together. The
databases are very helpful and detailed and the resources from the Teaching
Resources Website have helped inspire these academics, with plenty of exercises
and examples.
Figure 9. Some of the prototypes developed within the PDD&TES projects at the MIT-Portugal program, from left to right: Wetsuit washer, Car platform, BabyAnywhere, Keep walking.
23
Students use the software in the Lycées for their own project work and hands-on
exercise sessions. The important thing, in the words of Profs Maffre and Chouard, is
for the students to be able to build their own structured approach to materials and
processes selection, posing the most appropriate questions instead of using the first
result out of CES EduPack, being aware and mindful of selection criteria. The Eco
Audit tool is also one of the most used features, as it enables students to get a very
fast perception of the implications of their decisions on the environment. The ability to
work autonomously and be sensitive to the relations between material, process and
product are two key objectives for these pre-University students, and CES EduPack
supports these objectives with very structured and informative databases.
Professors’ views on the use of EduPack
CES EduPack is a powerful and visual tool to explain the overall picture of materials.
Although it is heavily rooted in the optimization of materials selection strategies using
material indices, it can also be used efficiently without this approach. The wealth of
data available, particularly in level 3 and in the specialized editions, makes it a
unique reference: one can find in a single place virtually all the information about any
type of material. There are other sources of information, but these are either specific
to a single material class or present numerous holes in the information, rendering it
non-comparable to other data sources. The real value of using CES EduPack in
teaching has many dimensions:
• It enables you to navigate the ‘material universe’ with the level of detail that suits you best
• It provides comparable data across material families
• It gives a clear picture of where different material families stand across all material properties, and provides a good starting point to drill down to the microstructure to explain why this is so
• It enables faculty to create tailor-made plots for use in class, in exams and homework problems for student assessment
• It can be used interactively during class
• You can create your charts before class and save them to use in class afterwards
• You can access the ready-made charts and project files from Granta’s teaching resources website and use them in any way you like for teaching
• It can be used to support the teaching in Materials related courses, but it can equally be used in Design related courses
• It enables selecting materials and manufacturing processes in capstone courses incorporating design-build projects
A number of other views are expressed on our website, from academics that use
CES EduPack and have kindly agreed to have their comments posted. You can view
their comments here: http://www.grantadesign.com/education/examples.htm.
Accessible from this same hyperlink is the full list of worldwide institutions currently
using CES EduPack.
24
Join our growing
academic community to
share your experience
and help enhance
materials teaching
worldwide
List of contacts
We deeply appreciate the help of our growing
academic community for the support they gave us
in the form of their valuable time to compile the
information presented here. Although the list of
academics using CES EduPack is enormous, we
would particularly like to acknowledge those who
contributed, some of whom are listed below. They agreed to have their contact
shown, so if you have any queries regarding the use of CES EduPack, you can
always count on the teaching resources team at Granta
([email protected]) or contact directly one of them:
Institution Contact person Email
U. Melbourne, Australia Colin Burvill [email protected]
Katholieke U. Leuven, Belgium Kim Vanmeensel [email protected]
USP, Brazil Cesar Azevedo [email protected]
Institution Contact person Email
Centro U. da FEI, Brazil Rodrigo Magnabosco [email protected]
Lycée Pre de Cordy, France Jean Philippe Maffre [email protected]
Lycée Victor Berard, France Jean-Noel Chouard [email protected]
HTW Berlin, Germany Anja Pfennig [email protected]
U. A. Sci., Zwickau, Germany Holger Klose [email protected]
Zhejiang U., China Xiang Li [email protected]
Vestfold U. College, Norway Ellen Husa [email protected]
TU Lisbon, Portugal Arlindo Silva [email protected]
FEUP, Portugal Jorge Lino [email protected]
U. Pretoria, South Africa Dick Groot
Jacqueline Morkel [email protected]
Euskal Herriko Unib., Spain Teresa Guraya [email protected]
Universidad. Jaime I, Spain Luis Cabedo [email protected]
Universidad de Cádiz, Spain David Sales [email protected]
Lund University, Sweden Johan Persson [email protected]
Uni. Birmingham, UK Claire Davis [email protected]
U. Cambridge, UK Hugh Shercliff [email protected]
De Montfort U., Leicester, UK Philippe Radlovic [email protected]
9Sheffield Hallam U., UK John Metcalf [email protected]
MIT, USA Randolph Kirchain [email protected]
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References
Akay, A. (2008) A renaissance in engineering PhD education. European Journal of
Engineering Education, 33(4): p. 403 - 413.
Ashby, M. F. (2011) Materials selection in mechanical design, 4th Edition, Butterworth
Heinemann, Oxford, UK.
Ashby, M. and Johnson, K. (2010) Materials and design – The art and science of material
selection in product design. 2nd
Edition, Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford, UK.
Bronet, F., et al. (2003) Product Design and Innovation: Evolution of an Interdiscipli-nary
Design Curriculum. International Journal of Engineering Education, 19(1): p. 183-191.
Davis, C. (2009) Independent learning using the CES EduPack with large class sizes.
Materials Education Symposium, Cambridge, UK, 3 April.
Dori, Y. J., Silva, A. (2010) Assessing International Product Design & Development Graduate
Courses: The MIT-Portugal as a Case in Point. Advances in Engineering Education, 2:2.
Available from http://advances.asee.org/vol02/issue02/02.cfm.
Dym, C.L., Agogino, A.M., Eris, O., Frey, D.D., Leifer, L.J. (2005) Engineering design thinking,
teaching and learning. Jour. Engineering Education, January 103-119
Silva, A., Henriques E., and Carvalho, A. (2009a) Creativity enhancement in a product
development course through entrepreneurship learning and intellectual property awareness.
European Journal of Engineering Education, 34(1): p. 63 - 75.
Silva, A., Henriques, E., Fontul, M., Faria, L. (2009b) On some innovative aspects of the
EDAM MIT-Portugal Program: the Lisbon perspective. 2nd International Symposium on
Engineering Systems, June 15-17, MIT, Cambridge, Mass.
Silva, A., Fontul, M. (2012) Teaching design in the first years of a traditional mechanical
engineering degree: methods, issues and future perspectives. 4th International Materials
Education Symposium, Cambridge, UK, 12-13 April (poster presentation).
Silva, A., Pereira-Medrano, A.G., Melia, H., Ashby, M., Fry, M. (2012) Materials education:
adapting to needs of the 21st Century. 4th International Symposium of Engineering
Education, Sheffield, UK, 19-20 July.
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.
Granta’s Teaching Resources website aims to support teaching of materials-related courses in Engineering, Science and Design. The resources come in various formats and are aimed at different levels of student. The website also contains other resources contributed by faculty at the 800+ universities and colleges worldwide using Granta’s CES EduPack. The teaching resource website contains both resources that require the use of CES EduPack and those that don’t.
www.grantadesign.com/education/resources