Starting from the embodiment process, an initial choice of set of materials are to be made. After all, no designer wants his design to remain as ‘Conceptual’! Of course, often scientists go for futuristic design. Best example towards this direction is the ' Tsiolkovsky Tower ’.
In 1895 a Russian scientist named Konstantin Tsiolkovsky took inspiration from the Eiffel Tower in Paris and wanted to put a "celestial castle" at the end of a spindle shaped cable, with the "castle" orbiting the earth in a geosynchronous orbit (i.e. the castle would remain over the same spot on the earth). The tower would be built from the ground to an altitude of 35,800 kilometers.
Needless to say even the strongest material of 19th and 20th century would not be able to sustain the forces. With the advent of nano-materials however, today we can ‘in principle’ implement such concepts. We will discuss about this later.
Coming back to the challenge of product realization, materials are chosen in general based on the following characteristics:
Performance Characteristics (material properties that satisfy the functional requirements).
Processing Characteristics (involves issues like manufacturability, joining and finishing).
Sustainability Characteristics (involves the estimation of environmental impact upon choosing the material)
Business Considerations ( to find out the profitability of choosing a material, availability of the materials etc.)
