Traditional Materials in Design

The phrase ‘mechanical design' refers to the design of components which mainly carries mechanical loading (in the form of tensile/compressive forces or bending/twisting moments).

The traditional materials used in design could be divided into two groups natural and industrially developed.

Examples of Natural Materials are: Woods, Ceramic Materials and Raw Metallic Ores. Woods are used since last five thousand years in different mechanical designs like ‘transport carriers’. Shown below a traditional horse-drawn cart made mostly out of wood.