In metal forming, the plastic behavior of metallic alloys is directly related to their formability, and it has been traditionally characterized by simplified models of the flow curves, especially in the analysis by finite element simulation and analytical methods. Tools based on artificial neural networks have shown high potential for predicting the behavior and properties of industrial components. Aluminum alloys are among the most broadly used materials in challenging industries such as aerospace, automotive, or food packaging. In this study, a computer-aided tool is developed to predict two of the most useful mechanical properties of metallic materials to characterize the plastic behavior, yield strength and ultimate tensile strength. These prognostics are based on the alloy chemical composition, tempers, and Brinell hardness. In this study, a material database is employed to train an artificial neural network that is able to make predictions with a confidence greater than $95\%$. It is also shown that this methodology achieves a performance similar to that of empirical equations developed expressly for a specific material, but it provides greater generality since it can approximate the properties of any aluminum alloy. The methodology is based on the usage of artificial neural networks supported by a big data collection about the properties of thousands of commercial materials. Thus, the input data go above 2000 entries. When the relevant information has been collected and organized, an artificial neural network is defined, and after the training, the artificial intelligence is able to make predictions about the material properties with an average confidence greater than $95\%$.

In this work, a computer-aided tool is developed to predict relevant physical and mechanical properties that are involved in the selection tasks of metallic materials. The system is based on the use of artificial neural networks supported by big data collection of information about the technological characteristics of thousands of materials. Thus, the volume of data exceeds 43k. The system can access an open online material library (a website where material data are recorded), download the required information, read it, filter it, organise it and move on to the step based on artificial intelligence. An artificial neural network (ANN) is built with thousands of perceptrons, whose topology and connections have been optimised to accelerate the training and predictive capacity of the ANN. After the corresponding training, the system is able to make predictions about the material density and Young’s modulus with average confidences greater than 99% and 98%, respectively.

Aluminum alloys are among the most widely used materials in demanding industries such as aerospace, automotive or food packaging and, therefore, it is essential to predict the behavior and properties of each component. Tools based on artificial intelligence can be used to face this complex problem. In this work, a computer-aided tool is developed to predict relevant mechanical properties of aluminum alloys—Young’s modulus, yield stress, ultimate tensile strength and elongation at break. These predictions are based on the alloy chemical composition and tempers, and are employed to estimate the bilinear approximation of the stress-strain curve, very useful as a decision tool that helps in the selection of materials. The system is based on the use of artificial neural networks supported by a big data collection about technological characteristics of thousands of commercial materials. Thus, the volume of data exceeds $5k$ entries. Once the relevant data have been retrieved, filtered and organized, an artificial neural network is defined and, after the training, the system is able to make predictions about the material properties with an average confidence greater than $95\%$ . Finally, the trained network is employed to show how it can be used to support decisions about engineering applications.

The ability of a metal to be subjected to forming processes depends mainly on its plastic behavior and, thus, the mechanical properties belonging to this region of the stress–strain curve. Forming techniques are among the most widespread metalworking procedures in manufacturing, and aluminum alloys are of great interest in fields as diverse as the aerospace sector or the food industry. A precise characterization of the mechanical properties is crucial to estimate the forming capability of equipment, but also for a robust numerical modeling of metal forming processes. Characterizing a material is a very relevant task in which large amounts of resources are invested, and this paper studies how to optimize a multilayer neural network to be able to make, through machine learning, precise and accurate predictions about the mechanical properties of wrought aluminum alloys. This study focuses on the determination of the ultimate tensile strength, closely related to the strain hardening of a material; more precisely, a methodology is developed that, by randomly partitioning the input dataset, performs training and prediction cycles that allow estimating the average performance of each fully-connected topology. In this way, trends are found in the behavior of the networks, and it is established that, for networks with at least 150 perceptrons in their hidden layers, the average predictive error stabilizes below $4\%$. Beyond this point, no really significant improvements are found, although there is an increase in computational requirements.

This study describes a methodological proposal to select composite materials which are suitable to be employed to manufacture pipes that can properly withstand environments subjected to gamma and neutronic radiation. The methodology is used to select, among many others, the optimal composite material whose properties are used afterwards to simulate several pipe sections by finite element analysis, comparing the results with a well-known nuclear-grade steel, WWER 15Kh2MFAA. The most suitable composite material according to the defined criteria is composed of a phenolic resin matrix reinforced with long boron fibres and exhibit great properties to be used in a nuclear reactor environment: good radiation resistance and mechanical properties with a very low density at low cost. It can be concluded that, in some cases, composite material pipes can be a better option than steel ones. Extending the method to be employed in other industries or with other components could be seen as future works.