A Comparative Analysis of Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Methods in the Context of Material Selection in Design

Material selection in design disciplines is a complex decision problem that requires the simultaneous evaluation of criteria such as purpose of use, durability, aesthetics, cost and maintenance. Traditional intuitive approaches are often insufficient to handle this multi-criteria structure systematically; therefore, multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods are increasingly used. This study comparatively examines widely used MCDM methods in the context of material selection in design and offers a concise guideline for method selection. AHP, ANP, TOPSIS, VIKOR, ELECTRE, PROMETHEE, MOORA, MULTIMOORA, COPRAS, WASPAS, MABAC, CODAS, ARAS, EDAS, SAW, SMART, MAUT/MAVT and GRA are compared in terms of type, main characteristics, flexibility regarding the number of criteria and alternatives, scales used, software support and suitability for design applications. The findings underline the suitability of hierarchical and network-based methods for small- and medium-scale problems, and of ranking and distance-based methods for complex problems with many alternatives.