Materials Reference For The EE

Q: This would definately fall into the "Everything Engineering" category. I keep needing some sort of materials quick reference which is useful to figure out what the best material is when I have to make a decision which is more materials engineering than electronic engineering. Let me give some examples: 1) I recently needed to insert a sheet of something underneath a circuit board to prevent accidental contact with the live contacts by mounting screws inserted into the keyholes provided for mounting in the enclosure. I knew about thin phenolic board, but couldn't come across a source (which is another whole issue), but realized some sort of plastic might work. After much much much research (consisting of what seemed like an endless string of google searches), I figured out that teflon was high temp (which I needed) and offered exactly what I needed. 2) In dealing with enclosure vendors they say greek things like "this is HIPS UL-HB is that ok?". I have learned that UL-HB isn't really what I want, that UL-V0 is better, but that doesn't help me understand the difference between HIPS and ABS, and the like (I sure can't tell any difference). And searches aren't a lot of fun. So, I generally ask for things like melt point and the like. I'd rather just be able to look it up. 3) I recently discovered emachineshop.com. Which is really cool, except that there's like a million different materials listed. How am I to know the difference between the 20 types

of stainless steel, and the 40 types of regular steel, not to mention all of the other materials? And I can't find any good reference anywhere. The little black book (aka "Pocket Ref") helps in some cases, but is really only good when you know what you are looking for. So, I'm kinda looking for some sort of quick reference which provides some quick reference to common materials and their benefits and weaknesses. I.E. things like stainless steel screws don't rust - but they do have a horrible tendency to bind due to burrs. The materials books that I've found on amazon seem to be more home builder/architect oriented Ideas?

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