Assigning Materials
Use the Properties tab in the
Material dialog box to define
a material source, material model, and define material properties. You
can define constant or temperature-dependent properties. Defining materials
in Simulation does not update the material assigned to the CAD model in
SolidWorks.
You can create and edit your own material
libraries using the Material dialog
box. To access the Material dialog
box, right-click the Parts icon
in the Simulation study tree and select Apply/Edit
Material.
You can sort the materials
by library, category, and material name. To sort the materials by library,
right-click in the material tree and select Sort
by Library, which
is the default sorting order. To sort the materials by category, right-click
in the material tree and select Sort
by Category. To sort the materials by material, right-click in
the material tree and select Sort by
Material. Some materials in the SolidWorks Materials library have
stress-strain curves defined for use with the plasticity and nonlinear
elastic models for nonlinear studies. These materials are identified by
showing (SS) attached to the end of their names in the list box. Materials
with S-N curves are identified by (SN), and materials with both S-N curves
and stress-strain curves are identified by (SS,SN).
Note: To access all options for nonlinear
and drop-test studies, select Custom
defined under Select material source.
For sliding
friction treat as: Selects the material model for use in motion
study that imports a Simulation study.
Include Creep
Effect. Activates the inclusion of creep effect in the selected
material model. Creep effect is considered only for nonlinear studies.
Among all material models available with nonlinear studies, creep effect
is not available with linear elastic orthotropic and viscoelastic material
models.
Use curve
data to compute material constants. Available only for hyperelastic
and viscoelastic material models in nonlinear studies.
Units.
Sets the unit system in which you want to display (or input) the numerical
values of the material properties. The following systems of units are
available:
SI -
N/m^2 (KPa) (International System of Units)
English
(IPS) (United States Customary System of Units)
Metric
(MKS) (Metric System of Units)
SI -
N/mm^2 (MPa) (International System of Units)
Reference
Geometry. Sets the reference geometry to be used in defining the
directions of the orthotropic material
properties. This option is available only with the linear elastic orthotropic
material model. You can select a reference plane, a reference axis, or
a coordinate system.
Create
a Stress-Strain Curve. Allows the user to define a stress-strain curve
for usage with nonlinear elastic, plasticity - von Mises, and plasticity
- Tresca material models.
Category.
Displays the name of the material category to which the selected material
belongs.
Name. Displays the name of the selected material.
It also allows you to enter a name for the custom materials you define.
Description.
Allows you to type a description (maximum 256 characters) when using Custom Materials or another user-defined
library.
Source. Available only when using Custom
Materials or another user-defined library. Specifies a source of reference for custom
defined materials.
Default
failure criterion. Selects the failure
criterion to apply for the part/assembly. The failure criterion is used
for computing factor of safety when Automatic is
selected (default) for Criterion in
Design Check PropertyManager.
Material
Property Table.
Property.
Lists material properties. The list depends on the selected material model
and the study type. All the properties used by the study type and the
selected material model are displayed.
Value.
Displays/Sets the numerical value of each material property.
Units.
Lists the units of each material property.
Temp Dependency.
Sets the type of each material property value.
Constant.
The value of the material property remains constant during the analysis.
Temp-dependent.
The value of the material property varies with temperature according to
a user-supplied temperature
curve. To define the dependency, see SolidWorks
Help: Material Dialog Box - Tables & Curves Tab.