Use the Properties tab to assign physical characteristics to a material. These properties can be used by SolidWorks and SolidWorks Simulation. The Properties tab is available for editing when the selected material is in a custom library.
Material properties
| Model Type |
Displays the material models for Simulation studies. Available material models depend on the active study type. |
| Units |
Sets the units for the numerical values of material properties. |
| Include creep effect |
Available with SolidWorks Simulation, for use with Simulation nonlinear studies. Activates the creep effect for the selected material model. This option is not available for linear elastic orthotropic and viscoelastic material models. |
| Use curve data to compute material constants |
Available with SolidWorks Simulation, only for hyperelastic and viscoelastic material models in nonlinear studies. |
| Reference Geometry |
Available with SolidWorks Simulation, only for the linear elastic orthotropic material model. Sets the reference geometry to define the directions of the orthotropic material properties. Select a reference plane, a reference axis, or a coordinate system.
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| Create stress-strain curve |
Available with SolidWorks Simulation, only for nonlinear elastic, plasticity - von Mises, and plasticity - Tresca material models. |
| Category |
Displays the name of the category into which the material is organized, as shown in the material tree. |
| Name |
Displays the name of the selected material. It also lets you enter a name for custom defined materials. |
| Default failure criterion |
Available with SolidWorks Simulation. Selects the failure criterion to use for computing the factor of safety when Automatic is selected for the criterion in the Design Check PropertyManager. |
| Description |
Provides space for a comment about the material (maximum 256 characters). |
| Source |
Specifies a source of reference for custom defined materials. |
| Sustainability |
Indicates if the material has a link to the sustainability database, where sustainability criteria are defined.
| For SolidWorks Materials: |
| Defined |
Links to sustainability database |
| Undefined |
Does not link to sustainability database |
| For custom materials, you can link to a material in the SolidWorks Material library to use its sustainability criteria. |
| Material Name |
SolidWorks Material to which the custom material is linked |
| Undefined |
Not linked to a material |
| Select |
Allows the user to specify a link to a material in the SolidWorks Material library |
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Properties table
This table lists physical properties for the material, as derived from published sources. For custom materials, you can change the property values.