Defining an Orthotropic Material To define an orthotropic material: Create a custom material based on an existing material with similar properties to the orthotropic material you want to create. On the Properties tab of the Material dialog box, select Linear Elastic Orthotropic in Model Type. From the FeatureManager design tree, select the reference geometry to define the orthotropic material directions. The selected reference geometry appears in the Reference geometry box. When a plane (or a planar face) is used as a reference geometry, Dir 1 of the plane aligns with the X material direction, Dir 2 of the plane with the Y material direction, and the normal to the plane with the Z material direction. The table lists the direction orientation with respect to the global coordinate system, when you select one of the Front, Right, or Top plane as a reference geometry. Front Dir 1 aligns with the global X direction. Dir 2 aligns with the global Y direction. Normal to the plane aligns with the global Z direction. Right Dir 1 aligns with the global Y direction. Dir 2 aligns with the global Z direction. Normal to the plane aligns with the global X direction. Top Dir 1 aligns with the global Z direction. Dir 2 aligns with the global X direction. Normal to the plane aligns with the global Y direction. To identify Dir 1 and Dir 2 of the reference plane, select the plane as reference geometry when applying restraints or loads and select Show Preview. Enter the values of the material properties. Click Apply and Close. Parent topicIsotropic and Orthotropic Materials Linear Elastic Isotropic Model Linear Elastic Orthotropic Model Defining Orthotropic Properties Defining Orthotropic Properties for Shells