Material Dialog Box - Properties Tab

You can use the Properties tab to assign physical characteristics to a material. These properties can be used by the SOLIDWORKS software and SOLIDWORKS Simulation. The Properties tab is available for editing when the selected material is in a custom library.

To display this dialog box:

Open a part, right-click Material in the FeatureManager design tree, and click Edit Material.
In the Material dialog box, you can double-click a material to automatically apply the material to the model and close the dialog box. You can still click Apply if you want to review the material properties before applying the material.

Material Properties

Model Type Displays the material models for Simulation studies. Available material models depend on the active study type.
Save model type in library Available for custom materials only.

Saves the model type for the selected custom material in the custom material database.

For example, if you change the model type of a custom material from a Linear Elastic Isotropic to Plasticity - von Mises, when you create a new Nonlinear Simulation study, the model type for the custom material would be Plasticity - von Mises.

You can view the location of the custom material database Custom Materials.sldmat inSystem Options > File Locations. For Show folders for, select Material Databases.
You cannot change the model type of a material from the SOLIDWORKS Materials library.
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.
No. of constants Available with SOLIDWORKS Simulation, only for hyperelastic and viscoelastic material models in nonlinear studies.

Sets the number of the hyperelastic material constants used for the analysis to two, four, or six. You can enter the material constants manually, or let the program calculate them from test data.

Verify that you select the proper number of material constants for your model. For example, if you enter a hyperelastic material with six material constants, but you set the No. of constants parameter to two, only the first two material constants are used in the analysis leading to erroneous results.
Use curve data to compute material constants Available with SOLIDWORKS Simulation, only for hyperelastic and viscoelastic material models in nonlinear studies.
Calculates the material constants from available test data. You can enter up to three data curves for: Simple Tension, Planar Tension or Pure Shear, and Biaxial Tension.
The number of constants that you set above is the number of material constants that the program calculates, when this option is selected.
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.

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. You can 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.

Properties Table

This table lists physical properties for the material, as derived from published sources. For custom materials, you can change the property values.