Materials

Running a simulation requires a material definition. When you transfer SOLIDWORKS designs and simulation studies to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, Design with SOLIDWORKS manages the transfer of material definitions differently depending on whether you have applied a "mastered" or "non-mastered" material. In addition, there are special considerations for applying materials using both SOLIDWORKS and the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.

This page discusses:

See Also
Mapping of SOLIDWORKS Simulation Features

Mastered Materials

A "mastered" material is a material found in the 3DEXPERIENCE materials database. You can access the 3DEXPERIENCE materials database from SOLIDWORKS Desktop.

The manner in which the mastered material that you apply to a part in SOLIDWORKS Desktop transfers to the 3DEXPERIENCE analysis case varies as follows:

  • If you apply the mastered material to the part using SOLIDWORKS CAD, the mastered material transfers with the part to the 3DEXPERIENCE analysis case. In this case, the 3DEXPERIENCE simulation inherits any modifications you make to the part's material using the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.

    Tip: You can do the following to enable transfer of mastered materials from SOLIDWORKS CAD:
    1. From the Tools section of the 3DEXPERIENCE Connector for SOLIDWORKS action bar, select Options....
    2. From the Save options, select Apply material on 3DEXPERIENCE data model.

  • If you apply the mastered material to the part using SOLIDWORKS Simulation, the mastered material transfers with the simulation study to the 3DEXPERIENCE analysis case. In this case, the mastered material overrides any material applied to the part using SOLIDWORKS CAD.

If the mastered material in the 3DEXPERIENCE materials database is ever updated, the corresponding material in the analysis case is also updated.

For more information about how to apply 3DEXPERIENCE materials in SOLIDWORKS, see Design with SOLIDWORKS: Managing Materials in 3DEXPERIENCE.

Non-Mastered Materials

A "non-mastered" material is any material outside of the 3DEXPERIENCE materials database. Non-mastered materials include materials from the SOLIDWORKS Materials database that you modify within SOLIDWORKS. If you apply a non-mastered material to your part, the non-mastered material is not transferred to the 3DEXPERIENCE analysis case.

Considerations for Applying Materials Using the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform

When retransferring a SOLIDWORKS CAD model to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, the materials assigned to parts using SOLIDWORKS CAD override any materials previously assigned to those parts using the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. To circumvent this behavior, you can assign materials to a FEM representation or to a section property in the simulation app when assigning materials to parts using the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.

Mastered materials you apply using the 3DEXPERIENCE platform and then transfer to SOLIDWORKS contain a subset of material properties. While some material properties are unavailable in SOLIDWORKS Simulation, all material properties remain available on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. For example, the plasticity data do not transfer to SOLIDWORKS Simulation, but they remain part of the material's definition on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. Some material properties that SOLIDWORKS Simulation preserves during the transfer include:

  • Elastic modulus
  • Poisson's ratio
  • Mass density
  • Thermal expansion coefficient
  • Thermal conductivity
  • Specific heat