Material models

A material model is based on a specific material in your Granta MI database, and a model definition that defines how the material's properties and behavior are simulated.

Model definitions

Material model definitions, designed to export data from Granta MI databases, are stored within each database as material card exporter files in XML format.

Each model definition specifies:
  • The material properties (Granta MI material attributes) that will be included in the material model, and the unit system that is used to generate the data.
  • How the material data is transformed into the format required by the CAD or CAE application and solver.
Model definitions are specific to a given CAD or CAE application and solver. When you assign or import a material model, MI Materials Gateway will only allow you to select model types that are compatible with your current application (and your currently selected finite element solver, in HyperMesh and ANSA).
Note: Materials in different Granta MI databases, or in different tables, might have different model types available. For more information about the availability of material models in your system, contact your Granta MI data administrator.

Units for material models

The data for a material model is always generated using the unit system that is specified in the model definition.

Note: If there is more than one unit system specified in the model definition, MI Materials Gateway uses the one that appears first in the XML file.

The unit system selected in your MI Materials Gateway user preferences (see Choose your unit system) does not have any effect on material model data.

Parameters for material models

Some model types are dependent on parameters such as temperature, pressure, or strain. Each parameter has a default value. For material attributes that have parameter-dependent data, these determine the attribute value that is included in the material model by default (for example, Density at 300K). If a material has no data for that attribute at the default parameter values, then the material model will have missing data.

When you assign or import a material, you might be given the option to specify values for any parameters required (see Specifying parameter values for a material model). The values that you can choose from will depend on the parameterized data that is available in the database for your selected material.