Exercise 13: Advanced selection with Comparison Tables

Comparison Tables allow you to compare several different records at once, and highlight differences between them.

Note: Comparison Tables are only enabled in the advanced Level 3 databases. The option will be grayed out or not appear at all if you have opened any of the databases available in Granta EduPack Introductory, including Level 3.

In industry, materials selection projects are often required to find a replacement for an existing material, due to changes in the design or manufacture of the component, or because of supply chain issues. Comparison Tables allow you to compare several different records at once, and highlight differences between them.

  1. Change the database to one where Comparison Tables are enabled.
    1. Change the database and table to Level 3 Polymer, MaterialUniverse: All materials.
  2. Add an unfilled PP (Polypropylene) and an unfilled PVC record to a Comparison Table.
    1. Find an example of each in the Browse tree, then right-click and select Add to Comparison Table.
  3. Set the PVC record as the Reference record.
    1. Hover over the record name in the comparison table header and click Set as Reference .
      Note: Reference record is another feature enabled in the advanced Level 3 databases. Setting a Reference record allows you to easily identify it in the browse tree and on charts, and compare other records to it using Comparison Tables and Find Similar (see the next exercise and the software Help for more information).
  4. Show the differences relative to the Reference record as percentages.
    1. Click Change in the Comparison Table toolbar.
      Note: These are differences in the range values, not the averages.
  5. Clear the Comparison Table and Reference record.
    1. Click Tools on the main toolbar, then select Comparison Table > Clear > MaterialUniverse. Repeat for the Reference record.