The materials assigned to parts in a CAD package can be used in Mechanical by selecting the Material Properties check box in the Geometry cell Properties pane. The materials assigned to parts in the CAD package is assigned to corresponding parts in the Mechanical application.
CADMaterials Engineering Data Source: When a model is refreshed after importing CAD geometry, a temporary MatML 3.1 file is created, which contains the materials from the CAD package. This file is added as a Data Source in Engineering Data as CADMaterials and the file description identifies the system it belongs to. This file is overwritten when a CAD update operation is performed, so the file should not be edited directly.
See the following workflows related to the use of materials from CAD packages.
A. Using CAD Materials
Select the Material Properties check box in the Geometry cell and import geometry.
Refresh the model. The materials assigned to parts in the CAD package is assigned to corresponding parts in the Mechanical application.
Note: If the part in the CAD package does not have a material assigned, the default material is assigned in Mechanical (see Selecting the Default Material Assignment for Model Parts). This only happens the first time the geometry is attached. If you subsequently update your geometry from the source application, Mechanical, by default, does not assign the default material to new bodies. Review the description for the Assign Default Material property in the Geometry object reference section of the Mechanical User Guide for additional information.
B. Modifying Material Properties
Follow workflow A. Using CAD Materials.
Add the material from CADMaterials Data Source to Engineering Data and modify it.
Refresh the model.
Mechanical uses the material defined in Engineering Data.
C. Deleting Material in Engineering Data
Follow workflow B. Modifying Material Properties.
Edit the Engineering Data cell and delete the material.
Refresh the model.
The default material is assigned to corresponding parts in Mechanical (see Selecting the Default Material Assignment for Model Parts).
D. Updating Material from CAD
Follow workflow A. Using CAD Materials.
Open geometry in the CAD application.
Modify material properties in the CAD application and save.
Update geometry from CAD.
Refresh the model.
Mechanical uses the modified material from CAD.
E. Materials with Same Name or Synonym
Define some materials in Engineering Data.
Select the Material Properties check box in the Geometry cell and import geometry.
Refresh the model.
If the material in Engineering Data has the same name or synonym (seen in the tooltip) as the material defined in the CAD package, then the Mechanical application uses the material defined in Engineering Data and not from CAD package.