ANSYS Material Macro

The Material macro creates and defines material cards.

This macro lists the existing materials in the model in a table and displays the material Set Number, Type, and Name for each material. From this macro dialog, you can create a new material, edit an existing material, or delete a material.

Rows can be sorted by set number, material type and name columns.

The following buttons are available on the Material macro dialog:
Table 1.
Button Action
Help Provides information about the macro.
New... Opens the Create Material dialog, from which you can specify parameters for a new material and create it.
Edit... Opens the Edit Material dialog, from which you can review and change parameters for an existing material that is selected in the table.
Refresh Refreshes the HyperMesh database with changes you made through the Material macro. You must click this button before closing the dialog to successfully export the ANSYS deck.
Delete Deletes the material that is selected in the table.
Close Closes the Material macro dialog.

Right-clicking on a row displays a context menu with the option to delete unused materials. Selecting this option can help you clean up your model by deleting materials.

You can also edit materials, edit material properties, and delete materials from the menu that appears when you right-click in the table when a row/material is selected.

Create Material Dialog

Create new materials from the Material dialog.

Specify the following options and click Create to create the material and return to the Material macro, or Create/Edit… to create the material and open the card image panel in HyperMesh to specify the material’s properties.

The following options are available in the Material dialog:
Table 2.
Option Description
Material Set No Type a number for the material set. If you do not specify a value, a number will be automatically provided that is one higher than the highest current material set number.
Material Name Type a name to identify the material.
Material Type Select MP or MPDATA depending on the material card you want to use.

Edit Material Dialog

Edit existing materials from the Edit Material dialog.

Specify the following options and click Update to save the changes. Then click Close to return to the Material macro. You can also click Edit Material Properties… to open the card image panel in HyperMesh to modify the material’s properties.

The following options are available in the Material dialog:
Table 3.
Option Description
Material Set No This field is initially populated by the reference number of the material card that you have chosen to edit. You can change the number to any other reference number if the number is not already used by an existing material card.
Material Name This field is initially populated with the current name of the material. You can modify the name of the material.
Material Type You can change the card image type.
Note: If you make changes to a material, you must click Update to reflect the changes in the card image.