Properties - Physical tab - dialog box

Calculates physical and inertial properties for a part or assembly to demonstrate how differences in materials, analysis tolerances, and other values affect the model.

The measurement units are controlled by the Document Settings Units tab.

Assembly access:	Select a component, right-click and select iProperties. Click the Physical tab.
Part access:	iProperties. Click the Physical tab.

To access the properties of a Virtual Part, right-click on a virtual part in the assembly browser and select Properties.

Update

To calculate mass, surface area, and volume, click Update.

Physical properties are effected whenever you add, delete, or modify a feature on a part or add or delete a part from an assembly. Physical properties are also effected by user override values. Any time a change has occurred, click Update to recalculate. If required components are not loaded into memory, a message asks if you want to load them.

Note: Update is available only when the values do not correspond to the specified Requested Accuracy level. When physical properties are up to date, the Update button is unavailable.

Clipboard

Click to move a physical properties report to the operating system clipboard in Rich Text Format (.rtf). The report notes values overwritten by users. You can paste the report into a text editor and print it.

Material and density properties

Selects the material and corresponding density for the selected component. Sets the degree of accuracy of physical properties calculations.
Solids	Available in multi-body part files only. Use the drop-down menu to calculate the properties of the entire part or just selected bodies.
Material	Material properties inherited from a part are used in calculations. Lists materials from the application material table. Material list is specified in material.
Density	Lists the density for the selected material. The density of the default material is 1 kg/m^3.
Requested Accuracy	Specifies the degree of accuracy for physical property calculations. The default setting is Low but you can specify greater level. The time it takes to compute values is dependent on the level set. For example, setting the value to Very High may take several minutes to compute. Note: The achieved relative accuracy displays in parentheses after each value.

Note:

• The actual relative accuracy for each value displays in parentheses after each value. The Relative Accuracy is relative to the result (not the Requested Accuracy). For example, if the mass is calculated to be 100 lbs (within an error that is less than plus or minus 2.5 lbs), then the following displays: 100 lbs (Relative Error = 2.500000%).
• A mass or volume override is treated as perfectly accurate number and a Relative Error number is not appended.

General Properties

Calculates mass, surface area, and volume of the selected part or assembly. Values reflect Autodesk Inventor calculations, user-override values, or calculations based on override values. Units are set to a default scheme during Autodesk Inventor installation. For files created using a template, units are those set in the template.
Mass, Volume, and Area includes contributions from virtual components, as well as cosmetic welds and BOM Quantity overrides when the Include Cosmetic Welds and Include QTY Overrides check boxes are selected. Note: When a virtual component has a volume or mass, the moments of inertia, surface area, and center of gravity of an assembly using virtual components may not be accurate because: The location of virtual component defaults to the origin of its parent assembly and cannot be user-defined. The surface area and moments of inertia of virtual components do not exist.
Include cosmetic welds	Select the check box to include cosmetic welds in mass properties calculations. Adds the approximate mass, area and volume of all cosmetic welds to the existing totals for the same properties. Clear the check box to exclude cosmetic welds (default setting).
Include QTY Overrides	Select the check box to use a static value for quantity if the calculated value does not represent your intentions. Note: If static quantities are created, the center of gravity and moments of inertia values may not be accurate.
Mass	Mass in default units or, if applicable, the units specified in the template. Custom value overrides are not available if cosmetic welds are included.
Area	Surface area of the selected part or assembly.
Volume	Volume of the selected part or assembly. Custom value overrides are not available if cosmetic welds are included.
Center of Gravity	Lists the x, y, z coordinates of the center of gravity of the selected component, relative to the assembly origin.

Icons are displayed beside appropriate properties to indicate whether an override value exists. If cosmetic welds are included, the symbols are replaced by an "approximately equal" symbol.
	Calculated value
	User override value
	Calculated value using one or more user override values
	Approximated value

Inertial Properties

Click Principal, Global, or COG to select the method for calculating inertial properties. Shows the mass properties of the selected component reported with respect to the active edit coordinate system of the target. Mass properties are calculated based on the component in its current state. Inertial Properties and Center of Gravity do not include contributions from virtual components, cosmetic welds, or BOM Quantity overrides. The results are reported according to your selection of Negative integral or Positive integral on the General tab of the Application Options dialog box.
Principal Moments	Calculates principal moments of inertia about the principal axes of inertia.
Rotation to principal	Calculates rotation from the active edit coordinate system of the target to the coordinate system whose X, Y, and Z axes are the principal axes of inertia.
Mass Moments	Moments of inertia (Ixx, Iyy, and Izz) and products of inertia (Ixy, Ixz, and Iyz). For more information about Inertial Properties see Application options reference - General tab.

Note: If an assembly includes virtual components and a virtual component has a volume or mass, the inertial properties of the assembly may not be accurate.