Add or access sheet metal materials

All materials come from either the Inventor Materials Library or the Autodesk Materials Library. You can define new materials and appearances as needed using the Material and Appearance tools. In the Sheet Metal Rule or in the Sheet Metal Defaults you specify additional material thicknesses as needed.

Create a new sheet metal material:

The creation of new materials is done outside the sheet metal environment. You can create new materials at any time, though it may be more efficient to create your typical materials in one session. Follow the steps outlined in the procedure for adding a new material.

When the new material is made, it populates the document automatically and is available in all environments. You can create a custom material library for your needs which would then be accessible to any project referencing the library.

To modify an existing material, see Edit Materials.

Accessing the new sheet metal material:

After creating one or more new sheet metal materials:

1. Click Sheet Metal tab Setup panel Sheet Metal Defaults to open the dialog box.
2. In the Material dropdown, select the new sheet metal material.
3. Complete the Sheet Metal Default selections and click OK.

Tip: If you create a custom material library, we recommend editing the project file(s) to include the new library. If a library doesn't appear in the project file you can still search for and use its content.