Define a plastic nonlinear material

You can select a plastic nonlinear material from the Fusion Nonlinear Material Library, or create one to your Favorites library.

1. Click (Simulation workspace > Setup tab > Materials panel > Manage Physical Materials) to open the Material Browser.

2. To select a pre-defined material from the Fusion Nonlinear Material Library click the down arrow next to the Home icon, and select Fusion Nonlinear Material Library, then choose a material.

3. Alternatively, create a new material in the Favorites library, as follows:

   1. Choose a material to use as the basis of your nonlinear material and click Copy to Favorites and Edit. The dialog expands to show the properties in the frame on the right side.
   2. Switch to the Physical tab and activate the Advanced Properties check box.
   3. Select the Advanced Properties tab to display additional settings. (Be careful not to click on the checkbox again, or the advanced properties mode will be deactivated.)

4. In the Type drop-down list, choose:

   • Plastic: Enter points in a stress-strain table to define the material behavior at stresses above the initial yield strength. The first two data points are automatically generated based on the no-stress and initial yield-stress points. The additional data points define how the material work hardens as it is strained in tension beyond the initial yield strength. While the points can define a curve of various shapes beyond yield (that is, nonlinearly varying stiffness), values defining a negative slope should be avoided. Such materials can cause instability and prevent the solution from converging.

5. Enter measured longitudinal stress-strain data into the Data table to define the plastic response of your material. Be sure to keep data points sorted into ascending order. You can right-click a row to delete it or insert a blank row.

   Alternatively, you can click Show Plot to preview the curve and add data points by double-clicking in the display. Adjust data points by dragging the marker in the display or editing the numbers in the table.

   Note: While you can define a curve of any shape, a negative slope and the related points of inflection should be avoided. Such materials can cause instability and prevent the solution from converging.

6. Select the appropriate Hardening Rule from the drop-down menu.

7. Select the appropriate measure of stress to define the Yield Criterion.

8. Specify the Initial Yield Stress for the material. This is the stress at which yielding and work hardening begins to occur. The yield strength of the material can increase as it is further strained and work hardened.

9. Click Apply to complete the nonlinear material specifications and OK to exit the Material Browser dialog.