Material Redefinition

Modify a material definition using the HIN file.

In many analyses, you may wish to modify the material definition slightly to perform a sensitivity study. Rather than modifying the material definition in Moldflow or Advanced Material Exchange and working through the entire interface again, you can use the HIN file to adjust the material properties prior to the structural simulation. Properties defined in the HIN file will overwrite those stored in the input or .sif files.

There are a number of material properties that can be adjusted in the HIN file. Unless otherwise noted, the *MATERIAL keyword must be used before any other keywords are used.

*FIBER

For filled materials, the elastic properties of the fiber can be adjusted with the *FIBER keyword.

*MATERIAL, NAME=material_name
*FIBER
E, nu, alpha

where E represents the Elastic Modulus, nu represents the Poisson ratio, and alpha represents the Coefficient of Thermal Expansion. Each of these properties pertains to the fiber constituent. Consecutive commas can be used to indicate a default value.

*MATRIX

The elastic properties of the matrix constituent can be adjusted with the *MATRIX keyword.

*MATERIAL, NAME=material_name
*MATRIX
E, nu, alpha

where E represents the Elastic Modulus, nu represents the Poisson ratio, and alpha represents the Coefficient of Thermal Expansion. Each of these properties pertains to the matrix constituent. Consecutive commas can be used to indicate a default value.

Note: To redefine material properties for a material that is being mapped to another material with the *MAP keyword, you must use the ORIGINALNAME= or ORIGINALID= parameters with the *MATERIAL keyword. For example:

*MAP, FROM=NAME, TO=NAME
MATERIAL_B, MATERIAL_A

*MATERIAL, ORIGINALNAME=MATERIAL_B
*MATRIX
2710, ,

*ENVIRONMENT

The *ENVIRONMENT keyword allows you to define material properties for a specific environment. After you specify the environment, you can use one or more of the following child keywords to define the material:

Note: If any of these keywords are used before the *ENVIRONMENT keyword, they will take precedence over any of the same keywords used inside the *ENVIRONMENT keyword.

*MATERIAL, NAME=material_name
*ENVIRONMENT, TYPE=[COMPRESSIVE/TENSILE], TEMPERATURE=temperature, HUMIDITY=humidity, STRAINRATE=rate

where TYPE=COMPRESSIVE is used to indicate a compressive environment and TYPE=TENSILE is used to indicate a tensile environment. Only one tensile and one compressive environment may be defined in an analysis. The combination of TEMPERATURE, HUMIDITY, and STRAINRATE parameters must match the environment specified in the .sif file.

If the material was not originally characterized for use with compression data, you can use the *ENVIRONMENT keyword along with the *RAMBERGOSGOOD keyword to define the compressive behavior.

Examples

Example 1 - Adjust the Fiber and Matrix Properties

In this example we want to adjust the elastic modulus of the matrix constituent and the Poisson ratio of the fiber constituent. The matrix elastic modulus should be adjusted to 2710 MPa and the fiber Poisson ratio should be adjusted to 0.298. All other values will be unchanged. The material name is CA-Plastic-1.

*MATERIAL, NAME=CA-PLASTIC-1
*FIBER
, 0.298,  
*MATRIX
2710, ,

Example 2 - Adjust the Matrix Properties at the Material Level and the Fiber Properties for the Compressive Environment

In this example we want to adjust the elastic modulus, Poisson ratio, and coefficient of thermal expansion at the material level, but only adjust the fiber elastic modulus for the compressive environment. The matrix elastic modulus is 2850 MPa, the matrix Poisson ratio is 0.39, and the matrix coefficient of thermal expansion is 1.1E-4 1/C. The fiber elastic modulus for the compressive environment should be changed to 1.12E5 MPa. The compressive environment stored in the .sif file is specified at a temperature of 23.0°C, with the relative humidity 0%, and the strain rate 0%.

*MATERIAL, NAME=CA-PLASTIC-2  
*MATRIX
2850, 0.39, 1.1e-4
*ENVIRONMENT, TYPE=COMPRESSIVE, TEMPERATURE=23.0, HUMIDITY=0.0, STRAINRATE=0.0
*FIBER
1.125e5, ,

Example 3 - Add a Compressive Material Definition to an Existing Tensile-only Material

In this example we want to add a set of nonlinear compressive data to an existing material that contains only a tensile response. The compressive material response should be defined at a temperature of 0°C, a relative humidity of 0%, and zero strain rate. The Ramberg-Osgood material parameters are as follows:

σ0 = 100.0
n = 3.0
alpha = 1.0
beta = 1.0

*MATERIAL, NAME=CA-PLASTIC-3
*ENVIRONMENT, TYPE=COMPRESSIVE, TEMPERATURE=0.0, HUMIDITY=0.0, STRAINRATE=0.0
*RAMBERGOSGOOD
100.0, 3.0, 1.0, 1.0

Note: Refer to the *RAMBERGOSGOOD keyword for more information on its use.