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User-Defined Materials

Your Personal Material Library

While our applications includes a comprehensive database of standard materials for various design codes, we understand that engineers often work with specialized or proprietary materials. The User-Defined Materials feature empowers you to extend the application's capabilities by adding your own custom material specifications to your personal library.

Once a custom material is created and associated with a specific design code (e.g., EN 13480-3), it becomes seamlessly available for selection within the relevant calculation apps. It will appear in a dedicated "My Materials" group in the material dropdown list, allowing you to perform analyses with the exact material properties your project requires.

Managing Your Materials

You can manage your custom materials from the "My Materials" section, accessible from the main user menu. The interface is designed to be intuitive and efficient.

1. Listing and Searching Materials

The main view displays a paginated list of all the materials you have created. You can easily search for a specific material by name to quickly locate it in your library.

2. Adding a New Material

Click the "Add New" button to open the material creation form. Here, you will define your material's properties, including its name, the design code it applies to, and its mechanical strength values.

3. Editing or Deleting a Material

From the material list, you can choose to edit or delete any existing custom material. Editing allows you to update any of its properties, while deleting will permanently remove it from your library and make it unavailable for future calculations.

Defining Your Material

When adding or editing a material, you must provide the following information based on the material's specification sheet.

Primary Properties

  • Material Name: Required. A unique name for your material (e.g., "Super-Alloy X"). This name will identify the material in the calculator dropdowns.
  • Standard: Required. This critical field links the material to a specific calculation code (e.g., EN 13480, ASME B31.1). The allowable stress definition and required parameters depend on this selection. For example, the label for allowable stress will change to "Nominal Design Stress (f)" for EN 13480 or "Basic Allowable Stress (S)" for ASME B31.3.
  • Minimum Tensile Strength (UTS) & Minimum Yield Strength (YS): Required. These fundamental mechanical properties are used for various checks within the standards. The application validates that the Yield Strength does not exceed the Tensile Strength.
  • 'Y' Value Category: Required. Select the appropriate category (e.g., ferritic, austenitic, nickel) which determines the coefficient 'Y' used in wall thickness formulas.

Allowable Stress Points

This is the core of the material definition, where you define its strength at different temperatures.

  • Process: Click the "Add Point" button to create a new row. In that row, select a temperature from the predefined list and enter the corresponding allowable stress value for that temperature.
  • Units: The units for stress (MPa or ksi) and temperature (°C or °F) are based on your current global unit settings.

The Power of Interpolation

You don't need to manually enter an allowable stress value for every temperature. Our application includes a powerful interpolation feature to streamline your workflow.

  1. Enter Known Points: Add rows for the temperature/stress data points you have from your material specification sheet. For best results, enter at least two points that span the temperature range you intend to work with.
  2. Interpolation is automatic, just click the "Save" button and material will be saved with interpolated values automatically.
  3. Review and Edit Results: The application will automatically perform linear interpolation and fill in the stress values for all the temperatures that fall between your entered points. These auto-generated values can be edited in "Edit Material".
Pro Tip: The more data points you provide from the specification, the more accurately the material's behavior across the temperature range will be represented.
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