Does anyone have a nice materials library to share?

[patrjck]

The basic part material iproperty (which also comes with a default color) library is kind of strange and incomplete.  I was thinking about spending a day or two setting up a more logical library, but I'm sure this has been done before.  What I'm most looking for is:

- consistency (none of this "aluminum-6061", "aluminum-6061 AHC", "welded aluminum 6061", or "stainless steel 440C" - either call it generic "aluminum" or list a few common alloys ... why single out 440C??? Most common SS are 316, 18-8, 17-4 ... I think you get the point)

- keep it alphabetical ("Iron, gray" and "iron, cast" not "Gray iron")

- includes a few more basic materials such as PTFE, Delrin, Magnet (generic), PU foam or some generic foam (just a few that come to mind that I've needed recently)

Basically I'm looking for a more thought out library than the default mumbo jumbo. It would be nice if I could just use the part material property in my drawing. I realize if I go into the stress analysis package I will more than likely have to set up my own material, but I don't do that much.

[mcgyvr]

All aluminum/stainless/steel/plastic is not equal. If you are going to do it right you include the different alloys/heat treating, specific resins, etc.. for stress analysis use,etc...

A great place to find alot of information is matweb.com

[kstate92]

Autodesk and Matweb should work together to allow in-dialog additions of new materials on the fly.

[mcgyvr]

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@kstate92 wrote:

Autodesk and Matweb should work together to allow in-dialog additions of new materials on the fly.

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My biggest problem with that is many materials on matweb are missing some information that might be required by INV and many values need to be converted to different units.

[patrjck]

MATWEB is great, but it doesn't really help me any.  What I was hoping to find was an Inventor part file that had a good pre-configured materials library.  I would use this as my template for future parts.  I know how to set things up myself, but I thought surely this has been done already.

As I said, I'm not too concerned about the stress analysis/mechanical properties.  When it comes to an FEA I'll carefully check all properties anyway.  All that really matters is density and color.

[kstate92]

Okay, instead of Matweb, how about the Wikihelp thing Autodesk setup?  Users contribute their materials in the already proper format.  Of course, the corporate lawyers would probably freak out and forbid it, even with 'as-is', and 'caveat emptor' plastered about.

[mcgyvr]

The problem is we all have jobs and stuff to do and only use/load materials that are used at our jobs.. I sure as heck don't have time to be loading in hundreds of materials that I have no need for. Thats why a material library is a company specific thing..

I've got 2 steel, 2 aluminum and 2 brass alloys plus 5 plastic resins and default that I use for stuff I don't care about. Thats all I need. Far from a comprehensive collection but it is everything I need.

[Anonymous]

Did you ever find a nice part file to share with the properties you are asking for?