Commands

Management of materials

Main areas

Here are the main areas of the “Materials” application.

Table 1. Zones of the application Materials (No material is selected)


1 The application “Materials” is opened. One environment is available.
2 Materials can be managed in this area:
  • Edit: Edit a material allows modifying its general data and properties.
  • New: Create new material. Only possible in a user’s database.
  • Duplicate: Duplicate material. Only possible in a user’s database.
  • Import: Importing material in a user’s database (from another database). Only possible in a user’s database.
  • Export: Exporting material in a folder.
  • Delete: Delete the selected material.
  • Default to set a material as favorite. This allows to see this material first when searching.
3 Reference materials databases are available.

Materials in these databases are read only. However, they can be copied and moved into user’s databases.

In each material family there are some materials that are proposed by FluxMotor to cover the basic needs.

User’s materials databases...

The users can create new databases. See the process in the chapter “Reference commands”.
4 Empty area where no material is selected.
5 Access to the online user help guide dedicated to the usage of Materials.
Note: The functions to manage material can be reached via a drop-down menu by clicking on the name of the material to be considered.
When a material is selected, its properties are displayed in the central area of the application.
Table 2. Zones of the application Materials (A material is selected)


1 The application “Materials” is opened.
2 One material is selected among different types of databases.
3 A scrolling selection bar allows us to reach and to display the main properties of the selected material type.

These properties are classified according to their physical domain and the material family.

Material properties can be modified only for materials in the User database. To edit a material in the Reference database it should be copied to the User database using “duplicate” option.

As illustrated above, when considering lamination, one can define the general data for the mechanic, magnetic, iron losses and thermic section.
4 All the properties (inputs in blue and output in black) are displayed in the central area.

Expanding the menu in Materials

This menu gives access to system functions like help and exit.

Table 3. Expand the menu on the top left part of “Materials”.


1 List of actions available:
  • About (About Altair FluxMotor and About Altair HyperWorks Products)
  • Debug mode (shortcut CTRL+D)
  • Help to open the online help documentation directly on the chapter dealing with Part Library
  • Exit for closing Part Library from the top menu of Part Library
    Note:

    Close the application “Materials” is also possible by using the icon × on the top right part of the Materials panel.

    Close “Materials” is also possible by using the shortcut CTRL+Q defined in the user preferences.

Export datasheet

In the application “Materials” it is possible to export data that define the datasheet of materials. For each kind of material, on the bottom part of the user inputs, one finds a button (Export datasheet) that opens a dialog box that helps the user to select and to export the datasheet in a *.txt or *.xlsx format.
Table 4. Export datasheet


1 Button to open a dialog box to define and export datasheets dealing with the considered material.
2 Example of a dialog box to export a datasheet
2.1 Name of the exported text file.
2.2 Choice for exporting data into *.txt or *.xlsx files.
2.3 Folder in which the exported file will be stored.
2.4 A system of units for numerical data can be given using SI Units (Units based on the International System of Units)

When the answer is “No”, the default units used in FluxMotor are considered.
2.5 Merged results means the results are written in one text file.
When the answer is no, a text file is provided for each category of result (Description, Mechanic, Magnetic, Iron losses and Thermic).
Note: When the datasheet is exported in a *.xlsx file, a tab is dedicated to each category of result.
3 List of sections to be selected (or not) for exporting the datasheet.