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Multi-Physics Material Modeling
Altair Material Modeler is a collection of data fitting tools for polymers in a single cohesive studio environment with a workflow designed around using the results for various manufacturing and structural simulations including injection molding, extrusion, temperature-dependent structural simulation, short fiber multiscale modeling, and hyperelastics.
Multiscale Characterization
Characterization of advanced materials and composites is best done with a multiscale approach. Altair's Multiscale Designer (MDS) is run in batch mode to combine the properties of a neat polymer and the fibers based on their volumetric composition (Forward Characterization). Material Modeler takes the Specific Volume of the Composite and of the fibers in order to construct, and fit to the Tait model, the Specific Volume of the Neat Polymer (Reverse Volumetric Characterization). This can be used along with a table of elastic or shear moduli vs temperature in order to obtain the Poisson Ratio parameters leading to a model for the full isotropic elastic properties of the neat polymer.

Welcome
Altair Material Modeler
Generating accurate material properties can be a time-consuming process, Altair Material Modeler (AMM) is a sophisticated modeling software that efficiently processes material data from testing to generate simulation-ready material cards for analyzing the nonlinear behavior of bulk materials as well as the various physical properties of materials, such as polymers and elastomers, used in the manufacture of modern products.
What's New
Here’s a quick look at the latest features available with Altair Material Modeler.
Tutorials
Discover the features of Altair Material Modeler with interactive tutorials.
Elastoplastic Material Modeling
This chapter provides information from preparing data to generating a material card.
Multi-Physics Material Modeling
Altair Material Modeler is a collection of data fitting tools for polymers in a single cohesive studio environment with a workflow designed around using the results for various manufacturing and structural simulations including injection molding, extrusion, temperature-dependent structural simulation, short fiber multiscale modeling, and hyperelastics.
- Material Overview Page
- Specific Volume (pvT) Fitting
  Specific Volume is the inverse of Specific Gravity, and its dependence on temperature and pressure forms an equation of state from which several physical quantities can be derived. The Specific Volume Fitter is a sophisticated tool designed to fit specific volume test data of a polymer or composite to various mathematical models beginning with the Tait model, and it is currently executed from the Material Modeler - Polymer application or via the Compose REPL. This function is compatible with data from various testing machines.
- Shear Viscosity
  Once the file is imported and the viscosity data is fit, the Cross Model with Williams -Landel-Ferry (WLF) is displayed as the default viscosity model pair. To inspect other options, choose a model for shear viscosity or temperature dependence to review the Viscosity vs Shear Rate and Temperature.
- Recommend Process Conditions
  At the start of the process, default settings for molding and extrusion are loaded based on the polymer family. Each type of thermoplastic polymer has default values for parameters like minimum and maximum melt temperatures. These values are pre-set defaults based on common standards, and are meant to be replaced when specific values are known. These serve as reference values in simulation setup and in post processing, depending on the specific quantity.
- Temperature-Dependent Modeling
  Many manufacturing and other engineering applications require a thermal component to the material characterization. Thermal analyses and mechanical analyses involving temperature sensitive mechanical properties of polymers and other advanced materials frequently require a multi-physics approach to their analysis and thus the properties of the material. As these thermal properties will change with temperature Material Modeler has, and is continuing to develop modeling of these thermal properties with respect to temperature to support the growing segment of thermal-mechanical simulation and analysis.
- Multiscale Characterization
  Characterization of advanced materials and composites is best done with a multiscale approach. Altair's Multiscale Designer (MDS) is run in batch mode to combine the properties of a neat polymer and the fibers based on their volumetric composition (Forward Characterization). Material Modeler takes the Specific Volume of the Composite and of the fibers in order to construct, and fit to the Tait model, the Specific Volume of the Neat Polymer (Reverse Volumetric Characterization). This can be used along with a table of elastic or shear moduli vs temperature in order to obtain the Poisson Ratio parameters leading to a model for the full isotropic elastic properties of the neat polymer.
- Hyperelastic Material Modeling
  Hyperelasticity is a type of constitutive behaviour for materials like natural rubber that exhibit large non-linear elastic deformations. These materials return to their original shape upon unloading, following a nonlinear stress-strain relationship.
Shear Viscosity

Multiscale Characterization

Characterization of advanced materials and composites is best done with a multiscale approach. Altair's Multiscale Designer (MDS) is run in batch mode to combine the properties of a neat polymer and the fibers based on their volumetric composition (Forward Characterization). Material Modeler takes the Specific Volume of the Composite and of the fibers in order to construct, and fit to the Tait model, the Specific Volume of the Neat Polymer (Reverse Volumetric Characterization). This can be used along with a table of elastic or shear moduli vs temperature in order to obtain the Poisson Ratio parameters leading to a model for the full isotropic elastic properties of the neat polymer.

Fiber and Matrix Material: Multiscale Designer's forward characterization process requires independent descriptions of fiber and matrix materials. Testing on the composite material does not include neat polymer properties. By providing fiber properties (e.g., pvT and Poisson Ratio function parameters), both fiber and matrix materials are characterized.
Specific Volume Data: The volumetric behavior of composite materials, especially filled polymers, is essential for manufacturing. Fiber volumetric behavior can be derived from mechanical testing or direct pvT property testing of solid samples or beads. This data, whether for isotropic or orthotropic materials, is identical because the volumetric behavior is a governing quantity. From this, the neat polymer's volumetric behavior can be isolated from the composite by using the volumetric behavior of the fiber.
Extracting Neat Polymer Properties: Neat polymer behavior is extracted by removing fiber influence from the composite material at standard points (T and P) and fitting to the Tait pvT Model. For non-isotropic fibers, forward characterization should be performed using the Multiscale Designer standalone application.
The process of obtaining separate domains of neat polymer and fiber properties from the composite for forward characterization ensures that the material model developed is mathematically complete with the composite.