Material Creation/Modification in CAD/CAE/PLM environment is highly regulated. Only specific users are allowed to create or modify materials under specific conditions. This post explains in simple terms, the different aspects of material creation & modification in various contexts.
In the Industrial Context
When Designers design a product, which constraints affect material selection for the product?
Designers often have a degree of flexibility in choosing materials for their products, but there are several factors that can impose restrictions or influence their choices.
Even if a certain material may perform the best 'Functionally', there are other factors to take into account. A designer cannot just choose any material for their product based on one factor.
In the Industry, New Materials will be created in CAD/CAE/PLM environment only by a team of experts after evaluating the needs, justified by a broad spectrum of factors. Similarly, Designers will apply these materials on products only after detailed considerations.
These factors can constrain designers in their material selection.
In the 3DEXPERIENCE platform Context
In the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, actions related to Materials are highly regulated.
Most product manufacturers use existing materials from suppliers. These are well known and readily available materials. For example: A manufacturer of Recyclable Water/Soft drink Bottles will probably use a material like PET. It is most commonly used for this application and its physical properties are well known.
The 3DEXPERIENCE platform offers a library of Predefined, Commonly Used, Readily Available Materials for various applications (See this post for Reference). This minimizes the need for a typical designer to create new materials, they can just apply these materials on their products. As a consequence, Creation of New Materials/ Importing Materials/ Editing Parameters has been made available only for "Leaders" in the Collaborative Space.
Roles to Access Materials in the 3DEXPERIENCE platform
This image explains the capability of roles to do different actions on Materials.
In case a Research Student/ Researcher is responsible for creating and researching new materials, they can create new materials in the 3DEXPERIENCE platform accordingly, by accessing with the Leader role.
In the Academic Context of a Classroom
Teachers generally control the creation and modification of materials. They may manage a library of materials in the Collaborative Space and allow Students to use materials from this limited set.
This ensures a clean Collaborative Space without duplicate or unnecessary materials.
Exceptionally, students may be allowed to create new materials in case they are learning about material creation.
Teachers can have a look at the Material Briefcase (Library of Predefined Materials) and import the materials necessary for their class. They can create new, modify or delete unnecessary materials. Teachers can create/access as Leaders a Collaborative Space with Materials, and provide access to Students as Authors.
In the Context of an Individual Student User/ Team in a Competition
Individual Students working on their own projects, or Student Teams participating in competitions like SAE Formula Student/ BAJA, operate fairly independently. They can choose Materials on their own for their Products or explore the creation of New Materials.
Students can access their Collaborative Space as Leaders, import the Predefined Materials, try them out. And if needed, also explore Creation of New Materials to understand the process and features in the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.
Previous Posts-
Materials and Types in 3DEXPERIENCE platform [Series- Getting Started with Materials | Part-1]
Predefined Materials in the 3DEXPERIENCE platform [Series- Getting Started with Materials | Part-2]
Next Posts-
Apps for Materials [Series- Getting Started with Materials | Part-4]
CATIA V5 to 3DEXPERIENCE Material Import [Series- Getting Started with Materials | Part-5]
