How to Create a Custom Material Library

The Material Library Manager stores material data in centralized databases for use by all ALGOR processors. It includes the ALGOR Material Library, which contains material property values drawn from standard engineering references for a variety of common materials.

You can also create custom material libraries, which contain materials that you specify. Some common reasons for creating a custom material library include the following:

• Define materials not found in the ALGOR Material Library, such as experimental or proprietary materials.
• Group a subset of frequently-used materials.

Instead of needing to enter material properties every time you want to use a custom material, you can define the material data once and save them in a custom material library. Then, you can select the material from the custom library in the "Element Material Selection" screen, just like you would select any material from the ALGOR Material Library.

Creating a Custom Material Library

You can access the Material Library Manager by using the "Tools:Manage Material Library..." command sequence. The "Algor Material Library Manager" screen will appear (see Figure 1). From this screen, you can view material data stored in ALGOR's default material library or in a custom material library.

Figure 1: The "Algor Material Library Manager" Screen

Note: The database format for the material libraries is a FoxPro (.dbf) file format.  These files can be changed with the ALGOR Material Library Manager, FoxPro or Visual Basic.

To create a custom material library:

1. In the "Algor Material Library Manager" screen, click on the "Manage Libraries..." button. The "Manage Libraries" screen will appear.
2. Click on the "Create..." button. (See Figure 2.) The "Create Library" screen will appear.

Figure 2: Creating a Custom Material Library

3. In the "File name:" field, specify the name and location for your library and then click on the "Save" button. (See Figure 3.) The "Create Library" screen will appear.

Figure 3: Specifying a Name for the Custom Material Library

4. Type a description for the library, which will appear in the list of available material libraries (see Figure 4). (Alternatively, you can leave the field as is, which by default contains the file name that you specified previously.)  Click on the "OK" button to return to the "Manage Libraries" screen.

Figure 4: Specifying a Description for the Custom Material Library

5. Click on "OK" to return to the "Algor Material Library Manager" screen. The library that you created will be selected and it will be unlocked.

Once a custom material library is created, you can add materials to it and then access them from the "Element Material Selection" screen.

See the ALGOR User's Guide for more information about the Material Library Manager.