Material Data Management Comes to the MSC Ecosystem

MSC Software has announced the release of MaterialCenter 2015 to improve the data lifecycle management of material data. Essentially, MaterialCenter is a tool engineers can use to integrate their material data into other CAE software. The aim of the software is to create material processes and manage the lifecycle data.

Using MaterialCenter, engineers can create CAE models using various CAE solvers. The software then creates CAE material records based on the virtual, data, design data, ASTM/ISO test data and databanks. Engineers are able to alter the models within the web platform or through Excel integrations.

Currently, MaterialCenter is compatible with the following solvers:

  • Abaqus
  • ANSYS
  • LS-DYNA
  • Marc
  • Nastran

Another interesting functionality for MaterialCenter is integration with pre- and post-processing tools. The idea is that engineers access the MaterialCenter data without leaving their current platform. Unfortunately, with the exception of Beta/CAE ANSA, most of this functionality is limited to MSC products such as Patran, SimXpert and Marc Mentat.

To help engineers organize and reduce the data to the simulation critical information, MaterialCenter provides traceability and integration with Java, Python and MATLAB. This traceability is provided in part by a work request capability for approvals and workflow management.

To validate the data, MaterialCenter includes 2D plotting and graphical representations of data from scatter plots, spider plots, bar graphs and pie charts.

Material data is a cornerstone of accurate simulations. However, you don’t always need all the data collected on a particular material for your simulation. Alternatively, you might not have the correct data for the given model. Tools like MaterialCenter are important for engineering teams to keep track of the material data you have and the material data you need.

For more information on MaterialCenter, watch the video below.