S-Frame

Specifying Material properties

We shall need to define the properties of the material for our frame. We can do this at any stage, but we might as well do so now. We shall only define a single material - Steel for this example. More complex models could have a mixture of materials.

1. Left click on the Material Properties Tool to select it.

2. Now right click on the tool to display its dialog.

Note: As an alternative to right clicking you can click Edit / Tool... or click the Edit Material Properties icon ( ) in the Views and Grids toolbar.

Note: The list of available materials may be significantly different to that shown above. You can easily configure the list to suit your own requirements. If you already have a material called Steel in your list, then do not change its details. Instead create a new name for use in place of Steel throughout the rest of this tutorial.

Help: For further information on creating your own default materials list see To save materials to a file.

3. Enter the data for the steel we want to use in this tutorial, as shown in the capture above. When you have done this click Add to add this definition of the material Steel into the materials database.

Note: You can save the material details that you define for use in other structures by clicking Save or Save As... When you want to use these definitions in another structure, then show this dialog and click Merge..., locate the previously saved file and click Open to import its contents.

4. Click Close to shut the Material Properties Tool dialog. You will see the name of the material you just created in the Views and Grids toolbar.

Note: You can also enter the section properties directly into the Material page of the Spreadsheet.

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