Defining Material Orientation for Surfaces
To define the material orientation for surfaces, specify the following items. Note that, in creating material orientations for a surface, you may, in effect, be creating the material orientation for a shell, 2D plate, or 2D solid, depending on how you have idealized your model.
• Relative To—Specifies the references for the principal material directions. You can specify:
◦ First Parametric Direction—When you select this option, you are defining material direction 1 to be the same as the first parametric direction of the surface, which can vary from point to point on the surface. Material direction 3 is always normal to the surface, and material direction 2 is defined to be normal to material directions 1 and 3. Creo Simulate does not support this option in FEM mode.
◦ Second Parametric Direction—When you select this option, you are defining material direction 1 to be the same as the second parametric direction of the surface, which can vary from point to point on the surface. Material direction 3 is always normal to the surface, and material direction 2 is defined to be normal to material directions 1 and 3. Creo Simulate does not support this option in FEM mode.
◦ Projected Vector in WCS—
Creo Simulate requires the vector's start and end points or the vector's components, and performs a normal projection.
Creo Simulate does not support this option in FEM mode and 2D models as well.
• Rotate about...—Specifies additional rotations about the normal to the surface, or the material direction normal to the surface. This check box is not available in FEM mode.
• Preview References—Selects the geometric entities for previewing the material orientation. You can select one or more individual surfaces, part boundaries, or
intent surfaces.
You can use the Preview button to see the effect of any change you make to the definition of the material orientation.
For examples of material orientation on surfaces, see: