Materials and Libraries

A material is the physical substance that a part is made of, such as steel, aluminum, or plastic. The type of material does not determine the visual appearance of a part, only its physical properties.

In Inspire, optimization works with both solid and surface materials and only considers the elastic behavior of those materials. Most common structural materials exhibit elastic behavior when you apply a moderate force. They deflect proportionally to the amount of force you apply and then spring back to their initial position when the force is removed. If you apply a strong enough force to a part, that part will eventually break or permanently bend and be unable to spring back to its original shape. Optimization cannot guarantee that your part won't bend or break under high loads. Further engineering is always necessary to predict and understand when and how a design will fail.