Solve real materials problems with CES Selector 2018

Combining a unique range of materials data with specialist tools to help you solve real materials problems, CES Selector is different.

For more than 20 years, it has been improved and optimized to deal with the subtleties of material selection. The 2018 release, out next month, continues this tradition, combining new data and tool enhancements to help solve tricky problems, like how to filter materials based on combinations of properties, how to factor-in weldability, or finding data for simulation and high-temperature properties.

Join our case study-based webinar on October 19 to hear how some of these new features of CES Selector 2018 can be applied to solve a critical class of material problem: what to do when materials supply chains are disrupted. Through a case study, focused on polymers, you will learn how to quickly find alternative suppliers of similar grades or to identify alternative materials.

Watch this webinar on-demand – featuring guest speakers from the Manufacturing Technology Centre

Last week we ran one of our most popular webinars ever about technologies to help optimize Additive Manufacturing (AM) processes. Drawing on experience from AMAZE, the recently-completed European collaborative AM project, speakers from the MTC and Granta Design reviewed state-of-the-art technologies for non-destructive testing (NDT), characterizing materials, and capturing project data to ensure traceability and support analysis. Owing to its popularity, we’ve decided to make the recording available ‘on demand’.

Granta and UL team up to offer plastics property and UL Yellow Cards data

Granta Design and UL (Underwriters Laboratories, Inc.) have announced an extension to their partnership that makes additional Prospector Plastics and UL Yellow Cards data accessible through the GRANTA MI materials information system. Prospector Plastics contains around 90,000 plastics datasheets from leading manufacturers. Previously available in GRANTA MI, this resource has now been enriched with curve data, capturing temperature-dependent properties, and additional data on plastics additives.

The UL Yellow Cards list performance-related properties and credentials for polymeric materials, and are issued when those materials have successfully undergone UL testing to appropriate standards. UL Yellow Cards thus provide engineers with confidence that their choice of plastic will meet safety requirements. This data, along with UL Colorants data, is available in GRANTA MI for the first time.

CES Selector is now available for use by HyperWorks^® customers

CES Selector has joined the software offering of the Altair Partner Alliance (APA). Through the APA, Altair adds third party software solutions to its HyperWorks platform. Members can now download a special APA Edition from the APA website – when they run the software, it will automatically check out the required number of HyperWorks Units (HWUs) from their company’s available pool, so that they can use CES Selector at no additional cost.

“Users can innovate with CES Selector by confirming and validating their choice of materials, resolving materials issues, and pre-screening materials and focusing on the most promising solutions in the early project phase,” said Marian Bulla, Program Manager for Material Data at Altair.

Discover how Ethicon helps to save lives by ensuring that replacement materials can be identified quickly

From providing time-critical responses, to preventing disruption due to material obsolescence, the problems faced by Ethicon can have life-or-death consequences for patients. Historically, materials decisions were made by a number of people using often unrelated data sources housed in different Ethicon facilities.

These decisions were usually based on mechanical properties only; it was hard to take account of the environment in which a medical device would be used, or how a device was registered in a country other than the USA. This risked error and resulted in redundant testing and revalidation.

Through material information management using the GRANTA MI system, Ethicon has ensured materials data can be accessed with precision and confidence. This has saved time and effort, enabled fast, accurate answers to ‘patient-on-the-table’ medical queries, and supported optimized, holistic materials selection.

Concerned with how your materials data feeds into the world of product engineering?

At Granta, we’re engaged in an increasing number of projects in this area, and we’re finding that flexibility is key. No one CAD or PLM project is the same as another, so we need the right technologies to ‘hook in’ materials data in a way that matches the particular environment and data requirements of each organization.

Later this year, we’ll be announcing updates to two key software products that facilitate this work. MI:Materials Gateway enables direct access to your corporate materials database for users within CAD tools like NX, CATIA, or Creo or PLM systems such as Teamcenter and Windchill. MI:Enterprise Connect offers server-level synchronization of materials data in a materials information system with the corporate PLM system. Either of these technologies, or both in combination, might be the solution to your CAD/PLM integration challenge. Come and talk to us at next month’s Siemens PLM Connection event in Berlin, or join our upcoming web seminar.

New Standard shows aero industry needs to address restricted substance problems

Arising out of an initiative by the International Aerospace Environmental Group (IAEG), the IPC-1754 (“Materials Declaration Standard for Aerospace and Defense”) Standard establishes requirements for material and chemical substance data exchange between suppliers and their customers for aerospace and defense, heavy equipment, and other such industries.

Granta’s participation in these discussions came in part due to our role as a coordinator of PLEIADES, a collaborative project within Clean Sky 2, the European program to enable environmental improvements in next-generation aircraft. It aims to integrate and ensure effective use of both primary and secondary data on materials, processes, and products within aerospace engineering workflows. Granta also provides software that helps enterprises to track and apply information on restricted substances.

A ballot held at the committee meeting ended with 80% approval for the standard. Although it is now approved, the committee has accepted the standard has some technical issues that need to be addressed. It’s expected that the standard will be published on schedule in late Oct-Dec 2017.

GRANTA MI Training sessions are held on the second Tuesday of the month.
CES Selector Training is held on the first Tuesday of alternate months.

The next, free online sessions are:

A few of the webinars and events we have coming this quarter

October 8, 2017 – MS&T conference, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
We are exhibiting, speaking, and running a workshop at the MS&T conference.

October 19, 2017 – Materials shortage? Don’t lose time in identifying alternatives (a CES Selector 2018 case study), webinar
Discover the enhanced features in CES Selector 2018, and respond effectively to materials problems.

October 23-25, 2017 – Siemens PLM Connection Europe, Berlin, Germany
Find Granta at booth 17 where we’ll be demonstrating materials support for CAD and PLM.

October 26, 2017 – Empowering Product Engineering with consistent, accurate materials definitions in CAD and PLM, webinar
Explore how to ensure consistent, accurate materials definitions across CAD and PLM.

November 1-2, 2017 – Advanced Engineering UK, Birmingham, UK
Find Granta at booth K51 where we’ll be demonstrating material intelligence for enterprises.

November 1-3, 2017 – JEC Asia, Seoul, South Korea
Find Granta in Hall 1, booth G07, where we’ll be demonstrating Composite data management, and Materials Selection.

November 8-9, 2017 – Open Seminar and 6th Granta User Group Meeting, Coventry, UK
Join us at the UK’s Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC).

Join in on the big conversations we’ve been having on social media – and don’t forget to stay tuned to our blog!

#LEGO’s efforts to find alternative #sustainable #materials is just one of the stories to capture the imagination of our social media followers.