How To Change The Material In SolidWorks: A Complete Engineering Guide

Changing the material in SolidWorks applies physical, thermal, and mechanical properties directly to your 3D digital prototype, enabling precise finite element analysis, mass calculations, and realistic rendering. By selecting the correct alloy, plastic, or composite from the integrated material database, you ensure that your computer-aided design model reflects accurate weight, center of gravity, and stress thresholds before physical manufacturing begins.

Pre-Operation and Planning Checklist

Before applying or modifying material properties within a SolidWorks part or assembly file, you must establish standard preparation steps to guarantee accurate simulation and mass property outputs. Material assignments drive downstream processes including motion analysis, structural validation via SolidWorks Simulation, and bill of materials generation.

• Essential Gear and Software: SolidWorks 2020 or newer, a fully constrained 3D part or assembly file, and access to the default SolidWorks Material Database (or customized corporate XML material libraries).
• Prerequisite Technical Knowledge: Understanding of the component's manufacturing process (e.g., CNC machining, injection molding, sheet metal stamping), familiarity with standard material designations (such as AISI, ASTM, or ISO standards), and baseline mechanical properties like yield strength and elastic modulus.
• Project Scope and Benchmarks: Assigning materials takes less than two minutes per part, but requires verification of density and Poisson's ratio to ensure simulation results remain within acceptable engineering tolerances (typically plus or minus five percent of physical prototype tests).

Step-by-Step Procedure to Update Part and Assembly Materials

Step 1: Access the Material Tree in the FeatureManager Design Tree

Locate the top-level part or the specific component within an assembly inside the FeatureManager design tree on the left side of your SolidWorks interface. Look for the folder icon labeled Material, which often appears with a red warning symbol or a minus sign if no material has been assigned yet. Right-click directly on the Material text or icon to open the contextual shortcut menu. Select Edit Material from the top options to launch the comprehensive SolidWorks Materials dialog box.

Warning: Assigning a material at the assembly level will override individual part materials only if explicitly managed through assembly configurations. Always apply baseline materials at the individual part file level to maintain data integrity across different sub-assemblies.

Step 2: Navigate and Select from the Material Database

Within the SolidWorks Materials dialog box, examine the left-hand column containing categorized material classifications including Steel, Aluminum Alloys, Copper, Plastics, and Other Metals. Expand the desired category to reveal specific industry-standard grades, such as AISI 1020, 6061-T6 Aluminum, or ABS Plastic. Click on the specific grade to populate the right-hand panel with detailed mechanical and physical properties, including elastic modulus, density, thermal expansion coefficients, and shear modulus.

Pro-Tip: Utilize the Search tab within the material window to quickly find proprietary or specialized alloys by typing standard designations like Stainless Steel 316 or Polycarbonate without manually expanding directory trees.

Step 3: Apply and Verify Material Properties

Once you highlight the desired material standard, click the Apply button located at the bottom right of the material dialog box to bind the data to your active part geometry. The material icon in your FeatureManager design tree will update instantly to display the assigned material name alongside the part icon. Click Close to exit the dialog box, then navigate to the Evaluate tab on the CommandManager and click Mass Properties to verify that the calculated weight, volume, and surface area reflect the updated material density.

Step 4: Create and Define Custom Materials

If your exact manufacturing grade is absent from the standard library, right-click an existing similar material, select New Custom Material, and paste your proprietary data into the customizable fields. Navigate to a user-defined custom material folder, paste your specific values for tensile strength, yield strength, and thermal conductivity, and click Save. Ensure your custom library file (.sldmat) is stored in a shared network directory if multiple engineering team members require access to identical internal material standards.

SolidWorks Material Property Parameters Reference

Common SolidWorks Material Troubleshooting and Fixes

• Incorrect Mass Calculations:
  
  
  • Root Cause: The assigned material database uses outdated density values, or the unit system (IPS vs. MKS) misinterprets metric and imperial conversions.
  • Actionable Fix: Open Edit Material, verify the density value against certified mill test reports, and ensure your document units match your material property input units.
• Custom Material Not Saving Across Workstations:
  
  
  • Root Cause: Custom materials are saved to a local user profile directory rather than an accessible shared server location.
  • Actionable Fix: Go to Tools, Options, File Locations, select Material Databases from the dropdown menu, and add your shared network folder path to make custom libraries visible to all enterprise users.
• Simulation Results Failing Due to Missing Properties:
  
  
  • Root Cause: A newly created custom material lacks critical solver inputs such as Poisson's ratio or shear modulus.
  • Actionable Fix: Re-open the material editor, check all required fields highlighted in red or missing numeric values, and input standard isotropic or orthotropic mechanical properties before running structural simulations.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I assign different materials to individual bodies in a multi-body part?

Yes, SolidWorks allows you to assign unique materials to individual solid bodies within a single part file. Expand the Solid Bodies folder in the FeatureManager design tree, right-click the specific body you want to modify, and select Material to assign a distinct alloy or plastic independently of the rest of the part.

Why does my material name appear with a custom override symbol?

This occurs when you manually alter a physical property value (such as density or yield strength) of a standard pre-defined material without creating a completely new custom material entry. SolidWorks flags this modification to indicate that the properties no longer match the official baseline standard database.

How do I change the material of multiple parts in an assembly at once?

While SolidWorks does not feature a direct global batch-material assignment tool for entirely different part files, you can open sub-assemblies or utilize Design Tables to control material configurations parametrically across families of parts. Alternatively, editing individual component files via a macro can automate bulk material updates for large assemblies.

Does changing the material affect my FEA simulation setup?

Yes, changing the material directly alters the stiffness matrix, safety factor calculations, and stress distribution in SolidWorks Simulation studies. Always re-run your static, thermal, or frequency analyses immediately after updating any part material to ensure structural validation remains accurate.