Layered Material Link
The Layered Material Link node () provides a bridge from a Layered Material, located under Global Definitions, to a physics feature residing in a component. A physics feature designed to work with layered materials cannot directly reference a Layered Material. The Layered Material Link node is located in the Layers submenu under a Materials node.
Layered Material Settings
Select a layered material from the Material list. You can also select a Switch for Materials.
By clicking the Go to Material () button, you can jump to the settings for the selected material.
Click the Add Layered Material button () to add another Layered Material or a Switch. The added material then becomes the one selected in the Material list.
From the Transform list, choose one of the following options:
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 None (the default), for no transformation.
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 Symmetric or Antisymmetric, to create a symmetric or antisymmetric layered material when the information of layers of one side of the midplane is supplied. Choose which side to mirror in from the Mirror in list: Upside (the default) or Downside. Upside means that the symmetry layers are on the top of the original layers. The symmetry line is the top-side boundary. Downside means that the symmetry layers are on the bottom of the original layers. The symmetry line is the bottom-side boundary. Select the Merge middle layers check box to merge the two middle layers into one to create an odd symmetric layer.
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 Repeated, to create a number of repeating stacks, which you enter in the Number of repeats field (default: 1).
Select the Scale check box to scale the layered material’s thickness with a factor (default: 1).The scale can be a numerical value, a parameter, or an expression. Such an expression can, for example, be a function of the coordinates so that a surface with variable thickness can be described.
If a single layer in a laminate has a variable thickness, you can define that layer in either a separate Layered Material or in a Single Layer Material.
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When using a Layered Material, apply the scaling expression in a Layered Material Link, and then use a Layered Material Stack to build the complete laminate.
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When using a Single Layer Material with an expression for the thickness, use a Layered Material Stack to build the complete laminate.
If you have defined a layer with a scaling factor, it appears in the preview window with a darker color than a nonscaled layer.
The preview is not shown in the base geometry space, so it will not show any geometrical dependency.
The labels of the newly created layers include a suffix to distinguish them from the original layers:
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 (sym) for the symmetric layers.
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 (asym) for the antisymmetric layers.
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 (repX) for the repeated layers (number X).
Click the Layer Cross Section Preview button ( to plot a preview of the layer cross section including the transformation (see the following plot for an example).
Figure 9-11: A repeat laminated stacks with 2 times repeated layers.
Click the Layer Stack Preview button () to get a preview of the stack with the transformation.
Orientation and Position
Select a Coordinate system defining the principal directions of the laminate. The orientation of each layer, given in the Layered Material node, is a rotation from the first coordinate axis of this coordinate system. Only Boundary System coordinate systems can be selected.
Choose a Position — Midplane on boundary, Down side on boundary, Up side on boundary, or User defined. This controls the possible offset of the layered material from the geometrical boundary on which the mesh exists (the reference surface). For User defined, enter a value for the Relative midplane offset. The value 1 corresponds to Down side on boundary, and the value −1 corresponds to Up side on boundary. Values may be outside the range −1 to 1, in which case the reference surface is outside the laminate.
The Position setting is only used by physics features where the physical behavior depends of the actual location, such as structural shells.
By clicking the Layer Cross Section Preview () button, you get a preview plot of the layered material, including the location of the reference surface (Figure 9-12). The height of the laminate in the plot is controlled by the value of the Thickness-to-width ratio specified in the Preview Plot Settings for the selected layered material.
Figure 9-12: Layer cross section preview plot with relative offset set to 0.5.
Nonlayered Material Settings
In some cases, a single standard material definition is needed on the same boundary as a layered material. This can, for example, be the case if two different physics interfaces are active on the same boundary, but only one of them supports a layered material definition. You can select any nonlayered material from the Material list. The default settings is Same as layered material, which means that the nonlayered material properties are computed as an average value of the layer’s material properties. This selection is completely analogous to using a Material Link.
You cannot use an ordinary Material or Material Link with the same selection as the Layered Material Link. These nodes override each other.
By clicking the Go to Material () button, you can jump to the settings for the selected material.
Click the Add Material from Library button () to add a global material from the material libraries or a new blank global material. The added material then becomes the one selected in the Material list.
Preview Plot Settings
In this section, you can fine-tune the display in the preview plot.
The value of the Thickness-to-width ratio controls the height in the y direction. The width is always unity.
Deselect the Shows labels in cross-section plot check box to remove the text labels showing layer names and materials.
Material Contents
See the documentation for Material Contents for the Material node.
The Value column will usually contain the string Layer, indicating that the actual value is layer dependent.
Appearance
See the documentation for Appearance for the Material node.