Layered Material Slice
Use a Layered Material Slice ( in 2D; in 3D) plot to display a layered material quantity on a slice created at a specified through-thickness location in 2D (plane or axisymmetric) or 3D. Add Deformation, Filter, Marker, Material Appearance, Selection (Plot Attribute), Transformation, Transparency (3D only), or Visual Effects (3D only) subnodes as needed. Right-click a 2D Plot Group or 3D Plot Group to add a Layered Material Slice plot from the More Line Plots or More Surface Plots submenu, respectively.
The Layered Material Slice plot requires the AC/DC Module, Composite Materials Module, Heat Transfer Module, or Structural Mechanics Module.
Through-Thickness Location
In order to create a slice within a layered material, a through-thickness location is required.
Select a Location definition: Reference surface (the default), Physical, Relative, Interfaces, or Layer midplanes.
Once Reference surface is selected, the through-thickness location is taken from a layered material definition specified in a Layered Material Link, Layered Material Stack, or Material node (defined as a single-layer material) under Materials.
Enter one or more values for a Local z-coordinate for the Physical option or Local z-coordinate [-1,1] for the Relative option. The bottom, middle, and top through-thickness location of a layered material, having a total thickness d, can be defined as follows:
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Bottom: 0 (Physical) or −1 (Relative)
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Middle: d/2 (Physical) or 0 (Relative)
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Top: d (Physical) or 1(Relative)
Click the Range button () to define a range of local z-coordinates using the Range dialog.
Layout
Use the settings in this section to control the layout of the slices. From the Displacement list, choose None (the default), Linear, or Rectangular.
If you chose Linear, then choose a linear displacement orientation from the Orientation list: x, y (2D); x, y, z, or Diagonal (3D). For the first three options, also specify a relative separation distance in the Relative x-separation field, for example. The Diagonal option uses suitable displacements in the x and y directions; you can specify a relative separation in the z direction in the Relative z-separation field.
If you chose Rectangular, then choose a rectangular displacement orientation from the Orientation list: xy, yx (2D); xy, yz, zx, yx, zy, or xz (3D). Also specify relative separation distances in the Relative x-separation and Relative y-separation fields, for example. The first letter indicates the index that increases the fastest (for example, for the xy option, the x values increase before the y values).
Select the Show descriptions checkbox to add a description (annotation) for each of the slices. The description depends on the selected Location definition:
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For Reference surface: The reference surface’s local z-coordinate.
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For Physical and Relative: The evaluated z-coordinate.
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For Interfaces: The interface descriptions.
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For Layer midplanes: The layer names.
You can also specify a separation of the descriptions as a relative number in the Relative separation field.
Go to Surface (Plot) for the information about other sections present in this plot.