Known Issues for External Materials
The external materials framework, being a rather recent addition to COMSOL Multiphysics, suffers from a few known issues that may affect usability in some cases:
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There is no unit support: Inputs are passed to the external function in the model’s base unit system and outputs are interpreted in the same system.
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Shared libraries containing external material functions are under some circumstances loaded the first time they are used and then never reloaded. To avoid having to repeatedly restart COMSOL Multiphysics while developing an external material function, simply change the name of the linked library each time you make a change to it.
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The way the external functions are called is not fault tolerant in any way. This means that reading or writing outside allocated memory in an external function typically makes the COMSOL Desktop quit unexpectedly. Exercise caution when coding, and always save your COMSOL model before running it with an external material.