Altair launches high-fidelity material database for simulation

Global technology company Altair, which provides solutions in data analytics, simulation, and high-performance computing (HPC), today announced the launch of the Altair Material Data Center, a modern, comprehensive, and high-fidelity material database for simulation. The Altair Material Data Center includes accurate data and data lineage for metals, plastics, and composites, and directly connects with Altair’s and other major solvers.

One of the most important decisions in product development is the selection of materials for production. Altair has been investing significantly in the area of material modelling for several years and recently acquired M-Base, a leading international supplier of material database and material information systems with a focus on plastics. 

The launch of the Altair Material Data Center, now combined with M-Base’s plastic material database, allows Altair to provide the critical comprehensive material information and infrastructure needed to predict and optimize product performance through simulation. It enables designers, engineers, and scientists to explore materials – including structural, fatigue, fluid/thermal, electromagnetic properties, as well as manufacturing process specific data – in a standalone application or through the interface of Altair simulation and optimization tools. 

“Altair Material Data Center is yet another compelling solution to help our customers save time, money, and improve product innovation and performance throughout the entire lifecycle of development and manufacturing,” said James R. Scapa, founder and chief executive officer, Altair. “We have established strong relationships with material manufacturers and now with the acquisition of M-Base, we’ve expanded our presence in the plastics industry.”

The Altair Material Data Center offers:
- Comprehensive material information management system – access to materials data for metals, polymers, and composites, including data sheets, raw data, and solver cards with full traceability back to the supplier source, ensuring valid assumptions and consistency across teams

- Flexible accessibility and scalability – customers can seamlessly access the Altair Material Data Center as a SaaS solution hosted by Altair or privately to manage proprietary information within the solution 

- Intuitive user experience – simple web-based interface to intuitively browse, search, view, and compare material data 

- Comprehensive simulation-centric data views – material cards can be quickly and easily generated for Altair’s and all major solvers

- Smooth integration – through an open API, the Altair Material Data Center can integrate with any desktop/solver for non-disruptive workflow

- Broad and deep partnerships – strong relationships with material manufacturers, ensuring accurate, high-quality, and up-to-date material information

- Collaboration – material experts can collaborate on the material curation process before it is published in the Altair Material Data Center for enterprise-wide domain specific access.

“Baosteel is proud to collaborate with Altair to deeply integrate our material data into the digital development process of automotive industry users while ensuring the data is easily accessible via Altair products and other commonly used CAE software without complex data processing,” said Dr. Changwei Lian, senior researcher, Baosteel Group Corporation. “Having our high-quality material data included in the Altair Material Data Center will provide quick and convenient access to our latest research results and the accurate application data reflecting the performance of Baosteel products.”

“We are extremely excited to have SABIC’s polymer material data included in the Altair Material Data Center,” said Subhransu S. Mohapatra, material data leader, specialties, SABIC. “Altair customers will now have the ability to access SABIC’s material engineering data to further enhance the depth and quality of information required for manufacturing simulation.”