Granta Design today announced the release of CES Selector™ 2017, which features even more materials selection capabilities, great display and charting enhancements, and which targets commercially-important problems such as restricted substances and cost. CES Selector is the industry standard PC software for materials selection and graphical analysis of materials properties. It enables users to understand the benefits and limitations of material options, choose the right material first time, and quickly find drop-in replacements. More information about new capabilities will be available at web seminars on October 5 and October 13.
Materials property data contains the answers to many critical product development problems. CES Selector 2017 helps users to see these answers and makes it easier to justify material choices and communicate recommendations to stakeholders. For example, users can quickly generate property charts to understand which materials are best suited to a particular application. Enhanced annotation, such as the ability to add arrows and curves, makes these charts more informative and persuasive when used in reports and presentations, helping to explain key trade-offs and to highlight trends. The new datasheet format not only provides a great user experience, with a fresh, attractive look and feel, but makes it easier for users to correlate values to properties and to follow links to additional data. Support for the latest high resolution monitors ensures that content and controls are expanded to the appropriate size, aiding readability.
New restricted substance risk indicators draw on a major on-going project at Granta to collate and maintain an unrivalled information resource on restricted substances, related regulations, and their impact on material choices. The indicators enable users to identify materials at risk, e.g., from non-compliance with REACH regulations, when choosing and comparing materials. As a result, users avoid wasting time on ‘unsuitable’ materials that are currently restricted or banned, or likely to be so in the future. Focus on finding alternatives where necessary.
In response to customer feedback, the latest software adds the impact of machining to its Part Cost Estimator tool. This enables users to estimate the cost of machined parts in the early stages of design, and to investigate the economic switch point between using machining and near net-shape processes. Metals selection is enhanced with new data for consideration of machining speed and stress corrosion cracking, allowing users to filter candidate materials on these properties and check their results in comparison tables.
Substantial updates have been made to the core MaterialUniverse™ database, which provides broad coverage of metals, plastics, and composite materials – data on the latest grades and up-to-date price information have been added. CES Selector can now be used with the Senvol Database™ of additive manufactured materials and machines. And updates have been made to other data modules: Prospector®, CAMPUS® and M-Base plastics; StahlDat SX and SteelSpec steels; MMPDS and ASME metals; and the Coatings database.
Software installation has been streamlined through integration with My Granta, the new online ‘portal’ providing users with support and resources, including on-demand access to recordings of regular CES Selector training sessions.
We continue to add new features and more data in response to feedback from our current users. By listening to their valuable input, we can ensure that CES Selector 2017 provides them with practical benefits to meet their materials challenges.
Dr Charlie Bream, Product Manager for CES Selector at Granta Design,