# Put cited materials into SOLIDWORKS

> Find a grade in the Materials tab, check where each value comes from, then add the whole library to SOLIDWORKS' Edit Material in one export.

Status: Available · Level: Everyday · About 5 minutes · Canonical: https://paracrux.com/docs/export-materials-to-solidworks

## You need

- The desktop app on Windows. Browsing and exporting use no seat and no AI credit
- SOLIDWORKS on the same computer, open for the first export

## You'll come away with

- Search 1,010 materials by grade, number, old name or standard
- Tell a specification minimum from a typical value, and find its source
- Export the library and find it in Edit Material

## Step by step

1. **Open the Materials tab.** In the app, open Home and choose Materials. The count beside the heading shows how many materials match, out of 1,010 in 12 families.
2. **Search for the grade.** Type a grade, material number, old name or standard. Every word you type must appear, so adding the standard narrows the list. The family list narrows it further.
   Try saying: "S355 to EN 10025-2 only"
3. **Search the way the library names things.** Search matches the words, not their meaning. 316L finds the 1.4404 grades because 316L is listed as another name, but 'brass' finds nothing: search for the grade, such as CuZn39Pb3 or CW614N.
   Try saying: "brass"
4. **Read where each value comes from.** Select a material. Each value has a basis: Min is a specification minimum, Typ a manufacturer's typical value and Nom a constant. Strengths show the thickness they apply to, and every value names its source and the page or table it came from. Stockist data marks strengths taken from a stockist's datasheet rather than a producer or the standard.
5. **Note the SOLIDWORKS name.** The SolidWorks name is what you will pick in Edit Material. Where a grade comes in several forms, each form has its own name, such as 1.4404 X2CrNiMo17-12-2 plate.
   Try saying: "316L stainless"
6. **Export to SOLIDWORKS.** Open SOLIDWORKS, then choose Export to SolidWorks under the material's details. The app writes ParaCrux Materials.sldmat to C:\ProgramData\ParaCrux\SolidWorks Materials and adds that folder to SOLIDWORKS' material databases. If SOLIDWORKS is closed the file is still written; open SOLIDWORKS and export again. Adding the folder is needed once per computer and SOLIDWORKS version.
7. **Apply it in SOLIDWORKS.** After the first export, restart SOLIDWORKS. In Edit Material, open ParaCrux Materials, then the group, and apply the material. SOLIDWORKS' own libraries and your Custom Materials are not changed.

## Try it

This is the real material library, built into the page from the same tables the app ships, searched with the app's own rule. It shows four properties of each material; the app shows them all, with temperature tables. The export is simulated: the status lines are the app's own text, but nothing is written, and the SOLIDWORKS switch stands in for SOLIDWORKS itself. The interactive simulator is on the web page.

- "S355 structural steel"
- "S355 to EN 10025-2 only"
- "316L stainless"
- "6082 aluminium in T6"
- "brass"
- "CW614N free-cutting brass"

## What it won't do

- Strengths are specification minimums for the stated thickness unless marked typical. Check the mill or material certificate for design.
- A material already applied to a part keeps the values and look it was given. After a library update, apply it again to pick up new values and looks; the app does not yet flag affected parts.
- SOLIDWORKS' material file has no place for temperature tables or curves, so only room-temperature values go across.
- The folder can only be added while SOLIDWORKS is running, and a newly added library appears after SOLIDWORKS restarts.
- Search has no synonyms: a family word such as brass or nylon finds nothing unless it is part of a listed name.

## Covers

- Materials library export (Available): Search 1,010 cited materials in 12 families and export them to SOLIDWORKS as one material library. Where: In the app, Home → Materials

## Next

- [Install standard sections as weldment profiles](https://paracrux.com/docs/install-weldment-profiles.md): Write all 306 standard sections into SOLIDWORKS as weldment profiles, each checked as a 1 m member, then pick them in Structural Member.
- [Find a standard structural section](https://paracrux.com/docs/find-a-standard-section.md): Ask for a tube, angle or beam in your own words and get real catalogue sizes back, with their standard.