Mass properties when no material is defined

Loren,

I believe that the default material density for SolidWorks is 1 gm/cc. You can set up your part templates to have whatever density you like. Since a lot of our parts are Polycarbonate, I use a value of 1.20 gm.cc. I typically don't define a material, as the clear Polycarbonate appearance isn't good for most of our parts. When I work with other materials I have to remember to set the proper density, unless I go ahead and use a material.

I guess the existing SW way of handling weights works OK for me.

Jerry S.

When no material is specified, the density is 1000kg/m^3 or 0.001g/mm^3 (sorry if you use imperial), which is about the same as water.

If you want to set a default material, start a new blank part, assign the material of your choice (e.g. mild steel) and then Save As a part template. When you start new parts with this template your parts will already have the Mild Steel material (and density) applied.

You can Shift-Select multiple parts in the Assembly Feature Tree and then right-click and apply a material to all of these parts.

If you have SolidWorks Professional or Premium I think you can use Design Checker to ensure models have a material applied to them.

As already stated, SW uses a default material density, even with material has not been added.

My prefered approach would be.

Open new part.

Then > Tools > Options > Document Properties > Material Properties

then add some more zeros to the default density.

default is 0.001 kg/cm^3

I use something like 0.000000001 kg/cm^3

This means the part is much lighter. Then save this part out as a template.

It's the designers job to check they have added material to all the parts. I like to check the weight is correct, but before doing so I will create a BOM with the material as a property. This way I know all the parts have material applied.

Hope this helps