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Materials Library

The Material Library module is a centralized database for managing the properties of all polymers and metals used in your catheter designs. It allows you to customize existing materials, add new proprietary blends, and share material data across different projects and team members.

Accessing the Material Library​

To open the material manager, select Materials > Manage Material Library... from the menu bar. A dedicated dialog opens where you can view and edit the active material database.

Changes take effect as soon as you save. Every material dropdown in the Setup Wizard (layer materials, braid, triaxial and coil wire materials, the pullwire wire, and pullwire lumen liners) picks up added, edited and deleted materials immediately, keeping whatever you had selected. Restarting the application is not required.

Interface Overview​

The dialog provides a straightforward spreadsheet interface to manage your materials.

  • Search Filter: Top left. Finds materials by typing part of their Name or Material Family.
  • Row Controls: Top right:
    • Add Row: Inserts a new, blank row at the bottom of the table.
    • Delete Row: Removes the currently selected material(s).
    • Move up/down: Reorders the selected material within the list.
    • Add Blend: Opens the Polymer Blend / Additive tool (see Create Polymer Blend / Polymer + Additive below).

Material Properties​

The main table displays the physical and mechanical properties the simulation and analysis engines need:

  • Name: A unique identifier for the material (e.g., "Pebax 72D"). This name appears in dropdown menus throughout the Catheter Setup tab.
  • Material Family: A general classification (e.g., "Polymer" or "Metal"). This is more than a label on the wire dropdowns: Wire material on braid, triaxial braid and coil layers, and Pullwire material on the Pullwire Settings page, list materials whose family is exactly Metal by default. A material in any other family is still fully available, but you reach it through More materials… at the bottom of the list. If you add a custom wire material and it isn't in the dropdown, this is almost always why: either set its family to Metal, or use More materials….
  • Thermoplastic: A Yes/No toggle indicating if the polymer is a thermoplastic. This property is specifically used by the Reflow Calculator module to determine if a layer will reflow during manufacturing.
  • Density: The mass per unit volume. The units (g/cm³ or lb/in³) adapt automatically based on your global unit preferences.
  • Modulus of Elasticity: Also known as Young's Modulus, this defines the material's stiffness or resistance to elastic deformation. Units are in MPa or psi.
  • Poisson's ratio: A dimensionless value describing the material's tendency to expand in directions perpendicular to the direction of compression.
  • Tensile Strength: The maximum stress the material can withstand while being stretched before failing. Units are in MPa or psi.

Create Polymer Blend / Polymer + Additive​

VirtuCath™ includes a tool to quickly estimate the mechanical properties of a new material created by mixing two existing polymers, or by loading a base polymer with a particulate additive (radiopaque filler or lubricious filler). Open it from the menu bar with Materials > Create Custom Blend..., or from the Add Blend button in the Material Library.

  • Mode Selection: Choose between Polymer Blend or Polymer + Additive.
  • Polymer Blend Mode: Select two constituent polymers from your library. The calculation is an engineering estimate based on immiscible polymer blend assumptions.
  • Polymer + Additive Mode: Select a base polymer and a particulate additive. The bundled additive list includes radiopaque fillers (Barium Sulfate, Tungsten, Bismuth Subcarbonate, Bismuth Trioxide) and a lubricious filler (PTFE Micropowder). This mode models how heavy rigid fillers sharply increase density, modestly increase modulus, and reduce ultimate tensile strength due to stress concentrations around the particles.
  • Custom Additive: The additive dropdown ends in a Custom... entry. Selecting it reveals a Material name field and unlocks the four property fields (Density, Modulus, Poisson's ratio, Tensile strength) for direct entry. The live preview recomputes as you type. To Save, all four numeric fields must parse and satisfy density > 0, modulus > 0, tensile strength > 0, and −1 < Poisson's ratio < 0.5; the Material name must be non-empty and must not collide with an existing library entry. If any check fails the dialog stays open and explains what's missing.
  • Blend Ratio (by mass): Use the slider or spin box to set the mass percentage for Material A (the base polymer). Material B's percentage is calculated automatically. The slider is bounded to 5–95% to keep both phases physically meaningful. The default ratio is 50/50 in Polymer Blend mode and 80% base polymer / 20% additive in Polymer + Additive mode.
  • Live Preview: As you change the ratio or selections, the resulting material's Density, Modulus, Poisson's Ratio, and Tensile Strength are recalculated and displayed alongside the side-by-side property panels for the two parent materials.
  • Save Blend: Click Save to add the new calculated material to your active library, making it available for catheter construction. Polymer + Additive blends are auto-named using the base polymer name and the additive loading (e.g., Pebax 72D (20% Barium) for a preset additive, or PEBAX 2533 (20% MyFiller) when using a Custom additive).

Data Management​

At the bottom left of the Material Library dialog, the Manage Library dropdown provides file operations for the database:

  • Load from File: Imports a material library: either a file produced by Save As, or a plain JSON list of material objects. You are asked whether to Combine or Replace:

    • Combine (recommended) keeps everything you already have and adds what is new. A material identical to one you already hold is skipped. A material whose name clashes with yours but whose properties differ is added alongside yours under a new name (Pebax 72D_2), so nothing of yours is ever overwritten. Importing the same file a second time adds nothing further.
    • Replace discards the current list in favour of the file's contents.
    • Neither is written until you click Save, so Cancel always leaves your library exactly as it was.
    • The whole file is checked before anything is imported: every material must have a name, a modulus and a Poisson's ratio, and must pass the same physical-range checks the table editor enforces. If any entry fails, the import is refused, the offending material is named, and nothing changes. Fields this version doesn't recognise (for example, from a newer VirtuCath) are ignored and reported rather than causing an error.

  • Save As: Exports your current, customized material library as a .json file. This is highly recommended for backing up your data or sharing custom material properties with other VirtuCath users: the exported file imports directly through Load from File on any VirtuCath installation.

  • Reset to Defaults: Reverts the entire library back to the original factory settings, erasing any custom materials or modifications you have made.

    • Note: A confirmation prompt will appear before this action is executed.
  • Catheter Setup Tab: assign these materials to layers in your catheter design.
  • Menu Bar: open the Material Library and the Custom Blend utility.
  • Model Accuracy: material-property variation directly affects predicted stiffnesses; characterize and override library values for tightest agreement.