Next, we are going to select the edit the material icon, which is the fourth icon from the right in Figure 4.  This will allow you to search all current materials in the database.   In this example I am interested in SA-269, a particular grade of Austenitic Stainless Steel which I need for corrosion resistance.  

Following the dialog input, I typed in “269” and searched.  I received 9 separate material types in return in Figure 5.  The first three correspond to material ID 269, which corresponds with SA-403, this isn’t what I want.  The next 6 materials are exactly what I am looking for.  For the 6 records, there are three groups based on Grade.  The three grades are TP304, TP304L, and TP316L.  For the three grades, there are two separate materials based on whether or not you are using B31.3 or not as your design basis. 

Right now, I have a clear understanding of what material ID number corresponds to these materials.  The middle column “number,” has three identifications, 343, 351, and 352 for TP304, TP304L, and TP 316L respectively. I can go back to my piping input screen in Figure 1 and type in any of these numbers to get the corresponding material grade I am looking for.

For now though, let’s take a look at the information CAESAR II contains for a material grade.  I’ll check A269 TP304 B31.3 and click OK.

Figure 6 takes us back to the material database editor after clicking OK.  The largest portion of this table describes the reduction in allowable stress versus temperature, which is a direct copy of the values found in the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section II Part D.  

In some situations if you are working with a unique grade, you may need to create your own table of allowable stresses, however for the vast majority of cases we are going to be working with default values.