Granta EduPack: Materials Selection and Data

Granta EduPack is an educational software package and materials property database designed to teach systematic materials selection, materials science, and sustainable product design. Developed initially at the University of Cambridge by Professor Mike Ashby and colleagues, and now developed and supported by Ansys, the platform provides tiered databases and graphical selection charts used in higher education and engineering curricula worldwide. For researchers and educators working within materials science, understanding Granta EduPack is essential for establishing structured materials screening methodologies, teaching Ashby selection charts, and navigating the boundary between educational licensing and publishable research data.

What Granta EduPack Is

Granta EduPack (formerly known as CES EduPack) provides structured databases containing physical, mechanical, thermal, electrical, and environmental property data for thousands of engineering materials. Built specifically around the systematic materials selection methodology pioneered by Professor Michael Ashby, the software equips students and early-stage researchers with visual and quantitative tools to evaluate metals, polymers, ceramics, composites, and natural materials.

Unlike raw data repositories or handbook tables, Granta EduPack structures material records hierarchically. Every entry contains bounded numerical ranges for design properties, processing guidelines, environmental impacts, and links to relevant manufacturing methods. This educational framework helps users bridge the gap between theoretical solid-state mechanics and applied component design, aligning closely with broader research initiatives such as the Materials Genome Initiative that emphasize systematic digital material representations.

Who Runs It and What It Covers

Granta EduPack is developed and maintained by Ansys, following its acquisition of Granta Design in 2019. Granta Design originated in 1994 as a spin-out from the Cambridge University Department of Engineering, created by Professor Mike Ashby and Dr. David Cebon. Today, Ansys maintains the software as part of its materials information portfolio, updating databases and pedagogical modules annually.

Ansys Granta Software Portfolio

The Ansys Granta product suite serves distinct tiers of the educational and research workflow:

Granta EduPack: Tailored exclusively for undergraduate and graduate teaching, classroom coursework, capstone design projects, and educational demonstrations. It features tiered databases designed to match curriculum difficulty without overwhelming novice learners.
Ansys Granta Selector: The desktop software intended for practical engineering selection and applied research. It includes comprehensive commercial databases, traceable data sources, and export utilities for finite element analysis (FEA) solvers.
Granta MI: The enterprise-level materials information management system. Granta MI allows institutions and corporations to capture, control, and deploy proprietary test data alongside external reference libraries.

Granta MI and Enterprise Research Practice

In large academic institutions and national laboratories, Ansys Granta MI functions as the central source of truth for materials property records. Where Granta EduPack provides standard reference values for teaching, Granta MI enables research laboratories to capture empirical test results, track provenance across sample batches, and adhere to FAIR data principles by maintaining strict metadata schemas for experimental workflows.

Database Tiers and Subject Modules

Granta EduPack organizes material and process data into three progressive levels:

Level 1 (Introductory): Contains approximately 65 common materials and 70 manufacturing processes. Properties are presented with broad ranges and minimal technical jargon, designed for freshman engineering and general design courses.
Level 2 (Intermediate): Expands coverage to approximately 100 core materials and processes with narrower property bounds, supporting core mechanical, civil, and materials engineering courses.
Level 3 (Advanced / MaterialUniverse): Contains several thousand distinct material grades and advanced manufacturing processes with comprehensive quantitative specifications, temperature-dependent properties, and supplier trade names. Specialized editions include Materials Science and Engineering (MS&E), Bioengineering, Sustainability, and Aerospace.

How to Search or Use It

Granta EduPack implements the systematic Ashby selection strategy through dedicated software tools. The workflow progresses from broad functional criteria to a refined shortlist of viable materials through the following steps:

Define Design Constraints and Objectives: Establish functional requirements (what the component does), non-negotiable geometric or chemical constraints (operating temperature, corrosion resistance, minimum electrical resistivity), and the primary objective to maximize or minimize (such as minimizing mass or cost).
Open the Project and Select Database Level: Launch Granta EduPack and choose the database level appropriate for the design scope (Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3 MaterialUniverse).
Navigate via Browse or Search: Use the Browse mode to explore the taxonomic tree across material classes (Metals and alloys, Polymers and elastomers, Ceramics and glasses, Composites). Alternatively, use the Search tool to query specific material designations, trade names, or standard specifications.
Initialize Chart/Select Mode: Click the Chart/Select button on the primary toolbar to open the multi-stage evaluation workspace.
Apply a Tree Stage (Taxonomic Filtering): Add a Tree Stage to include or exclude entire material classes or process families (for instance, limiting consideration strictly to non-ferrous alloys).
Configure a Limit Stage (Constraint Screening): Add a Limit Stage to set numerical thresholds for required attributes. Specify minimum values for mechanical properties (e.g., yield strength ≥ 200 MPa) or define operational limits for maximum service temperature. Records that do not meet all criteria are filtered out.
Construct a Chart Stage (Performance Index Ranking): Add a Chart Stage to generate an Ashby property chart plotting two conflicting parameters on logarithmic axes (for example, Young’s modulus versus density). Use the Selection Line tool to draw a performance index line (such as E^1/2/ρ for minimum-weight stiff beams), isolating candidate materials located above the threshold.
Evaluate Shortlisted Records and Run Eco Audit: Open the detailed datasheets of top-ranking candidates to examine secondary properties and failure modes. If environmental footprint is a key metric, pass candidate component dimensions into the Eco Audit tool to calculate embodied energy and carbon emissions across material extraction, manufacture, transport, use, and disposal.

Strengths and Limits

Strengths

Pedagogical Clarity: Graphical Ashby charts allow users to visualize relationships between distinct material classes, making material property trade-offs immediately intuitive.
Integrated Life Cycle Assessment: The built-in Eco Audit tool provides rapid initial screening of energy consumption and carbon emissions across all product life stages.
Standardized Pedagogical Taxonomy: Hierarchical data structures ensure consistent nomenclature across undergraduate teaching and introductory laboratory research.

Limits

Educational Licensing Restrictions: Standard Granta EduPack site licenses strictly prohibit the publication of raw data values in peer-reviewed scientific journals or commercial R&D. Academic publications requiring published material property tables require industrial licenses such as Granta Selector.
Generalized Property Bounds: Database entries represent representative property envelopes rather than lot-specific, heat-treated, or empirically certified mill test data.
Desktop-Bound Architecture: EduPack runs primarily as a standalone Windows desktop application, lacking native web-based collaborative multi-user editing found in enterprise databases.

Alternatives

While Granta EduPack serves as the academic reference standard for materials selection pedagogy, researchers and materials engineers frequently utilize alternative databases and software tools depending on their research phase and licensing scope:

Platform	Developer / Host	Primary Focus	Access Model	Research Suitability
Granta EduPack	Ansys	Materials education, Ashby charts, eco-design screening	Commercial institutional site license	Teaching, student design, and preliminary screening only; raw data not licensed for journal publication
Ansys Granta Selector	Ansys	Engineering material selection, trade studies, FEA data export	Commercial desktop workstation license	Full research and industrial application; traceable commercial datasheets
MatWeb	Automation Creation, Inc.	Online engineering materials property datasheets	Free web access with premium tier	Quick reference of manufacturer spec sheets; lacks interactive Ashby chart optimization
The Materials Project	Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory / DOE	Computed electronic structures, phase diagrams, crystallography	Open-access web platform and API	Fundamental computational research, high-throughput screening, and crystal structure validation
Inorganic Crystal Structure Database (ICSD)	FIZ Karlsruhe	Validated inorganic crystal structures and diffraction data	Commercial / institutional subscription	Peer-reviewed crystallographic research (see our ICSD guide)

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Granta EduPack and Granta Selector?

Granta EduPack is designed and licensed specifically for educational coursework, teaching, and capstone projects. It contains curated, multi-level databases tailored to undergraduate curricula. Granta Selector is engineered for industrial and academic research, containing comprehensive commercial material databases, supplier trade names, and traceable property data licensed for peer-reviewed publication and commercial product development.

Can researchers publish data from Granta EduPack in journal articles?

No. Standard Granta EduPack software license agreements restrict its use to educational instruction and student coursework. While screenshots and methodology descriptions may appear in classroom presentations and student theses, researchers generating publishable property data or industrial trade studies must use Ansys Granta Selector or obtain explicit licensing permission from Ansys.

What operating systems support Granta EduPack?

Granta EduPack is developed natively for Microsoft Windows (Windows 10 and Windows 11, 64-bit). Academic institutions running macOS or Linux workstations deploy the software through virtualization environments, dual-boot setups, or centralized Windows remote desktop servers.

What is the Eco Audit tool in Granta EduPack?

The Eco Audit tool is a streamlined Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) module integrated into Granta EduPack. It calculates the primary energy consumption (MJ) and carbon footprint (kg CO₂ equivalent) of a product across five key phases: material production, primary manufacturing, transport, product use, and end-of-life disposal.

Sources

Ansys. “Ansys Granta EduPack – Materials Education Software.” Product Overview and Technical Specifications. Read November 7, 2026. https://www.ansys.com/products/materials/granta-edupack
Ansys. “Ansys Granta MI – Enterprise Materials Information Management.” Platform Architecture and Features. Read November 7, 2026. https://www.ansys.com/products/materials/granta-mi
University of Cambridge Department of Engineering. “Granta EduPack Software Guidance and Licensing Terms.” IT and Computing Support Services. Read November 7, 2026. https://help.eng.cam.ac.uk/software/granta-edupack/