Matereality brings data management technology to permit the sharing of material behavior information in the form of material properties. This is critical information that is currently transmitted in a highly fragmented and error-prone manner. In the past, the need to share this kind of information has been largely unnecessary. The wide use of simple materials such as metals has allowed designers to 'get away' with 'handbook data'. With the current industry requirement for highly accurate life cycle assessments coupled with the vast array of materials that are available to the designer, it is no longer possible to neglect this area of information management. Matereality permits the sharing of key material behavior across a host of platforms that span the product life cycle.
Matereality will warehouse three classes of information. Client owned material databases that store material properties of specific interest to specific client companies. This will be a globally accessible internal resource, which will permit enterprises to share and use the same material properties right across the product life cycle: development, manufacturing, end of life. Material Data Server is positioned for use by large global companies to store their material properties in a secure manner.
The second class of data are properties that are available for restricted public use. Material suppliers often wish to reserve access to high-value properties of their materials and provide data only to qualified leads. Such data are then released on a case-by-case basis. The Supplier Databases product line is intended for such clients. In another scenario, content providers such as material database companies may wish to use the Matereality platform to sell their data collections for a fee.
The third class or outer core of properties will be generally available data: properties that are provided gratis by material suppliers and other sources. When the desired properties cannot be found, users will be referred to qualified material testing houses which can then provide testing services to meet the need. Results are then uploaded to the user's private material database following the dissemination wishes of the client.
In order for the properties to be used effectively, they must be presented to the client in a form that is easy to use. A number of tools must be available to locate and visualize data in the form of plots, tables and model coefficients, and over a wide range of unit systems. Powerful search and display functionality will aid in finding the right information for a particular application. In order for Matereality to qualify as a core resource, it is necessary to provide additional benefit. Toward this end, Matereality will utilize tools that it has developed, to provide data conversion calculators to perform complex unit conversions, and regression programs to fit data to complex material models. Since the end use is often CAE programs, data will be presented electronically, ready to use in third party applications.