Jul 1 2013
The NIST Material Measurement Laboratory and ASM International, through its Computational Materials Data Network, have formed a collaboration: the Structural Materials Data Demonstration Project. The project will establish a data repository focused on metallic structural materials, leveraging the overlapping interests and strengths of the two organizations.
The data repository, housed in the Materials Data Laboratory of the Computational Materials Data Network, will support data for use at a number of length scales, including first principles and phase-based information, quantitative microstructural descriptions, process information as well as property and materials performance data. Open access to the data repository will provide the materials digital data community with a resource for data analytics and informatics, modeling and simulation, and for educational purposes. In addition, it will provide the opportunity for the development of data input and output protocols as well as explore data schema and ontology development for this class of materials. By focusing efforts on actual demonstration datasets, challenges in materials data management can be identified and solutions developed that can be tested by the community. In addition, the Structural Materials Data Demonstration Project will engage the academic community to develop approaches for utilization of the open data repository for educational purposes.
Commenting on the project, Dr. James Warren, Technical Program Director for Materials Genomics at NIST, noted that "the Structural Materials Data Demonstration Project provides an opportunity to accelerate progress in addressing materials data challenges in metallic materials. This effort leverages ASM's substantial experience in materials data management, and should be a valuable component of the NIST portfolio of activities in this critical area supporting the Materials Genome Initiative and the materials community".
The Materials Genome Initiative is a White House-launched public-private endeavor that aims to cut in half the time it takes to develop novel materials that can fuel advanced manufacturing and bolster the 21st century American economy.
Noting ASM International's support for the project and its benefit to the community, ASM Managing Director Thomas S. Passek stated that "this collaborative effort with NIST is integral to our strategic objective to serve the needs of the materials digital data community through the Computational Materials Data Network. It builds on our stellar heritage in managing materials data for the past 100 years and points toward the future of our field."
A pilot data repository is currently being established, with more extensive development planned. Progressively increasing involvement of the materials community is envisioned as the data repository is developed through a series of working groups and community engagement activities. Supporting the development team for this project are Granta Design, Ltd. and Nexight Group, LLC. Granta will provide support in materials data management schema and database structure while Nexight will be responsible for program development and outreach.