Material MAP is a non-commercial, ad-free static website project designed to assist engineers in finding examples of material model parameter sets for LS-DYNA, sourced from articles published under Open Access. The project provides a searchable library of material models with direct links to original open-access sources and citation information. Parameters derived for scientific research purposes. Original data transformed for educational use. Consult original sources for commercial applications.
The website is a static site built from the
MaterialMap GitHub repository.
The entire database is stored in multiple TOML files in the
data directory,
allowing for easy updates and community contributions.
Each material entry includes:
Community contributions are welcome and encouraged! You can contribute by:
Requirements for contributions:
This project is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) License, allowing non-commercial copying and modification with attribution to the original project.
Material MAP operates under well-established legal principles that govern the use of scientific facts, data, and measurements. The collection and presentation of material property data on this website is supported by multiple legal frameworks across different jurisdictions.
Under U.S. copyright law, specifically 17 U.S.C. § 102(b), copyright protection does not extend to "any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied."
This principle was reinforced by the landmark Supreme Court case Feist Publications v. Rural Telephone Service Co. (1991), which established that "information itself, without a minimum of original creativity, cannot be copyrighted" and that "simple facts cannot be subject to copyright."
The U.S. Copyright Office explicitly states that "copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation" and that works in the public domain include "those that were never protected by copyright (such as facts or discoveries)."
Under EU law, specifically Article 3(2) of Directive 96/9/EC on the legal protection of databases, copyright protection "shall not extend to their contents and shall not prejudice any rights subsisting in those contents themselves."
The EU recognizes that "data as such, as facts, principles, mathematical concepts and methods are not protected by copyright," although sui generis rights may exist for databases involving substantial investment.
The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, Article 2(8), explicitly excludes from protection "news of the day or to miscellaneous facts having the character of mere items of press information."
Government-funded research increasingly requires open access to scientific data:
The fundamental legal principles supporting Material MAP include:
Note: While the underlying scientific data and facts are not subject to copyright protection, Material MAP respects the intellectual contributions of researchers by providing proper attribution and direct links to original open-access publications, ensuring that authors receive appropriate credit for their work.
Important: All data provided on Material MAP is to be used at the user's own risk. While we strive for accuracy, users should always validate material parameters for their specific applications. The calculators are designed to provide numerically stable transitions and should not be considered as improvements to calculation accuracy without comprehensive validation.
Material MAP creates a win-win situation: users benefit from a comprehensive materials library with ready-to-use LS-DYNA parameters, while authors of the referenced articles gain additional opportunities for increased citations and broader impact of their research.