This is a worldwide cooperative materials documentation effort (selected material, hazard, mineral, chemistry, testing, market experts from around the world will be able to author the parts of the system that relate to their field of knowledge)
Formerly unknown information about materials will be available here as a result of our connections with retired material and ceramic experts
We will work closely with universities from around the world and visit them where possible
This site is targeted specifically at ceramic applications of minerals and materials
Everything is a link: Pages of information will have clickable column and row headers that display additional pages telling you what the information means (there will be thousands of these)
The site will work in multiple languages and give visitors a feeling that they are getting an international understanding of materials
This site is not a bunch of data sheets full of meaningless numbers. Each material will be described in a practical ways that help visitors understand what it is and how it compares to similar and related materials
The site is built on a complex relational database system that mirrors the inter-relationships and hierarchies of material information. (i.e.alternate names, related and parent materials, generics, material families, organic and inorganic chemistry, mineralogy, hazards, properties, test result data, suppliers, URLs, articles, pictorial information and detail notes)
The site will generate INSIGHT software materials tables for use in various parts of the world
Although the site will provide some supplier information, and eventually some opportunities for suppliers to advertise, it will not cater to them specifically, this site is for us (the technicians and engineers)
The site is based on open an XML specification that will grow over time and will be adjusted according to consensus.