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The Platform MaterialDigital Core Ontology (PMDco) is a mid-level semantic framework for Materials Science and Engineering (MSE). Aligning with the ISO/IEC 21838-2:2021 standard, PMDco is built on the Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) and reuses several BFO-aligned ontologies such as RO, IAO, and OBI. Its scope follows the fundamental paradigm of MSE — processing, structure, and properties — and provides general semantics for entities commonly required across MSE disciplines, such as devices, roles, functions, and plans.

Processes MSE-related process chains, including materials manufacturing, characterization, and simulation processes.

Structure & State Substances, engineered materials, their composition, and multiscale structural features.

Properties Material properties and qualities, representing processing–structure–property dependences.

Ontology Versions

Each variant is published in both .owl and .ttl serializations. Pick the smallest one that covers your needs.

Variant	Description	Best for
pmdco-minimal	Lightweight minimal version with the essential class skeleton (#121).	Quick onboarding & beginners
pmdco-simple	Simplified version with basic subclass and existential axioms.	Lightweight applications
pmdco-base	Core entities without extended imports.	Building application ontologies
pmdco-full	Complete ontology with all imports and full axiomatization.	Reasoning & full inference
pmdco	Main ontology file — contains the full version.	General use

Repository Structure

This repository provides the modular implementation of PMDco, developed and maintained with the Ontology Development Kit (ODK).

Browse the layout

core-ontology/
├─ src/ontology/         Main development folder, generated and managed through ODK
│  ├─ components/        Modular ontology components (classes, properties, axioms)
│  └─ pmdco-edit.owl     Primary editable ontology used during development
├─ patterns/            Logical patterns and SHACL shapes for consistent design
├─ docs/                Documentation sources for the website and user guides
├─ .github/             CI workflows and issue/PR templates
├─ mkdocs.yaml          Configuration for building the documentation site
└─ README · LICENSE · CONTRIBUTING

Documentation & Resources

The PMDco documentation site gives a clear overview of the core concepts, modules, and design principles — how PMDco is structured, how to apply it in real-world MSE data workflows, and how the components relate, with detailed explanations, examples, patterns, and release information.

Documentation Site Concepts, modules, design principles, examples, and release notes.	Class & Property Reference Widoco-generated full listing of all classes and properties.
PMDco in MatPortal Browse, search, and download from the materials ontology portal.	Publications Peer-reviewed publications related to PMDco.

Contributing

We welcome contributions to the Platform MaterialDigital Core Ontology — here is how to get involved.

Request terms or report issues Use the issue tracker to request new terms or classes, or to report errors and concerns about the ontology.	Build application ontologies Start from the application-ontology-template, which applies the same framework and mirrors PMDco with all its modules.
Join the discussion Share modeling concerns or other discussable topics in the discussion forum.	PMD Playground meetings Our online Ontology Playground runs every second Friday, 1–2 pm CET. Register via the mailing list.

Please also read our Contributing guidelines and Code of Conduct. Need more information? Reach us at info@material-digital.de.

How to Cite

If you use PMDco in your work, please cite the peer-reviewed article.

Bayerlein, B., Schilling, M., Birkholz, H., Jung, M., Waitelonis, J., Mädler, L., & Sack, H. (2024). PMD Core Ontology: Achieving semantic interoperability in materials science. Materials & Design, 237, 112603. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2023.112603

BibTeX

@article{bayerlein2024pmdco,
  title   = {PMD Core Ontology: Achieving semantic interoperability in materials science},
  author  = {Bayerlein, Bernd and Schilling, Markus and Birkholz, Henk and Jung, Matthias
             and Waitelonis, J\"org and M\"adler, Lutz and Sack, Harald},
  journal = {Materials \& Design},
  volume  = {237},
  pages   = {112603},
  year    = {2024},
  doi     = {10.1016/j.matdes.2023.112603}
}

_{Maintained by the Platform MaterialDigital community  ·  Licensed under CC BY 4.0}