MatWeb Gains 100th Corporate Partner for Its Online Materials Property Database

www.MatWeb.com grows from 500 to over 12,000 materials in its first year of operation, featuring property data on Metals, Polymers, Ceramics, Superalloys and Advanced Materials

Christiansburg, VA, September 28, 1998: Automation Creations, Inc., parent of the MatWeb online materials property database (www.MatWeb.com), announces that Chevron Chemical Corporation is the 100^th corporate partner to provide data on proprietary materials. Through the cooperation of MatWeb’s partners, the MatWeb database has grown to include property, application, and processing information for over 12,000 generic and proprietary metals, ceramics, polymers, and composite materials. MatWeb is bigger, faster, and, as always, FREE! Hundreds of scientists and engineers use MatWeb each day as their primary source of searchable materials property data.

Over 100 corporate partners are cooperating with MatWeb by providing data on their products for inclusion in the MatWeb database. These include prominent manufacturers in all areas of engineering materials such as Carpenter Technology Corporation, DuPont, Ferro Corporation, GE Plastics, and Haynes International. MatWeb stays comprehensive and current because inclusion in MatWeb is free and proprietary data is reviewed at least annually with our manufacturer partners. Data for materials for which no manufacturer partner has yet been established is taken from literature or government sources to ensure completeness.

The growth in usership prompted the recent upgrade to the MatWeb 2.0 search engine. MatWeb 2.0 is over 5 times faster than the original and includes other enhancements such as a composition-based search for metal alloys. Engineers, designers and students use any of three different search pages to locate materials: a Quick Search on the Home Page, a Full-featured property Search on the Search Page, or Tree structure navigation on the Index Page. The fastest way for users to locate materials is from the Quick Search on the Home Page where users can type a material name, name fragment, or category of materials. The most powerful query technique, though, is the dynamic Search Page. From this page, users can specify a value range for up to three materials properties from the list of over 60 searchable properties (such as tensile strength, elastic modulus, and melting point). The third search technique is an Index page that lists all of the main categories of materials in MatWeb's database. Users can "zero in" on a specific material simply by following the tree structure on this page and clicking an appropriate category. Easy-to-use online help pages feature live examples to assist all three search techniques and allow users to take full advantage of MatWeb's capabilities.

MatWeb does not charge material manufacturers any fee to include their information in MatWeb’s database, thus encouraging a steady stream of complete and current information. All information is evaluated by the MatWeb technical staff and presented to the user with comments and references. Where appropriate, properties such as hardness are converted to other hardness scales, and some properties are calculated from fundamental property relationships. For generic materials, any information gaps are filled using statistical analysis of similar materials.

Compared to other materials databases, MatWeb is unique in that it was designed as a Web-based application from the outset. The result is an easy to use index that can be offered for free to users, without subscription, dues, or per-material charges. Enthusiastic comments like the following arrive on a daily basis:

Mr. Bryan Boggiano, Mechanical Engineer at Pitney Bowes, emphasizes the convenience of MatWeb, "I was very pleased to find this site. It was almost too easy to find the information I was looking for..."

Mr. Robert Mendenhall, President of General Ideas, Inc., comments on the comprehensiveness of MatWeb. "You have no idea how useful this is. No manufacturer will give this information to you and most reference books don't have this information or don't have the specific material.... Even other web sites, many of which charge for each query, are not as specific or as useful as yours."

Mr. Ian Graham, president of Graham FRP Composites, mentions the vigilance used in accumulating data. "This site is an important step in providing standardized data for material groups.... Hope you keep it up."

The popular MatWeb database architecture and search engine has been licensed by major corporations such as Shell Chemical, Chevron Chemical Company, and DSM Engineering Plastics Products for inclusion in their own Web sites. MatWeb is financed through advertising revenue and is actively seeking financial support through additional advertisers in order to maintain free access to any user. The company, founded in 1996, is privately held and devoted to maintaining a web-based materials database. Located in Christiansburg, Virginia, the company employs three engineers, two programmers, and a web designer.

For More Information Contact:

Automation Creations, Inc.
Telephone: (540) 381-1286
Fax:(540) 381-5300
Email: info@matweb.com