IfcMaterial

Natural language names
Material
Material
Matériau
Change log
ItemSPFXMLChangeDescription
IFC2x3 to IFC4 4.0.0.0
    IfcMaterial
      DescriptionADDED
      CategoryADDED
IFC2x3 to IFC4 4.0.0.0
    IfcMaterial
      DescriptionADDED
      CategoryADDED
Semantic definitions at the entity
Entity definition

IfcMaterial is a homogeneous or inhomogeneous substance that can be used to form elements (physical products or their components).

IfcMaterial is the basic entity for material designation and definition; this includes identification by name and classification (via reference to an external classification), as well as association of material properties (isotropic or anisotropic) defined by (subtypes of) IfcMaterialProperties. An instance of IfcMaterial may be associated to an element or element type using the IfcRelAssociatesMaterial relationship. The assignment might either be direct as a single material information, or via

An IfcMaterial may also have presentation information associated. Such presentation information is provided by IfcMaterialDefinitionRepresentation, associating curve styles, hatching definitions or surface colouring/rendering information to a material.

HISTORY New entity in IFC4

IFC4 CHANGE  The attributes Description and Category have been added.

Attribute definitions
#AttributeTypeCardinalityDescription G
1NameIfcLabel Name of the material.
EXAMPLE A view definition may require Material.Name to uniquely specify e.g. concrete or steel grade, in which case the attribute Material.Category could take the value 'Concrete' or 'Steel'.
NOTE  Material grade may have different meaning in different view definitions, e.g. strength grade for structural design and analysis, or visible appearance grade in architectural application. Also, more elaborate material grade definition may be associated as classification via inverse attribute HasExternalReferences.
X
2DescriptionIfcText? Definition of the material in more descriptive terms than given by attributes Name or Category.
IFC4 CHANGE  The attribute has been added at the end of attribute list.
X
3CategoryIfcLabel? Definition of the category (group or type) of material, in more general terms than given by attribute Name.
EXAMPLE A view definition may require each Material.Name to be unique, e.g. for each concrete or steel grade used in a project, in which case Material.Category could take the values 'Concrete' or 'Steel'.
IFC4 CHANGE  The attribute has been added at the end of attribute list.
X
HasRepresentationIfcMaterialDefinitionRepresentation
@RepresentedMaterial
S[0:1]Reference to the IfcMaterialDefinitionRepresentation that provides presentation information to a representation common to this material in style definitions.
IFC2x3 CHANGE  The inverse attribute HasRepresentation has been added.
X
IsRelatedWithIfcMaterialRelationship
@RelatedMaterials
S[0:?]Reference to a material relationship indicating that this material is a part (or constituent) in a material composite.
IFC4 CHANGE  The inverse attribute has been added.
X
RelatesToIfcMaterialRelationship
@RelatingMaterial
S[0:1]Reference to a material relationship indicating that this material composite has parts (or constituents).
IFC4 CHANGE  The inverse attribute has been added.
X
Inherited definitions from supertypes
Entity inheritance IfcMaterialDefinition
Attribute inheritance
#AttributeTypeCardinalityDescriptionG
IfcMaterialDefinition
AssociatedToIfcRelAssociatesMaterial
@RelatingMaterial
S[0:?]Use of the IfcMaterialDefinition subtypes within the material association of an element occurrence or element type. The association is established by the IfcRelAssociatesMaterial relationship.
IFC4 CHANGE  The inverse attribute has been added.
X
HasExternalReferencesIfcExternalReferenceRelationship
@RelatedResourceObjects
S[0:?]Reference to external references, e.g. library, classification, or document information, that are associated to the material.
IFC4 CHANGE  The inverse attribute has been added.
X
HasPropertiesIfcMaterialProperties
@Material
S[0:?]Material properties assigned to instances of subtypes of IfcMaterialDefinition.
IFC4 CHANGE  The inverse attribute has been added.
X
IfcMaterial
1NameIfcLabel Name of the material.
EXAMPLE A view definition may require Material.Name to uniquely specify e.g. concrete or steel grade, in which case the attribute Material.Category could take the value 'Concrete' or 'Steel'.
NOTE  Material grade may have different meaning in different view definitions, e.g. strength grade for structural design and analysis, or visible appearance grade in architectural application. Also, more elaborate material grade definition may be associated as classification via inverse attribute HasExternalReferences.
X
2DescriptionIfcText? Definition of the material in more descriptive terms than given by attributes Name or Category.
IFC4 CHANGE  The attribute has been added at the end of attribute list.
X
3CategoryIfcLabel? Definition of the category (group or type) of material, in more general terms than given by attribute Name.
EXAMPLE A view definition may require each Material.Name to be unique, e.g. for each concrete or steel grade used in a project, in which case Material.Category could take the values 'Concrete' or 'Steel'.
IFC4 CHANGE  The attribute has been added at the end of attribute list.
X
HasRepresentationIfcMaterialDefinitionRepresentation
@RepresentedMaterial
S[0:1]Reference to the IfcMaterialDefinitionRepresentation that provides presentation information to a representation common to this material in style definitions.
IFC2x3 CHANGE  The inverse attribute HasRepresentation has been added.
X
IsRelatedWithIfcMaterialRelationship
@RelatedMaterials
S[0:?]Reference to a material relationship indicating that this material is a part (or constituent) in a material composite.
IFC4 CHANGE  The inverse attribute has been added.
X
RelatesToIfcMaterialRelationship
@RelatingMaterial
S[0:1]Reference to a material relationship indicating that this material composite has parts (or constituents).
IFC4 CHANGE  The inverse attribute has been added.
X
Definitions applying to General Usage

 Instance diagram


Concept usage

Property Sets for Objects

The Property Sets for Objects concept template applies to this entity as shown in Table 694.

PsetNameProperties
Pset_MaterialCombustion
TemplatePropertyNameValue
Single ValueSpecificHeatCapacityIfcSpecificHeatCapacityMeasure
Single ValueN20ContentIfcPositiveRatioMeasure
Single ValueCOContentIfcPositiveRatioMeasure
Single ValueCO2ContentIfcPositiveRatioMeasure
Pset_MaterialCommon
TemplatePropertyNameValue
Single ValueMolecularWeightIfcMolecularWeightMeasure
Single ValuePorosityIfcNormalisedRatioMeasure
Single ValueMassDensityIfcMassDensityMeasure
Pset_MaterialEnergy
TemplatePropertyNameValue
Single ValueViscosityTemperatureDerivativeIfcReal
Single ValueMoistureCapacityThermalGradientIfcReal
Single ValueThermalConductivityTemperatureDerivativeIfcReal
Single ValueSpecificHeatTemperatureDerivativeIfcReal
Single ValueVisibleRefractionIndexIfcReal
Single ValueSolarRefractionIndexIfcReal
Single ValueGasPressureIfcPressureMeasure
Pset_MaterialFuel
TemplatePropertyNameValue
Single ValueCombustionTemperatureIfcThermodynamicTemperatureMeasure
Single ValueCarbonContentIfcPositiveRatioMeasure
Single ValueLowerHeatingValueIfcHeatingValueMeasure
Single ValueHigherHeatingValueIfcHeatingValueMeasure
Pset_MaterialHygroscopic
TemplatePropertyNameValue
Single ValueUpperVaporResistanceFactorIfcPositiveRatioMeasure
Single ValueLowerVaporResistanceFactorIfcPositiveRatioMeasure
Single ValueIsothermalMoistureCapacityIfcIsothermalMoistureCapacityMeasure
Single ValueVaporPermeabilityIfcVaporPermeabilityMeasure
Single ValueMoistureDiffusivityIfcMoistureDiffusivityMeasure
Pset_MaterialMechanical
TemplatePropertyNameValue
Single ValueDynamicViscosityIfcDynamicViscosityMeasure
Single ValueYoungModulusIfcModulusOfElasticityMeasure
Single ValueShearModulusIfcModulusOfElasticityMeasure
Single ValuePoissonRatioIfcPositiveRatioMeasure
Single ValueThermalExpansionCoefficientIfcThermalExpansionCoefficientMeasure
Pset_MaterialOptical
TemplatePropertyNameValue
Single ValueVisibleTransmittanceIfcPositiveRatioMeasure
Single ValueSolarTransmittanceIfcPositiveRatioMeasure
Single ValueThermalIrTransmittanceIfcPositiveRatioMeasure
Single ValueThermalIrEmissivityBackIfcPositiveRatioMeasure
Single ValueThermalIrEmissivityFrontIfcPositiveRatioMeasure
Single ValueVisibleReflectanceBackIfcPositiveRatioMeasure
Single ValueVisibleReflectanceFrontIfcPositiveRatioMeasure
Single ValueSolarReflectanceBackIfcPositiveRatioMeasure
Single ValueSolarReflectanceFrontIfcPositiveRatioMeasure
Pset_MaterialThermal
TemplatePropertyNameValue
Single ValueSpecificHeatCapacityIfcSpecificHeatCapacityMeasure
Single ValueBoilingPointIfcThermodynamicTemperatureMeasure
Single ValueFreezingPointIfcThermodynamicTemperatureMeasure
Single ValueThermalConductivityIfcThermalConductivityMeasure
Pset_MaterialWater
TemplatePropertyNameValue
Single ValueIsPotableIfcBoolean
Single ValueHardnessIfcIonConcentrationMeasure
Single ValueAlkalinityConcentrationIfcIonConcentrationMeasure
Single ValueAcidityConcentrationIfcIonConcentrationMeasure
Single ValueImpuritiesContentIfcNormalisedRatioMeasure
Single ValueDissolvedSolidsContentIfcNormalisedRatioMeasure
Single ValuePHLevelIfcPHMeasure

Table 694 — IfcMaterial Property Sets for Objects



mvdXML Specification
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ConceptRoot xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" uuid="273c1b6b-c95d-4551-bf2e-264a167469dc" name="IfcMaterial" applicableRootEntity="IfcMaterial">
 <Applicability>
  <Template ref="7c1b0051-bb4d-4e91-85d9-7f10bd5349ea" />
  <TemplateRules operator="and">
  </TemplateRules>
 </Applicability>
 <Concepts>
  <Concept uuid="3d497394-85a9-4046-8983-eabd3c87533e" name="Property Sets for Objects">
   <Template ref="f74255a6-0c0e-4f31-84ad-24981db62461" />
   <TemplateRules operator="and">
    <TemplateRule Parameters="PsetName[Value]=&apos;Pset_MaterialCombustion&apos;" />
    <TemplateRule Parameters="PsetName[Value]=&apos;Pset_MaterialCommon&apos;" />
    <TemplateRule Parameters="PsetName[Value]=&apos;Pset_MaterialEnergy&apos;" />
    <TemplateRule Parameters="PsetName[Value]=&apos;Pset_MaterialFuel&apos;" />
    <TemplateRule Parameters="PsetName[Value]=&apos;Pset_MaterialHygroscopic&apos;" />
    <TemplateRule Parameters="PsetName[Value]=&apos;Pset_MaterialMechanical&apos;" />
    <TemplateRule Parameters="PsetName[Value]=&apos;Pset_MaterialOptical&apos;" />
    <TemplateRule Parameters="PsetName[Value]=&apos;Pset_MaterialThermal&apos;" />
    <TemplateRule Parameters="PsetName[Value]=&apos;Pset_MaterialWater&apos;" />
   </TemplateRules>
  </Concept>
 </Concepts>
</ConceptRoot>
Concept inheritance

#ConceptTemplateModel View
IfcMaterial
Property Sets for ObjectsProperty Sets for ObjectsGeneral Usage
Formal representations
XML Specification
 <xs:element name="IfcMaterial" type="ifc:IfcMaterial" substitutionGroup="ifc:IfcMaterialDefinition" nillable="true"/>
 <xs:complexType name="IfcMaterial">
  <xs:complexContent>
   <xs:extension base="ifc:IfcMaterialDefinition">
    <xs:sequence>
     <xs:element name="HasRepresentation" type="ifc:IfcMaterialDefinitionRepresentation" nillable="true" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
    </xs:sequence>
    <xs:attribute name="Name" type="ifc:IfcLabel" use="optional"/>
    <xs:attribute name="Description" type="ifc:IfcText" use="optional"/>
    <xs:attribute name="Category" type="ifc:IfcLabel" use="optional"/>
   </xs:extension>
  </xs:complexContent>
 </xs:complexType>
EXPRESS Specification
ENTITY IfcMaterial
 SUBTYPE OF (IfcMaterialDefinition);
  Name : IfcLabel;
  Description : OPTIONAL IfcText;
  Category : OPTIONAL IfcLabel;
 INVERSE
  HasRepresentation : SET [0:1] OF IfcMaterialDefinitionRepresentation FOR RepresentedMaterial;
  IsRelatedWith : SET [0:?] OF IfcMaterialRelationship FOR RelatedMaterials;
  RelatesTo : SET [0:1] OF IfcMaterialRelationship FOR RelatingMaterial;
END_ENTITY;

Link to EXPRESS-G diagram EXPRESS-G diagram

References  References: IfcMaterialClassificationRelationship IfcMaterialConstituent IfcMaterialLayer IfcMaterialList IfcMaterialProfile IfcMaterialRelationship IfcMaterialDefinitionRepresentation

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