Introduction to the PMD Ontology (PMDco v3.0.x)

The Platform MaterialDigital Core Ontology (PMDco) is a mid-level ontology specifically developed to support the digital transformation of the Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) domain. With its latest version (v3.0.x), PMDco integrates a modular approach, aligning with the Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) standard to provide a comprehensive and interoperable framework for modeling materials, processes, and data.

Scope

The scope of the PMD Ontology (PMDco v3.0.x) is to provide a mid-level semantic framework for Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), enabling consistent representation and integration of materials, processes, and data across MSE related domains. It models workflows like manufacturing, characterization, and data transformation, ensuring traceability and compliance with standards. PMDco supports FAIR principles by promoting interoperable, machine-readable data structures and aligning with established ontologies like BFO, IAO, ChEBI, OBI and QUDT. Its modular design covers key areas such as materials, qualities, devices, and logistics, fostering collaboration and extensibility. The ontology is tailored to meet the evolving needs of MSE research and industry through community-driven development and maintenance.

Objectives

  • Semantic Interoperability: Facilitates consistent representation and exchange of materials data across domains and applications by bridging gaps between high-level and domain-specific ontologies.
  • FAIR Data Principles: Supports the Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) principles, promoting structured data management and reusability.
  • Workflow Modeling: Provides tools to describe complex MSE workflows, including manufacturing, characterization, and data transformation processes.

Key Features

  1. Community-Driven Development: Refined collaboratively in the Ontology Playground sessions with input from MSE experts and practitioners.
  2. Modular Design: Organized into distinct modules, such as Materials, Manufacturing, Characterization, Data Transformation, Devices, and Logistics, to cover the entire MSE lifecycle.
  3. Alignment with Standards: Built on ISO-compliant BFO and integrates with related ontologies like OBI (Ontology for Biomedical Investigations) and IAO (Information Artifact Ontology).
  4. Advanced Process Modeling: Enables detailed representation of processes and their substeps, capturing input/output relationships, device roles, and data transformations.
  5. Reusability and Extensibility: Incorporates elements from established ontologies such as QUDT (for units and dimensions) and ChEBI (for chemical entities), ensuring broad applicability and cross-domain connectivity.

Applications

  • Material Specifications: Models material properties and specifications, ensuring compliance with established standards (e.g., European Steel Grades).
  • Process Chains: Captures the sequence of interconnected processes, such as transforming a steel sheet into test pieces, performing tensile tests, and analyzing resulting data.
  • Data Integration and Analysis: Supports the transformation of raw data (e.g., time series) into derived material properties like elastic modulus, fostering reproducibility and transparency.
  • Device and Function Modeling: Links devices (e.g., forming machines) to their specifications and roles within processes, ensuring traceability and compliance.