SpringerMaterials User

Guide
Platform Overview and Search Examples
Contents
Introduction to SpringerMaterials 2
Example Searches 3
I. How to run a basic material & property search 4
II. How to find and compare materials & their properties 5
III. How to find a crystal structure & customize a 3D image 6
IV. How to use the Search by Elements feature & how to find a phase
7
diagram
V. How to search for & compare semiconductors using SpringerMaterials
8
Interactive
VI. How to find & compare adsorption isotherms using SpringerMaterials
10
Interactive
VII. How to run a basic corrosion search 11
Contacts 13

Introduction to SpringerMaterials
Welcome to SpringerMaterials, one of the largest, most comprehensive materials science databases in
the world, with over 290,000 materials and compounds, and 3,000 different property types in a single
platform. This user guide is designed to show you how to search effectively in order to maximize your
results with minimal time and effort.

SpringerMaterials is a dynamic research platform allowing students, researchers, and professionals in

the fields of chemistry, physics and materials science to find and use property data of materials.
Common materials include metals, alloys, ceramics, semiconductors, polymers, and many more
material types and their associated property types include, but are not limited to, mechanical,
thermophysical, magnetic, and electrical properties.

The SpringerMaterials platform is built upon the prestigious Landolt-Börnstein book series, a complete
collection of critically evaluated materials science data published by Springer since 1883. Other major
components of the online platform include the Linus-Pauling-Files, a comprehensive collection of
interactive phase diagrams, crystal structures and physical property data sheets, and MSI Eureka, a
vast compilation of evaluation reports for binary and ternary systems and their critically evaluated
phase diagrams.

In the following pages, we’ll show you a few use cases and example searches to demonstrate how
property data can quickly be identified, to better understand how data can be used (e.g. download,
manipulate, compare) in subsequent workflows and how data points, and how data sets or diagrams
are appropriately cited. Please note, this guide does not provide a complete overview of all
functionalities, materials classes, and property information within the SpringerMaterials platform, it
simply serves as a quick start guide. For more information on how to use the platform, please contact
your local SpringerMaterials product manager (see Contacts page).

SpringerMaterials User Guide: Platform Overview and Search Examples 2 / 11

Access
SpringerMaterials can be accessed via https://materials.springer.com. The platform works on all major
devices, desktops, and mobile devices. For smaller devices, e.g. iPhone or similar, some functionalities
might be unavailable due to screen resolution and practical reasons such as screen size, yet all major
browsers such as Chrome, Safari, IE, Firefox, are supported.

Users will need a valid license for SpringerMaterials, otherwise access to the majority of content is
blocked. For testing purposes, individual as well as institutional trials are available through the
product management team or the licensing managers. Please contact your local product or licensing
manager if you are having trouble with accessing SpringerMaterials.

Tips for searching on SpringerMaterials

The best results are achieved when you search for combinations of material(s) and properties. In
general, we recommend to use a stepwise approach to find data.

For example, if you are searching for a given materials-property combination (e.g. heat capacity of
polyethylene), start your journey by searching for the material first (polyethylene) and subsequently
refine by property (heat capacity). This approach allows you to better understand what the platform is
doing and also avoids confusion in case the platform is unable to precisely interpret your query. All
use cases below follow this guided principle.

SpringerMaterials is a smart technology, and will give you a preview of the content loaded behind
each result retrieved. For example, when searching for the vapor pressure (property) of toluene
(material), your first result indicates (in grey text) that it is from our SpringerMaterials Interactive
module, and will be an interactive graph (per the icon to the right). This preview allows you to quickly
scan the list of results to find exactly the format of data you need, and prevents you from wasting time
clicking through unwanted results. It’s that easy!

There are many more tips and tricks that allow you to optimize the SpringerMaterials platform to
work for you. To request a special “Tips & Tricks” webinar, please contact your local SpringerMaterials
product manager.

Thanks very much for your support, and happy researching!

https://materials.springer.com
http://www.springernature.com/

SpringerMaterials User Guide: Platform Overview and Search Examples 3 / 11

Example Searches
I. How to run a basic material & property search

Example: Find the Young’s Modulus (= property) of ZnO (= material)

1. Start your journey on the SpringerMaterials homepage: https://materials.springer.com

2. Type “ZnO” in the search box and hit enter.
3. What you see is a list of all results covering ZnO, no matter which property you are looking for.
At the time of writing, the search retrieves 403 results.
4. To refine these
results, select
“Young’s modulus”
from the Properties
list on the left-hand
side. To do this, you
can scroll through
the list or type
“Young’s Modulus”
under the Properties
box.
5. After refining by
property, you end up
with a single result.
Click the result to
open.
6. Here, you have an
overview of the
content with a brief
description and the
bibliographic information from the Landolt-Börnstein - Group III Condensed Matter book
chapter.
7. Click View PDF or
Download Chapter
to access the data.
8. To properly cite
this document,
scroll down to the
bottom of the page
and click the
Download this
citation button.
This allows you to
copy the citation
using common
data formats
like .BIB, .RIS or .EndNote.

SpringerMaterials User Guide: Platform Overview and Search Examples 4 / 11

II. How to find and compare materials & their properties

Example: Find the vapor pressure (= property) of toluene (= material #1), compare data set with
benzene (= material #2), download the data as an image and the data table

1. Start your journey on the SpringerMaterials homepage: https://materials.springer.com

2. Type “toluene” in the search box and hit enter.
3. What you see is a list of all results
covering toluene, no matter which
property you are looking for. At the
time of writing, the search retrieves
1,009 results.
4. To refine these results, select “vapor
pressure” from the Properties list on
the left-hand side. To do this, you can
scroll through the list or type “vapor
pressure” under the Properties box.
5. After refining by property, you end up
with four results. Click the 1st result to
open.
6. Here, you have an overview of the
available content with a brief
description of the data range. Click
View to access the data for Toluene
(pure).
7. Now, you see a diagram containing 1,397 data points for this material/property combination
depending on the temperature. Clicking on any one of the data points in the diagram opens a
pop-up window providing the exact numbers for this given data point.
8. Below the diagram, is a data table
showing the same data in tabular form.
9. For each data point in the table, the
original reference is provided. Clicking
on the Reference and Compilation
names provides details.
10. The panel on the right-hand side of the
interactive graph allows for
manipulation of data. Refining vapor
pressure and/or temperature
automatically adjusts the graphical
representation of data as well as the
data table.
11. To compare the data sets of toluene
and benzene (or any other material),
simply type “benzene” in the Compare
substance search box on the right-hand side.
12. To properly cite the document, click Download citation under the Actions box on the right-
hand side. This allows you to copy the citation using common data formats like .BIB, .RIS
or .EndNote.

SpringerMaterials User Guide: Platform Overview and Search Examples 5 / 11

III. How to find a crystal structure & customize a 3D image

Example: Find the crystal structure (= property) of BaZrO3 (= material), download a CIF file of the
crystallographic data and customize a 3D image

1. Start your journey on the SpringerMaterials homepage: https://materials.springer.com

2. Type “BaZrO3” in the search box and hit enter.
3. What you see is a list of all results covering BaZrO 3, no matter which property you are looking
for. At the time of writing, the search retrieves 75 results.
4. To refine these results, select “crystal structure” from the Properties list on the left-hand side.
To do this, you can scroll through the list or type “crystal structure” under the Properties box.
5. After refining by property, you end up with 51 results. Click the 1st result to open.
6. Here, you have an overview of the compound and some general information about this data
set.
7. For computational
applications of crystal
structure data, a convenient
way to download CIF files is
available in the upper left
corner. Click Download Data
CIF. For troubleshooting
purposes, a PDF is available
to the right of the download
button explaining the data
structure of a CIF file.
8. To view the interactive
crystal structure, click View
3D Interactive Structure.
9. Moving the cursor on the
structure and scrolling allows
you to zoom in and zoom out. Left click and hold, while moving your cursor allows you to
rotate the structure. You can
also toggle between Unit Cell
and Multiple Unit Cell view.
10. Click More Options to select
distance measurement or
angle measurement.
11. Click Export Options to either
download a PNG or JPG file
which can be used in other
applications.
12. To properly cite this
document, scroll down to
the bottom of the page and
click the Download this
citation button. This allows
you to copy the citation
using common data formats
like .BIB, .RIS or .EndNote.

SpringerMaterials User Guide: Platform Overview and Search Examples 6 / 11

IV. How to use the Search by Elements feature & how to find a phase diagram

Example: Find a phase diagram, vertical section at 50 at.% Au (= property) of the ternary system Ag-
Au-Cu (= material), customize the phase diagram, and find the phase diagram evaluation report.

1. Start your journey on the SpringerMaterials homepage: https://materials.springer.com

2. Select Search by Elements at the top of the page.
3. Select all elements which your system contains: “Ag”, “Au” and “Cu”. To the right of the table,
a list of matching element
systems will auto-populate
with “Ag-Au-Cu” at the top.
The number in brackets (124)
illustrates the number of
documents available for this
element system.
4. Click on “Ag-Au-Cu”.
5. Here, you have a list of all
results covering Ag-Au-Cu,
no matter which property
you are looking for. At the
time of writing, the search
retrieves 124 results.
6. To refine these results, select
“phase diagram” from the
Properties list on the left-
hand side. To do this, you
can scroll through the list or type “phase diagram” under the Properties box.
7. After refining by property, you end up with 106 results. Look at the headlines of the result list.
The 3rd result is the phase diagram of choice, Vertical section at 50 at.% Au. Click to open.
8. Hovering your mouse over the phase diagram allows you to easily identify the composition
and temperature at any
given point on the diagram.
Left mouse click on the
diagram to drop and record
points of interest. All points
are collected in the panel on
the right-hand side.
Download diagram allows
you to store the customized
diagram including the
recorded points.
9. To properly cite the
document, scroll down and
download the citation. The
Download citation button
allows you to copy the
citation using typical data
formats like .BIB, .RIS
or .EndNote.
10. To access the evaluation report (from which the diagram has been taken), click on the link Ag-
Au-Cu Ternary Phase Diagram Evaluation located at the top of the phase diagram.

SpringerMaterials User Guide: Platform Overview and Search Examples 7 / 11

V. How to search for & compare semiconductors using SpringerMaterials Interactive

Example: Find the Hall Mobility (= property) of InN (= material #1) and compare it with GaN (=
material #2)

1. Start your journey on the homepage: www.materials.springer.com

2. Type in “InN” in the search box and hit enter.
3. What you see is a list of all results covering InN, no matter which property you are looking for.
At the time of writing, the search retrieves 123 results.
4. To refine these results, select “Hall mobility” from the Properties list on the left-hand side. To
do this, you can scroll through the list or type “Hall mobility” under the Properties box.
5. After refining by property, you end up with a single result. Click the result to open.
6. Here, you have an
overview of the available
content with a brief
description of the data
range. Click View to access
the data for Indium Nitride
(InN).
7. Now, you see a diagram
containing 13 data points for this material/property combination depending on the
temperature. Clicking on any one of the data points in the diagram provides the exact
numbers for this given data point, shown in the grey boxes below the graph.
8. Below the diagram, is a data table showing the same data in tabular form. Click on Tabular
data to expand the tab and view the data in tabular form.
9. To compare the data sets of InN and GaN (or any other material), simply type “GaN” in the
Compare substance search box on the right-hand side. Adding GaN to the system will
automatically
populate the
associated
theoretical and
experimental data
to the graph and
Tabulated data
section. *Note,
there is a limit to
three material
comparisons per
graph as too much
data will, at times,
make the graph
unreadable.
10. To properly cite
the document,
click Download citation under the Actions box on the right-hand side. This allows you to copy
the citation using common data formats like .BIB, .RIS or .EndNote.

SpringerMaterials User Guide: Platform Overview and Search Examples 8 / 11

VI. How to find & compare adsorption isotherms using SpringerMaterials Interactive

Example: Find the adsorption isotherm for 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane (R-134a) on CsX (FAU zeolite)
(=material #1) and compare with the adsorption isotherm of 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane (R-134a) on
Chemviron Carbon (activated carbon) (= material #2)

1. Start your journey on the homepage: www.materials.springer.com

2. Type in “Tetrafluoroethane” in the search box and hit enter.
3. What you see is a list of all results covering Tetrafluoroethane, no matter which property you
are looking for. At the time of writing, the search retrieves 51 results.
4. To refine these results, select “adsorption” from the Properties list on the left-hand side. To do
this, you can scroll through the list or type “adsorption” under the Properties box.
5. After refining by property, you end up with a single result. Click to open.
6. Here, you have an overview of the available content with a brief description of the data range.
7. Select the second result from
the table. Click View to access
the data for CsX (FAU zeolite)
Adsorbent.
8. This opens an image that
shows the adsorption isotherm
of 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane
on CsX.
9. To compare this isotherm with
the adsorption isotherm on a
different adsorbent, type in the same adsorbate “1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane” under Compare
Systems and pick the adsorbate you want to compare it with (Ex: “Chemviron Carbon”)
13. The final graph shows both
sets of isotherms. Clicking on
any one of the data points in
the diagram opens a pop-up
window providing the exact
numbers for this given data
point.
14. Below the diagram, is a data
table showing the same data
in tabular form.
15. For each data point in the
table, the original reference is
provided. Clicking on the
Reference and Compilation
names provides details.
16. The panel on the right-hand
side of the interactive graph
allows for manipulation of data. Refining adsorption, system pressure and/or temperature
automatically adjusts the graphical representation of data as well as the data table.
17. To properly cite the document, click Download citation under the Actions box on the right-
hand side. This allows you to copy the citation using common data formats like .BIB, .RIS
or .EndNote.

SpringerMaterials User Guide: Platform Overview and Search Examples 9 / 11

VII. How to run a basic corrosion search

Example: Find the Corrosion Rate/Rating of 303 Stainless Steel (= material) in Seawater (= property)

1. Start your journey on the SpringerMaterials homepage: https://materials.springer.com

2. Select Corrosion search at the top of the page.
3. Type in “303 Stainless steel” for material and “Seawater” for environment and hit enter.
*Note: this method of searching (typing the material and property into the search bar) is
recommended for the Corrosion search because this search functionality does not have the
same property refinement as the general keyword search.
4. This generates a list of all corrosion data available for this material and environment under
various conditions.

5. Click on “More details” for more details about experimental conditions

SpringerMaterials User Guide: Platform Overview and Search Examples 10 / 11

Contacts
If you have any questions related to product performance, please feel free to contact the
SpringerMaterials product team:

Alyssa Berry, MSc Product Manager | Americas

Springer Nature
alyssa.berry@springernature.com

Rong Ju, PhD Product Manager | APAC

Springer Nature
rong.ju@springernature.com

Evelyn Ramforth, MSc Senior Product Manager | EMEA

Springer Nature
evelyn.ramforth@springernature.com

Michael Klinge, PhD Director Product Management

Springer Nature
michael.klinge@springernature.com

For any questions related to licensing the product, please contact your local Springer Nature Licensing
Manager.

Springer Nature ©2020

SpringerMaterials User Guide: Platform Overview and Search Examples 11 / 11