Elements (e.g. walls, doors, windows, etc) in IFC and element types (e.g. wall types, door types, window types, etc) may have a Material associated with it. These Materials are typically specified as construction materials, as opposed to chemical Materials. For example, concrete of two different grades are considered two separate Materials.
In the simplest case, an element may have a single Material. For example, a chair may be made from a "wood" material. The Material Facet lets you filter by elements having this Material.
An element may also have multiple Materials in three possible scenarios:
- Layered materials: an element (e.g. a wall or slab) is parametrically defined in terms of material layers with a thickness (e.g. stud layer, insulation layer, and gypsum layer). Each layer may have a different Material.
- Profiled materials: an element (e.g. a column or beam) is parametrically defined in terms of a profile (e.g. C-profile, Z-profile, or I-profile) extruded along a path. Composite columns and beams may have multiple profiles from different Materials.
- Constituent materials: an element (e.g. a window, or slab) where portions of the element are made out of different Materials (e.g. the window glazing and the window frame) or mixed (e.g. a concrete slab may be composed of a percentage of cement, aggregate, etc)
The Material Facet lets you filter elements where one of their Materials matches your specified Material.
Many disciplines, such as costing, scheduling, sustainability analysis, or construction trade packages depend on correct Material association. The Material Facet is especially useful for domain specific information Specifications.
| Parameter | Required | Restrictions Allowed | Allowed Values | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | ❌ | ✔️ | Any material name or material category. The material name is typically specific to the project or local convention. The material category is recommended to be one of 'concrete', 'steel', 'aluminium', 'block', 'brick', 'stone', 'wood', 'glass', 'gypsum', 'plastic', or 'earth'. | The element must be made out of a Material with the specified name or category. If there are multiple Materials, then any Material, Layer, Profile or Constituent with that name or category will also satisfy the requirement. |
If no parameters are specified, then it means that any Material should be present, regardless of name or category.
| Applicabiity Intention | Requirement Intention | Facet Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Any entity with a material | The entity must have a material | No parameters |
| All entities made from wood | The entity must be made out of wood | Value="wood" |
| All entities made from brick | The entity must be made out of brick | Value="brick" |
| All entities made from either concrete or steel | The entity (e.g. foundation piles) must be made of either concrete or steel | Value=["concrete", "steel"] |
| Any entities with a material named with a code starting with "CON" followed by 2 digits, like CON01, CON02, etc | The entity shall have a material with the naming scheme of "CON" followed by two digits, such as CON01, CON02, etc. | Value="CON[0-9]{2}" |