Z-MAT

Material Model Library

Z-mat is a core component of the Z-set suite, but it can also be used independently as a material library plugin with major finite element solvers such as Abaqus, Ansys, Samcef, LS-Dyna, and MSC Marc. It provides a wide range of constitutive models and also offers a flexible environment for developing new ones.

Want to learn more about Z-set? 

A Comprehensive Material Library

Z-mat includes an extensive collection of models for plasticity and viscoplasticity, together with robust integration schemes and advanced procedures for material parameter identification.

The predefined models are built in a modular way, which allows users to design new behaviors directly in the input file by assembling different “building blocks.”
This modularity enables thousands of possible combinations, making it suitable for metals, polymers, crystals, porous inelasticity (including densification and damage), continuum damage mechanics, soils and rocks, as well as anisotropic materials.

Examples of available models include:

• Linear elasticity with thermal expansion.
• Maxwell-type viscoelasticity, supporting any number of shear and volumetric contributions.
• Hyperelasticity (Mooney, Rivlin, Ogden formulations) for both compressible and incompressible materials.
• Porous plasticity models combining flow rules, isotropic porous criteria, thermal expansion, and adiabatic heating.
• The general elasto-viscoplastic (Gen-evp) framework, covering plasticity, viscoplasticity, single crystals, polycrystals, and damage, with multiple potentials and interactions between material objects.
• Models for superelasticity and shape memory effects, which can be coupled with plasticity.
• Cosserat elastic and plastic models, accounting for micropolar rotations and characteristic material length scales.
• The Multi-mat module, which implements scale transition techniques for multi-phase and composite materials. This recursive framework also supports multiscale modeling and damage.

A Development Platform

In addition to its broad library, Z-mat is also designed as a development platform. Users can extend the existing database by incorporating their own models, creating a permanent customized site library.

Extensions can be developed in C++ or with ZebFront, a high-level language for directly handling mechanical objects and algebraic formulations.

In essence, Z-mat provides the shortest path from constitutive equations to working software.