Materials data play an increasingly vital role in national security, performance safety, scientific and technological innovation and smart manufacturing in the age of information technology. In 2011, the Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) was launched in the US, of which materials data together with materials computation and materials experimentation and characterization consist of the three tools for accelerating the materials development continuum and reducing the cost. Both the researchers and production managers come to realize the significant role materials data play. The attributes of materials data, such as variety, complex interrelationship, acquiring process as well as the intellectual property issues, drive the process of collection, storage and application ever more complicated. In this paper, the characteristics, classification and status quo of materials data are described. The strategies and obstacles are systematically analyzed for materials data development and database construction. A national platform of materials data for research and public service, a materials data hub in China, is essential and urgently required for MGI implementation. Four aspects are emphasized, that is, materials data repository, infrastructure and cloud service, data mining and international collaboration. The materials data repositories for civil and military uses will be constructed. On the platform, the standards are crucial for materials data and database and big data application, which need to be set up first. The customized database and data push will bring great benefit for materials database users. Materials data science will definitely become a brand new subject in materials science, including materials informatics and materials dataology.

materials date  /  materials genome initiative  /  materials database  /  data mining  /  smart manufacturing  /  materials data science