A material definition specifies all the property data relevant to a material. You specify a material definition by including a set of material behaviors, and you supply the property data with each material behavior you include. You use the material editor to specify all the information that defines each material.

Each material that you create is assigned its own name and is independent of any particular section; you can refer to a single material in as many sections as necessary. ABAQUS/CAE assigns the properties of a material to a region of a part when you assign a section referring to that material to the region.