Scaling laws as a tool of materials informatics

This paper discusses the utility of scaling laws to materials informatics and presents the algorithm Scaling LAW (SLAW), useful to obtain scaling laws from statistical data. These laws can be used to extrapolate known materials property data to untested materials by using other more readily available information. This technique is independent of a characteristic length or time scale, so it is useful for a broad diversity of problems. In some cases, SLAW can reproduce the mathematical expression that would have been obtained through an analytical treatment of the problem. This technique was originally designed for mining statistical data in materials processing and materials behavior at a system level, and it shows promise for the study of the relationship between structure and properties in materials.