diff --git a/test/validation/test_cantilever_materials_showcase.jl b/test/validation/test_cantilever_materials_showcase.jl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..209d198
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/validation/test_cantilever_materials_showcase.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,155 @@
+# This file is a part of JuliaFEM.
+# License is MIT: see https://github.com/JuliaFEM/JuliaFEM.jl/blob/master/LICENSE.md
+
+# # Cantilever beam: elasticity materials + heat (showcase / regression)
+#
+# This script is a normal `Test` module (run via `test/validation/runtests.jl`).
+# It is also written in [Literate.jl](https://github.com/JuliaDocs/Literate.jl)
+# style: lines starting with `# #` become markdown headings if you pass this
+# file through `Literate.markdown` from the `docs` environment.
+#
+# Goals:
+#
+# 1. One small structured Hex8 cantilever (`create_cantilever_mesh`): fixed
+#    at `:xmin`, transverse load on `:xmax`.
+# 2. Every **solid** constitutive model used by `ContinuumKernel` today:
+#    `LinearElastic`, `NeoHookean`, `PerfectPlasticity` — same mesh and BCs.
+# 3. `HeatConductivity` with `HeatKernel` on the **same geometry** (scalar
+#    temperature at vertices), because there is no meaningful “cantilever”
+#    for Fourier’s equation — only the same assembly pipeline.
+# 4. After warmup, `assemble!(cache, asm, kernel, mesh)` must allocate
+#    **0 bytes** (same contract as `test/assemblers/test_dof_based_zero_alloc.jl`).
+#
+# The sparse **solve** (`K_ff \\ f_f`) is not part of the zero-allocation
+# contract; only the DOF-based assembly hot path is.
+
+using Test
+using JuliaFEM
+using JuliaFEM: ContinuumKernel, ContinuumFormulation, FullThreeD, Displacement
+using JuliaFEM: HeatKernel, HeatConductivity, Temperature
+using JuliaFEM: DOFBasedCOOAssembler, DOFBasedCOOCache, assemble!, extract_system
+using JuliaFEM: create_cantilever_mesh, create_elements!, get_nodes_in_set, get_node_dofs
+using JuliaFEM: @DOFSet, DOF, Vertex, Hex8
+using LinearAlgebra
+using SparseArrays
+
+# ## Shared mesh and BC helpers
+
+function _small_cantilever_mesh()
+    return create_cantilever_mesh(Hex8;
+        length = 5.0,
+        width = 1.0,
+        height = 1.0,
+        nx = 4,
+        ny = 1,
+        nz = 1,
+    )
+end
+
+function _collect_fixed_dofs(handler, mesh)
+    fixed = Int[]
+    for nid_raw in get_nodes_in_set(mesh, :xmin)
+        nid = Int(nid_raw)
+        append!(fixed, get_node_dofs(handler, nid))
+    end
+    sort!(unique!(fixed))
+    return fixed
+end
+
+function _apply_tip_shear!(f, handler, mesh; Fz::Float64)
+    loaded = get_nodes_in_set(mesh, :xmax)
+    nL = length(loaded)
+    @assert nL > 0
+    fz = Fz / nL
+    for nid_raw in loaded
+        nd = get_node_dofs(handler, Int(nid_raw))
+        @assert length(nd) == 3
+        f[nd[3]] += fz
+    end
+    return nothing
+end
+
+function _solve_eliminated(K::SparseMatrixCSC, f::Vector{Float64}, fixed_dofs::Vector{Int})
+    ndofs = length(f)
+    all_idx = 1:ndofs
+    is_fixed = falses(ndofs)
+    for d in fixed_dofs
+        is_fixed[d] = true
+    end
+    free = Int[d for d in all_idx if !is_fixed[d]]
+    Kff = K[free, free]
+    ff = f[free]
+    uf = Kff \ ff
+    u = zeros(ndofs)
+    u[free] = uf
+    return u, free
+end
+
+@testset "Cantilever showcase: materials + zero-allocation assembly" begin
+    mesh = _small_cantilever_mesh()
+    S = @DOFSet{u::DOF{Displacement{3}, Vertex}}
+    elements, handler = create_elements!(mesh, Element{Hex8, Lagrange{1}, S})
+    fixed_dofs = _collect_fixed_dofs(handler, mesh)
+
+    E_young = 210e9
+    ν = 0.3
+    materials = (
+        ("LinearElastic", LinearElastic(E = E_young, ν = ν)),
+        ("NeoHookean", NeoHookean(E_mod = E_young, nu = ν)),
+        ("PerfectPlasticity", PerfectPlasticity(E = E_young, ν = ν, σ_y = 350e6, H = 1e9)),
+    )
+
+    asm = DOFBasedCOOAssembler()
+
+    for (name, mat) in materials
+        @testset "$name — assemble! 0 allocs, finite solve" begin
+            kernel = ContinuumKernel(ContinuumFormulation{FullThreeD}(), mat)
+            cache = DOFBasedCOOCache(elements, handler, mesh, kernel)
+
+            for _ in 1:3
+                assemble!(cache, asm, kernel, mesh)
+            end
+            GC.gc()
+            bytes = @allocated assemble!(cache, asm, kernel, mesh)
+            @test bytes == 0
+
+            K, f0 = extract_system(cache)
+            f = copy(f0)
+            _apply_tip_shear!(f, handler, mesh; Fz = -50_000.0)
+            u, _free = _solve_eliminated(K, f, fixed_dofs)
+
+            @test all(isfinite, u)
+            @test norm(u) > 1e-12
+            # Tip should move in the direction of the applied shear (negative Z load).
+            tip_ids = get_nodes_in_set(mesh, :xmax)
+            uz_sum = 0.0
+            for nid in tip_ids
+                nd = get_node_dofs(handler, Int(nid))
+                uz_sum += u[nd[3]]
+            end
+            @test uz_sum / length(tip_ids) < 0.0
+        end
+    end
+end
+
+@testset "Same geometry: HeatConductivity — assemble! 0 allocs" begin
+    mesh = _small_cantilever_mesh()
+    S = @DOFSet{T::DOF{Temperature, Vertex}}
+    elements, handler = create_elements!(mesh, Element{Hex8, Lagrange{1}, S})
+    mat = HeatConductivity(k = 45.0)
+    kernel = HeatKernel(ContinuumFormulation{FullThreeD}(), mat)
+    asm = DOFBasedCOOAssembler()
+    cache = DOFBasedCOOCache(elements, handler, mesh, kernel)
+
+    for _ in 1:3
+        assemble!(cache, asm, kernel, mesh)
+    end
+    GC.gc()
+    @test (@allocated assemble!(cache, asm, kernel, mesh)) == 0
+
+    K, _ = extract_system(cache)
+    @test size(K, 1) == handler.total_dofs
+    @test nnz(K) > 0
+    R = K - transpose(K)
+    @test norm(R) <= 1e-8 * max(1.0, norm(K))
+end