Essential Material Properties: Mechanical, Thermal, and Chemical

Material Properties Defined

Mechanical Properties

• Elasticity: Quality presenting a material to recover its original shape upon cessation of the effort that deforms it.
• Plasticity: Opposite of elasticity. Indicates the ability of a material to maintain the form taken when subjected to a deforming effort.
• Ductility: Ductile materials are those that can be stretched and shaped into fine threads.
• Malleability: Refers to the ability of a material to be shaped into thin sheets without breaking.
• Tenacity: Breaking strength of a material when subjected to slow strain efforts.
• Hardness: Resistance which opposes a body to be penetrated by another. This property reports on the wear resistance against abrasive agents.
• Fragility: Ease with which a material breaks without causing elastic deformation.
• Machinability: Measures more or less facility of a material to be formed by metal removal.
• Resilience: Resistance which opposes a material to a blunt and severe force.
• Tensile Strength: Indicates the strength to break a material.
• Resistance to Flow: Indicates the force with which a material deforms without regaining its original shape upon cessation of effort.
• Endurance: Resistance against fluctuating efforts. These efforts can cause a material to break even before reaching the resistance force corresponding to the last one.

Thermal Properties

• Specific Heat: The heat needed to raise the temperature one degree Celsius of a unit mass of material.
• Thermal Expansion: Points to the variability of the dimensions of the material by changing its temperature.
• Thermal Conductivity: The rate at which heat is transferred within a material.
• Melting Temperature: The temperature at which a material goes from solid to liquid as a result of heat input.
• Latent Heat of Fusion: The heat required to convert a unit mass of material from solid to liquid.

Chemical Properties

Core Material Characteristics:

• Chemical Stability: The tendency of a given substance to react or decompose spontaneously on contact with another substance, or the extent to which external action is required to cause a reaction.
• Corrosivity: The deterioration of material properties due to the action of external agents.