+jeremiah s.

queddeng
center for the designed environment professions

Strength – resist forces imposed on it, ability to sustain a high stress w/o yielding or
fracturing

Toughness – enables it to absorb energy before rupturing;

-ability of material to resist repeated bending or twisting;

-ability to resist shock or impact

Hardness – enables to resist deformation by compression, or penetration

Brittleness – causes material to rapture suddenly under stress without little evident
deformation

-fractures under low stress w/o appreciable deformation;

- gives no advance warning of failure

Ductility – enables it to undergo plastic deformation after being stressed beyond elastic
limit & before rupturing

-capable of being stretched or deformed w/o fracturing;

-ability to be drawn to fine wire (tension) w/o breaking;

-shows sign of yielding before actual rapture

Stiffness – resistance to deformation when stressed within elastic range

*ratio of force applied to a structure to the corresponding displacement* (Harris)

stress strain Modulus of Elasticity or strain

Elasticity – enables it to deform & to recover its original size & shape upon removal of
force or after deformation (as stretching, compression or tension)

Resilience – capacity to recover its original size & shape after deformation – Elasticity

Malleability – ability of metal that permits mechanical deformation by extrusion, forging,

rolling, etc. w/o fracturing;

-ability of material to be compressed into thin sheets w/o breaking