Mechanical Properties of

Metals
Mechanical Properties of Metals
1. Stress. 10. Stiffness.
2. Strain. 11. Toughness.
3. Elongation. 12. Hardness.
4. Contraction. 13. Brittleness.
5. Elasticity. 14. Malleability.
6. Plasticity. 15. Ductility.
7. Strength.
16. Fatigue.
8. Impact strength.
17. Creep.
9. Yield strength.
Strength
• Provides resistance to an external force or it is the capacity or ability
to withstand various loads without deformation or breaking.
• The stronger the material, greater is the load it can withstand.
• If the metals have high strength, they can withstand various loads
(tensile, compressive, shear, bending, torsion etc.)
Impact Strength
• Property of the metal which gives its ability to withstand shock or
impact or sudden loads.
• When impact load is applied within the elastic limit of the material,
that energy is absorbed by the material and given out when the load
is removed, as in case of spring materials.
• This property within an elastic limit is known as resilience.
• The impact loads may exist in shear, compressive, or tensile. Impact
strength can be measured by Charpy or Izod test.
Elasticity
• The property of metal and its ability to return to its shape and size
after removal of load or to regain its initial position or shape and size
when the applied load is removed.
• Some of the metals are not elastic; they have properties like
brittleness and hardness. Elasticity is a tensile property of its material.
• The greatest stress that a material can endure without taking up some
permanent deformation is called the elastic limit.
• Most of the metals have better elasticity such as heat treated springs
and coils made up of steel, copper, aluminum, etc.
Stiffness (Rigidity)
• The resistance of a material to deflection.
• It is the property of a metal due to which it resists deformation when
it is within the elastic limit.
• Stiffness is measured with Young’s modulus (E). Higher the value of
Young’s modulus, stiffer is the material.
Plasticity
• It is the property of a metal that gives the ability to deform non-
elastically; without fracture, they do not regain their original shape
and size when the applied load is removed.
• The material undergoes some degree of permanent deformation
without failure.
• Plasticity is the reverse of elasticity.
• Plasticity is useful in several mechanical processes like forming,
shaping, extruding, and many other hot and cold working processes.
Hardness
• It is the measurement of plastic deformation, and it is the resistance
to any plastic deformation.
• Hardness indicates the strength of the material.
• It is the ability of a material to resist scratching, abrasion, indentation,
or penetration.
Ductility
• It is the property of material or metal that represents plastic
deformation under tensile load, or it enables it to be drawn into wires
or elongated
• It is the opposite of brittleness.
Malleability
• It is the property of material or metal that represents plastic
deformation under compressive load, or it is the property of a metal
which enables it to roll into thin sheets or plates.
• Copper, aluminum, gold, wrought iron, steel alloys, and soft steel,
etc., are examples of good malleable materials.
Toughness
• It is the ability to absorb energy up to failure or fracture, or toughness
is the ability of a material to resist any deformations due to bending,
twisting, torsion, etc.
• It is measured by an impact test.
• Steel and steel alloys such as manganese steel, wrought iron, mild
steel, etc., usually, all ductile materials are tough materials.
Brittleness
• It is the property of a material and indicates fracture without
appreciable deformation, and is opposite to toughness and ductility.
Fatigue
• Fatigue represents the tendency to fracture under cyclic loading, or it
is the inability to withstand repeated and/or continuous application
and removal of loads or cyclic loads.
Creep
• It is the failure or deformation of the material under constant stress at
high temperature over a period of time.
• Amorphous materials like rubber belts and materials made of plastic
are sensitive to creep.
Strengthening Mechanisms in
Metals
Description
• strengthening mechanisms (modifying the yield strength, ductility,
and toughness of both crystalline and amorphous materials) give
engineers the ability to tailor the mechanical properties of materials
to suit a variety of different applications.
Types Strengthening Mechanisms in Metals
1. Work hardening
2. Solid solution strengthening and alloying
3. Precipitation hardening
4. Dispersion strengthening
5. Grain boundary strengthening
6. Transformation hardening
Work Hardening
• Work hardening (strain hardening) is the strengthening of a metal or
polymer by plastic deformation.
• This occurs because of dislocation movements and dislocation
generation within the crystal structure of the material. 
Solid Solution Strengthening and Alloying

• used to improve the strength of a pure metal.

• The technique works by adding atoms of one element (the alloying
element) to the crystalline lattice of another element (the base
metal), forming a solid solution. The local non-uniformity in the lattice
due to the alloying element makes plastic deformation more difficult
by impeding dislocation motion through stress fields.
• In contrast, alloying beyond the solubility limit can form a second
phase, leading to strengthening via other mechanisms (e.g.
the precipitation of intermetallic compounds).
Precipitation Hardening

• Precipitation hardening (age hardening or particle hardening) is a heat

treatment technique used to increase the yield
strength of malleable materials, including most structural alloys
of aluminum, magnesium, nickel, titanium, and
some steels and stainless steels.
• In super alloys, it is known to cause yield strength anomaly providing
excellent high-temperature strength.
Dispersion Strengthening

• Dispersion strengthening is a type of particulate strengthening in

which incoherent precipitates attract and pin dislocations. 
Grain Boundary Strengthening

• Grain-boundary strengthening (Hall–Petch strengthening) is a method

of strengthening materials by changing their average crystallite (grain) size.
• It is based on the observation that grain boundaries are insurmountable
borders for dislocations and that the number of dislocations within a grain
have an effect on how stress builds up in the adjacent grain, which will
eventually activate dislocation sources and thus enabling deformation in
the neighboring grain. Therefore by changing the grain size, one can
influence the number of dislocations piled up at the grain boundary
and yield strength.
• An example, heat treatment after plastic deformation and changing the
rate of solidification are ways to alter grain size.
Transformation hardening

• Used for hardening steel.

• High-strength steels generally fall into three basic categories, classified by
the strengthening mechanism employed.
1. solid-solution-strengthened steels (rephos steels) 
2. grain-refined steels or high strength low alloy steels (HSLA) 
3. transformation-hardened steels