Engineering Material Properties

• Engineering
• Further Education (Key Stage 5)

Engineering Material Properties

By Kyle Smith

Recall three key points from the previous lesson.

Material Properties

and their definitions.....

What Do you know about a materials 'strength'?

STRENGTH 

The ability of a material to resist external forces. It is called

tensile, compressive, or shear strength depending on the load.

What do you know about 'material toughness'?

TOUGHNESS 

Ability of a metal to absorb energy and deform plastically

before fracturing. 

Work per unit volume required to fracture a metal

and is equal to the area under the stress strain curve.

What does 'elasticity' mean in terms of a material?

Elasticity

The ability of a material to return to its original form after

the load has been removed.

Describe the terms -Hardness and Brittleness in your own words.

Hardness

The property of metal to resist being permanently deformed.

This is divided into three categories, resistance to penetration, resistance

to abrasion and elastic hardness.

Brittleness

The property of materials to not deform under load, but

to break suddenly, for example, cast iron and glass are brittle. Brittleness

is opposite to plasticity.

Plasticity

The quality of material such that it can be deformed without

breaking. Clay is completely a plastic material. Metals exhibit plasticity

in varying amounts.

Based on todays class, state two new things you have learned and why.