Material properties
Understanding Material Properties
Structural Properties
- Density: The quantity of mass per unit volume; often used to compare solid materials.
- Elasticity: Is the ability of a material to return to its original shape after being deformed.
- Plasticity: Describes the ability of a material to permanently change shape under applied stress without breaking.
- Hardness: Denotes a material’s resistance to deformation or indentation.
Mechanical Properties
- Tensile Strength: This is the capacity of a material to withstand loads tending to elongate.
- Compressive Strength: This property expresses the resistance of a material to break under compression.
- Yield Strength: The stress at which a material begins to deform plastically.
- Fatigue Strength: The highest stress that a material can withstand for a specified number of cycles without breaking.
Thermal Properties
- Thermal Expansion: The increase in volume of a material due to a temperature increase.
- Melting Point: The temperature at which a substance changes state from solid to liquid.
- Thermal Conductivity: This is a measure of a material’s ability to conduct heat.
Electrical Properties
- Electrical Resistivity: The intrinsic property of a material that opposes the flow of electric current.
- Electrical Conductivity: It is a measure of a material’s ability to conduct an electric current.
- Dielectric Strength: The maximum electric field that a pure material can withstand under ideal conditions without breaking down (i.e., without experiencing failure of its insulating properties).
Chemical Properties
- Corrosion Resistance: This is the ability of a material to resist deterioration due to reaction with its environment.
- Oxidation Resistance: Resistance of a material to maintain its original structure in presence of oxygen.
- Biodegradability: This property indicates how quickly a material can decompose in the environment under natural conditions.
Optical Properties
- Transparency: This allows light to pass through the material without distortion.
- Opacity: This indicates whether the material is on the transparent or opaque spectrum.
- Refractive Index: Measures how much the path of light is bent, or refracted, when entering a material.