A materials property is an intensive property of a

material Material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geolo ...

, i.e., a physical property that does not depend on the amount of the material. These quantitative properties may be used as a metric by which the benefits of one material versus another can be compared, thereby aiding in materials selection. A property may be a constant or may be a function of one or more independent variables, such as temperature. Materials properties often vary to some degree according to the direction in the material in which they are measured, a condition referred to as

anisotropy Anisotropy () is the property of a material which allows it to change or assume different properties in different directions, as opposed to isotropy. It can be defined as a difference, when measured along different axes, in a material's physic ...

. Materials properties that relate to different physical phenomena often behave linearly (or approximately so) in a given operating range. Modeling them as linear functions can significantly simplify the differential constitutive equations that are used to describe the property. Equations describing relevant materials properties are often used to predict the attributes of a system. The properties are measured by standardized

test method A test method is a method for a test in science or engineering, such as a physical test, chemical test, or statistical test. It is a definitive procedure that produces a test result. In order to ensure accurate and relevant test results, a test m ...

s. Many such methods have been documented by their respective user communities and published through the Internet; see

ASTM International ASTM International, formerly known as American Society for Testing and Materials, is an international standards organization that develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems, ...

Acoustical properties

* Acoustical absorption * Speed of sound *

Sound reflection Reflection is the change in direction of a wavefront at an interface between two different media so that the wavefront returns into the medium from which it originated. Common examples include the reflection of light, sound and water waves. The ' ...

*Sound transfer *Third order elasticity (

Acoustoelastic effect The acoustoelastic effect is how the sound velocities (both longitudinal and shear wave velocities) of an elastic material change if subjected to an initial static stress field. This is a non-linear effect of the constitutive relation between mec ...

)

Atomic properties

Atomic mass The atomic mass (''m''a or ''m'') is the mass of an atom. Although the SI unit of mass is the kilogram (symbol: kg), atomic mass is often expressed in the non-SI unit dalton (symbol: Da) – equivalently, unified atomic mass unit (u). 1&nb ...

: Applies to all elements. The average mass of the atoms of an element measured in atomic mass unit. *

Atomic number The atomic number or nuclear charge number (symbol ''Z'') of a chemical element is the charge number of an atomic nucleus. For ordinary nuclei, this is equal to the proton number (''n''p) or the number of protons found in the nucleus of every ...

: Applies to pure elements only *

Atomic weight Relative atomic mass (symbol: ''A''; sometimes abbreviated RAM or r.a.m.), also known by the deprecated synonym atomic weight, is a dimensionless physical quantity defined as the ratio of the average mass of atoms of a chemical element in a giv ...

: Applies to individual

isotope Isotopes are two or more types of atoms that have the same atomic number (number of protons in their nuclei) and position in the periodic table (and hence belong to the same chemical element), and that differ in nucleon numbers (mass numb ...

s or specific mixtures of isotopes of a given element

Chemical properties

* Corrosion resistance *

Hygroscopy Hygroscopy is the phenomenon of attracting and holding water molecules via either absorption or adsorption from the surrounding environment, which is usually at normal or room temperature. If water molecules become suspended among the substance' ...

* pH * Reactivity * Specific internal surface area * Surface energy * Surface tension

Electrical properties

Capacitance Capacitance is the capability of a material object or device to store electric charge. It is measured by the change in charge in response to a difference in electric potential, expressed as the ratio of those quantities. Commonly recognized ar ...

* Dielectric constant *

Dielectric strength In physics, the term dielectric strength has the following meanings: *for a pure electrically insulating material, the maximum electric field that the material can withstand under ideal conditions without undergoing electrical breakdown and beco ...

* Electrical resistivity and conductivity *

Electric susceptibility In electricity (electromagnetism), the electric susceptibility (\chi_; Latin: ''susceptibilis'' "receptive") is a dimensionless proportionality constant that indicates the degree of polarization of a dielectric material in response to an applie ...

* Electrocaloric coefficient *

Electrostriction Electrostriction (cf. magnetostriction) is a property of all electrical non-conductors, or dielectrics, that causes them to change their shape under the application of an electric field. Explanation Electrostriction is a property of all dielectri ...

*Magnetoelectric polarizability * Nernst coefficient (thermoelectric effect) *

Permittivity In electromagnetism, the absolute permittivity, often simply called permittivity and denoted by the Greek letter ''ε'' (epsilon), is a measure of the electric polarizability of a dielectric. A material with high permittivity polarizes more in ...

Piezoelectric Piezoelectricity (, ) is the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials—such as crystals, certain ceramics, and biological matter such as bone, DNA, and various proteins—in response to applied mechanical stress. The word '' ...

constants *

Pyroelectricity Pyroelectricity (from the two Greek words ''pyr'' meaning fire, and electricity) is a property of certain crystals which are naturally electrically polarized and as a result contain large electric fields. Pyroelectricity can be described as the a ...

Seebeck coefficient The Seebeck coefficient (also known as thermopower, thermoelectric power, and thermoelectric sensitivity) of a material is a measure of the magnitude of an induced thermoelectric voltage in response to a temperature difference across that material ...

Magnetic properties

Curie temperature In physics and materials science, the Curie temperature (''T''C), or Curie point, is the temperature above which certain materials lose their permanent magnetic properties, which can (in most cases) be replaced by induced magnetism. The Cur ...

Diamagnetism Diamagnetic materials are repelled by a magnetic field; an applied magnetic field creates an induced magnetic field in them in the opposite direction, causing a repulsive force. In contrast, paramagnetic and ferromagnetic materials are attracte ...

Hall coefficient The Hall effect is the production of a voltage difference (the Hall voltage) across an electrical conductor that is transverse to an electric current in the conductor and to an applied magnetic field perpendicular to the current. It was discov ...

* Hysteresis *

Magnetostriction Magnetostriction (cf. electrostriction) is a property of magnetic materials that causes them to change their shape or dimensions during the process of magnetization. The variation of materials' magnetization due to the applied magnetic field chan ...

* Magnetocaloric coefficient * Magnetothermoelectric power ( magneto-Seebeck effect coefficient) * Magnetoresistance *

Maximum energy product In magnetics, the maximum energy product is an important figure-of-merit for the strength of a permanent magnet material. It is often denoted and is typically given in units of either (kilojoules per cubic meter, in SI electromagnetism) or (me ...

* Permeability * Piezomagnetism * Pyromagnetic coefficient * Spin Hall effect

Manufacturing properties

Castability Castability is the ease of forming a quality casting. A very castable part design is easily developed, incurs minimal tooling costs, requires minimal energy, and has few rejections.Ravi, p. 2 Castability can refer to a part design or a material pro ...

: How easily a quality casting can be obtained from the material * Machinability rating *Machining speeds and feeds

Mechanical properties

* Brittleness: Ability of a material to break or shatter without significant deformation when under stress; opposite of plasticity, examples: glass, concrete, cast iron, ceramics etc. * Bulk modulus: Ratio of pressure to volumetric compression (GPa) or ratio of the infinitesimal pressure increase to the resulting relative decrease of the volume * Coefficient of restitution: The ratio of the final to initial relative velocity between two objects after they collide. Range: 0-1, 1 for perfectly elastic collision. * Compressive strength: Maximum stress a material can withstand before compressive failure (MPa) * Creep: The slow and gradual deformation of an object with respect to time. If the s in a material exceeds the yield point, the strain caused in the material by the application of load does not disappear totally on the removal of load. The plastic deformation caused to the material is known as creep. At high temperatures, the strain due to creep is quite appreciable. *

Ductility Ductility is a mechanical property commonly described as a material's amenability to drawing (e.g. into wire). In materials science, ductility is defined by the degree to which a material can sustain plastic deformation under tensile str ...

: Ability of a material to deform under tensile load (% elongation). It is the property of a material by which it can be drawn into wires under the action of tensile force. A ductile material must have a high degree of plasticity and strength so that large deformations can take place without failure or rupture of the material. In ductile extension, a material that exhibits a certain amount of elasticity along with a high degree of plasticity. *

Durability Durability is the ability of a physical product to remain functional, without requiring excessive maintenance or repair, when faced with the challenges of normal operation over its design lifetime. There are several measures of durability in us ...

: Ability to withstand wear, pressure, or damage; hard-wearing * Elasticity: Ability of a body to resist a distorting influence or stress and to return to its original size and shape when the stress is removed *

Fatigue limit The fatigue limit or endurance limit is the stress level below which an infinite number of loading cycles can be applied to a material without causing fatigue failure. Some metals such as ferrous alloys and titanium alloys have a distinct limit, ...

: Maximum stress a material can withstand under repeated loading (MPa) *

Flexibility Stiffness is the extent to which an object resists deformation in response to an applied force. The complementary concept is flexibility or pliability: the more flexible an object is, the less stiff it is. Calculations The stiffness, k, of a bo ...

: Ability of an object to bend or deform in response to an applied force; pliability; complementary to stiffness *

Flexural modulus In mechanics, the flexural modulus or bending modulus is an intensive property that is computed as the ratio of stress to strain in flexural deformation, or the tendency for a material to resist bending. It is determined from the slope of a stres ...

Flexural strength Flexural strength, also known as modulus of rupture, or bend strength, or transverse rupture strength is a material property, defined as the stress in a material just before it yields in a flexure test. The transverse bending test is most frequ ...

: Maximum bending stress a material can withstand before failure (MPa) * Fracture toughness: Ability of a material containing a crack to resist fracture (J/m^2) *

Friction coefficient Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and material elements sliding against each other. There are several types of friction: *Dry friction is a force that opposes the relative lateral motion of t ...

: The amount of force normal to surface which converts to force resisting relative movement of contacting surfaces between material pair *

Hardness In materials science, hardness (antonym: softness) is a measure of the resistance to localized plastic deformation induced by either mechanical indentation or abrasion. In general, different materials differ in their hardness; for example hard ...

: Ability to withstand surface indentation and scratching (e.g. Brinell hardness number) * Malleability: Ability of the material to be flattened into thin sheets under applications of heavy compressive forces without cracking by hot or cold working means.This property of a material allows it to expand in all directions without rupture. * Mass diffusivity: Ability of one substance to diffuse through another * Plasticity: Ability of a material to undergo irreversible or permanent deformations without breaking or rupturing; opposite of brittleness *

Poisson's ratio In materials science and solid mechanics, Poisson's ratio \nu ( nu) is a measure of the Poisson effect, the deformation (expansion or contraction) of a material in directions perpendicular to the specific direction of loading. The value of Po ...

: Ratio of lateral strain to axial strain (no units) * Resilience: Ability of a material to absorb energy when it is deformed elastically (MPa); combination of strength and elasticity *

Shear modulus In materials science, shear modulus or modulus of rigidity, denoted by ''G'', or sometimes ''S'' or ''μ'', is a measure of the elastic shear stiffness of a material and is defined as the ratio of shear stress to the shear strain: :G \ \stackre ...

: Ratio of shear stress to shear strain (MPa) *

Shear strength In engineering, shear strength is the strength of a material or component against the type of yield or structural failure when the material or component fails in shear. A shear load is a force that tends to produce a sliding failure on a materi ...

: Maximum shear stress a material can withstand *

Slip Slip or SLIP may refer to: Science and technology Biology * Slip (fish), also known as Black Sole * Slip (horticulture), a small cutting of a plant as a specimen or for grafting * Muscle slip, a branching of a muscle, in anatomy Computing and ...

: A tendency of a material's particles to undergo plastic deformation due to a dislocation motion within the material. Common in Crystals. * Specific modulus: Modulus per unit volume (MPa/m^3) *

Specific strength The specific strength is a material's (or muscle's) strength (force per unit area at failure) divided by its density. It is also known as the strength-to-weight ratio or strength/weight ratio or strength-to-mass ratio. In fiber or textile applic ...

: Strength per unit density (Nm/kg) *

Specific weight The specific weight, also known as the unit weight, is the weight per unit volume of a material. A commonly used value is the specific weight of water on Earth at , which is .National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (2005). ''Fu ...

: Weight per unit volume (N/m^3) * Stiffness: Ability of an object to resist deformation in response to an applied force; rigidity; complementary to flexibility * Surface roughness: The deviations in the direction of the normal vector of a real surface from its ideal form *

Tensile strength Ultimate tensile strength (UTS), often shortened to tensile strength (TS), ultimate strength, or F_\text within equations, is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before breaking. In brittle materials t ...

: Maximum tensile stress of a material can withstand before failure (MPa) *

Toughness In materials science and metallurgy, toughness is the ability of a material to absorb energy and plastically deform without fracturing.Viscosity The viscosity of a fluid is a measure of its resistance to deformation at a given rate. For liquids, it corresponds to the informal concept of "thickness": for example, syrup has a higher viscosity than water. Viscosity quantifies the inte ...

: A fluid's resistance to gradual deformation by tensile or shear stress; thickness *

Yield strength In materials science and engineering, the yield point is the point on a stress-strain curve that indicates the limit of elastic behavior and the beginning of plastic behavior. Below the yield point, a material will deform elastically and ...

: The stress at which a material starts to yield plastically (MPa) *

Young's modulus Young's modulus E, the Young modulus, or the modulus of elasticity in tension or compression (i.e., negative tension), is a mechanical property that measures the tensile or compressive stiffness of a solid material when the force is applied le ...

: Ratio of linear stress to linear strain (MPa)

Optical properties

Absorbance Absorbance is defined as "the logarithm of the ratio of incident to transmitted radiant power through a sample (excluding the effects on cell walls)". Alternatively, for samples which scatter light, absorbance may be defined as "the negative lo ...

: How strongly a chemical attenuates light * Birefringence *

Color Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are assoc ...

Electro-optic effect Electro–optics is a branch of electrical engineering, electronic engineering, materials science, and material physics involving components, electronic devices such as lasers, laser diodes, LEDs, waveguides, etc. which operate by the propag ...

* Luminosity * Optical activity *

Photoelasticity Photoelasticity describes changes in the optical properties of a material under mechanical deformation. It is a property of all dielectric media and is often used to experimentally determine the stress distribution in a material, where it gives ...

Photosensitivity Photosensitivity is the amount to which an object reacts upon receiving photons, especially visible light. In medicine, the term is principally used for abnormal reactions of the skin, and two types are distinguished, photoallergy and phototoxicit ...

* Reflectivity *

Refractive index In optics, the refractive index (or refraction index) of an optical medium is a dimensionless number that gives the indication of the light bending ability of that medium. The refractive index determines how much the path of light is bent, or ...

* Scattering *

Transmittance Transmittance of the surface of a material is its effectiveness in transmitting radiant energy. It is the fraction of incident electromagnetic power that is transmitted through a sample, in contrast to the transmission coefficient, which is t ...

Radiological properties

Neutron cross-section In nuclear physics, the concept of a neutron cross section is used to express the likelihood of interaction between an incident neutron and a target nucleus. The neutron cross section σ can be defined as the area in cm2 for which the number of ...

Specific activity Specific activity is the activity per unit mass of a radionuclide and is a physical property of that radionuclide. Activity is a quantity (for which the SI unit is the becquerel) related to radioactivity, and is defined as the number of radi ...

* Half life

Thermal properties

* Binary phase diagram * Boiling point *

Coefficient of thermal expansion Thermal expansion is the tendency of matter to change its shape, area, volume, and density in response to a change in temperature, usually not including phase transitions. Temperature is a monotonic function of the average molecular kineti ...

* Critical temperature *

Curie point In physics and materials science, the Curie temperature (''T''C), or Curie point, is the temperature above which certain materials lose their permanent magnetic properties, which can (in most cases) be replaced by induced magnetism. The Cur ...

* Ductile-to-brittle transition temperature *

Emissivity The emissivity of the surface of a material is its effectiveness in emitting energy as thermal radiation. Thermal radiation is electromagnetic radiation that most commonly includes both visible radiation (light) and infrared radiation, which is n ...

* Eutectic point *

Flammability A combustible material is something that can burn (i.e., ''combust'') in air. A combustible material is flammable if it ignites easily at ambient temperatures. In other words, a combustible material ignites with some effort and a flammable mat ...

* Flash point * Glass transition temperature * Heat of vaporization * Inversion temperature *

Melting point The melting point (or, rarely, liquefaction point) of a substance is the temperature at which it changes state from solid to liquid. At the melting point the solid and liquid phase exist in equilibrium. The melting point of a substance depen ...

Thermal conductivity The thermal conductivity of a material is a measure of its ability to conduct heat. It is commonly denoted by k, \lambda, or \kappa. Heat transfer occurs at a lower rate in materials of low thermal conductivity than in materials of high thermal ...

Thermal diffusivity In heat transfer analysis, thermal diffusivity is the thermal conductivity divided by density and specific heat capacity at constant pressure. It measures the rate of transfer of heat of a material from the hot end to the cold end. It has the SI ...

Thermal expansion Thermal expansion is the tendency of matter to change its shape, area, volume, and density in response to a change in temperature, usually not including phase transitions. Temperature is a monotonic function of the average molecular kinetic ...

Triple point In thermodynamics, the triple point of a substance is the temperature and pressure at which the three phases (gas, liquid, and solid) of that substance coexist in thermodynamic equilibrium.. It is that temperature and pressure at which the sub ...

Vapor pressure Vapor pressure (or vapour pressure in English-speaking countries other than the US; see spelling differences) or equilibrium vapor pressure is defined as the pressure exerted by a vapor in thermodynamic equilibrium with its condensed phas ...

Specific heat capacity In thermodynamics, the specific heat capacity (symbol ) of a substance is the heat capacity of a sample of the substance divided by the mass of the sample, also sometimes referred to as massic heat capacity. Informally, it is the amount of heat t ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Materials Properties Chemical properties Materials science Physical quantities