Properties of materials: more than physical and chemical

Structural properties
These aren’t really ‘properties’ – more like definitions that relate to what’s under the hood. The
goal here is to relate structure to properties.

Composition The kinds and relative count of elements, ions or other constituents in a
material; chemical formula, percent in an alloy, etc. Note that a single
composition can have different structures, for instance allotropes of sulfur or
polymorphs in iron-carbon systems. The basic starting point is:
Composition Bonding
Metals metallic elements metallic
Ceramics metals + nonmetals ionic & covalent
Polymers carbon, hydrogen covalent

Crystal structure Atomic scale order; the manner in which atoms or ions are spatially
arranged. It is defined in terms of unit cell geometry. A material with long-
range order is called crystalline (contrasted with amorphous).

Microstructure The structural features that can be seen using a microscope, but seldom with
the naked eye; ranges from glassy to crystalline; includes grain boundaries
and phase structures.

Physical properties
These are the standard properties that we teach in chemistry class.

State Solid, liquid or gas; not as simple as it may seem.

Density Mass of a material per unit volume. Low density, high strength materials are
desirable for manufacturing aircraft and sporting equipment.

Magnetism The physical attraction for iron, inherent in a material or induced by moving
electric fields. Iron, cobalt, nickel and gadolinium are inherently
ferromagnetic.

Solubility The maximum amount of a solute that can be added to a solvent. Solubility is
complex in some solid materials, for instance the ones that form eutectic
mixtures; a good starting point to discuss complex phase diagrams.

Viscosity Resistance of a material (usually liquid) to flow. Plastics and glasses become
less viscous with increasing temperature.

Mechanical properties
The concepts of stress, strain, elasticity, deformation and failure are necessary to understand and
interpret mechanical properties.

Malleability The ability of a material to be reshaped in all directions (plastic deformation)

without failure; related to ductility and sometimes called workability; an
important characteristic of metals.

Ductility The ability of a material to change shape (deform) usually by stretching along
its length; closely related to tensile strength.

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Strength Strength is not a precisely defined mechanical property, as there are many
types of strength. Collectively, it means the ability of a material to stand up
to forces being applied without it bending, breaking, shattering or deforming.
A strong material is one able to withstand large stresses before either
breaking or deforming. Some materials have different strengths according to
the nature of the stress applied. Concrete, for example, is strong under
compression but has relatively poor tensile strength.

Tensile strength The maximum strength, in tension (pulling), that can be absorbed without
fracturing, breaking, or snapping. Low tensile strength can be an indicator of
defects in crystal structure.

Flexural strength Applied stress at the time of fracture from a test in which the stress is
perpendicular to the axis of deformation (bending); generally used to
characterize beams.

Hardness The resistance to being permanently deformed or bent; measured by

distance of penetration into the material. There are several scales used to
measure hardness, so mineral hardness (Mohs scale) is not the same as
metal hardness (Brinell scale). Metals are often 'worked' or heat-treated to
increase their hardness, for instance in the manufacture of tools such as
hammers, which really need to be hard.

Toughness A characteristic of a material that relates to its response to sudden blows or

shocks. Toughness can be expressed as the amount of energy required for
creating or propagating a crack. Closely related to resilience.

Brittleness The absence of ductility; failure by sudden fracture (no plastic deformation);
characteristic of ceramic materials.

Elasticity The ability of a material to absorb force and flex in different directions,
returning to its original position once the stress is removed. Polymers are
desirable for their elasticity.

Plastic deformation The ability of a material to permanently change shape, without failure, with
an applied force. Creep is a specific plastic deformation in which the material
is subjected to long-term stresses below its normal yield strength.

Stiffness A stiff material is one for which a large stress (force applied per unit of cross-
sectional area) is required to produce a small strain (fractional change in
length). The ratio of stress to strain is known as the Young's modulus of the
material.

Electrical properties
For the sake of this summary, electricity is defined as the flow of electrons.

Conductivity A measure of how easily a material allows electrical current to flow through.
Metals like copper, aluminum and iron have much higher electrical
conductivities than ceramics, plastics, glass and rubber.

Resistivity The reciprocal of electrical conductivity; a measure of a material’s resistance

to the flow of electric current. Resistivity is an important concept in
semiconductors; depends on electronic structure, temperature and
microstructure.

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Dielectric strength Dielectric properties describe the response of dielectric materials (poor
conductors) to applied electric fields and depend on polarization of electric
charges. Dielectric strength is the strength of an electric field necessary to
cause significant electric flow through a dielectric material.

Chemical properties
Generally, lack of reactive chemistry is desirable for materials; this is a good place to look through
those MSD sheets.

Toxicity A measure of a material’s ability to damage or disrupt the metabolism of

living tissue; can be acute or chronic; can be administered by contact,
inhalation, ingestion, or injection. The dose makes the poison.

Chemical A material’s ability to withstand degradation from acids, solvents, water, or

resistance oxygen (corrosion is a special process); generally marked by weight change,
discoloration, cracking, or change in mechanical properties.

Corrosion Corrosion is an electrochemical process that is closely related to the activity

resistance series. An ion high on the list will replace a metal lower on the list.
Mg > Al > Zn > Cr > Fe > Sn > Ni > Cu > Ag > Au
Corrosion is strongly dependent on environmental variables.

Combustibility A material’s ability to catch fire and burn; important for organic materials and
reactive metals (especially finely divided).

Passivity The loss of chemical reactivity by some active metals and alloys, frequently
by formation of a thin oxide surface coating.

Biocompatibility Use in or on the human body without eliciting a rejection response from the
surrounding body tissues; includes materials made of polymers, metals,
ceramics, and composites.

Thermal properties
Think about heating a rod: it gets hot, it expands, it conducts heat, it may soften or melt. These
properties are described (in order) below.

Specific heat The efficiency of a material in absorbing heat. High specific heat means a
material heats fast and cools down fast. By definition, the specific heat of a
material is the energy required to raise the temperature of 1 g of that
material by 1 °C. Water has an anomalously high specific heat.

Thermal expansion Nearly all materials expand when heated and contract when cooled. The
extent to which this happens is the coefficient of thermal expansion. Bridges
are designed with expansion joints so they don’t buckle due to thermal
expansion.

Thermal Thermal conductivity is the rate at which heat flows through a material. It
conductivity depends on the flow of both electrons and phonons.

Glass transition The point at which a polymer or glass changes between a rigid solid and a
temperature viscous fluid (reversible). The rate at which a glass or polymeric liquid cools
affects the extent of crystallization and resulting mechanical properties.

Melting point The temperature at which liquid begins to form as a material is heated. Not
all materials have distinct melting points, and many materials have phase
transition temperatures in which crystal structure changes.

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Optical properties
Optical properties relate to a material’s response to electromagnetic radiation, primarily visible
light. Light can be absorbed, transmitted, or reflected. Optical properties are important for all
materials, not just transparent materials (think photoelectric effect).

Transmissivity A measure of a material’s ability to allow the passage of light; the ratio of
transmitted light to incident light.

Absorptivity A measure of a material’s ability to absorb light as is passes through; the

ratio of absorbed light to incident light.

Index of refraction The ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum to the speed of light as is passes
through a material; a measure of how much light ‘bends’ as it passes from
one medium to another.

Photoconductivity Some materials become positively charged when exposed to radiation, due to
the ejection of electrons (photoelectrons). Photoconductivity describes the
increase in conductivity as a result of incident light; use it to teach quantum
mechanics.

Polarization Orientation polarization results from the alignment (by rotation) of

permanent electric dipole moments. As a result, only the incident light that is
aligned to the material’s ‘slits’ can pass through. Used to develop sunglasses
and LCDs. Note that there are many uses for the word polarization.

Sources of information

William D. Callister, Jr. Materials Science and Engineering - An introduction. John Wiley & Sons,
New York, NY. Sixth Edition, 2003.

James A. Jacobs and Thomas F. Kilduff. Engineering Materials Technology. Pearson Education,
Upper Saddle River, NJ. Fifth Edition, 2005.

TechnologyStudent.com. http://www.technologystudent.com/index.htm.
Illustrated properties of materials are found under ‘Resistant materials.’ Accessed June 2005.

Beginners Guides to Measurement – Materials. http://www.npl.co.uk/publications/materials/.

Accessed June 2005.

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