Materials :
There are a wide variety of material parameters, and while we can sometimes find the ideal material for a certain application, we must usually balance trade offs. It's important to have a general idea of the required material properties before you begin evaluating alternatives.
Each of the links below will take you to a page containing some basic material properties. The pages denoted with an asterisk also contain videos and load/displacement data from tensile and/or compressive testing.
Note - To process the data files, you may find it easiest to import them into Matlab. The script extract.m should help with this.
Metals
Ferrous:
Cold-Rolled Low-Carbon Steel (C1018) *
Hot-Rolled Low-Carbon Steel (A36) *
Cold-Rolled Medium-Carbon Steel (C1045) *
Hot-Rolled Medium-Carbon Steel (C1045) *
Chromoly Steel (4140) *
Stainless Steel (304) *
Cuprous:
Light Alloys:
Polymers
General Properties and Definitions
Thermoplastics:
Polyamide (PA, Nylon) *
Polycarbonate (PC, Lexan) *
Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) *
Polyetherimide (PEI, Ultem)
Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET, Polyester)
Polymethyl methacrylide (PMMA, Acrylic, Lucite, Plexiglass) *
Polyoxymethylene (POM, Delrin) *
Polystyrene (PS)
Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)
Polyvinylchloride (PVC) *
Chlorinated Polyvinylchloride (CPVC)
Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF, Kynar)
Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE)
High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) *
Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMW-PE)
Thermosets
Organics
Woods: