Material Properties Lookup
Look up mechanical and thermal properties for common engineering materials.
Results
Material selection requires comparing mechanical and thermal properties across candidates. This lookup provides the five most important engineering properties for common materials: density (weight), Young's modulus (stiffness), yield strength (load capacity), thermal conductivity (heat transfer) and thermal expansion coefficient (dimensional stability). Values are typical handbook numbers for standard grades.
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Frequently asked questions
Carbon steel (AISI 1020) has density 7850 kg/m³, E = 200 GPa, yield strength 350 MPa, thermal conductivity 51.9 W/m·K and CTE of 12 µm/m·°C.
Aluminum 6061-T6 is 3× lighter (2700 vs 7850 kg/m³) but has 1/3 the stiffness (69 vs 200 GPa) and lower yield (276 vs 350 MPa). Strength-to-weight ratio favors aluminum.
Titanium Grade 5 has the best strength-to-weight ratio: yield 880 MPa at only 4430 kg/m³. That is 2.5× stronger than steel at 56% the weight. However, it costs 10-20× more.
Carbon fiber composite has yield strength around 3500 MPa - 10× stronger than steel - at only 1600 kg/m³ (5× lighter). Its Young's modulus of 230 GPa exceeds steel's. The main drawback is brittle failure.
Copper leads at 388 W/m·K, followed by aluminum at 167 W/m·K. Steel is 51.9, stainless steel only 16.3 and titanium just 6.7. This is why copper is used in heat sinks and heat exchangers.