A material's property (or material property) is an intensive property of some material, 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. Materials properties that relate to different physical phenomena often behave linearly (or approximately so) in a given operating range^{[further explanation needed]}. Modeling them as linear can significantly simplify the differential constitutive equations that the property describes.

Some materials are used in relevant equations to predict the attributes of a system a priori.

The properties are measured by standardized test methods. Many such methods have been documented by their respective user communities and published through the Internet; see ASTM International.

Acoustical properties[edit]

• Acoustical absorption


• Speed of sound


• Sound reflection


• Third order elasiticty (Acoustoelastic effect)

Atomic properties[edit]

• 
  Atomic mass:applies to all elements


• 
  Atomic number: applies to pure elements only


• 
  Atomic weight: applies to individual isotopes or specific mixtures of isotopes of a given element

Chemical properties[edit]

• Corrosion resistance


• Hygroscopy


• pH


• Reactivity


• Specific internal surface area


• Surface energy


• Surface tension

Electrical properties[edit]

• Capacitance


• Dielectric constant


• Dielectric strength


• Electrical resistivity and conductivity


• Electrocaloric coefficient


• Electrostriction


• Magnetoelectric Polarizability


• Nernst coefficient (thermoelectric effect)


• Permittivity


• 
  Piezoelectric constants


• Pyroelectricity


• Seebeck coefficient

Environmental properties[edit]

• Embodied energy


• Embodied water

Magnetic properties[edit]

• Curie temperature


• Diamagnetism


• Hall coefficient


• Hysteresis


• Magnetostriction


• Magnetocaloric coefficient


• Magnetothermoelectric power (magneto-Seebeck effect coefficient)


• Magnetoresistance


• Permeability


• Piezomagnetism


• Pyromagnetic coefficient


• Spin Hall effect

Manufacturing properties[edit]

• 
  Castability: How easily a quality casting can be obtained from the material


• Machinability rating


• Machining speeds and feeds
  

Mechanical properties[edit]

• 
  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. brass has highest bulk modulus of 116 GPa.


• 
  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


• 
  Ductility: Ability of a material to deform under tensile load (% elongation)


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


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


• Flexural modulus


• 
  Flexural strength : The stresses in a material just before it yields.


• 
  Fracture toughness: Ability of a material containing a crack to resist fracture (J/m^2)


• 
  Hardness: Ability to withstand surface indentation and scratching (e.g. Brinnell 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.


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


• 
  Shear strength: Maximum shear stress a material can withstand


• 
  Slip: 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: Strength per unit density (Nm/kg)


• 
  Specific weight: 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: Maximum tensile stress of a material can withstand before failure (MPa)


• 
  Toughness: Ability of a material to absorb energy (or withstand shock) and plastically deform without fracturing (or rupturing); a material's resistance to fracture when stressed; combination of strength and plasticity


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


• 
  Yield strength: The stress at which a material starts to yield plastically (MPa)


• 
  Young's modulus: Ratio of linear stress to linear strain (MPa)


• 
  Strength of materials (relation of various strengths)

Optical properties[edit]

• 
  Absorbance - How strongly a chemical attenuates light


• Birefringence


• Color


• Electro-optic effect


• Luminosity


• Optical activity


• Photoelasticity


• Photosensitivity


• Reflectivity


• Refractive index


• Scattering


• Transmittance

Radiological properties[edit]

• Neutron cross-section


• Specific activity


• Half life

Thermal properties[edit]

• Binary phase diagram


• Boiling point


• Coefficient of thermal expansion


• Critical temperature


• Curie point


• Emissivity


• Eutectic point


• Flammability


• Flash point


• Glass transition temperature


• Heat of vaporization


• Inversion temperature


• Melting point


• Specific heat


• Thermal conductivity


• Thermal diffusivity


• Thermal expansion


• Triple point


• Vapor pressure


• Specific heat capacity

See also[edit]

• Physical property


• Supervenience


• List of thermodynamic properties