Fareed Mohmed · Engineering
Mechanical Properties of Engineering Materials
Sort · Compare · Select
A working reference table of density, stiffness, strength, ductility, hardness and thermal conductivity across the materials most commonly specified in machine design. Click any column heading to sort.
Property Table
Values are typical figures for the commercial condition noted against each material (e.g. annealed, cold-drawn, quenched & tempered) — actual properties vary with exact temper, heat treatment, section size and supplier. Use these for comparison and first-pass selection, and confirm against the mill certificate or datasheet for a critical design.
| A36 / S235JR Mild SteelCarbon Steel | 7.85 | 200.0 | 250 | 450 | 20.0 | 119 | 51.9 |
| 1018 / C15 Low-Carbon Steel (cold-drawn)Carbon Steel | 7.87 | 205.0 | 370 | 440 | 15.0 | 126 | 51.9 |
| 1045 / C45 Medium-Carbon Steel (normalized)Carbon Steel | 7.85 | 200.0 | 375 | 625 | 16.0 | 170 | 49.8 |
| 1045 / C45 Medium-Carbon Steel (Q&T)Carbon Steel | 7.85 | 200.0 | 530 | 700 | 12.0 | 201 | 49.8 |
| 4140 / 42CrMo4 Alloy Steel (Q&T)Alloy Steel | 7.85 | 205.0 | 655 | 1020 | 13.0 | 302 | 42.6 |
| S355JR Structural SteelCarbon Steel | 7.85 | 200.0 | 355 | 510 | 20.0 | 150 | 51.9 |
| 4340 Alloy Steel (Q&T)Alloy Steel | 7.85 | 205.0 | 862 | 1110 | 12.0 | 302 | 44.5 |
| D2 Tool Steel (hardened)Tool Steel | 7.70 | 210.0 | 1500 | 1900 | 2.0 | 595 | 20.0 |
| Ductile Iron (60-40-18)Cast Iron | 7.10 | 169.0 | 276 | 414 | 18.0 | 150 | 36.0 |
| Grey Cast Iron (Class 30)Cast Iron | 7.20 | 100.0 | — | 214 | 0.5 | 200 | 46.0 |
| Stainless Steel 304 (annealed)Stainless Steel | 8.00 | 193.0 | 215 | 505 | 40.0 | 150 | 16.2 |
| Stainless Steel 316 (annealed)Stainless Steel | 8.00 | 193.0 | 205 | 515 | 40.0 | 150 | 16.3 |
| Stainless Steel 410 (hardened)Stainless Steel | 7.80 | 200.0 | 700 | 850 | 15.0 | 250 | 24.9 |
| Aluminum 6061-T6Aluminum | 2.70 | 68.9 | 276 | 310 | 12.0 | 95 | 167.0 |
| Aluminum 7075-T6Aluminum | 2.81 | 71.7 | 503 | 572 | 11.0 | 150 | 130.0 |
| Aluminum 5052-H32Aluminum | 2.68 | 70.3 | 193 | 228 | 12.0 | 60 | 138.0 |
| Brass C360 (free-cutting, half-hard)Copper Alloy | 8.50 | 97.0 | 310 | 380 | 18.0 | 78 | 115.0 |
| Bronze C932 (bearing bronze, cast)Copper Alloy | 8.64 | 103.0 | 125 | 241 | 20.0 | 63 | 59.0 |
| Copper C110 (ETP, annealed)Copper Alloy | 8.94 | 117.0 | 69 | 220 | 45.0 | 40 | 391.0 |
| Titanium Ti-6Al-4V (annealed)Titanium | 4.43 | 113.8 | 880 | 950 | 14.0 | 334 | 6.7 |
| Acetal (Delrin / POM)Engineering Plastic | 1.41 | 2.9 | 65 | 69 | 25.0 | — | 0.3 |
| Nylon 6/6 (dry)Engineering Plastic | 1.14 | 2.9 | 83 | 83 | 60.0 | — | 0.2 |
| UHMW-PEEngineering Plastic | 0.94 | 0.7 | 21 | 40 | 350.0 | — | 0.4 |
Explanatory Notes
Why some cells read "—"
Not every material has a meaningful value for every property. Brittle materials like grey cast iron don't show a defined yield point, so only tensile strength is listed. Plastics aren't rated on the Brinell hardness scale used for metals, so hardness is left blank rather than filled with a converted or guessed figure.
Condition matters as much as the material name
The same alloy can vary hugely in strength depending on how it was processed. 1045 steel normalized sits around 375 MPa yield; the same 1045 quenched & tempered climbs to roughly 530 MPa. When you specify a material, specify the condition too — annealed, cold-drawn, or a heat-treatment callout.
Stiffness (E) is not strength
Elastic modulus tells you how much a part deflects under a given load, not how much load it can take before it yields or breaks. Steel and its alloys share almost the same modulus (~200 GPa) regardless of grade — going to a higher-strength steel gets you more load capacity, not a stiffer part. Only changing material family (steel vs aluminum vs titanium) meaningfully shifts stiffness.
Elongation as a ductility signal
Elongation at break is a rough proxy for how much a material deforms before fracturing — useful for judging impact tolerance and formability, not just static strength. Tool steels and hardened alloys trade elongation away for strength and wear resistance; annealed copper and UHMW-PE sit at the other end, absorbing large strains without failing outright.
Related tools
For fastener-specific strength figures by property class, see Bolt Grades — Axial, Shear & Torque. To find a material's closest equivalent grade in another national standard, see Material Grade Equivalents. To use these yield and tensile figures directly in a shaft calculation, see the Shaft Design Calculator.