The property of a metal to draw it into thin sheets is termed as ________.

Concept:

Malleability

• Malleability is the property by virtue of which a material may be hammered or rolled into thin sheets without rupture.
• This property generally increases with the increase of temperature.
• Malleability is the ability of a metal to exhibit large deformation or plastic response when being subjected to a compressive force.
• Lead, soft steel, wrought iron, copper, and aluminium are some materials in order of diminishing malleability.

Toughness

• It is defined as the ability of the material to absorb energy before a fracture takes place.
• This property is essential for machine components which are required to withstand impact loads.
• Tough materials have the ability to bend, twist, or stretch before failure takes place.
• Toughness is measured by Izod and Charpy impact testing machines.

Brittleness

• It is the opposite of ductility.
• Brittle materials show little deformation before fracture and failure occurs suddenly without any warning i.e. it is the property of breaking without much permanent distortion.
• Normally if the elongation is less than 5% the material is brittle. E.g. cast iron, glass, and ceramics are typical brittle materials.

Hardness

• Hardness is a measure of a metal's ability to withstand scratching, wear, and abrasion, indentation by harder bodies.