• id: JME-08-N13
• title: Ductile vs Brittle Materials
• tags: ductile, brittle, fracture, toughness

Ductile materials (copper, steel, aluminium) have large plastic deformation regions before fracture — they can be drawn into wires. Their stress-strain curves show a long plateau after yield. Brittle materials (glass, cast iron, ceramics) fracture with very little plastic deformation — they snap suddenly. Ductile materials have higher toughness (total area under curve) while brittle materials may have higher ultimate strength but lower energy absorption. Elastomers (rubber) have very large elastic strain (up to 800%) but low Young's modulus.