Are you wondering about the difference between Ductility and Malleability? Both are the mechanical properties of materials. Sound knowledge of these properties is a must for the person dealing with the applications of material science, especially for an engineer.
Now let’s understand the difference between them. But before we do that, let’s first understand what metal is…
What is Metal?
A solid substance that is generally hard, has a glossy appearance which is able to reflect light, conducts heat and electricity both comparatively well, and is malleable as well as ductile is known as metal.
The several properties of metals are hard, lustrous, malleable, ductile, sonorous (producing a ringing sound when hit by hammer), and good conductors of both heat as well as electricity.
Note that these properties are not present in every metal. Some may possess some of these properties and some may possess some other properties from this list.
A few examples of metals can be Iron, silver, gold, lead, aluminium, copper etc.
Now let’s get to ductility and malleability…
Ductility is the property or ability of a material due to which you can deform it plastically under tension without causing it to break or crack. By virtue of this property, the materials can be stretched into wires.
Malleability is the property of a material due to which you can compress it without fracture. By virtue of this property, materials can be compressed into sheets.
We can also say that ductile materials convert well in wires and the malleable materials convert well in the thin sheets.
Both of these two properties are mainly possessed by metals. The most ductile material is Platinum and the most malleable material is gold.
Let’s define both of these properties…
Definition of Ductility
A metal is said to be ductile when it can be converted into thin wires or threads before it breaks or gets fractured. It is converted into thin wires or threads by applying a sufficient amount of stress which is called tensile stress.
Tensile stress results in the elongation of solid and it is defined as the application of stretching force to both the ends of a solid material, which causes the two ends of the metal to pull away from each other and get converted into thin wires or threads without breaking the metal at all.
However, If there is excessive tensile stress, it may lead to breaking or fracturing of the metal. Ductile metals generally possess high malleability, which implies that these metals can be hammered and changed into very thin sheets very easily.
Few examples of ductile metals are copper, lead, iron, and nickel.
Definition of Malleability
A metal is said to possess malleability when it is possible to convert it into thin sheets by beating it up with a hammer. It is done by the application of an external force on the metal, which is known as compressive stress.
Compressive stress is the kind of external force which is capable of deforming the metal. It makes a change in the material by making a reduction in its volume, if applied in a more than required quantity it may lead to damage or fracture and break that metal.
When a metal goes through the required amount of compressive stress, it starts changing into thin sheets without breaking at all. If a metal is malleable, it does not mean that it will also be ductile. It may or may not possess the property of being ductile. Few examples of malleable metals are gold, silver, lead, aluminium, etc.
Below I have explained the points of difference between both of these two mechanical properties of materials in a more detailed and comprehensive way:
Difference Between Malleability and Ductility
- Malleability is the property by virtue of which a material can be compressed without fracture and on the other hand, Ductility is the property by virtue of which a material can be stretched without fracture.
- Malleability allows you to apply the compressive force on the material. And, on the other hand, ductility allows you to apply the tensile force on the material.
- Ductility helps in producing wires and on the other hand Malleability helps in producing thin sheets.
- You can measure the ductility of a material by measuring the tensile strength and on the other hand, you can measure the malleability by measuring the compressive strength.
- When there is an increase in temperature, the Malleability of a material increases. On the other hand, Ductility decreases with an increase in temperature.
- A material having high Malleability may not have high ductility. But on the other hand, if a material has high ductility, most probably it may also have high malleability.
So these are some of the most important points highlighting the difference between Malleability and Ductility. What other difference do you think is there between both of these properties. Share your views in the comments below. If you have any doubt you can ask your query also in the comments below. And, if you think there is another person in your contact who is also searching for the information shared in this article, please share the link of this post with him also.
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