Ductility in construction

Ductility (or ductile) describes a material that possesses a relatively large plastic region, in that it can be deformed, worked and reworked many times before it is likely to fail or become brittle. Formally it is defined by the degree to which a material can sustain plastic deformation under tensile stress before it fails. . This is different from a malleable material which can be flattened into sheets through compressive forces.

Ductile metals have the capacity to be drawn into a wire without fracturing. This is an important characteristic in manufacturing and occurs due to the nature of metallic bonds in aluminium, copper and magnesium alloys, whilst cast iron is less ductile and fails due to its brittleness as do tungsten and high-carbon steel.

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings

• Bending moment.
• Brittleness
• Compression.
• Compressive strength.
• Construction materials.
• Deflection.
• Elasticity
• Hardness
• Force.
• Malleability
• Moment.
• Point of contraflexure.
• Plasticity
• Stiffness.
• Strength
• Toughness
• Types of structural load.

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