What are examples of ductile materials?


Quick Answer

Aluminum, copper, tin, mild steel, platinum and lead are examples of ductile materials. Ductile materials can be stretched without breaking and drawn into thin wires. Ductility is an important property for manipulating these metals by hammering, drawing or rolling. It makes possible their use for making electrical wires, pipes, plates and other metalworks.

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Full Answer

Ductile materials have varying degrees of ductility depending on temperature, metallic bonds, material constituents and working process to which the material is subjected. Varying the temperature can either make a material more or less ductile. For example, lead and tin are ductile while cold, but they become brittle when heated to their melting points. Therefore, the temperature at which a metal transitions from being ductile to brittle must be considered in the selection of materials in addition to knowing the mechanical processes to which is to be subjected.

Materials are also highly ductile because of their characteristic metallic bonds. As such, metals are generally ductile, but the composition of these metallic materials is not always pure. They have alloying constituents, which affects ductility. For example, increasing the carbon component of steel decreases ductility. Another example is zinc, which is brittle at low temperature, but when heated up and alloyed with copper to form brass, it becomes somewhat ductile as well.

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