one-word-term for flexibility of metal

May 26, 2013 12:24 AM

Looking for a one-word-term that describes the flexibility specifically of metal that will 'bend rather than break'; its flexibility is its strength. I guess I'm looking for a fancy word for 'pliable' , but 'pliable' is too generic a term. There's probably something nifty-sounding in Japanese for it, one imagines. Thanks all.
posted by aesop to Writing & Language (23 answers total)

Ductility?
posted by zsazsa at 12:27 AM on May 26, 2013

That's called "toughness". It's the measure of how much a metal can deform without fracturing. IE bend but not break.
posted by Justinian at 12:28 AM on May 26, 2013

Ductility is a little different. Ductility is a measure of whether a metal can deform without losing toughness.
posted by Justinian at 12:29 AM on May 26, 2013

elasticity could be what you're looking for, or maybe plasticity.

Elastic things return to their original shape after being deformed, plastic things (the quality of being plastic, not the polymers we call plastic) will, once deformed, retain the new deformed shape. Metals have both qualities.
posted by Sunburnt at 12:29 AM on May 26, 2013

Tensile strength ?
posted by honey-barbara at 12:29 AM on May 26, 2013

Or maybe toughness..
posted by Justinian at 12:33 AM on May 26, 2013

Malleable (or malleability, if you're after the noun). Wikipedia explains the difference between malleability and ductility quite neatly.

[On edit: actually I think Justinian had it with Toughness. I didn't read your question carefully enough.]
posted by pont at 12:33 AM on May 26, 2013

Malleability applies only to compressive stress.
posted by Justinian at 12:36 AM on May 26, 2013

Toughness corresponds to the total amount of energy you can put into the metal before it breaks, so it includes the metal's ability to bend both before and after the yield point. Before the yield point the metal is "springy"; when you remove the force, the metal will return to its original shape. After that — when it's permanently deformed, but not yet broken; in fact the ongoing plastic deformation is absorbing energy that would be breaking a more brittle metal — is also included in toughness.

This page has a chart comparing the concepts of strength, toughness, and ductility as used in engineering.
posted by hattifattener at 1:11 AM on May 26, 2013

This is great - I'm more interested in exploring the various terms for 'it'* in different languages than in the technical differentiations, however - kind of a 'language, not science' question... Thank you for your answers so far, everyone. I'm most grateful.

*'it' probably being different ways to convey that specific meaning of 'toughness' by the looks of things.
posted by aesop at 1:39 AM on May 26, 2013

If you follow the link to the Japanese version of the Wikipedia page Justinian links to ("日本語" on the left) and compare it to a Google Translate rendition of the same page, it appears to mention two or three different words used to mean the same thing in metallurgy. (I have only the crudest understanding of written Japanese, though, so I won't take any guesses as to how they're pronounced.)
posted by XMLicious at 1:57 AM on May 26, 2013

Brittleness is the opposite of what you are looking for, and the wikipedia article on brittleness seems to indicate that ductility is indeed the opposite. Since bending is stretching in a different axis.
posted by gjc at 2:18 AM on May 26, 2013

I'm extremely surprised nobody has mentioned the word "resilient." While it doesn't necessarily only describe metal, its definition that comes up in google almost perfectly mirrors your wording.
posted by GooseOnTheLoose at 4:36 AM on May 26, 2013

I worked as a metal fabricator ages ago. The term you're thinking of is "plasticity".
posted by No Shmoobles at 5:43 AM on May 26, 2013

Metal's tendency to break is described by the word "friable". I also agree with "plasticity" being your word.
posted by humboldt32 at 9:44 AM on May 26, 2013

Hmmm, I think I was thinking of my soils class re: friable. It's more breaking into pieces, which isn't really what metal does. I still like plasticity.
posted by humboldt32 at 9:51 AM on May 26, 2013

I've heard "plastification" used by structural engineers to describe the tendency of steel to suddenly stretch when pushed past its failure point -- plasticity as opposed to elasticity.
posted by suedehead at 10:04 AM on May 26, 2013

Which is to say, elasticity if you're thinking of the metal returning to its original shape, plasticity if you're talking about it retaining its new shape. (Or what Sunburnt said above.)
posted by suedehead at 10:06 AM on May 26, 2013

I worked in the steel industry for some 20 years, and it seems to me that the term you're looking for is "ductility" (as mentioned above). The standard tests used to determine the physical properties of steel are Rockwell, Olsen and Elongation. These all tell the buyer how much the steel can be bent, stretched or formed without any breakage, fractures, or structural damage - in short, the ductility of the steel.
posted by Oriole Adams at 12:10 PM on May 26, 2013

Bendyness
posted by BenPens at 2:57 PM on May 26, 2013

You mention a nifty-sounding Japanese word. Well, it is 靭性. (jinsei - じんせい). I am not sure how nifty it is, but there you have it.
posted by Tanizaki at 7:53 PM on May 26, 2013

Thanks everyone. I'm tempted to leave it open so the metallurgical controversies can continue.
I can attest to the niftiness of jinsei. Niftiness is inevitably in the ear of the beholder and in this case it's there in bucketloads.

However, I think I have my answer. Thanks everyone.
posted by aesop at 4:23 AM on May 28, 2013

rigidity?
posted by stenseng at 12:50 PM on May 28, 2013