Guide to Tensile Strength

What is tensile strength? In layman's terms, it is the measurement of the force required to stretch a material until it breaks. The test is done to see how much pulling force a material can withstand before it reaches the breaking point. This is extremely important in many fields such as mechanical engineering, material science, and perhaps the most important, structural engineering.

There are three different ways tensile strength is measured: the yield strength, the ultimate strength, and the breaking strength. The yield strength is the amount of stress that you can put on a material without it breaking and deforming. The yield point is the point at which the material will no longer return to its original form and become permanently deformed. The ultimate strength is the maximum amount of stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled. The breaking strength refers to the point on the stress-strain curve where the material can no longer withstand the stress of the tension and it breaks.

Below is a guide to the tensile strengths of several common materials.

Typical tensile strengths of some materials
Material Yield strength Ultimate tensile strength Density
(MPa) (MPa) (g/cm³)
Steel, structural ASTM A36 steel 250 400–550 7.8
Steel, 1090 mild 247 841 7.58
Chromium-vanadium steel AISI 6150 620 940 7.8
Human skin 15 20 2
Steel, 2800 Maraging steel 2617 2693 8
Steel, AerMet 340 2160 2430 7.86
Steel, Sandvik Sanicro 36Mo logging cable precision wire 1758 2070 8
Steel, AISI 4130, water quenched 855 °C (1570 °F), 480 °C (900 °F) temper 951 1110 7.85
Steel, API 5L X65 448 531 7.8
Steel, high strength alloy ASTM A514 690 760 7.8
Acrylic, clear cast sheet (PMMA) 72 87 1.16
High-density polyethylene (HDPE) 26–33 37 0.85
Polypropylene 12–43 19.7–80 0.91
Steel, stainless AISI 302 – cold-rolled 520 860 8.19
Cast iron 4.5% C, ASTM A-48 130 200 7.3
"Liquidmetal" alloy 1723 550–1600 6.1
Beryllium 99.9% Be 345 448 1.84
Aluminium alloy 2014-T6 414 483 2.8
Polyester resin (unreinforced) 55 55
Polyester and chopped strand mat laminate 30% E-glass 100 100
S-Glass epoxy composite 2358 2358
Aluminium alloy 6061-T6 270 310 2.7
Copper 99.9% Cu 69 220 8.92
Cupronickel 10% Ni, 1.6% Fe, 1% Mn, balance Cu 130 350 8.94
Brass 200 + 500 8.73
Tungsten 941 1510 19.25
Glass 33 2.53
E-Glass N/A 1500 for laminates, 2.57
3450 for fibers alone
S-Glass N/A 4710 2.48
Basalt fiber N/A 4840 2.7
Marble N/A 15 2.6
Concrete N/A 2–5 2.7
Carbon fiber N/A 1600 for laminates, 1.75
4137 for fibers alone
Carbon fiber (Toray T1000G)(the strongest man-made fibres) 6370 fibre alone 1.8
Human hair 140–160 200–250
Bamboo 350–500 0.4
Spider silk (see note below) 1000 1.3
Spider silk, Darwin's bark spider 1652
Silkworm silk 500 1.3
Aramid (Kevlar or Twaron) 3620 3757 1.44
UHMWPE 24 52 0.97
UHMWPE fibers (Dyneema or Spectra) 2300–3500 0.97
Vectran 2850–3340
Polybenzoxazole (Zylon) 2700 5800 1.56
Wood, pine (parallel to grain) 40
Bone (limb) 104–121 130 1.6
Nylon, molded, type 6/6 450 750 1.15
Nylon fiber, drawn 900 1.13
Epoxy adhesive – 12–30 –
Rubber – 16
Boron N/A 3100 2.46
Silicon, monocrystalline (m-Si) N/A 7000 2.33
Ultra-pure silica glass fiber-optic strands 4100
Sapphire (Al2O3) 400 at 25 °C, 275 at 500 °C, 345 at 1000 °C 1900 3.9–4.1
Boron nitride nanotube N/A 33000 2.62
Diamond 1600 2800 3.5
Graphene N/A 130000 1
First carbon nanotube ropes ? 3600 1.3
Colossal carbon tube N/A 7000 0.116
Carbon nanotube (see note below) N/A 11000–63000 0.037–1.34
Carbon nanotube composites N/A 1200 N/A
High-strength carbon nanotube film N/A 9600 N/A
Iron (pure mono-crystal) 3 7.874
Limpet Patella vulgata teeth (Goethite) 4900
3000–6500

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