• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
Gibbs Interwire

Gibbs Interwire

Gibbs-Online Login | Current Surcharges
800-800-4422 | Request A Quote »
  • Home
  • Strip
    • Stainless Steel Strip & Slit Coil
    • 301 Spring Tempered Strip
    • Precision Rolled Coil and Strip
    • High Carbon Steel Strip
    • Specialty Metals Strip
    • Red Metal Strip
  • Wire
    • Stainless Steel Spring Wire
    • Carbon Spring Wire | Music Wire | Spring Wire
    • Nickel Alloy Spring Wire
    • Red Metals Spring Wire
    • Flat, Shaped & Square Wire
  • Capabilities
    • Wire Capabilities
    • Strip Capabilities
    • Narrow Width Slitting
    • Traverse / Oscillate Wound Strip
    • Coil Edging and Skiving Capabilities
    • Precision Toll Slitting and Coil Processing
  • Toll Processing
  • Quality
    • Code of Conduct
  • Industries
  • About Us
  • Locations
  • Blog
  • Show Search
Hide Search

Tensile Strength, Yield Strength, Elongation, & Hardness: Defined

Kellie Geissler · August 3, 2022 ·

Customers often require their material to meet certain metal mechanical properties: tensile strength, yield strength, elongation, and hardness. Our in-house metallurgical expert, Gene Sheldon, explains the meaning behind these four properties (all of which can be found on your Gibbs certificate).

Tensile Strength:

The maximum load the material can bear before it fails.  The unit of measure is Stress, which is the applied load divided by the parts cross–sectional area.

The greater the tensile strength the more load the material can bear before it fails.

Occasionally stress is reported in ksi.

  • 1000 pounds = 1 kilopound, 100,000 pounds = 100 kilopounds.
  • 100,000 pounds per square inch (psi) = 100 kilopounds per square inch i.e., ksi.

Yield Strength:

The maximum load the material can bear before taking a permanent set.  The unit of measure is Stress, which is the applied load divided by the parts cross–sectional area.

When a load is applied to a material it stretches. The greater the load the more the material stretches.

When the load is less than the yield strength, the material returns to its original shape when the load is removed.

When the load exceeds the yield strength, the material stretches when the load is applied. When the load is removed the material will contract slightly, but it will not go back to its original shape – there will be a permanent set. The greater the yield strength the greater the load can be applied before the material takes a permanent set.

Elongation:

The maximum amount the material can be stretched before it breaks.  The unit of measure is % Elongation, which is the ratio of the amount the material stretched when it broke relative to the starting length.

  • The calculation is [(Lfinal/Lstart)-1]* 100 = % Elongation

Hardness:

The material’s resistance to indentation.  Typically, hardness is reported as a Rockwell number.

Hardness is determined by placing an indenter on the metal surface, applying a specific load to the indenter, and measuring the depth of the indentation.

  • The softer the material the deeper the indentation.
  • The hardness values are inversely proportional to the depth of the indentation (the deeper the indentation the lower the hardness value.
    • The depth of the indentation in the stale taffy is less than the depth of the indentation in the fresh taffy, indicating the stale taffy is harder than the fresh taffy.
  • There is a direct relationship between the hardness and metal strength.
    • The harder the material the higher the tensile strength.
  • Hardness is typically reported in a number of ways depending on the type of apparatus used. 
    • Rockwell machines = HRB, HRC
    • Vickers machines = HV

Uncategorized

Gibbs Interwire is an ISO 9001:2015 Processor and Distributor of Strip Coil and Wire Products in Stainless Steel, Carbon Steel, Nickel Alloys, and Red Metals

Finished Cuts
in Stock
Finished Cuts in Stock
Current Alloy
Surcharges
Current Alloy Subcharges
Freight quote
(Freightquote.com)
Freight quote (Freightquote.com)
UPS
Tracking
UPS Tracking

Technical Toolbox

Try our useful TECHNICAL DATA SHEETS & CONVERSION CALCULATOR for your Material Requirements

Certifications & Associations

ISO 9001:2015 Bureau Veritas Certification SAE International ASTM Reach Regulation Chicago Association of Spring Manufacturers, Inc. PMA | Precision Metalforming Association American Brush Manufacturers Association Air Duct Council New England Spring and Metal Stamping Association Spring Manufacturers Institute

Mailing List

Register for our Gibbs Interwire newsletter. Receive updates on what's new at Gibbs Interwire along with industry insight.

Join Our Mailing List  Join Our Mailing List

Social Media

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
  • Gibbs Interwire
  • Metals Drive
  • P.O. Box 520
  • Southington, CT 06489
  • ph: 860.621.0121
  • fx: 860.628.7780
  • All deliveries use 4 Metals Drive, Plantsville, CT 06479
  • Request A Quote
  • Careers
  • View All Locations »

Affiliates

© 2017 Gibbs Wire & Steel Company LLC, All rights reserved

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Sitemap
  • Catalog Index
  • Anti Trafficking/Slavery Policy
This site uses cookies, for more information view our privacy policy Accept All
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT