Property Search Technique

This page will help users to utilize the full power of:
MatWeb Property Search Page - Metric Units - MatWeb Property Search Page - Common US Units.
More options are available to users who register with us.

Select a search category of materials such as "Ceramics" and up to three material properties (with ranges) and MatWeb will identify materials from the specific category that meet the criteria.  You can set whether the material must meet only one or all of the ranges using the radio buttons.

As an example, you have an application that requires a fluoropolymer or acetal that has a density between 1.5 and 2.0 g/cc, AND a Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (at 20�C) between 80 and 100 �m/m-�C, AND a Melting Point below 250�Celsius.  This search has been typed for you below in the copy of our Search Page, with the radio button selected to match ALL material property ranges (a logical "AND").  To see the results of this search, click the button labeled "Submit Form".

If you are searching for materials that meet your property specification(s), and a material in MatWeb does not have that data point available, then that material is not returned from the search.  Click here for more details.

Property Search Tips

The following advanced tips will help you to take full advantage of our property-based search pages for Metric and Common US unit systems.

1.  Using the Second Search Category - The obvious use of this option is to expand your search among similar materials - such as including aluminum AND magnesium alloys in a search for lightweight structural metals.  This option is also useful when trying to find dissimilar materials with similar properties.  For example, you could use the second search category to find metals AND ceramics with matching thermal expansion coefficients.

2.  Screening materials for properties - When you perform a property search on MatWeb, a results page is returned with material names and property values (for up to three properties).  You can use these results pages as effective screening tools by using a very broad range for the property min/max on your search and selecting the "at least 1" button.  From this point, you can go back and input more restrictive search criteria (by tightening the ranges or requiring all the property criteria to be matched) or follow the links directly to the material data sheet for more information.

3.  Unavailable data points - If you are searching for materials that meet your property specification(s), and a material in MatWeb does not have that data point available, then that material is not returned from the search.  Click here for more details.

4.  Using the "All or at least One" property match feature on the Search Page (Step 5)  - This feature can be used several different ways:

• Make your search less restrictive - Suppose you've chosen three material property ranges and few/no materials are returned in the search results.  There could be several reasons for this.  One reason could simply be that the materials you want do not exist or they may not yet be entered in MatWeb (we're still growing!).  Or perhaps no results were found because one or more of the selected material properties is uncommon and not available for many materials.  For example, the coefficient of friction is a critical property for polymers used in bearings and slide plates but is seldom reported for other polymers.  Whatever the reason, revising the search to return materials that meet at least one property range instead of all three will return more materials.  Then, once the results are displayed, you can determine which materials are a close match and decide whether or not they are acceptable.  If too many materials are returned, then you can revise your search.

• Different tests for reporting the similar properties - One recurring problem in searching for materials based on property data is that the same intrinsic property can be measured by many different tests.  It seems that there are almost as many hardness scales as there are materials - Barcol, Brinell, Knoop, Shore, Rockwell, and Vickers.  Similarly, Izod, Charpy, and Gardner tests all measure impact resistance. Tensile strength and elongation can be reported at yield or at break.

  As an example, of the 37,000 polymers in MatWeb, data for Tensile Strength at Break is available for only 67% and Tensile Strength at Yield for only 36%; but almost 87% have one OR the the other.  In this case, you could simultaneously search on Tensile Strength at BOTH break and yield and choose the "match at least 1" button.  You would be assured of finding all appropriate polymers this way.

  The technical staff at MatWeb converts hardness values among the somewhat comparable scales for metals to facilitate your searches.  Since these conversions are empirical, we note converted data in the data sheet comments.  Not every scale or test is comparable to another, so it's good practice to familiarize yourself with different methods.  We do not attempt conversions between the polymer hardness scales.