Ductility is strictly defined as the ability of a material to be drawn into a wire. More generally, it is used to refer to the amount of plastic deformation a material can endure before failure.

Ductility is not a uniquely defined material property, quantifiable by a single test. Instead, there are a number of tests that are used to give a measure of ductility.

The test chosen will usually depend on the application in which the alloy is to be used.

Drag the slider below to view two methods of measuring ductility.