What's the difference between 'characteristics' of a material and the 'working properties' of it?

Question

I know I have asked this question beofre, but I've re-worded it slightly to hopefully get a better answer that I need.

Websites say different things and it's annoying!

Answer 1

characteristics of a material are what make a material a material, its ingredients... steel, aluminum,brass...

working properties depend on the material...like steels for instance. What do you want to do with the steel... wear surface, cutting, shock, work hardened etc...

Answer 2

In my opinion, characteristics are generally the physical and chemical properties of a material, and are effectively the result of the atomic structure.  The working properties are those which we are interested or require for a particular design purpose, and may be more aesthetic than strictly mechanical.

The colour of a material like copper is characteristic, but probably not of high importance if we need a material with good conductivity.  We may choose it for its colour in a situation like using it for roof cladding, where the colour is also an indication of its physical characteristic of forming self sealing oxide layers.

So as examples of characteristics we have:

density, electrical conductivity, colour, physical appearance, melting point, boiling point, chemical reactivity, acoustic velocity, atomic structure.

For working properties, we have possibilities like

- work hardening

- ductility

- elastic modulus

- homogeneity or anisotropy

- crystal structure(s).

But remember that some of our work properties may also be the characteristics of the material as well.

Answer 3

The working properties of a material are just one of its many characteristics.