Malleability

Malleability is the ability of a solid to deform under compression without fracturing. It allows materials such as metals to be hammered or rolled into thin sheets.

Plastic deformation: Permanent deformation that remains after a material is unloaded. Malleability is the capacity for plastic deformation under compressive stress.
Compressive stress: Stress that tends to shorten or squeeze a material. Compression is the loading condition under which malleability is defined.
Forging: A manufacturing process that shapes material by localized compressive forces, often using a hammer or press. Forging depends on a material deforming under blows without cracking.
Ductility: The ability of a material to undergo tensile plastic deformation before fracture. Ductility concerns stretching, whereas malleability concerns deformation under compression.
Dislocation: A line defect in a crystal lattice around which atoms are misaligned. Dislocation motion lets crystalline metals deform without breaking all atomic bonds at once.
Tensile stress: Stress that tends to stretch or lengthen a material. A material may deform under compression yet behave differently when pulled.
Rolling: A process that reduces or shapes material by passing it between rotating rolls. Rolling compresses malleable metals into sheets, plates, or shaped stock.
Brittleness: A tendency to fracture with little plastic deformation. Brittleness opposes the substantial shape change without fracture that malleability permits.
Slip system: A crystallographic plane and direction along which dislocations move readily. The availability of slip systems helps determine how readily a metal can be flattened.
Strain: A measure of deformation expressed as change in dimension relative to an original dimension. Strain quantifies the shape change that a malleable solid can sustain.

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