About MakeItFrom.com

MakeItFrom.com is a database of engineering material properties. The selection of available materials is carefully curated. The data is generated by a survey of technical literature, including both academic books and supplier documentation.

The two best starting points for exploring the database are the browse list on the home page, and the keyword search field in the menu on any page.

Material names start with the most internationally recognized name or designation, and then list some alternate names in parentheses. In the case of metals, any given alloy is likely to have at least a few equivalent or comparable versions from different designation systems. These are generally not identical, but rather similar enough to be interchangeable in most cases.

Many materials are presented in both a general form, and a number of variants. Variants are more specific versions of the same material. For example, "6061 Aluminum" is a specific alloy composition; it has a particular density, melting point, Young's modulus, and so on. However, properties such as tensile strength and elongation vary with heat treatment. A number of variant materials, such as 6061-O and 6061-T6, are therefore linked to 6061 aluminum. Each of these variants has different mechanical properties, while the main material displays ranges for the affected quantities.

For individual properties, every effort has been made to cite single, representative values. Property ranges arising from processing variation are not large, and are averaged. Much larger ranges arise from subject ambiguity.

For example, "Polycarbonate" covers a functionally infinite number matrix-filler combinations based on the polycarbonate polymer. Instead of citing a range of property values to cover everything that could conceivably be called Polycarbonate (which is not helpful, and largely doomed to be inaccurate), the material is broken down into a set of variants. Each of these variants corresponds to the most likely thing you would find when looking for a material with that name. In cases where value ranges are cited for specific combinations of composition and processing history, it is a case of either anisotropy or a simple failure of the technical literature to agree on a specific value.

Please direct all questions and comments to feedback@makeitfrom.com.

If you are looking for information on a material not currently included in the database, or a property not listed under a given material, feel free to let us know. We might not be able to add this information quickly, but we will make an effort to find it.