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I am confused with the terms Hard metal and Strong metal. Also which metal can withstand largest amounts of pressure or force For Example like bullet fires? I hear Tungsten is pretty hard Is it True Or is it Strong. Can it Withstand Bullets or Hammer etc.

Qmechanic
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Kashish
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2 Answers2

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The terms hardness and strength are indeed used somewhat interchangeably, without being exactly the same. It depends on definitions.

Hardness is fairly well befined by an empirical test, called the Vickers hardness test, which tends to correlate somewhat with elastic modulus and tensile strength.

"Strength" is harder to define but often Tensile Strength is intended by the term. Other engineering strength indicators may be yield strength or resistance to repeated dynamical stretching (resistance to 'metal fatigue').

I hear Tungsten is pretty hard. Is it True Or is it Strong?

Tungsten is a metal that can safely be described as both hard and strong.

Gert
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Here are two definitions for Wikipedia:

The strength of a material is its ability to withstand an applied load without failure or plastic deformation.
The hardness of a material is a measure of how resistant solid matter is to various kinds of permanent shape change when a compressive force is applied.

Strength is about the material behavong elastically ie returning back to its original shape when the stresses are removed whereas hardness gives you an indication of when a material will start to behave inelastically.

Farcher
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