Strength When designing structures such as bridges, engineers carefully choose the materials by anticipating the forces the materials (the structural components) are expected to experience during their lifetimes. Usually, ductile materials such as steel, aluminium and other metals are used for components that experience tensile loads. Brittle materials such as concrete, ceramics and glass are used for components that experience compressive loads.

Stability For example, when a column is loaded axially to its buckling limit, it will experience what is called instability. Any further loading or even the slightest introduction of a lateral force such as wind, will cause it to fail by buckling. Resistance to time-dependent deformation such as creep can be thought of as a result of material stability.

Fire resistance A fire resistant material is one that is designed to resist burning and withstand heat. It is used in the bunker gear worn by firefighters to protect them from the flames of a burning building. Most auto racing drivers also wear fire-retardant materials in case their car catches fire. Fire- retardant materials are designed to burn slowly, different to fire-resistant materials, which are designed to never burn.

Thermal insulation Thermal insulation is the reduction of heat transfer (the transfer of thermal energy between objects of differing temperature) between objects in thermal contact or in range of radiative influence. Thermal insulation can be achieved with specially engineered methods or processes, as well as with suitable object shapes and materials. Heat flow is an inevitable consequence of contact between objects of differing temperature. Thermal insulation provides a region of insulation in which thermal conduction is reduced or thermal radiation is reflected rather than absorbed by the lower- temperature body. The insulating capability of a material is measured with thermal conductivity. Low thermal conductivity is equivalent to high insulating capability (R-value). In thermal engineering, other important properties of insulating materials are product density.

Sound insulation 1. The use of structures and materials designed to reduce the transmission of sound from one room or area of a building to another or from the exterior to the interior of a building. 2. The degree by which sound transmission is reduced by means of sound-insulating structures and materials.