Metal Properties Database

MechaniCalc Metal Properties Database compared with ASM Handbooks and Granta Selector
MechaniCalc Metal Properties Database	ASM Handbooks	Granta Selector
Content and scope: The database lists yield and ultimate strength, elastic modulus, Poisson ratio, elongation, density, condition, form and size for metals. It is built to feed the MechaniCalc calculators, not to document alloys in depth.	Content and scope: ASM Handbooks Online is a reference series on metals and nonmetallic materials, with enhanced search and filtering. It gives narrative and tabular information on alloys, processing and behaviour, far beyond a property list.	Content and scope: Granta Selector holds MaterialUniverse, a comparable dataset with technical, economic and environmental data for thousands of engineering materials. It covers metals but also polymers, composites and coatings.
Data provenance: The tool page does not name the standards or the sources behind its entries, so values should be checked against your own specification or mill certificate.	Data provenance: The content is published by ASM International as authoritative handbook material, which makes it suited to citation in design and quality documents.	Data provenance: The software combines design data, manufacturer datasheets, standards-based information and test data, and adds records with each release (2026 R1 lists new metals and polymers).
Use in calculations: Materials are used directly in the MechaniCalc calculators. Users can search by family and minimum yield strength, export to Excel and plot an estimated stress-strain curve based on the Ramberg-Osgood equation, which is an approximation and not a test curve.	Use in calculations: Data is read and applied by the engineer. The service is a library, so values are copied into calculations or simulation inputs by hand.	Use in calculations: The software filters on property limits, plots property charts and exports simulation-ready data to Ansys tools and third-party CAE, so it is closer to a selection workflow than to a lookup.
Licence and cost: Limited free use is available. Creating custom materials needs a paid subscription (Individual, Group or Classroom plans).	Licence and cost: Commercial subscription. Handbooks Online is licensed for a single user, with a reduced rate for ASM members, and a multi-user All-Access option is also offered.	Licence and cost: Commercial desktop licence. Pricing is not published, access goes through Ansys sales or a demo request.
When to choose it: Choose it for quick strength and modulus values to run a hand calculation or a MechaniCalc analysis, with a unit switch between SI and US.	When to choose it: Choose it when you need documented metallurgical background, heat treatment or failure analysis context behind a property value.	When to choose it: Choose it for systematic material selection across material classes, with cost and environmental criteria and a link to simulation.

MechaniCalc Metal Properties Database compared with ASM Handbooks and Granta Selector

MechaniCalc Metal Properties Database

ASM Handbooks

Granta Selector

Content and scope: The database lists yield and ultimate strength, elastic modulus, Poisson ratio, elongation, density, condition, form and size for metals. It is built to feed the MechaniCalc calculators, not to document alloys in depth.

Content and scope: ASM Handbooks Online is a reference series on metals and nonmetallic materials, with enhanced search and filtering. It gives narrative and tabular information on alloys, processing and behaviour, far beyond a property list.

Content and scope: Granta Selector holds MaterialUniverse, a comparable dataset with technical, economic and environmental data for thousands of engineering materials. It covers metals but also polymers, composites and coatings.

Data provenance: The tool page does not name the standards or the sources behind its entries, so values should be checked against your own specification or mill certificate.

Data provenance: The content is published by ASM International as authoritative handbook material, which makes it suited to citation in design and quality documents.

Data provenance: The software combines design data, manufacturer datasheets, standards-based information and test data, and adds records with each release (2026 R1 lists new metals and polymers).

Use in calculations: Materials are used directly in the MechaniCalc calculators. Users can search by family and minimum yield strength, export to Excel and plot an estimated stress-strain curve based on the Ramberg-Osgood equation, which is an approximation and not a test curve.

Use in calculations: Data is read and applied by the engineer. The service is a library, so values are copied into calculations or simulation inputs by hand.

Use in calculations: The software filters on property limits, plots property charts and exports simulation-ready data to Ansys tools and third-party CAE, so it is closer to a selection workflow than to a lookup.

Licence and cost: Limited free use is available. Creating custom materials needs a paid subscription (Individual, Group or Classroom plans).

Licence and cost: Commercial subscription. Handbooks Online is licensed for a single user, with a reduced rate for ASM members, and a multi-user All-Access option is also offered.

Licence and cost: Commercial desktop licence. Pricing is not published, access goes through Ansys sales or a demo request.

When to choose it: Choose it for quick strength and modulus values to run a hand calculation or a MechaniCalc analysis, with a unit switch between SI and US.

When to choose it: Choose it when you need documented metallurgical background, heat treatment or failure analysis context behind a property value.

When to choose it: Choose it for systematic material selection across material classes, with cost and environmental criteria and a link to simulation.