The composition of a material describes the chemical elements or compounds that are contained in the material. The spatial ordered arrangement of constituent atoms or molecules in a material defines its microstructure.

The behavior and arrangement of constituent atoms and molecules in a material determine how the material respond to external influences or forces- mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical and magnetic. A material with finer microstructure tends to show better strength and ductility than a material with coarser microstructure.

The material suitable for a particular application would be the most cost effective material that meets the minimum application requirements and compatibility with other materials in the process and service environments. Selecting the most suitable material depends on methodical evaluation of the interrelationship between the processing method used and/or variable; the desired structure of the material; and the required properties of the material as they relate to performance expectations.

Ductility defines the ability of a material to be plastically deformed without fracture; the property of metals to considerably elongate under tensile stresses, locally necks before eventual fracture. Commonly, this property is quantitatively evaluated by measuring the percentage elongation and reduction of area in tested tensile specimens.

Fatigue strength is highest stress for a number of cyclic cycles a material can endure without failure. Endurance limit is the value of the applied alternating stress below which a material can endure an infinite number of cycles without failure. Fatigue strength defines highest stress for a number of cycles while fatigue limit defines stress limit for infinite load cycles.

Fractography is the systemic study, often via microscopic examination, of characteristics and features of fracture surface with the primary goal of understanding the mode and root cause(s) of the failure.

Equiaxed grain structure describes the microstructure in which the grains have approximately the same dimensions in all directions.