ductility

/dəkˈtɪləti/

Ductility is the quality of being pliable and flexible, like a piece of metal that can be bent into a thin wire.

Metals like silver, lead, and copper have ductility — a metalsmith can bend, hammer, and even stretch these materials without breaking or shattering them. Things like Silly Putty and Play-Doh also have ductility, but your ceramic mug and plastic sunglasses don't. Ductility and the adjective ductile are rooted in the Latin ductilis, "able to be led or drawn."

Definitions of ductility

1. noun

   the malleability of something that can be drawn into threads or wires or hammered into thin sheets
   synonyms: ductileness

   type of:

   malleability, plasticity

   the property of being physically malleable; the property of something that can be worked or hammered or shaped without breaking