These are the highest yield strength materials in our library, ranked by typical usable yield strength. Steel and titanium alloys dominate the top of the list.
| Material | Yield strength (typical) |
|---|---|
| 4340 Steel | Up to 1500 MPa (heat treated) |
| 17-4 PH Stainless | Up to 1170 MPa |
| 4140 Steel | Up to 950 MPa (heat treated) |
| Titanium Grade 5 | 880 MPa |
| A514 Steel | 690 MPa (100 ksi) |
| 1045 Steel | 530 MPa (cold drawn) |
| 7075-T6 Aluminum | 503 MPa (73 ksi) |
| A572 Grade 50 | 345 MPa (50 ksi) |
Heat treatment has an enormous effect on steel yield strength, so the alloy steels above span a wide range depending on their condition.
FAQ
Should I always design to a material’s maximum yield strength? No. Most designs apply a safety factor well below yield strength to account for fatigue, stress concentrations, and manufacturing variability, so the listed values are a ceiling for comparison, not a target operating stress.
See the Yield Strength Chart and the Factor of Safety Calculator.
Yield Strength Isn’t the Whole Strength Picture
A material with a high yield strength isn’t automatically the toughest or most fatigue-resistant choice — yield strength measures resistance to permanent deformation under a single load, not how a part holds up to millions of repeated cycles or a sudden impact. 17-4 PH stainless, for example, combines high yield strength with good corrosion resistance, while a similarly strong heat-treated steel might offer neither of those secondary properties.
Why Titanium Shows Up Despite a Lower Number
Titanium Grade 5 sits lower on this list by yield strength alone than several steels, but its strength-to-weight ratio is dramatically better — it holds close to the same usable strength as many steels at roughly half the density, which is why it shows up in aerospace and high-performance applications where weight matters as much as raw strength.
Cold-Worked vs. Heat-Treated Strengthening Are Different Mechanisms
1045 steel’s yield strength in the table above comes from cold drawing, which strengthens by physically deforming the material’s grain structure, while 4340 and 4140’s much higher values come from heat treatment, which changes the steel’s internal microstructure through controlled heating and quenching. The two approaches aren’t interchangeable — cold working a steel that’s meant to be heat-treated, or vice versa, won’t deliver the same strength gain the table implies.