i. Hardness:
1. Hardness is the property of a material which enables it to resist plastic deformation.
2. Hard materials have little ductility and they are brittle to some extent.
3. The term hardness also refers to stiffness or resistance to bending, scratching, abrasion or cutting.
4. It is the property of a material which gives it the ability to resist permanent deformation when a load is applied to it.
5. The greater the hardness, greater is the resistance to deformation.
6. Hardness of material is different from its strength and toughness.
7. The most well known example for hard material is diamond, while metal with very low hardness is aluminium.
ii. Strength:
1. If a force is applied to a body, it produces deformation in it.
2. Higher is the force required for deformation, the stronger is the material, i.e., the material has more strength.
3. Steel has high strength whereas plasticine clay is not strong because it gets easily deformed even by a small force.
iii. Toughness:
1. Toughness is the ability of a material to resist fracturing when a force is applied to it.
2. Plasticine clay is relatively tough as it can be stretched and deformed due to applied force without breaking.
