Drawing No. EH–MT–019 // Engineering Materials
Polyethylene Properties
Reviewed August 2026
PE100 high-density polyethylene is used as the polyethylene reference. It is ductile, chemically resistant and highly strain-tolerant, but stiffness is low and time-dependent compared with metals.
Representative properties
Switch units without changing the underlying material reference.
What changes these properties?
Engineering variability
- Short-term tensile modulus is far higher than long-term effective modulus because creep is significant.
- Yield and tensile behavior depend on temperature, strain rate and grade.
- Thermal expansion is very high relative to metals and must be accommodated in restrained piping.
- The 132°C value is a crystalline melting transition reported for PE100; useful service temperatures are much lower. The selected Vinidex table does not publish UTS or specific heat, so those cells are intentionally left non-numeric.
Selection note
Excellent for buried piping, water/gas service and chemically aggressive environments. Creep, thermal movement, support spacing and joining method are central design considerations.
Do not combine strength from one grade/condition with modulus, thermal data or temperature limits from another without checking compatibility. Where the overview shows a range, it is intended to expose variability—not establish allowable bounds.
Property interpretation
Stiffness vs strength
Young’s modulus controls elastic deformation. Yield or fracture strength controls how far the material can be stressed. These are separate material characteristics.
Thermal response
Thermal conductivity controls temperature gradients, specific heat contributes to thermal inertia, and expansion controls thermally induced strain when movement is restrained.
Temperature transition
The final property card is deliberately labeled “melting / transition.” Metals often have a solidus–liquidus range; amorphous polymers and glass use softening or glass-transition concepts; concrete and wood decompose instead of exhibiting one clean melt point.
Technical sources
Source hierarchy favors manufacturers, industry associations, standards bodies and government engineering references. Strength data must still be reconciled with the exact procurement specification.