Question: Is there any way to make a material stronger

David Taylor answered on 9 Nov 2014:

Yes, in fact most materials can be made stronger or weaker. Metals like steel can be made stronger by heating and cooling them in special ways, or by working them – for instance rolling a piece of metal into a flat sheet. Sometimes you want a material to be very strong, but sometimes you don’t. For example if you want to use a piece of steel to make a component – say a part of a car engine – then it’s easier to work with if you first make it quite weak. Then once you have made it into the shape you want, you can treat it to make it strong again.