Properties of Materials and Chemicals

General Resources

Tip: Look for the substance (e.g. Gallium Arsenide) in a handbook or encylopedia. Often there is a section on properties. You may need to back up further (e.g. Gallium) to find what you need.

Search: Handbooks, Databases & Websites, Articles, and Types of Properties

Property information on a known or an unknown substance
CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics	Comprehensive resource of physical constants and properties. Also found in print in Science Library and Barker Library at QD65.H235. *Tip*: In the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, look for the Substance/Property Search link on the left side.
CHEMnetBASE	*Tip*: In the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, look for the Substance/Property Search link on the left side. If looking for a chemical, try the Combined Chemical Dictionary or Properties of Organic Compounds.
Knovel	Browsable and searchable engineering and science handbooks. *Tip:* Look over the search tips section to build an effective search strategy.
Landolt-Börnstein (Print with online index)	Ask a Librarian for instruction on using this material, found in the Science Library Reference Collection: QC61.L258. Some volumes are available online via Knovel - Group IV, Volume 5. Static pages: Organic / Inorganic Searchable Index: Organic
Reaxys	Beilstein for organic materials and Gmelin for inorganic materials. When searching Reaxys you'll search both Beilstein and Gmelin. Tip: Put the molecular formula in Hill Order
Finding articles which may contain property information
Inspec	Database for physics, electronics, electrical engineering, computer science. *Tip:* Use the Chemical Indexes, Descriptors, and Identifiers
SciFinder	Search Chemical Abstracts, chemical literature. Note: This is a web-based product, but you need to register to access the database.
CSA Materials Research Database with Metadex	*Tip:* Use the Descriptor (DE) field.
Compendex	Database for all areas of engineering.
Need more help?
Barton	Search the MIT Libraries' catalog. Tip: Search for substance and/or property as a keyword. Broaden your search by searching for the type of property instead of the specific property, e.g. optical properties. When searching for a molecular formula, try searching for both the forumla and the full name, e.g. GaAs or gallium arsenide.
University Web pages	Websites focused on physical and chemical property information.
Other Databases	Freely available databases and properties information listed on the Materials Science and Engineering research guide.
Ask Us!	Just when you think you have exhausted all of your resources, you have hope: ask a librarian!

This page was last updated on Tuesday, 06-Oct-2009 17:23:34 EDT