適當(dāng)有效的建筑材料是限制富有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的結(jié)構(gòu)工程師成就的主要原因之一。早期的建筑者幾乎都只使用木材，石頭，磚塊和混凝土。 盡管鑄鐵在修建埃及的金字塔中已被人們使用, 但是把它作為建筑材料卻由于大量熔煉它比較困難而被限制。 藉由產(chǎn)業(yè)革命，然而，受到把鑄鐵作為建筑材料和在大量融煉它的能力的兩者對(duì)其雙重需要的影響。
John Smeaton，一個(gè)英國(guó)土木工程師, 在十八的世紀(jì)中時(shí)，是第一廣泛地使用鑄鐵作為建筑材料的。在1841之后，可鍛金屬被發(fā)展成更可靠的材料并且廣泛地被應(yīng)用。盡管可鍛金屬優(yōu)于鑄鐵,但仍有很多結(jié)構(gòu)破壞從而需要有更可靠的材料。鋼便是這一需要的答案。1856年的貝色麥轉(zhuǎn)轉(zhuǎn)爐煉鋼法和后來(lái)發(fā)展的馬丁平爐煉鋼法的發(fā)明使以競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的價(jià)格形成了生產(chǎn)建筑用鋼并且興起了建筑用鋼在下個(gè)百年的快速發(fā)展。
鋼的最嚴(yán)重缺點(diǎn)是它容易被氧化而需要被油漆或一些其他的適當(dāng)涂料保護(hù)。當(dāng)鋼被用于可能發(fā)生火災(zāi)環(huán)境時(shí), 鋼應(yīng)該包圍在一些耐火的材料中, 例如石料或混凝土。通常，鋼的組合結(jié)構(gòu)不易被壓碎除非是在冶金成分不好，低溫的不利組合, 或空間壓力存在的情況下。
建筑用鋁仍然不廣泛被在土木工程結(jié)構(gòu)中用,雖然它的使用正在穩(wěn)定地增加。藉著鋁合金作為一個(gè)適當(dāng)?shù)倪x擇和對(duì)其進(jìn)行熱處理,可獲得各式各樣的強(qiáng)度特性。一些合金所展現(xiàn)的抗壓強(qiáng)度特性相似于鋼, 除線(xiàn)形彈性模量大約是7,000,000 牛/平方厘米，相當(dāng)于剛的三分之一。質(zhì)量輕和耐氧化是鋁的兩個(gè)主要優(yōu)點(diǎn)。因?yàn)樗奶匦詫?duì)熱處理是非常敏感的,當(dāng)鉚接或焊接鋁的時(shí)候


The availability of suitable structural materials is one of the principal limitations on the accomplishment of an experienced structural engineer. Early builders depended almost exclusively on wood, stone, brick, and concrete. Although iron had been used by humans at least since the building of the Egyptian pyramids, use of it as a structural material was limited because of the difficulties of smelting it in large quantities. With the industrial revolution, however, came both the need for iron as a structural material and the capability of smelting it in quantity.
John Smeaton, an English civil engineer, was the first to use cast iron extensively as a structural material in the mid-eighteenth century. After 1841, malleable iron was developed as a more reliable material and was widely used. Whereas malleable iron was superior to cast iron, there were still too many structural failures and there was a need for a more reliable material. 　　Steel was the answe