Under certain conditions, suitable alloys can undergo exceptional amounts of deformation before failure. This ability is called superplasticity. The elongation can exceed 1000 percent.

On transforming superplastic material, the individual grains are shifted along their borders (grain boundary sliding). This characteristic of the high strain-rate is reached by three main factors. The base material must consist of a very fine grain structure. The process must take place at a temperature, which is at least larger than half of the melting point. The alloy should keep the fine grain structure during transforming.