Metals

Why are you asking these questions?
Michael Dahms

Gee. I look for different things for different applications. Sometimes tensile and yield strength are useful, sometimes hardness, sometimes corrosion resistance, sometimes thermal and/or electrical conductivity.
Strength, hardness, and density seem to be useful and popular statistics to start with. Thermal and electrical conductivity are also useful.
Mike Miller

You might find the book "Engineer To Win" by Carroll Smith useful.
It is a little dated, but it deals with the selection and use of materials for racing cars with the goal to win the race and not have the components break.
There are a few other books on the topic of "Materials Selection" which could be of value to you. Perhaps the majority are out of print.
You will find that most engineers tend to be only modestly skilled in materials selection.
Some of the "Materials for Engineers" type textbooks discuss why some alloys are better for certain kinds of applications than others. You should get and read one or more of those, and keep it for a working reference.
'Engineering Materials" by Budinski and Budinski , sixth or seventh edition would be a good thing to have. The sixth edition is much cheaper, but a little dated, if budget is a problem.
Jiim