The demands on strength and ductility of cast components are continuously increasing. To understand how the microstructure controls the strength, ductility and deformation behaviour of cast materials, and thereby be able to tailor new and improved materials and, additional characterisation methods are needed. This paper shows how the deformation behaviour and stress - strain data of different industrial cast materials, such as; cast irons, with lamellar, compacted and spheroidal graphite and aluminium, can be described by using certain characterization methods. Based on different mathematical models the characterisation methods have been derived and used for the evaluation of stress - strain curves. From the evaluation, parameters describing the elastic, plastic and creep properties of the materials are extracted. By altering the microstructure of the analysed materials, by e.g. adding different alloying elements or changing the cooling conditions, the influence of microstructural parameters on the derived mechanical parameters can be found. Often in simulations of stresses and strains of a cast product subjected to loading, constant material properties throughout the casting are used. By the determination/prediction of the microstructure at a given point, it is possible to calculate the local material properties from our microstructure - mechanical parameter correlations. Furthermore, to achieve even more realistic load simulation, residual stresses can be added. Some simulation examples are also included in the paper showing a useful application of the presented characterisation methods. The presented characterization methods have improved the understanding of the mechanical behaviour of complex cast materials and components.