  Properties of metals are fundamentally determined by their electron behavior,
which is largely reflected by the electron work function ($\varphi $). Recent
studies have demonstrated that many properties of metallic materials are
directly related to $\varphi $, which may provide a simple but fundamental
parameter for material design. Since material properties are affected by
temperature, in this article a simple model is proposed to correlate the work
function with temperature, expressed as $\varphi (T)=\varphi_{0} -\gamma
\frac{(k_{B} T)^{2}}{\varphi_{0}} $, where $\gamma $ varies with the crystal
structure. This $\varphi $-T relationship helps determine and understand the
dependence of metal properties on temperature on a feasible electronic base. As
a sample application, the established relationship is applied to determine the
dependence of Young's modulus of metals on temperature. The proposed
relationship is consistent with experimental observations.
