Tensile strength

Tensile strength is the maximum tensile stress a material withstands before failure. Its measured value depends on the material, specimen geometry, and test conditions.

Tensile testing: A mechanical test that pulls a specimen while measuring force and deformation. It measures the load and specimen area used to calculate tensile stress at failure.
Tensile stress: Internal force per unit area acting to pull a material apart. Tensile strength is the limiting value of tensile stress under specified conditions.
Factor of safety: A design margin comparing a component’s failure capacity with its expected service demand. Designers use strength data to keep working stresses below anticipated failure levels.
Flexural strength: The maximum stress a material withstands in a bending test before failure. Bending combines tension and compression, so its reported strength differs from direct tension.
Stress–strain curve: A graph relating applied stress to material strain during mechanical loading. Its peak stress often identifies ultimate tensile strength.
Strain: A dimensionless measure of deformation relative to an object’s original dimensions. A tensile test tracks strain alongside stress as the specimen stretches.
Allowable stress: A permitted design stress set below a material’s limiting strength by a safety margin. It converts measured tensile strength into a conservative design limit.
Shear strength: The maximum stress a material withstands when forces act parallel to a surface. Shear failure involves sliding rather than the direct pulling measured in tension.
Ultimate tensile strength: The maximum engineering tensile stress reached by a material during a tensile test. This is the specific peak-strength quantity commonly meant by tensile strength.
Young's modulus: The ratio of tensile stress to elastic strain in a material’s linear response. It measures stiffness, not the maximum stress the material can withstand.

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