Strength

Strength, in mechanical design, refers to a material’s ability to withstand applied forces without experiencing failure, which could mean yielding, fracturing, or permanent deformation. It is a fundamental mechanical property that dictates how a material or structure responds to different types of loading conditions, including tension, compression, shear, torsion, and bending. Understanding strength requires consideration of both the material’s intrinsic properties and the way loads are applied in a given design.

Types of strength:

Strength

Load (Mechanical Design)

In engineering design, a load refers to any force, pressure, or combination of forces applied to a structure or component. Loads can be static, meaning they are applied gradually and remain constant or change slowly over time, or dynamic, meaning they involve motion, impact, or fluctuating forces. The way a material or structure responds to...

Force (Mechanical Design)

In engineering mechanics, force is any interaction that causes a change in the motion of an object or induces stress within a material. Defined by Newton’s Second Law, force is the product of mass and acceleration (F=ma), meaning it is responsible for initiating movement or resisting motion in physical systems. Forces can act through direct...

Stress (Mechanical Design)

Stress (Mechanical Design)
In engineering and mechanics, stress is the internal resistance of a material to an applied load, expressed as force per unit area. It quantifies how intensely a material experiences force and helps predict failure under various loading conditions. Stress is calculated using the formula stress = force / area or σ = F / A,...

Deformation (Mechanical Design)

Deformation (Mechanical Design)
Deformation refers to the change in shape or size of a material or structure when subjected to an external force or load. It occurs because real materials are not perfectly rigid and will experience some degree of stretching, compression, bending, twisting, or shearing under applied forces. Deformation can be classified into two main types: elastic...

Strain (Mechanical Design)

Strain is a measure of the deformation of a material relative to its original size when subjected to an external force. It quantifies how much a material stretches, compresses, or distorts under stress. Strain is a dimensionless quantity, as it represents a ratio of change in length to original length. The general formula for strain...

Stress-Strain Diagram

Stress-Strain Diagram
The stress-strain diagram is a fundamental tool in material science and mechanical engineering that illustrates how a material responds to applied stress, showing the relationship between stress (force per unit area) and strain (relative deformation). This graph is typically generated from a tensile test, where a sample is gradually stretched until failure, capturing key mechanical...

Load (Mechanical Design)

In engineering design, a load refers to any force, pressure, or combination of forces applied to a...

Force (Mechanical Design)

In engineering mechanics, force is any interaction that causes a change in the motion of an object...
Weight

Weight

Weight is the force exerted on an object due to gravity. Unlike mass , which is an intrinsic property...
Newton

Newton

The Newton (N) is the standard unit of force in the International System of Units (SI). It is defined...

Pound-force

The pound-force (lbf) is the standard unit of force in the U.S. Customary system. It is defined as...
Stress (Mechanical Design)

Stress (Mechanical Design)

In engineering and mechanics, stress is the internal resistance of a material to an applied load, expressed...
Tensile Stress

Tensile Stress

Tensile stress refers to the stress experienced by a material when forces are applied that pull it...
Compressive Stress

Compressive Stress

Compressive stress occurs when a material is subjected to forces that push inward, attempting to shorten...
Shear Stress

Shear Stress

Shear stress occurs when forces act parallel to a material’s surface, causing adjacent layers to s...
Torsional Stress

Torsional Stress

Torsional stress occurs when a material is subjected to a twisting force, or torque , causing it to...