tensile strength

the resistance of a material to longitudinal stress, measured by the minimum amount of longitudinal stress required to rupture the material.

[1860-65]

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Ratio of the maximum load a material can support without fracture when being stretched to the original area of a cross section of the material.

When stresses less than the tensile strength are removed, a material completely or partially returns to its original size and shape. As the stress approaches that of the tensile strength, a material that has begun to flow forms a narrow, constricted region that is easily fractured. Tensile strengths are measured in units of force per unit area. See also deformation and flow.

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▪ physics

      maximum load that a material can support without fracture when being stretched, divided by the original cross-sectional area of the material. Tensile strengths have dimensions of force per unit area and in the English system of measurement are commonly expressed in units of pounds per square inch, often abbreviated to psi. When stresses less than the tensile strength are removed, a material returns either completely or partially to its original shape and size. As the stress reaches the value of the tensile strength, however, a material, if ductile, that has already begun to flow plastically rapidly forms a constricted region called a neck, where it then fractures.

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