2030 – 05 – The Plastic Region

1m

Once the stress of the metal has gone past the elastic region, it enters another phase of the stress/strain graph, called the plastic region. When stress and strain increase from the plastic region, the material will be permanently altered. This process is called plastic deformation.
The point at which the material enters the plastic deformation process reveals two key features of the material. These features are:
– Yield strength, is the maximum stress level that the material can withstand before it starts the process of plastic deformation.
-Tensile strength describes the maximum stress that a metal can take being pulled apart before it is broken. The measure of this strength begins in the plastic region and ends at the point of fracture.
A ductile metal will often deform significantly before breaking. When it comes to designing a part for a specific application, yield strength is of the utmost importance.