Materials (A1)

Abstract

The materials used to construct motor vehicles and other structures have forces acting upon them during their normal use which produce slight deformation or change of shape, and it is said that these components have been strained or put under stress. The strength of a material is its resistance to strain. The application of an external load or force on a piece of material will be resisted by an internal resisting force, and under these conditions the material is considered to be under stress, and any alteration in shape is called strain. Care must be taken to use stress and strain in the right context. The types of stress are tensile, compressive, single and double shear, bending and torsional stress.