Okuzeka
Mechanical Engineering vocabulary · Mechanics and Materials

Stress

Meaning in mechanical engineering, with examples

/strɛs/nounCore term

In mechanical engineering, stress means: The internal force inside a material divided by the area it acts on. It shows how hard a part is being pulled, pushed, bent or twisted and is measured in MPa or psi.

In Turkish: gerilme, mekanik gerilme

How it is used

Used constantly in design reviews and calculations. Engineers calculate, check and reduce stress, and talk about tensile, compressive, shear and bending stress. A stress concentration is a local peak, for example at a sharp corner or a hole.

Example sentences

  1. The maximum stress in the bracket is 180 MPa, well below the yield strength of the steel.

  2. Add a fillet here to reduce the stress concentration at the corner.

Common collocations

  • tensile stress
  • shear stress
  • stress concentration
  • maximum stress
  • stress analysis
  • strainHow much a material stretches or shortens compared with its original length. It is a ratio with no unit and is often given in percent or in microstrain.
  • loadA force, weight or pressure that acts on a part or structure. Loads can be steady or changing and are the starting point of most strength calculations.
  • yield strengthThe stress at which a material stops behaving elastically and starts to deform permanently. Designers usually keep working stresses well below this value.
  • factor of safetyThe ratio between the load or stress a part can withstand and the load or stress it actually carries in use. A value of 2 means the part is twice as strong as needed.
  • fatigueGradual damage and cracking of a material caused by loads that are applied and removed many times, even when each load is below the material's static strength.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Mechanics and Materials

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: