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Mechanical Engineering vocabulary · Mechanics and Materials

Yield strength

Meaning in mechanical engineering, with examples

nounCore term

In mechanical engineering, yield strength means: The stress at which a material stops behaving elastically and starts to deform permanently. Designers usually keep working stresses well below this value.

In Turkish: akma dayanımı, akma mukavemeti, akma sınırı

How it is used

Appears on every material datasheet and in strength calculations, usually next to tensile strength. For metals without a clear yield point, the 0.2% offset value is used. Engineers say a part 'yielded' when it bent permanently.

Example sentences

  1. S355 steel has a minimum yield strength of 355 MPa for thin sections.

  2. The calculated stress is close to the yield strength, so we need a thicker section.

Common collocations

  • minimum yield strength
  • exceed the yield strength
  • yield point
  • 0.2% offset
  • yield and tensile strength
  • stressThe 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.
  • tensile testA test in which a standard sample is pulled until it breaks, to measure properties such as yield strength, tensile strength and elongation.
  • 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.
  • ductileAble to stretch and bend a lot before breaking. Most steels, copper and aluminum are ductile; glass and gray cast iron are not.
  • 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.

More terms: Mechanics and Materials

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