Plasticity (physics) facts for kids

Plasticity, or plastic deformation, is the ability of a solid material to have a permanent change in shape. In physics and materials science, this is called deformation.

For example, a solid piece of metal being bent or pounded into a new shape shows plasticity. Permanent changes occur in the material itself. In engineering, the transition from elastic behaviour to plastic behaviour is known as yielding.

Images for kids

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  Plasticity under a spherical nanoindenter in (111) copper. All particles in ideal lattice positions are omitted and the color code refers to the von Mises stress field.