Nautical Term: Yield stress
Definition of Yield stress
Yield stress is the specific stress level that a material experiences when it begins to undergo permanent (plastic) deformation in response to an applied load. In other words, once a material reaches its yield stress, any further increase in stress will cause the material to undergo permanent deformation.
For example, consider a ship’s anchor chain, which is made of high-strength steel. The anchor chain is subjected to a large static load when the anchor is dropped to the seabed. The yield stress of the high-strength steel used in the anchor chain determines the maximum load that the chain can support before it begins to undergo permanent deformation.
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