A Renaissance of Mechanical Properties

Abstract

The present technology of the mechanical properties of materials is suffering on account of its development from casual beginnings now known to have been ill-conceived and unsystematic. An improved understanding of the behaviour of metals under load is with growing difficulty reconciled with the original foundation and framework, and really calls for a replanning of the site and a redesigning of the edifice. Starting afresh on the fundamental basis of the true stress-strain curve itself, the technology appears to lend itself to reconstruction affording major simplification and better illumination. The reorientation of outlook followed by planned action for systematization would appear to be justified and to promise progress in unexpected directions.