Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Aren't most/all materials much stronger in tensile load than compressive loads, because of buckling anomalies?


No, brittle materials like concrete are famously weak in tension and strong in compression. Ductile materials are generally equally strong in both. I can't think of any material offhand that's stronger in tension and weaker in compression.

Buckling is not a material failure, it's a structural failure. In pure buckling [0], the strength of the material is not actually a factor in whether something buckles or not. In most cases, material failure does occur as a side effect of the buckling, but not always. (The material's stiffness does matter, though. All else equal, something that's more flexible will buckle sooner than something stiff.)

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler%27s_critical_load


I believe wood is stronger in tension than it is in compression?


No way.


> I can't think of any material offhand that's stronger in tension and weaker in compression.

Rope.


No, concrete and bricks are much stronger in compressive loads.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: