Plastic deformation

Plastic deformation is a permanent distortion in a material, it occurs when a large enough load is applied to an object, the atoms slip past each other. Once the load is removed the atoms permanently stay in their new position. Strength and hardness are measures of a material’s its ability to resist plastic deformation. A brittle material will undergo little to no plastic deformation before fracturing. A ductile material can withstand a large amount of plastic deformation.