In: Mechanical Engineering
What does impact strength mean?
Impact strength is the ability of a material to withstand impact or shock load.
When the time for application of load on a material is very very small, the material experiences the load in the form of shock or impact. This impact load is always greater than the load when it is applied gradually on a material.
Let's take a case
stress due to gradual load on a material
= P/A
stress due to sudden load or shock load or impact load(P)
=2P/A
Impact stress is always greater than gradually induced stress in a material.
Therefore a materials impact strength must be higher to withstand the shock load.