Branch of mechanical engineering
Mechanics of Materials
Zoom inside a loaded part: how force spreads as stress, how the material answers with strain, and when it gives up.
← Back to the latticeWhat it studies
Statics tells you the forces on a part; mechanics of materials tells you what happens inside it. Stress concentrates at holes and corners, beams bend by predictable amounts, laminates share load ply by ply — all of it computable before anything is built.
For composites this branch is the whole game: classical laminate theory, failure criteria, and micromechanics are mechanics of materials specialized for directional materials.
Key ideas
σ = F/A and Hooke's law σ = E·εbending: σ = M·c/I, δ = f(EI)stress concentration at holes and notchesthe ABD matrix and first-ply failuresafety factors absorb what models don't know
Work in this branch on mpolyco
Go further (open resources)
More in the library · licenses on the acknowledgements page.