What property is essential for a material to withstand large deformations without breaking?

Toughness is a crucial property for a material designed to withstand large deformations without breaking. It refers to the ability of a material to absorb energy and plastically deform without fracturing. Essentially, a tough material can undergo significant stress and strain before failing, making it ideal for applications where it may be subjected to high impacts or loads.

When a material is tough, it combines strength and ductility, allowing it to deform under stress and absorb energy. This is particularly important in structures and components that may experience unexpected loads or dynamic forces, as it prevents sudden failures that could be catastrophic.

Elasticity, while significant for materials to return to their original shape after deformation, does not indicate how well a material can sustain large deformations. Resilience describes the ability to absorb energy when deformed elastically and release that energy upon unloading, which is different from how a material can behave under high deformation. Ductility refers specifically to a material’s capacity to deform plastically, but toughness encompasses both the ability to deform and the energy absorption capacity before failure.