The tensile test is a test method in which the reaction of a material to a tensile load is determined.
The tensile test can be used to determine several mechanical characteristics of the material:
- Yield strength
- Tensile strength
- Elongation at break
For a tensile test, a standardized specimen is clamped in a material testing machine and then stretched until it breaks. The tensile load increases slowly and evenly, so that the acting force can be regarded as quasi-static. Since the tensile test ends when the specimen breaks, it is a destructive test method