What is another term for strain hardening?

Strain hardening, also known as work hardening, refers to the process by which a material becomes stronger and harder as it is deformed plastically. This phenomenon occurs because dislocations in the material's crystal structure are multiplied and trapped during the deformation process, which impedes further movement of dislocations. As a result, the material's yield strength and hardness increase while ductility decreases.

Work hardening is typically observed in metals and other ductile materials when they are subjected to processes like cold rolling, bending, or drawing. The underlying mechanisms involve the rearrangement and interaction of dislocations, which leads to a denser dislocation structure. This increased complexity enhances the material's strength and reduces its ability to undergo additional plastic deformation without fracturing.

In contrast, processes such as quenching, annealing, and normalizing relate to thermal treatment of materials rather than plastic deformation. Quenching involves rapid cooling to increase hardness, annealing is used to soften a material by heating and then gradually cooling it, and normalizing aims to refine the grain structure without the specific goal of increasing strength through deformation.