Uploaded April 2022 | Updated September 2026, 17 hours ago
Like any technology, strain gauges have specific terminology. In casual conversation words are often used synonymously when in engineering the same words have distinct, different meanings. For example, we speak of stress and strain as if they are the same, but strain is distinctly different from stress when it comes to materials and structures. To put this in simple terms, strain is a change of shape (deformation) whereas stress is the structure resisting the force (pressure). A piece of material that heats up and is free to expand changes shape (strain) but is stress-free. Conversely, if you heat up a material that is constrained it may not be able to change shape (expand) but it will be stressed.
Micro-Measurements: micro-measurements.com
Advanced Sensors Technology: micro-measurements.com/advanced-sensors-technology
Like any technology, strain gauges have specific terminology. In casual conversation words are often used synonymously when in engineering the same words have distinct, different meanings. For example, we speak of stress and strain as if they are the same, but strain is distinctly different from stress when it comes to materials and structures. To put this in simple terms, strain is a change of shape (deformation) whereas stress is the structure resisting the force (pressure). A piece of material that heats up and is free to expand changes shape (strain) but is stress-free. Conversely, if you heat up a material that is constrained it may not be able to change shape (expand) but it will be stressed.
Micro-Measurements: micro-measurements.com
Advanced Sensors Technology: micro-measurements.com/advanced-sensors-technology
