Plain English Meaning

How hard you can pull a material before it breaks apart, and how hard you can press on it before it crushes. Aircraft parts have to handle both kinds of force without failing.

Full Definition

Two related material properties used to describe how well a material resists being pulled apart or pushed together. Tensile strength is the maximum pulling (stretching) force a material can withstand before failing. Compressive strength is the maximum pushing (squashing) force a material can withstand before failing. In aircraft structures, these values are used to judge whether a material can safely carry the loads it will experience in flight and on the ground.

Context Anchor

Seen in aircraft materials discussions, especially when comparing composite parts such as skins, panels, and structural members.

Derivation

Tensile comes from the Latin tendere, meaning to stretch. Compressive comes from the Latin comprimere, meaning to press together. The two words describe the two opposite ways a force can act on a material, which is why they are almost always discussed as a pair.