In physics and materials science, plasticity is the ability of a solid material to undergo permanent deformation, a non-reversible change of shape in response to applied forces. For example, a solid piece of metal being bent or pounded into a new shape displays plasticity as permanent changes occur within the material itself. In engineering, the transition from elastic behavior to plastic behavior is known as yielding.
Plasticity under a spherical nanoindenter in (111) copper. All particles in ideal lattice positions are omitted and the color code refers to the von Mises stress field.