Inelastischen

Inelastischen is the inflected form of the German adjective inelastic, used in physics, engineering, and materials science to describe processes or materials that do not return fully to their original shape after a deformation or collision. It denotes that some energy is dissipated or permanently altered rather than recovered as kinetic energy. In German-language texts, inelastischen appears in contexts such as collisions, deformations, and damping descriptions.

In physics, inelastic collisions are events where momentum is conserved but kinetic energy is not; part of the initial kinetic energy is transformed into other forms, such as heat, sound, or deformation. The degree of inelasticity is often characterized by the coefficient of restitution, which is less than one for inelastic interactions. A perfectly inelastic collision is an idealized case in which colliding bodies stick together and move as a single object after impact.

In materials science and engineering, inelastic behavior refers to plastic or irreversible deformation that remains after the applied stress is removed. This contrasts with elastic behavior, where the material returns to its original shape. Inelastic deformation involves yielding, work hardening, and energy dissipation through internal friction, heat, or microstructural changes. Viscoelastic and plastic materials exhibit varying degrees of inelastic response depending on temperature, strain rate, and history.

See also: elastic collision, elastic deformation, plastic deformation, damping.