Termomehaanikas

Termomehaanikas is a multidisciplinary field that studies how heat and mechanical processes influence each other in materials and devices. It analyzes how temperature changes affect mechanical properties such as stiffness, strength, and damping, and how mechanical loads generate heat and alter heat transfer characteristics. The field integrates thermodynamics, heat transfer, continuum mechanics, and materials science to model and predict behavior under combined thermal and mechanical loading.

Core concepts include thermoelasticity, thermorheology, phase transitions under stress, and thermally induced plasticity. Researchers develop constitutive models that link temperature, strain, stress, and rate, and solve coupled heat-conduction and mechanics problems. Methods range from analytical solutions for simple geometries to numerical simulations using finite element and finite difference methods. Experimental techniques such as infrared thermography, calorimetry, and dynamic mechanical analysis support model validation.

Termomehaanikas has applications in electronic device cooling, energy systems (thermal storage, heat exchangers), aerospace and automotive engineering, manufacturing processes with heat generation, and materials design for high-temperature environments. It also informs reliability assessments for components exposed to cyclic thermal loads and complex thermal histories.

Etymology: the term is formed from thermo- meaning heat and mechanika/mechanics, with regional spellings varying. In English, the analogous term is thermomechanics, while termomehaanikas appears in some localized transliterations or language variants.

Education and research are typically housed in mechanical or materials engineering departments, thermal sciences labs, and physics programs. Challenges include nonlinear, time-dependent behavior, phase changes, and multiscale coupling between microscale processes and macroscopic response.