puristusmuutos

Puristusmuutos is a Finnish term used to describe the change in a material or system that results from compressive stress. It is a broad concept used across multiple disciplines to refer to deformation, density changes, and sometimes structural or phase transitions caused by squeezing or shortening forces. The term emphasizes the effect of compression rather than the specific cause or mechanism of change.

In materials science and engineering, puristusmuutos refers to the elastic and plastic deformation that occurs when a material is subjected to uniaxial, triaxial, or hydrostatic compression. The extent of change is commonly described by strain measures, such as the normal (longitudinal) strain and the volumetric (bulk) strain, and by material properties like Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, and yield strength. Puristusmuutos can lead to densification, buckling in slender structures, or, at high pressures, phase transformations.

In geology and geophysics, puristusmuutos describes crustal shortening and thickening due to tectonic compression. This can produce folds, reverse faults, and mountain belts, and is studied through concepts of strain rate, stress, and geodetic measurements that reveal how rocks deform under long-term compressive forces.

In biology and biomechanics, tissues and organs may exhibit puristusmuutos when subjected to mechanical compression, affecting cellular structure, extracellular matrix, and function. Studied contexts include cartilage loading, vascular compression, and other load-bearing processes.

Because puristusmuutos is a general descriptor rather than a single phenomenon, its precise meaning depends on the material, the type of compression, and the associated physical processes.