thermal shock

Sudden heat change

Thermal shock is stress caused by rapid temperature change.

Materials expand when heated and contract when cooled; if the change happens too quickly, the uneven expansion creates cracks or fractures.

The glass shattered from thermal shock when she poured boiling water into it.

Ceramics, glass, and some metals are particularly vulnerable.

The term also applies to biological systems—organisms stressed by sudden temperature shifts in their environment.

Opposites
rate of temperature change

thermal shockannealing

Heat-softening of metals

tempering · air cooling

thermal stability

thermal shockthermal equilibrium

Equal temperature throughout system

steady state

Family

shock, shocking, thermal, thermos, thermometer, shockwave, thermodynamics

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