When engineers choose how materials will behave under stress, they need to think about a few important factors:

1. Material Behavior:

   • Ductile materials (which can stretch without breaking) usually follow the von Mises criteria. This means they have a specific way to measure stress.
   • Brittle materials (which can break easily) follow the Tresca criteria, which looks at the difference between the highest and lowest stress.

2. Loading Conditions:

   • For simple loads (when something is pushed or pulled in one direction), engineers use the Maximum Normal Stress criteria.
   • For more complicated loads, they might need to use either von Mises or Tresca.

3. Safety Factors:

   • In important applications, engineers need to think about safety. Higher safety factors mean they might use stricter yield criteria to make sure nothing fails.

4. Material Anisotropy:

   • Some materials, like composites, behave differently in different directions. This can affect which yield criteria engineers choose.

5. Dimensional Constraints:

   • Smaller parts might behave differently from larger ones. So, the size of the material or part is an important factor to consider.

All these factors work together to help engineers pick the best way to understand how materials will react in various situations. This helps them ensure safety and effectiveness in their designs.