What property would you assess to determine how much energy a material can absorb without permanent deformation?

Resilience is the property that quantifies the ability of a material to absorb energy when it is deformed elastically and then releases that energy upon unloading. In simpler terms, resilience represents the capacity of a material to return to its original shape after being subjected to stress, as long as the stress does not exceed its elastic limit. This characteristic is crucial in applications where materials experience dynamic loading and must return to their initial form without sustaining permanent damage.

Toughness, while somewhat related, measures a material's ability to absorb energy and plastically deform before fracturing. It indicates how much energy a material can absorb in total, considering both elastic and plastic deformation, rather than solely focusing on the elastic portion.

Relaxation refers to the gradual decrease in stress under constant strain over time, which is not directly related to the energy absorption capacity without permanent deformation.

Elasticity describes a material's ability to return to its original shape after the stress is removed but does not measure the energy absorption capacity. Instead, resilience is specifically focused on the energy aspect and the lack of permanent deformation when returning to the original state.