Strength and Testing of Materials Laboratory

ENGR 229 - 86 Fall 2013 Report # 3

Experiment: Compression

Dr. Mohamed Darwish

Mostafa Madkor 900113463

Table of Contents Abstract .................................................................................................... 3 Introduction .............................................................................................. 4 Objectives ................................................................................................. 5 Theory ...................................................................................................... 6 Procedures ................................................................................................ 7 Equipment and specimens ........................................................................ 8 i.
A) B)

Equipment ....................................................................................... 8
Universal Testing Machines ............................................................................................. 8 Vernier Caliper ............................................................................................................... 10

Results .................................................................................................... 12
I. II.

Cast iron......................................................................................... 12 Lead ............................................................................................... 15

Without Grease ............................................................................................................. 15 With Grease ................................................................................................................... 16

Mechanical Properties of the Lead ................................................. 17 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 17

Abstract
This experiment mainly aimed to study the study the properties of different materials by conducting the compression test on them in order to know how each of the material will behave under this condition. In this experiment three different materials were tested. These materials are wood, Cast iron and Lead. The experiment starts at measuring the initial for each of the materials. Each of these materials was tested using the universal testing machine. Each of them was put between the two plates of the machine then; a compressive force was applied to each of them. For the cast iron, the compressive load was applied until the specimen broke while for the lead it was tested under 750 kN (maximum compressive load) without grease firstly and then with grease for another specimen. For the wood, the testing process was also done two times. Firstly when the fiber is parallel to the plate of the machine and secondly when the fibers are perpendicular to the plate of the machine. This is because wood is an isotropic material which means that it acts differently in different orientations (directions). The results of this experiment indicated that cast iron broke into two pieces with an angle of 45 degrees between them. The wood when it was tested in the perpendicular orientation, the piece of the wood broke while when it was tested in the parallel orientation, the piece of wood compressed the height of it decreased. For the lead, the first test done on it indicated that when the specimen is tested without grease the specimen compressed and it make a barreling shape while in the second the test which was done with putting some grease between the specimen of lead and the plate, the results showed a homogeneous compression without barreling in the shape. The specimen after the test became tilted to a certain direction because the grease made the specimen to move, so it was compressed with an inclination.

Introduction
A compression test is a method for determining the behavior of materials under a compressive load. Compression tests are conducted by loading the test specimen between two plates and then applying a force to the specimen by moving the crossheads together. A compressive force is applied so that the two ends of the specimen are pushed together. The shape of the specimen used is a cylinder with the restriction that its length-to-diameter ratio is less than 2 to avoid buckling. The cylindrical specimen is pressed between flat platens so that no special grips are needed. As the compressive load is increased, the length of the cylinder decreases while its diameter increases. The compression test is used to determine elastic limit, proportionality limit, yield point, yield strength and compressive strength.

Objectives
1- Neatly plot the Engineering Stress vs. Engineering Strain Diagram for cast iron. 2- Determine the following Mechanical Properties for cast iron: a. Elastic Strength; b. Yield Strength; c. Compressive Strength (max); d. Modulus of Elasticity; e. Modulus of Toughness; f. Malleability (percentage change in length and area). 3- Determine the following Mechanical Properties for the other Specimens: a. Compressive Strength (max); b. Malleability. (not for wood)

4- Compare the malleability of the lead specimen with and without grease. 5- Compare the behavior of the wood specimen when the load is applied parallel to its fibers. 6- Examine the Surface of Fracture for the tested Specimens (cast iron, lead with Grease, lead without grease, wood with parallel load, and wood with Perpendicular load) and Plot a schematic for their shape.

Theory
This is the test performed to determine the strength of a material under compression. Generally the compression test is carried out to know either simple compression characteristics of material or column action of structural members. It has been observed that for varying heights of members, keeping the cross sectional and the load applied constant, there is an increased tendency towards bending of a member. Members under compression usually bend along the minor axis, i.e, along least lateral dimension. According to the column theory slenderness ratio has more functional value. If this ratio goes on increasing, axial compressive stress goes on decreasing and the member buckles more and more. End conditions at the time of test have a pronounced effect on compressive strength of materials. The effective length must be taken according to end conditions assumed, at the time of the test.

Procedures
1. Measure the initial values of the specimens using the vernier caliper 2. Place the specimen in position between the compression pads. 3. Switch on the UTM 4. Remove the specimen and measure the final dimensions 5. Repeat the above steps on the other materials 6. In the case of the lead specimen, do the experiment with grease and without grease

Equipment and specimens

i. Equipment A) Universal Testing Machines 1.

Movable cross-head

Load cell

Two Plates

Test specimen

This machine is used for testing one the most significant mechanical properties of the material which compression. It consists of a movable crosshead that moves along the side frames. It also contains two plates in which the material specimen is positioned. The lower plate is fixed while the upper plate is movable. There is also a load cell of capacity 50 KN. This load cell provides an electrical circuit for measuring the instantaneous load along the loading axis.

2.

Load counter

Two Plates

Load Controller On/Off arm

This machine is the one that was used to test the greased and non-greased lead Specimens. It contains two parallel plates that apply a force to compress the specimen.

B) Vernier Caliper

Material Lead without grease Lead with grease

Length (initial)(mm) 20.1 20.2

Diameter (initial)(mm) 12.1 12

Cast Iron Specimen

Material

Length (initial)(mm)

Diameter (initial)(mm)

Cast Iron

19.9

10.1

10

 Wood Specimen
Table (1) wood Dimensions

Orientation

Height Thickness Width (initial)(mm) (initial)(mm) (initial)(mm)

parallel

46.2

45.1

45.2

Perpendicular

45.2

45.1

46.3

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Results
Cast iron
Material Cast Iron Final Length (mm) 16 Final Diameter (mm) 11

In this experiment, the compressive load was applied to the cast iron until it broke suddenly. This showed the difference between the brittle and the ductile

material when they are exposed to compressive load. Cast iron which is a brittle material broke suddenly into two pieces. The angle between these two pieces is 45 degrees while ductile material increases in its diameter as we will discuss in the below lines for the lead.

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Load (KN) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 65 70 75

Compressive extension (mm) 0 0.15 0.25 0.5 0.6 0.95 1.4 1.75 2.2 4

Stress (MPa) 0 125 250 374 499 624 749 811 874 936

Strain 0 0.00754 0.01256 0.02153 0.03015 0.04774 0.07035 0.08794 0.11055 0.20101

1000 900 800 700 600 Stress Mpa 500 400 300 200 100 0 0 0.05 0.1 Strain 0.15 0.2 0.25

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Requirements Elastic strength Yield Strength Compressive strength Modulus of elasticity Modulus of toughness Percent of change in length Percent of change in area

Values 624 MPa 750 MPa 936 MPa 13.82 GPa 147.45155 Mpa 19.598 % 18.6096 %

In this part of the experiment the specimen of wood was positioned parallel to the force of the machine. The fibers of the wood were parallel as shown in figure (8). The piece of wood broke as shown. This position make the specimen take more load and it keeps in taking loads also after part of it is fractured.

Table Requirements Compressive Strength (maximum load/ area)

Values 52 Mpa

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In this part of the experiment, another specimen of wood was positioned between the two plates of the machine. But the fibers of the specimen were perpendicular to the force as shown in figure (9). The piece of wood compressed as shown and it has a fracture from the side. This orientation cant take high loads and it seems from the results for the ultimate strength that the wood in parallel orientation is about 5 times the wood in perpendicular orientation.

Requirements Compressive Strength (maximum load/ area)

Values 6.6 Mpa

Lead
In this experiment, lead was tested under two conditions; firstly with grease and secondly without grease. I. Without Grease

The shape as shown in figure (11) has the barreling shape Figure (12). This shape always happen because without using grease the molecules of the specimen are in contact with plate and they cant move so the molecules that are inside the specimen are the only molecules moving under compression. These molecules always move to the

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edges of the specimen and finally this shape occurs. The final result of this part indicated that the area of the ductile material increase and the length will decrease.
Table (2) Lead without grease final dimensions

Material Lead without grease

Diameter (final) (mm) 15.5

Length (Final) (mm) 12.4

II.

With Grease

The shape as shown in figure (13) has a compressed homogeneous shape as in figure (14). This is because with grease the molecules are not in touch with the plate, so they move freely and this shape happens. In figure (13) the shape seems to be tilted to

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the right and this is because the grease causes a slight slipping between the plate and the specimen so the specimen compression becomes tilted.
Table (3) Lead with grease final dimensions

Material Lead with grease

Diameter (final) (mm) 16.4

Length (Final) (mm) 11.5

Mechanical Properties of the Lead

Requirements Compressive strength Percent change in Area Percent change in length Lead without grease 6.087 64.09 % 38.31% Lead with grease 6.189 86.77 % 43.07 %

Conclusion
Examining the effect of grease on the malleability of lead showed that when a compressive load is applied on a lead specimen with grease the specimen has different behavior compared to its behavior without grease under the same compressive load. The grease applied on the specimen decreases the friction force between the specimen and the machine surface. Accordingly, the surface layer will have more area to move and deform. Also the use of grease on the specimen has resulted in decrease of malleability. The specimen without grease did withstand more plastic deformation than the one with grease. But here we have an error because the deformation in the

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specimen without grease is much more than the one with grease. This error maybe that the grease used was not enough, or the material was not pure, or their initial dimension was not the same. For the wood in this experiment, we find out that wood is composed of fibers on top of each other. The two wooden blocks under compressive forces applied parallel and perpendicular to the wood fibers, show different deformity behaviors. In the perpendicular test the extension was far greater than the parallel test. Also the perpendicular test showed that the wooden block needed very small load for the block to deform compared to the parallel test. For the cast iron in this experiment, due to the brittle nature of the cast iron specimen it breaks at 45 degrees into two pieces after the machine reached a certain load applied on it. In each of the two pieces broken, we found out that the surface are rough after breaking and this is due to the friction that the material experiences while the forces are applied to break it.

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