TENSILE TESTING OF METALS-II (Non-ferrous metals)

1. Objective
The tensile test measures the resistance of a material to static or slowly applied forces. This
laboratory experiment is designed to obtain mechanical properties such as true stress, true
strain, modulus of elasticity and yield strength of a non-ferrous metal.
2. Introduction
In this test, the load is applied uniaxially and the rate of loading is kept constant. The test is
done on a universal mechanical testing machine which is typically screw-driven or
hydraulically powered. In some cases the machine may be computer controlled. The primary
data generated are load vs. elongation which is to be converted into stress vs. strain data.
Extensometer: Extensometer is a device which can precisely measure strain (according to
initial gage length) mechanically or optically (by image processing or laser). An extensometer
is attached on the specimen to measure the elongation because; precise measurement of the
elongation is one of the most important parameter in tensile testing. If an extensometer is not
used in the test, there will be some misreading of strains caused by transition zones from
original diameter section to larger diameter section of the specimen and also gripping effects
on the total elongation.

Figure 1. (a) Rectangular cross-section, (b) round tensile test specimens

There are different types of specimen depending on the type of the grips and on the form of
the available material (sheet, rod, etc. See Figure 1). Generally all specimens have two main
parts, the gage section and the ends. The dimensions of the specimens are standardized (TS,
DIN, ASTM etc.) A good surface finish is required so that surface flaws do not provide stress
concentrations to cause premature failure.

True Stress:

= S (1+e)

True Strain: = ln (l+e)

where S: Engineering Stress and e: Engineering Strain

0.2% yield stress is the stress for 0.2% permanent strain

Figure2. A typical engineering and true stress-strain diagram for a ductile material

3. Experimental Procedure
In this experiment a non-ferrous metal will be used. Tensile test will not be continued on until
fracture because of the limitation caused by mechanical extensometer.
A servo-mechanical testing machine is used. The specimen of known dimensions is gripped
on the machine. Load is measured by a load cell. Elongation is measured by a mechanical
extensometer
The X-Y plot (load vs displacement) is obtained. With the help of the available software the
engineering stress-strain curve can also be plotted directly, using the appropriate conversion
factors and specimens cross-sectional area and original gauge length.
Experimental Steps:
Measure the dimensions of your test specimen. (width and thickness)
Determine an appropriate gage length (approx. 50 mm) and mark it on the specimen.
Run the Testometric Software on the computer and load the specimen onto the
machine.
Enter your specimens dimensions in the software before starting test.
Start the test.
The test will be stopped upon the warning signal of the extensometer (i.e. before
reaching the maximum point!).
Record all data up to that point.
Unload the specimen.
Measure the final dimensions of the specimen.

4. Presentation of Results

Plot a load - elongation curve for the specimen.

Determine the engineering stress-strain curve
Determine the true stress-true strain curve
Determine the true stress true strain curve on a logarithmic (log-log) graph paper
Determine the 0.2% yield stress and modulus of elasticity.
Find the mechanical properties of the tested material from Handbooks and make
comparisons, or if the material is not known try to guess it with the help of the
obtained mechanical properties.

6. References
Textbook of the course ME210 (Callister & Ethwisch Wiley)
Dieter, Mechanical Metallurgy, Mc Graw Hill.
Materials Lab. Experiment 1, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering,
METU
Dowling E.D., Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Prentice-Hall.
Kayal S, Ensari C. and Dike F., Metalik Malzemelerin Mekanik Deneyleri, T
Yayn