MCEN30017 Mechanics and Materials

Lecture 4: Elastic deformation and the elastic modulus

The elastic modulus measures the resistance of a material to elastic (non-permanent) deformation.
Low modulus materials are floppy and stretch a lot when they are pulled. High modulus materials
are the opposite – they are stiff.

The elastic modulus is defined through Hooke’s law, which is a description of the experimental
observation that the strain is very nearly proportional to the stress at small strains. The behaviour of
the solid is said to be linearly elastic. For simple tension (or compression)

σ = Eε

where σ is the stress, ε is the strain and E is called Young’s Modulus. Similarly, the shear strain is
proportional to the shear stress such that G is the shear modulus and the negative of the dilatation is
proportional to the pressure such that K is the bulk modulus. Because strain is dimensionless, the
moduli have the same units as that of stress.

Most solids including most ceramics are elastic to only very small strains – up to about 0.002. A few
solids, such as rubber, are elastic to very large strains (about 4 or 5) but are only linearly elastic up to
strains of about 0.01.

Elasticity and atomic bonding - the physical origin of Hooke’s law

The magnitude of the

modulus is a
consequence of the
strength of the atomic
bonds holding the
material together. On
an atomic scale, elastic
strain is manifest as
the stretching of
atomic bonds and
small changes in the
interatomic spacing. The modulus is therefore
a measure of the strength of the interatomic
bonding forces. The modulus is proportional
to the slope of the interatomic force
separation curve at the equilibrium spacing:
𝐸𝐸 ∝ (𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 ⁄𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑)𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑜

Stiffness in Design
In designing a component to operate under load stiffness is important because it prevents deflections
and failure by buckling. The deflection of a loaded component increases, as the stiffness decreases.
An example is the elastic deflection δ of a cantilever beam of length
l, width w and thickness t, acted on by a force F. Neglecting the
self-weight of the beam, the deflection δ is given by:
𝛿𝛿 = 𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹 3 ⁄3𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸
where I is the second moment of area (I = wt3/12).
Changing the stiffness of a component involves changing the
design (ie. changing I) or choosing a material with a different modulus (ie. changing E).

Composites
It is not possible to change the modulus of a material significantly by alloying. However, mixing two
different materials can produce a composite, which is a multiphase material that has a significant
proportion of the properties of both phases, such that a better
combination of properties are realised. Examples include bone,
wood, concrete and fibreglass.

In a fibre-reinforced composite consisting of a volume fraction V f

of aligned fibres with modulus E f in a matrix with modulus E m and
volume fraction V m , it is possible to calculate the upper bound for
the modulus of the composite E c . This is done by assuming that
under an applied stress σ acting in the direction of the aligned
fibres, the strain in the fibres and the matrix is exactly the same.
Under these conditions the modulus of a two-component
composite (ie. V m = 1- V f ) is given by the rule of mixtures as:
E c = E f V f + E m V m = E f V f + E m (1 –V f )

The lower bound is calculated assuming that the stress in the fibres
and the matrix are exactly the same. Under these conditions, the
modulus is given by:
𝑉𝑉𝑓𝑓 �1 − 𝑉𝑉𝑓𝑓 �
𝐸𝐸𝑐𝑐 = 1�� + �
𝐸𝐸𝑓𝑓 𝐸𝐸𝑚𝑚

The density of such a composite ρ c can also be calculated

from the density of the fibres ρ f and of the matrix ρ m using
the rule of mixtures, ie:
ρ c = ρ f V f + ρ m (1 –V f )

These two equations can be used to illustrate the

significant advantages of a fibreglass beam with 40% of
glass fibres in epoxy resin, compared with the properties
of the individual components.

Material Modulus (GPa) Density (Mg/m3) Comments

Glass 70 2.5 Very, very brittle.
Epoxy resin 3 1.2 Very weak, low modulus.
Fibreglass (40%) 30 1.7 Modulus fair; not very brittle.