Mechanical

Properties of
Materials
 Terminology
• Stress
– Force acting on the unit are over which is force is
applied
– Unit : psi (pounds per square inch) or Pa (Pascal)
– Symbol : σ
• Strain
– The change in dimension per unit length
– Unit : No dimension – in/in or cm/cm
– Symbol : τ
• Stress – cause / Strain - effect
• Deformation
– Elastic deformation
• Nonpermanent
• When applied load is released, the piece
returns to its original shape
• Linear & Non-linear elastic
 Elastic Deformation
1. Initial 2. Small load 3. Unload

bonds
stretch

return to
initial
δ
F
F Linear-
elastic
Elastic means reversible!
Non-Linear-
elastic
δ
4
 Plastic Deformation (Metals)
1. Initial 2. Small load 3. Unload
bonds
p lanes
stretch
still
& planes
sheared
shear

δ plastic
δ elastic + plastic

F
F
Plastic means permanent!
linear linear
elastic elastic
δ
δ plastic
5
•In materials, elastic stress and elastic
strain are linearly related
• The slope of tensile stress-strain curve in
the linear regime defines
•The Young’s modulus or modulus of
elasticity, E
 Stress-Strain Testing
• Typical tensile test • Typical tensile
machine specimen

Adapted from
extensometer specimen Fig. 6.2,
Callister 7e.

gauge
length

Adapted from Fig. 6.3, Callister 7e. (Fig. 6.3 is taken from H.W.
Hayden, W.G. Moffatt, and J. Wulff, The Structure and Properties of
Materials, Vol. III, Mechanical Behavior, p. 2, John Wiley and Sons,
New York, 1965.)
7
• One of the most common mechanical stress-strain
tests is performed in tension.
• Tension test can be used to ascertain several
mechanical properties of materials that are important
in design.
• A specimen is deformed, usually to fracture, with a
gradually increasing tensile load that is applied
uniaxially along the long axis of a specimen.
• Normally, the cross section is circular, but
rectangular specimens are also used.
• This "dogbone" specimen configuration was chosen
so that, during testing, deformation is confined to the
narrow center region (which has a uniform cross
section along its length), and, also, to reduce the
likelihood of fracture at the ends of the specimen.
• The standard diameter : 12.8 mm (0.5 in.), whereas the reduced
section length (should be at least four times this diameter) : 60
mm (2 ¼ in.)
• The specimen is mounted by its ends into the holding grips of the
testing apparatus
• The tensile testing machine is designed to elongate the specimen
at a constant rate, and to continuously and simultaneously
measure the instantaneous applied load (with a load cell) and the
resulting elongations (using an extensometer).
• A stress-strain test typically takes several minutes to perform and
is destructive; that is, the test specimen is permanently deformed
and usually fractured.
 Engineering Stress
• Tensile stress, σ : • Shear stress, τ :
Ft Ft F

Area, A Area, A Fs

Fs
Ft
Fs Ft
Ft lb N τ = F
σ = = 2f or 2
Ao
Ao in m
original area ∴ Stress has units:
before loading
N/m2 or lbf/in2
10
 Engineering Strain
• Engineering strain є is defined
є = li – lo = Δ l
-------- ------
lo lo

• in which lo is the original length before any load is applied, and li is the
instantaneous length. Sometimes the quantity li - lo is denoted as Δ l , and is
the deformation elongation or change in length at some instant, as
referenced to the original length
• Engineering strain (subsequently called just strain) is unitless, but meters
per meter or inches per inch are often used; the value of strain is obviously
independent of the unit system.
• Sometimes strain is also expressed as a percentage, in which the strain value
is multiplied by 100.
 Tensile Test
•Table 6-1 shows the effect of the load on the changes in length of an
aluminum alloy test bar.

•These data are then subsequently converted ioto stress and strain.

•The stress-strain curve is analyzed further to the extract properties of

materials (e.g. Young’s modulus, yield strength, etc.)
Unit
• Many different units are used to report the results of the tensile test.
• The most common units for stress are pounds per square inch (psi) and Megapascals (Mpa).
• The units for strain include inch/inch, centimeter/centimeter, and meter/meter.
• The conversion factors for stress are summarized below. Because strain is dimension-less,
no conversion factors are required to change the system of units.

1 pound (lb) :4.448 Newtons (N)

1 psi : pounds per square inch
1 MPa : MegaPascal : MegaNewtons per square meter (MN/m2)
: Newtons per square millimeter (N/mm2) : 106 Pa
I GPa : 1000 MPa : Gigapascal
1 ksi : 1000 psi : 6.895 MPa
1 psi : 0.006895 MPa
1 M Pa : O. 145 ksi : 145 psi
Properties obtained from
Tensile Test
• The critical stress value needed to initiate plastic deformation
is defined as the elastic limit of the material.
– In metallic materials, this is usually the stress required for
dislocation motion, or slip to be initiated.
– In polymeric materials, this stress will correspond to
disentanglement of polymer molecule chains or sliding of
chains past each other.
• The proportional limit is defined as the level of stress above
which the relationship between stress and strain is not linear.
• In most materials the elastic limit and proportional limit are
quite close (not determine precisely)
• Define them at an offset strain value (typically, but not always, 0.002
or 0.2%)
• We then draw a line starting with this offset value of strain and draw a
line parallel to the linear portion of the engineering stress-strain
curve.
• The stress value corresponding to the intersection of this line and the
engineering stress-strain curve is defined as the offset yield strength,
also often stated as the yield strength.
• The 0.2% offset yield strength for gray cast iron is 40,000 psi as
shown in Figure 6-8(a).
 Tensile Strength, TS
• Maximum stress on engineering stress-strain curve.

Adapted from Fig. 6.11,

TS Callister 7e.

F = fracture or
σ y
ultimate
engineering

strength
stress

Typical response of a metal Neck – acts

as stress
concentrator
strain
engineering strain
• Metals: occurs when noticeable necking starts.
• Polymers: occurs when polymer backbone chains are
aligned and about to break.
17
• Tensile Strength : The stress obtained at the highest applied force is the tensile strength
(σts ), which is the maximum stress on the engineering stress-strain curve.
• In many ductile materials, deformation does not remain uniform.
At some point, one region deforms more than others and a large local decrease in the
cross-sectional area occurs. This locally deformed region is called a "neck." This
phenomenon is known as necking.
• Because the cross-sectional area becomes smaller at this point, a lower force is required to
continue its deformation, and the engineering stress, calculated from the original area Ao,
decreases.
• The tensile strength is the stress at which necking begins in ductile materials.
• Many ductile metals and polymers show the phenomenon of necking.
• In compression testing, the materials will bulge, thus necking is seen only in a tensile test.
 Elastic Properties
• The modulus of elasticity, or Young's modulus (E), is
the slope of the stress-strain curve in the elastic
region.
• This relationship is Hooke’s Law:
E=σ/ε
• Young's' modulus is a measure of the stiffness of a
component.
• A stiff component with a high modulus of elasticity,
will show much smaller changes in dimensions if the
applied stress is relatively small and, therefore,
causes only elastic deformation.
 Ductility
• measures the amount of deformation that a material
can withstand without breaking.
• We can measure the distance between the gauge
marks on our specimen before and after the test.
• The percent elongation describes the permanent
plastic deformation before failure (i.e., the elastic
deformation recovered after fracture is not
included).
• Note that the strain after failure is smaller thaq the
strain at the breaking point.
%Elongation = lf – l o
--------------- x 100

lo
 True Stress and True Strain
• The decrease in engineering stress beyond the tensile strength point on
an engineering stress-strain curve is related to the definition of
engineering stress.
• We used the original area A0 in our calculations, but this is not precise
because the area continually changes.
• We define true stress and true strain by the following equations:
 Hardness
• The hardness test measures the resistance to penetration
of the surface of a material by a hard object.
• Hardness as a term is not defined precisely. Hardness,
depending upon the context, can represent resistance to
scratching or indentation and a qualitative measure of
the strength of the material.
• In general, in macrohardness measurements the load
applied is -2N.
• A variety of hardness tests have been devised, but the
most commonly used are the Rockwell test and the
Brinell test. Different indentors used in these tests.
 Hardness: Measurement
Table 6.5

31
 Brinell hardness test
• In the Brinell hardness test, a hard steel sphere
(usually 10mm in diameter) is forced into the
surface of the material.
• The diameter of the impression, typically 2 to 6mm,
is measured and the Brinell hardness number
(abbreviated as HB or BHN) is calculated from the
following equation:

where F is the applied load in kilograms, D is the diameter of the indentor in

millimeters, and Di is the diameter of the impression in millimeters. The
Brinell hardness has the units of stress (e.g., kg/mm2).
 Rockwell hardness
• The Rockwell hardness test uses a small-diameter steel ball for
soft materials and a diamond cone, or Brale, for harder
materials.
• The depth of penetration of the indentor is automatically
measured by the testing machine and converted to a Rockwell
hardness number (HR).
• Since an optical measurement of the indention dimensions is
not needed, the Rockwell test tends to be more popular than
the Brinell test.
• Several variations of the Rockwell test are used, including:
– A Rockwell C (HRC) test is used for hard steels, whereas a Rockweil f
(HRF) test might be selected for aluminum.
• Rockwell tests provide a hardness number that has no units.
 Knoop hardness
• The Knoop hardness (HK) test is a microhardness test,
forming such small indentations that a microscope is required
to obtain the measurement.
• In these tests, the load applied is less than 2N.
• The Vickers test, which uses a diamond pyramid indentor, can
be conducted either as a macro and microhardness test.
• Microhardness tests are suitable for materials that may have a
surface that has a higher hardness than the bulk materials in
which different areas show different levels of hardness, or on
samples that are not macroscopically flat.
Tutorial