Chapter: 6

(From Callister)

Mechanical Properties of
Metals

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
ISSUES TO ADDRESS...
Stress and strain: What are they and why are
they used instead of load and deformation?

Elastic behavior: When loads are small, how much

deformation occurs? What materials deform least?
Plastic behavior: At what point do dislocations
cause permanent deformation? What materials are
most resistant to permanent deformation?

Toughness and ductility: What are they and how

do we measure them?

ELASTIC DEFORMATION
1. Initial

2. Small load

3. Unload

bonds
stretch

return to
initial

Elastic means reversible!

PLASTIC DEFORMATION (METALS)

2. Small load

3. Unload

1. Initial

Plastic means permanent!

linear
elastic

linear
elastic

plastic

OTHER COMMON STRESS STATES (1)

Simple compression:

Ao

Canyon Bridge, Los Alamos, NM

(photo courtesy P.M. Anderson)

(photo courtesy P.M. Anderson)

Balanced Rock, Arches

National Park

Note: compressive
structure member
( < 0 here).

OTHER COMMON STRESS STATES (2)

Bi-axial tension:

Pressurized tank
(photo courtesy
P.M. Anderson)

Hydrostatic compression:

Fish under water

>0
z>0

h<

(photo courtesy
P.M. Anderson)

Tension Tests

Engineering stress and engineering strain

F = Applies force in N
A0 = Original c/s area in mm2 or m2
= Engineering stress in N/m2 or MPa

l0 = Original length in mm or m
li = Instantaneous length in mm or m
= Engineering strain. It has no unit

Compression Tests
It is similar to tension test only nature
of force is reverse.
It is conducted for brittle materials.

Tension test

Compression test

Shear test and torsion test

Geometric Considerations of the Stress State

Elastic deformation
Stress- strain behavior

E = modulus of elasticity in N/m2 or MPa

E on atomic scale

Effect of temperature on E

Shear Modulus

ANELASTICITY
Time dependent elastic behavior is known as

anelasticity
Time dependent microscopic and atomstic processes
that are attendant to the deformation
For metal normally small and is often neglected
however for some polymeric materials its magnitude is
significant

Elastic properties of Materials

Poissons ratio,

For isotropic materials

Plastic Deformation
Yielding and yield strength

For non linear material

behavior 0.002 stain off-set
line is used to find yield
strength

TENSILE STRENGTH, TS

DUCTILITY, %EL
%EL

Lf

Lo
Lo

x100

Lf is fracture length and L0 is

original length

%AR

Ao A f
x100
Ao

Af is c/s are at fracture and A0 is

original c/s area

Brittle materials --- Fracture strain is @ 5%

Yield strength, tensile strength and ductility are important

mechanical properties.

These properties are sensitive to any prior deformation,

presence of impurity and type of heat treatment.
Modulus of elasticity is insensitive to these treatments.
With increasing temperature YS, TS and E decreases
as ductility increases.

where

Resilience
Capacity

of material to absorb
energy when it is deformed
elastically and then, upon unloading,
to have this energy recovered.

Its unit is J/m3 or Pa

TOUGHNESS

True stress and true strain

T = true stress in Mpa
Ai = instantaneous c/s area
T = true strain