Module 1:

Lecture 1: Materials & Design

Topics to cover in this lecture:

What is Design?
What involves in the Design of Mechanical Systems?
What is the significance of Materials in Design?

References:

The following books are used as references while in the developing the course:

(i) M. F. Ashby, Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, Elsevier Publication, 2005

(ii) J. G. Gerdeen, H. W. Lord and R. A. L. Rorrer, Engineering Design with Polymers and Composites,
Taylor & Francis, 2005

(iii) M. F. Ashby and K. Johnson, Materials and Design, Butterworth Publication, 2002

(iv) D.R. Askeland and P.P. Phule, The Science and Engineering of Materials, Thomson Brooks/Cole
Publication, 4th edition, 2006

What is Design?

The word Design has a broad connotation:

According to Collins - Cobuild Dictionary while designing a building, machine or garment we

plan it and make a detailed drawing of it such that the object can be built based on it. In fact, in
Italian, the word design refers to la progettazione which refers to the planning.

In engineering, Design involves not only detailed planning but also it begins with pulling together
new ideas based on existing materials and technology and develop a new system.

The closest word to Design in engineering Context is Synthesis

To give you an example, lets say we want to design an Air-craft

You need to first decompose the project into manageable smaller systems: like: design of
the fuselage, design of wings and aerodynamic surface-profile, design of the engine, design
of landing and take-off systems etc.

Each system will have many sub-systems, for example, the design of fuselage would involve the
design of covering shells, the lateral and longitudinal stiffeners, the windows and the seats.

You can innovate while designing any of these sub-systems: this could be in terms of new materials
say, use of a new polymeric foam material which can change its softness or compliance based on
the pressure applied to it. It can be in terms of new technology - you may think of a new technology to
move the seat inclination.

The detailed design of every component involves Analysis. This involves the use of different
 computational tools and mathematical models. Most of the other engineering courses that you are
studying are designed to help you in the process of Analysis

Design involves Creativity-something which according to the designer has not existed before,
Complexity-you need to deal with a variety of processes and parameters and Choice- out of many
solutions you need to make a choice at every step and compromise on certain aspects.

What is involved in the Design of Mechanical Systems?

Any product design involves the following process:

1. Need identification
2. Concept Generation
3. Embodiment
4. Detailing
5. Manufacturing
6. Marketing and
7. Feed-back study

The scope of the Design of Mechanical Systems is limited to the processes from 1-4, The need
identification, as we will see later involves the identification of major objective/(s) and constraints.
Objectives could be often conflicting in nature for example, there may be need for the design of a
light weight panel along with high stiffness. The constraints, in general, are of two types:
qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative constraints like the transparency, colour, texture etc. play
significant role in the context of product design.
The Concept generation involves the development of multiple techniques/systems to meet the
same objective. For example, to design an enclosure one can use shells, shells with stiffeners or
a structure which is a combination of trusses and panels.
Embodiment refers to simple model building, assumption of initial materials, approximate analysis
and simulation.
More sophisticated analyses are carried out during the Detailing. CAD tools and FE modelling are
used at this stage. This also involves a final choice of materials.
Sequence 4 to 7 are often iterated during the life span od a product-brand.
Lecture 2 : Evolution of Engineering Materials - Traditional Materials

Topics to cover in this lecture:

Traditional materials used in Mechanical Design

Changes being observed in Material Selection today.

The Evolution of Materials

Traditional Materials in Design

The phrase mechanical design' refers to the design of components which mainly carries mechanical
loading (in the form of tensile/compressive forces or bending/twisting moments).

The traditional materials used in design could be divided into two groups natural and industrially
developed.

Examples of Natural Materials are: Woods, Ceramic Materials and Raw Metallic Ores. Woods are used
since last five thousand years in different mechanical designs like transport carriers. Shown below a
traditional horse-drawn cart made mostly out of wood.
Traditional Materials

Another very fine example of the use of wood is the famous golden chariot of Lord
Jagannatha at Orissa.

Of course wood was also used in the body-design of early automobiles and omnibuses. Wood is equally
good as a compressive and tensile load carrying material.

The pictures below are showing the use of wood both as a compressive as well as a flexural member.
Lecture 3 : Evolution of Engineering Materials - Futuristic Materials
Topics to cover in this lecture:

1. Changes being observed in material selection pattern today

2. Futuristic materials

Changes being observed in Material Selection Pattern today

As discussed in Lecture 1, materials selection today are based on evaluating a series of performance
characteristics, process characteristics, sustainability and business consideration related issues. To name
a few under these categories, the following could be listed:

1. Price and Availability

2. Mechanical Properties: Density, Modulus, Damping, Yield Strength, Tensile Strength, Hardness,
Fracture Toughness, Fatigue Strength, Thermal Fatigue Resistance and Creep Strength
3. Other functional properties: Thermal, Optical, Magnetic and Electrical Properties
4. Oxidation, Corrosion, Friction, Abrasion and Wear
5. Ease of Manufacture, Joining
6. Appearance, Texture, Feel

Due to the tremendous advances in material science, there is an increasing trend to use a combination of
different materials in the form of composites. Mixing rules are developed to accurately simulate the
outcome of mixing two materials at different proportions.

The other change is in terms of using multifunctional materials. For example, in automobile industry often
preference is given to a material which has better electro-magnetic properties in addition to the
mechanical properties. In the packaging industry, especially for computer hardware and drives, good
shock absorption property along with the capacity of electro-magnetic-interference shielding are desired.

With the crunches in resource base, sustainability has become another key issue.
The new buzz word in design is Eco-efficient Design.

What is eco-efficient design?

Eco-efficiency is achieved by the delivery of competitively priced goods and services that satisfy human
needs and improve quality of life while progressively reducing environmental impacts and resource
intensity throughout the life cycle to a level at least in line with the Earths estimated carrying capacity.

The seven steps towards achieving ecoefficiency are

1. Reduce the material intensity of goods and services.

2. Reduce the energy intensity of goods and services.
3. Reduce toxic dispersion.
4. Enhance material recyclability.
5. Maximize sustainable use of renewable resources.
6. Extend product durability and
7. .Increase the service intensity of goods and services.
The greater the improvement in each of these dimensions -- and the more dimensions in
which improvement occurs -- the more eco-efficient a product or process is

On futuristic materials

Let us now discuss about the last issue related to this lecture: the materials that are perceived to be of
significant use in near future. Material scientists are churning out many such wonder materials to name
a few we would consider

Carbon Nanotubes
Bulk Metallic Glass
Nano-composites
Intelligent Materials and
Rock fibers

Carbon Nanotubes:

Carbon Nanotubes, popularly known as CNTs are molecular-scale tubes of graphitic carbon with
outstanding properties. Carbon atoms in a carbon nanotube have one s and two p-orbitals, leaving one p-
orbital to overlap with three of the neighbouring atoms, as in graphite. The tubes can therefore be
considered as rolled-up graphite sheets. The strength of the sp carbon-carbon bonds provides very high
strength and modulus. The Young's modulus of the best nanotubes can be as high as 1000 GPa,
approximately 5 times higher than steel. The tensile strength of nanotubes can be up to 65 GPa, around
50 times higher than steel. They also possess remarkably high electrical and thermal
properties.

Materials of Future

Bulk Metallic Glasses:

It is known that amorphous metals can be produced by rapid cooling from the liquid rate. Until recently,
the cooling rates achievable were on the order of 105-106 K/s, which limited the thickness of a fully
amorphous alloy to fractions of a millimeter. The resulting ribbons and wires were used in transformer
cores and magnetic sensors. The recent development of bulk metallic glasses (BMG's) has opened the
door for use of these fascinating materials in structural applications. By developing certain Eutectic
mixtures the cooling rate has come down to only 1-10 K/s, hence, amorphous castings up to a centimeter
thick can be manufactured today.

For a Zr-Ti-Ni-Cu-Be bulk amorphous alloy, tensile strength of 2 GPa and fracture toughness values of
~20 MPa m1/2 have been reported. With a density of 6.1 g/cm 3, this BMG has a higher strength to weight
ratio than steels and most of the titanium alloys. Though the alloy exhibits almost no plastic strain at
failure, but typically shows up to 2.5% elastic strains. This ability to store large amount of energy per unit
volume during elastic deformation makes the alloy an excellent candidate for making springs. In fact, it's
first commercial application is as a golf club head!

Nano composites:

Nano composites refer to a group of composites where nano-sized particles/fibres are

reinforced in polymeric or ceramic matrix to obtain extraordinarily high mechanical properties.
Structurally the reinforcements may form a three dimensional, two dimensional or one dimensional
network inside the composite. The most common of such composites are the lamellar Nano composites
which are again divided into two categories known as intercalated and exfoliated. Extensive researches
are currently going on to understand the structure-function relationships in these nanocomposites.
However, enormous improvement in elastic modulus, strength and damping are reported almost in all
the cases.
Lecture 4 : Material Resource in Indian Context

Topics to cover in this lecture:

How do we quantify the availability of material?

What is the trend in material reserve?
Where is our country placed in terms of material resource?

How do we quantify the availability of materials?

The animated figure below shows clearly the reserve and resource relationship in terms of the
availability of the materials.

With the advent of technology, the reserve out-line for every material is continuously expanding except in
some cases where the usage is declared as potentially hazardous. One of the examples of such mineral
is Asbestos which has serious detrimental effects in the respiratory system and hence the use is quite
restricted. Also, below taking data from Ashby [1] we have developed bar-charts which compare the
relative cost commonly used materials.

What is the trend in material reserve?

The following is a broad-trend towards material reserve and usage today.

Copper, Silver, Tungsten, Tin and Mercury are rarely available today.
Iron and Aluminium are the most widely available material
Steel consumption is doubling in every 20 years
Aluminium consumption is doubling in every 9 years
Polymer consumption is increasing at an even faster rate, it is doubling in almost every 4 years

The designers are taking the following steps to encounter the shortage in material
supply:
 Material Efficient Design: Use less material - for example, for a good surface property use cheap
substrate and good surface finish
Substitution: Substitute rarer materials by the more available ones - for example, copper by
aluminium, steel by plastic
Recycling: stress on more recyclable material like Aluminium

Material resource in our country

India has a large number of economically useful minerals and they constitute about one quarter of the
worlds known mineral resources. Following are the five most commonly used material resources in India:
1. Iron (Fe): India is ranked 4th in the world in terms of iron ore. The total recoverable reserves are about
9602 million tons of Hematite and 3408 million tons of Magnetite. Leading states in Iron reserve are
Jharkhand, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamilnadu.

2. Chromium (Cr): India is ranked 3rd in terms of Chromite reserve in the world. Chromium plays an
important role in the development of high grade Fe-Cr alloys and Steel. Current reserve of Chromite is
estimated to be approximately 124 million tons.

3. Aluminium (Al): India has 5th largest stock of Bauxite (ore of Aluminium). The total reserve is estimated
as 3 billion tons. However, the production of Aluminium in the country is quite low. Our share in the
capacity of Aluminium production is between 3-5%. Leading states are Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujrat and J&K.

4. Manganese (Mn): India has 6th largest stock of this material. It has a wide range of application ranging
from the production of steel, ferro-alloys, ceramic glasses, chemicals and batteries. Total resource is
estimated to be about 167 million tons. Leading states are Karnataka, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Gujrat and Andhra Pradesh.

5. Limestone: Total recoverable reserves of limestone in India is placed at 76,446 million tons. Currently,
India is ranked 2nd in the production of cement based on limestone in the world. The estimated
production is about 114.2 million tons.

Material reserve in India

According to the Indian Bureau of mines, we can summarize the current status of mineral availability in
India as follows:

Grouping Abundant Adequate Deficient Scare

Nickel,
Metallic Chromite Chromite Tungsten,
Minerals Iron Ore (metallic), (refractory Cobalt,
(Ferrous) Manganese grade) Molybdenum,
Vanadium
Metallic
Copper,
Minerals Bauxite Bauxite Antimony, Platinum group of materials, Tin
Lead
(nonferrous)
Dolomite,
Industrial Gypsum, Apatite,
Graphite Sulphur, Potash
Materials Limestone, Kyanite
Mica
Lecture 5 : Classification of Materials

In this lecture we will briefly classify the domain of materials available for the design of Mechanical
Systems.

The followings are the major groups of materials used in mechanical design

Classification of Materials

Metals & Alloys:

Iron & Steels: The modulus of elasticity for this group ranges from 180-217 GPa. The yield strength has a
wider variation range; from 250-2250 MPa. The fracture toughness ranges from 12-210 Mpa-m1/2 and
the service temperature from -70 to 6000C. Starting from the reinforcement of concrete to bridges,
cables, shafts, gears, springs, bearings, car-bodies and food-processing equipments, the iron and its
alloys have found every conceivable applications in our life-style.

Aluminium & alloys: The modulus of elasticity is lower than Iron & Steel; from 65-90 GPa. The yield
strength is relatively high; from 30 to 510 MPa. The fracture toughness is quite low in comparison to
steel; from 18-40 MPa-m1/2. Range of service temperature is moderate from -270 to 2000C. The
relatively inferior mechanical properties of Aluminum are shielded often by its' light weight and
excellent thermal and electrical properties. Major usage of Aluminium is in the Aerospace industry. New
applications are in the field of car-body construction and electronics packaging.

Copper & alloys:

Nickel & Alloys: Nickel has excellent mechanical properties at high temperature particularly in the form
of alloys. The elastic modulus varies from 125-245 GPa; comparable to steel. The yield strength from 20-
2100 MPa, again comparable to steel. The service temperature could be as high as 1200 0C. This is one
of the reasons why Nickel & its alloys are used to form super alloys. Such materials are widely used in
Turbine blades.

Titanium & Alloys: The elastic modulus and yield strength of titanium alloy are slightly lower than steel
(modulus 90-140 GPa, strength 170-1250 MPa). However, it is lighter than steel and it has a good service
temperature (-40 to 500oC). The materials are mostly used in the aerospace industry.

Polymers:

Polymeric materials are grouped into three categories: Thermoplastics, Thermosets and Elastomers

Thermoplastics:

Polyethylene (PE): The elastic modulus in sheet form ranges between 0.03-1.4 GPa, while in fibre form
between 160-175 GPa. The strength again in film/sheet form varies between 8-30 MPa while that of a
fibre is extremely high (3.3 GPa). The density is also quite low (970 Kg/m3). However the service
temperature is limited up to 1000C. Use of PE as fibers is quite

popular in composites. In film/sheet form Low and High Density PEs (LDPE and HDPEs) are mostly
used as containers.

Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA): PMMA, commonly known as Acrylic is a transparent thermoplastic

having a higher elastic modulus than PE in sheet/rod form (2.3-3.8 GPa) and a high strength (53-74
MPa). Due to its higher stiffness and low density (1200 Kg/m3) coupled with good optical properties, it
has extensive aerospace applications as cockpit-canopies. It is also used extensively in developing
lenses and CDs.

Polyamide (Nylon): Nylon, like PE, has good uses both as fibre (E-3GPa, and tensile strength 830 MPa)
as well as in molded components like exterior covers or small mechanical components like gears,
sprockets and bearings. The reason behind choosing for the later applications is due to its low coefficient
of friction, ease of casting and a slightly higher range of service temperature (-80 to 120oC).

Polystyrene (PS): PS is available in three different forms thin film, blended form with Polybutadyne and
also as foams. The modulus of elasticity varies from 2-3.5 GPa and the tensile strength from 30-60MPa.
PS foams are widely used in disposable cups and utensils.

Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC): PVC is one of the cheapest yet functionally attractive polymer. With a
modulus and strength similar to PS, the corrosion resistance and UV resistance properties of the polymer
has made it ideally suitable for pipes, fittings and floorings.

Thermoset Polymers:

Polyurethane (PU): PUs are generally available in the form of foams. Their major usage is in the form of
crash protection and passive damping of vibrating structures. Their modulus of elasticity and strength
are quite low (E<0.1 GPa and f <50 MPa). However their loss coefficient is quite high (about 0.8), hence
it is considered as one of the most superior materials for energy dissipation.
Epoxy: Epoxy is an widely used thermosetting material in mechanical joints. It has an elastic modulus in
the range of 2.3-3 GPa and strength between 35-70 MPa. Epoxy is often used as matrix to develop Glass
fibre reinforced and Carbon fibre reinforced plastics.

Elastomers:

Butyl Rubbers: Elastomers like foams find their major usage as crash protective material since they
can undergo very high strain without failure. Butyl rubbers have good resistance to abrasion and tearing,
also they can work up to a temperature as high as 1500C. Their major usage include tubes, belts and
hosts.

Silicone Rubber (PDMS): Silicones are developed replacing the Carbon by Silicon in the main chains of
the methyl-links. This has enhanced their thermal stability (service temperature up to 3000C). Often
silicone molding resins are reinforced with fillers like chopped strands to enhance their modulus of
elasticity and strength. Typical usage include seals, gaskets, o-rings, food processing equipments etc.

For many years Wood was the most favourable choice for construction of Vehicle-bodies in the
transportation sector.

Let us look at the reasons behind this choice:

Traditionally wood was used in the transportation sector for building Chariots, Animal drawn
Carts, Palanquins etc hence it became the natural choice for building bodies of the
automobiles, omnibuses etc. at the first phase of industrial revolution.

Wood has impressive mechanical properties. The elastic modulus of wood is in the range of 8-20
GPa which is as good as materials like PMMA and GFRP. The density of wood is about 0.6-75
Mg/m3 lighter than most of the polymers except polymeric foams. The strength of the wood is
about 30 MPa which is again comparable to high-performance polymers.

Other advantages of wood are recyclability, ease of machining and aesthetically pleasing quality.

With the advent of mass-scale production and automation in car-industry, it became necessary to
replace wood by metals and metallic alloys. Typical metal shaping technologies like sheet forming
which can handle large batch size (105 to 106 units per batch) became very much suitable for the
massscale production of vehicles.

There were two-choices in terms of use of metals and metallic alloys: Steel and Aluminium Alloys.
Why these materials became so popular for Car-design? Let us find the material indices most
relevant from car-body construction point of view. It is observed that three most significant issues in
car-body design are:

Stiffness of the sheets which is expressed as an objective to minimise mass against a specified
deflection limit. Minimisation of mass directly implies the use of less amount of material and
hence less cost per unit. Also, mass minimisation would increase fuel efficiency of the vehicle.
For a flat panel of size (LxB), thickness t, modulus of elasticity E and density , this would involve
the search for a material having maximum value of an index
(E1/3/). Later we will discuss about the origin of such indices.
 Another important consideration is dent resistance. A similar study would indicate that this
requires the maximisation of an index (y t4/k), where y is the yield strength and k is the stiffness
of the panel.

Lecture 6 : Case Study continued: Materials Selection for Vehicle Body

The third important issue is the resistance against crack propagation. This is indicated by the parameter
called fracture toughness or KIC (MPa-m1/2)

Now, let us look at the values of these parameters for four materials: Carbon Steel, Stainless Steel,
Aluminium Alloy, PMMA and GRFP (Glass Fibre Reinforced Plastic).

E1/3/
y KIC
Material (E GPa, -Mg/M3)
(MPa) (MPa-m1/2)
Carbon
Steel 0.75 250 12
(0.4 $/Kg)
Stainless
Steel 0.77 170 12
(1.2$/Kg)
Aluminium
Alloy 1.63 30 18
(1.3$/Kg)
PMMA 72 1.6
1.34
(2.4$/Kg) (max) (max)
GFRP 150 20
1.55
(9$/Kg) (max) (max)

The Table above clearly explains why Carbon steel was tolerated for a long time in Car-body
construction. It was the cheapest among all available materials having reasonably good material indices.
However, the massive growth of automobile use in the Europe and USA caused tremendous
environmental problems. As a result in 1975 a new rule was established by CAFE (Corporate Average
Fuel Economy) regulations, which set a target of fuel economy up to 27.5 miles per Gallon of fuel). The
average fuel efficiency of steel based Cars at that time was only 14 mpg. The new rules have shifted the
favour towards Aluminium. In terms of specific stiffness it is even placed better than steel. The Table also
shows that from all round consideration GFRP is even better than Aluminium. However, the cost of GFRP
is still much higher than Aluminum prohibiting its use in mass-scale manufacturing of automobiles.

Advantages of using Aluminium in automobiles

There is a marked increase in the use of aluminum in automobiles over the years. Following the
report of the Aluminum Association in the 2002 North American Light Vehicle Aluminum Content
Study, for 2002, the average aluminum content for passenger cars and light trucks combined is
about 125 Kg while the average for all vehicles sold in 1999 was about 113 Kg.

It is also noted that lower energy consumption and gas emissions is possible through reduced
weight, for example, extensive use of aluminium can result in up to 300 kg weight reduction in a
medium size vehicle (1400kg).

For every 100 kg reduction in the automotive sector, there is a cut of 20% lower exhaust gas
emissions and proportionally reduced operating costs.
 One of the major challenges in Aluminium industry is to machine complex components out of
thick plate replacing parts previously machined from die forgings or fabricated from sheet and
extrusions. This would reduce the cost of manufacturing as well as enhance the application of
complex shapes.

The picture below shows a Jaguar Car which is having almost complete body and frame made
out of Aluminium.
Module 2 :

Lecture 7 : Overview of Material Properties

In this lecture, I will provide you an overview of a group of material properties important for the designer.
You may be aware of many of them; however, for the sake of completeness and to avoid ambiguities at a
later state we are going to define the relevant properties here.

The following properties are considered for this purpose:

1. Relative Prices
2. Mechanical Properties: Density, Modulus, Damping, Yield Strength, Tensile Strength, Hardness,
Fracture Toughness, Fatigue Strength, Thermal Fatigue Resistance, Creep Strength
3. Surface Properties: Oxidation, Corrosion, Friction, Abrasion & Wear Thermal,
4. Ease of Manufacture, Joining
5. Aesthetic Properties: Appearance, Texture, Feel
Relative Prices of Materials

In the Table below, we have provided the relative prices of the materials commonly used in mechanical
design. This will give you an approximate idea about the price range. The absolute prices (US $/ton)
could be obtained by multiplying the values with a base value of $3,30,000.00. In fact this is the price of
Boron epoxy composite (US$/ton) which was used in Space Shuttle.

Material Relative Cost (x 10-4)

CFRP 6060
Tungsten 787
Cobalt 521
Titanium Alloy 385
Polyamide 306
PMMA 160
High Speed Steel 121
Nylon 96
GFRP 100
Stainless Steel 93
Polycarbonate 77
Aluminium Alloy 73
Epoxy 50
Rubber 43
HDPE 37
PS 39
Mild Steel 14
Soft Wood 13
Cement 01
Mechanical Properties of Materials

1. Modulus of Elasticity (E):

For a homogeneous and isotropic material, the modulus of elasticity is often obtained by subjecting
a small strip of material to tensile or compressive load in a universal testing machine. The load vs.
deformation data are obtained against a constant strain-rate and the engineering stress-strain curve is
plotted from these data. As shown in the figure below, a part of the stress-strain curve is linear for most of
the materials. The slope of the stress-strain curve at this linear region is defined as the Modulus of
Elasticity, E. The SI unit of E is Pascals (Pa N/m2). Often, E is quite high in terms of Pa and hence it is
expressed as Giga Pascals or GPa (1 GPa = 109 Pa)

Engineering Stress-Strain Curve for a Ductile Metal showing the Modulus of Elesticity E, 0.2% Yield Strength
y and the Ultimate Tensile Strength u

The other related properties are Shear Modulus of Elasticity G, and Bulk Modulus of elasticity K.
The relationships between G, K and E are as follows:

Where, is the Poissons ratio.

Usually, = 0.3, hence, , and

For elastomeric materials: = 0.5, hence, G=1/3E and K>>E

The nature of stress-strain diagram changes significantly for Ceramic Materials. Typical stress-strain
diagram for a ceramic material under tension and compression are shown below. The modulus of
elasticity of ceramic materials is quite high, for example SiC has a modulus of elasticity of around 450
GPa which is comparable to metals like Tungsten (406 GPa). However, The presence of micro-cracks
causes the brittle failure of ceramic materials under tension, though the same material under compression
can withstand a much higher load.

Stress-Strain Diagram under Tensile and Compressive Load for Ceramic Material

Again, for many polymeric materials you will observe a dichotomy of nature depending on whether you
are testing them below a temperature known as glass-transition temperature Tg when it will behave more
like a brittle material (Glassy Phase); whereas, the same material above Tg (Rubbery Phase) will behave
more like a ductile material. The modulus of elasticity in the Glassy phase is quite higher than the rubbery
phase. Typical Stress-Strain diagrams for a polymeric material are shown below.

Stress-Strain Diagram for Polymeric Materials (Upper Curves typical of the Glassy Phase and Lower Curves
typical of Rubbery Phase

2. Yield Strength, Ultimate Tensile Strength. The stress-strain diagram showed to you reveals two other
important parameters: Yield Strength and Ultimate Tensile Strength. Up to a certain loading, a material
can recover its strain during the un-loading phase defining the presence of an elastic limit, which a
designer should not cross in most of the applications. However, from a practical point of view it is difficult
to identify the elastic limit accurately. A more useful approach comes from the observation that for most of
the metals the safe level of strain is about 0.002 (0.2%). Hence, if you draw a line staring from this value
parallel to the initial part of the stress-strain diagram, the point of intersection of this line with the stress-
strain diagram is defined as the Offset Yield Strength or simply the Yield Strength of the material
yexpressed usually in MPa (106 Pa).

The other important parameter specifically for metals and metallic alloys is Ultimate Strength. It is defined
as the point of maximum stress that a material can withstand. It may be noted that such a point could
readily be obtained from the engineering-stress diagram while the true stress-strain which is based on
actual cross-sectional area at every stage of loading would not show this point.

3. Fracture Toughness From the experience of many catastrophic failures, the designers now know that
it is simply not good enough to keep the average stress level of a component or a structure below a safe
stress level. In reality, there are flaws present everywhere (like pores, micro-cracks etc.) and there is a
good possibility of overstressing at these locations. Hence, the important question here to ask is that
whether the flaw will increase in size and cause failure or not while loading.

Performing tests on specimens having known flaw-size one can determine the critical Stress intensity
factor K that would cause the growth of flaw and failure.
This is denoted as Kc, more specifically as KIC for critical stress-intensity factor corresponding to a plane-
strain scenario. The unit of KIC is in MPa-m1/2.

Loss-Factor:

The next important property of a material from dynamic applications point of view is the loss-factor. You
will always observe that during un-loading a material never comes back through the same path that it
traced during loading. This indicates the presence of hysteresis. Of course the extent of hysteresis differs
significantly from material to material. Polymers, for example show very high hysteresis in comparison to
the metals or ceramics. A typical hysteresis curve is shown below. The loss factor is defined as the ratio
of amount of energy dissipated during a cycle of loading and un-loading to the amount of strain-energy
stored in the system. High loss-factor indicates higher material damping which is desirable in components
subjected to noise and vibration.
Lecture 8 : Surface Properties of Materials

In the last lecture, we have defined some of the important mechanical properties that a designer has to
take care of to prevent failure of the load bearing members.

Many a times, the surface properties of a component, plays an important role in determining the quality of
the product. For example, the efficiency of an IC Engine, gear box or drive trains depend largely on the
surface integrity of its components.

The following properties are grouped under surface properties of materials:

Hardness and Micro-hardness

Modulus of Rupture
Surface Roughness and Friction Coefficient
Wear and Corrosion Rate

Surface Mechanical Properties: Hardness and Micro-hardness

The hardness of a sample is actually a measure of its resistance to plastic deformation. When a sample
is indented by applying force through a pointed diamond or hardened steel ball, the depth of indentation
and the indented area vary between the materials.

The most common measure of hardness is given by Vickers Hardness which is:
HV = 1.854 F/d2

and is denoted as NHVF (N Vickers Hardness number, F applied force in KgF) multiplying H V by 9.81 x
10-3 one can convert it into GPa. The normal range of Force is from 10-100 KgF.

Micro-hardness test is in principle same as the conventional hardness test, however the force for static
indentation should not exceed 1 KgF. This type of test is particularly useful when the mechanical property
of a coating over a base material is evaluated. Microscope is used to precisely measure the depth of
indentation up to an accuracy of 0.2 micrometer.

Surface Mechanical Properties: Modulus of Rupture

Modulus of Rupture is an indirect measurement of the maximum load carrying capacity of a member in
bending. This is mostly used for characterising brittle materials, since it is difficult to test a brittle material
under tension. It is defined as the maximum surface stress developed in a material before failure.
The figure below shows clearly how modulus of rupture is measured using four-point bending. The
dimensions shown are as per ASME standard.

Surface Mechanical Properties: Roughness and Coefficient of Friction

A very important surface characteristics is the surface profile and the coefficient of friction. It has direct
applications in the fields of sensitive instruments, computer data storage, automotive and biomedical
components.

Surface roughness measurement requires a calibrated means of determining the peaks and valleys of a
surface profile. These peaks and valleys can be measured using non-contact equipments, like lasers,
proximity sensors or contact type tools that can ride over the peaks and valleys. The instrument output
after calibration is converted in terms of micro-inches or micro-meters.

One of the commonest units of roughness measurement is Ra or the Average Roughness. The average
roughness is defined as the area between the roughness profile and its mean line, or the integral of the
absolute value of the roughness profile height over the evaluation length. Accordingly,

Where, L is the evaluation length of the surface profile and Z is the profilometer reading in micro-inches or
micro-meters.
The following table from ISO1392 gives the grades of roughness:

Roughness values in
Roughness Grade
Micrometers
N1 0.025
N2 0.05
N3 0.10
N4 0.20
N5 0.40
N6 0.80
N7 1.60
N8 3.20
N9 8.30
N10 12.50
N11 25.0
N12 50.0

Surface Mechanical Property: Wear Rate

Wear is defined as the removal of material from the surface of an object through contact with another
surface. Thompson et al have classified wear into two major categories: wear due to mechanical
interaction and due to chemical reaction. Wear due to mechanical interaction is again subdivided into
five major types:

Fretting Wear, Abrasive Wear, Adhesive Wear, Delamination wear and Wear caused by Plowing

Wear is given by the following simple relationship:

W=KxSxP

Where W is the worn volume, S is the sliding distance, P is the applied force and K is the Archard
Constant expressed as worn volume per unit length per unit sliding distance.

The following are the ranges of K corresponding to different mechanisms:

Fretting Wear: K = 10-6 to 10-4

Abrasive Wear: K =10-2 to 10-1

Adhesive Wear: K = 10-4

Delamination Wear and Wear due to Plowing: K = 10-4

urface Mechanical Property: Wear due to Corrosion

Wear due to Corrosion is quantified the same way as the mechanical wear.

The list provided below gives a qualitative idea to the Designer to choose a metallic alloy under
prevalent environmental conditions.

Aerated Water:

High resistance Lead Alloy, Steel Alloy, Titanium Alloy, Nickel Alloy, Copper Alloy

Medium resistance Aluminium Alloy

Low resistance: Carbon steels

Strong Acids:

High resistance Lead Alloy, Titanium alloy, Stainless Steel

Medium Aluminium Alloy

Strong Alkali:

High resistance Nickel Alloys, Steels, Titanium Aloy

Medium Copper Alloys, Zinc Alloys

UV: all alloys

Lecture 9 : Other Functional Properties of Materials

In this lecture, we will talk about some of the other functional properties of materials that are
important for the designers today. Due to the emphasis on multifunctional materials, more and more
materials are chosen on the basis of a combination of mechanical and non-mechanical properties. For
example, new automobile body structure now demands good thermal properties, surface hardness
against denting, vibration damping and flame retardance along with specific strength and stiffness. We
have discussed already about mechanical and surface properties of materials let us discuss about a
few other properties now.

The properties that are very relevant at this stage are:

Service Temperature
Resistivity
Dielectric Constant
Magnetic Permeability
Refractive Index
Piezoelectric Constant

Service Temperature of Different Materials

Range Material
< 150 Thermoplastic, Lead
Mg & Al alloys up to 200 except LM13, Plain Carbon&
150- 400
Mn - Carbon Steel
Low alloy steel like .5%Mo, 1%Cr,.5%Mo, .5%Cr-Mo-V
400-600
Steel, Titanium alloy
Austenite Stainless Steel, Ni- Cr, Ni-Cr-Fe alloys like
600- 1000
Nimonic, Inconel
>1000 Alloys of refractory metals like Mo, Ta, W and Ceramics

Resistivity of Different Materials

The electrical resistivity (r) of a material is defined as:

r = (R A)/l

Where R is the resistance of the sample, A the cross-sectional area and l- the length of the sample. The
unit of resistivity is Ohm-m.

International Annealed
Material 108 -M Copper Standard
IACS (%)
Cu 1.71 101
Ag 1.59 106
Cu+1%Cd 2.2 80
Gold 2.35 75
Al 2.65 64.9
Brass 6.2 28
Iron 9.7 17.7
Steel 56 3.1
 Glass 100 NA
Rubber 100,000 NA
Teflon 1014 NA

Dielectric Constant of Different Materials

The dielectric constant (c) of a material is defined as:

c = s/0

Where s is the static permittivity of the material sample, and o is the vacuum permittivity. The following
table provides dielectric constants of some of the common materials.

Material Dielectric Constant

Vacuum 1
Teflon 2.1
PE 2.25
PS 2.40
Concrete 4.50
Glass 4.70
Graphite 10.0
Titanium Dioxide 86
Barium Titanate 90

Magnetic Permeability of Different Materials

Magnetic permeability indicates the capacity of a material to absorb magnetic flux.

The permeability constant () of a material is defined by the relationship:

B = r 0 H; 0, the permeability of the free-space = 1.257 x 10-6 H/m

Where B is the magnetic flux density applied on the material sample, and H is the magnetic field intensity.
The property is useful for the design of plate magnets and magnetic sweepers. The following table
provides relative permeability constants of some of the common materials.

Relative
Material
Permeability
Vacuum 1
Silicon 0.99999
Tungsten 1.00008
Nickel 100
Ferrite N41 3000
Silicon GO Steel 40000
Low Carbon
50000
Steel
Aluminium 1.00002
Ni-Fe-Mo (Supermalloy) 106
Piezoelectric Constant

The piezoelctric constant implies the coupling of electric and mechanical fields in a group of crystalline
materials and polymers. It is defined by the following relationship.

where = strain, s = compliance modulus, = applied stress and E is the electric field which is also
expressed as
E = V/t, V = applied voltage, t = thickness of the medium across which the voltage is applied

The piezoelectric constant plays an important role in selecting so called 'smart material' for sensor and
actuator integrated structures. The following are the piezoelectricconstant of some of the mostly used
materials

d33
Material
(pc/N)
PZT
190
(hard)
PZT
425
(soft)
PZT-PVDF 120
PMN-PT 1240
PVDF 30