Strength of materials

Strength of materials, also called mechanics of materials, is a subject which deals with the behavior of solid objects subject to
stresses and strains. The complete theory began with the consideration of the behavior of one and two dimensional members of
structures, whose states of stress can be approximated as two dimensional, and was then generalized to three dimensions to develop a
more complete theory of the elastic and plastic behavior of materials. An important founding pioneer in mechanics of materials was
Stephen Timoshenko.

The study of strength of materials often refers to various methods of calculating the stresses and strains in structural members, such
as beams, columns, and shafts. The methods employed to predict the response of a structure under loading and its susceptibility to
various failure modes takes into account the properties of the materials such as its yield strength, ultimate strength, Young's modulus,
and Poisson's ratio; in addition the mechanical element's macroscopic properties (geometric properties), such as its length, width,
thickness, boundary constraints and abrupt changes in geometry such as holes are considered.

Contents
Definition
Types of loadings
Stress terms
Strength terms
Strain (deformation) terms
Stress–strain relations
Design terms
Failure theories
See also
References
Further reading
External links

Definition
In mechanics of materials, the strength of a material is its ability to withstand an applied load without failure or plastic deformation.
The field of strength of materials deals with forces and deformations that result from their acting on a material. A load applied to a
mechanical member will induce internal forces within the member called stresses when those forces are expressed on a unit basis.
The stresses acting on the material cause deformation of the material in various manners including breaking them completely.
Deformation of the material is called strain when those deformations too are placed on a unit basis. The applied loads may be axial
(tensile or compressive), or rotational (strength shear). The stresses and strains that develop within a mechanical member must be
calculated in order to assess the load capacity of that member
. This requires a complete description of the geometry of the member
, its
constraints, the loads applied to the member and the properties of the material of which the member is composed. With a complete
description of the loading and the geometry of the member, the state of stress and state of strain at any point within the member can
be calculated. Once the state of stress and strain within the member is known, the strength (load carrying capacity) of that member
, its
deformations (stiffness qualities), and its stability (ability to maintain its original configuration) can be calculated. The calculated
stresses may then be compared to some measure of the strength of the member such as its material yield or ultimate strength. The
calculated deflection of the member may be compared to a deflection criteria that is based on the member's use. The calculated
buckling load of the member may be compared to the applied load. The calculated stiffness and mass distribution of the member may
be used to calculate the member's dynamic response and then compared to the acoustic environment in which it will be used.

Material strength refers to the point on the engineering stress–strain curve (yield stress) beyond which the material experiences
deformations that will not be completely reversed upon removal of the loading and as a result the member will have a permanent
deflection. The ultimate strength of the material refers to the maximum value of stress reached. The fracture strength is the stress
value at fracture (the last stress value recorded).

Types of loadings
Transverse loadings — Forces applied perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of a member . Transverse loading
causes the member to bend and deflect from its original position, with internal tensile and compressive strains
accompanying the change in curvature of the member .[1] Transverse loading also induces shear forces that cause
shear deformation of the material and increase the transverse deflection of the member .
Axial loading — The applied forces are collinear with the longitudinal axis of the member . The forces cause the
member to either stretch or shorten.[2]
Torsional loading — Twisting action caused by a pair of externally applied equal and oppo sitely directed force
couples acting on parallel planes or by a single external couple applied to a member that has one end fixed against
rotation.

Stress terms
Uniaxial stress is expressed by

where F is the force [N] acting on an areaA [m2].[3] The area can be the undeformed
area or the deformed area, depending on whether engineering stress or true stress is
of interest.
A material being loaded in a)
Compressive stress (or compression) is the stress state caused by an compression, b) tension, c) shear.
applied load that acts to reduce the length of the materialcompression
(
member) along the axis of the applied load, it is in other words a stress
state that causes a squeezing of the material. A simple case of
compression is the uniaxial compression induced by the action of opposite, pushing forces. Compressive strength for
materials is generally higher than their tensile strength. However
, structures loaded in compression are subject to
additional failure modes, such asbuckling, that are dependent on the member's geometry .
Tensile stress is the stress state caused by an applied load that tends to elongate the material along the axis of the
applied load, in other words the stress caused bypulling the material. The strength of structures of equal cross
sectional area loaded in tension is independent of shape of the cross section. Materials loaded in tension are
susceptible to stress concentrations such as material defects or abrupt changes in geometry . However, materials
exhibiting ductile behavior (most metals for example) can tolerate some defects while brittle materials (such as
ceramics) can fail well below their ultimate material strength.
Shear stress is the stress state caused by the combined energy of a pair of opposing forces acting along parallel
lines of action through the material, in other words the stress caused by faces of the material sliding relative to one
another. An example is cutting paper withscissors[4] or stresses due to torsional loading.

Strength terms
Mechanical properties of materials include the yield strength, tensile strength, fatigue strength, crack resistance, and other
characteristics.[5]

Yield strength is the lowest stress that produces a permanent deformation in a material. In some materials, like
aluminium alloys, the point of yielding is difficult to identify, thus it is usually defined as the stress required to cause
0.2% plastic strain. This is called a 0.2% proof stress. [6]
 Compressive strength is a limit state of compressive stress that leads to failure in a material in the manner of ductile
failure (infinite theoretical yield) or brittle failure (rupture as the result of crack propagation, or sliding along a weak
plane — see shear strength).
Tensile strength or ultimate tensile strengthis a limit state of tensile stress that leads to tensile failure in the manner
of ductile failure (yield as the first stage of that failure, some hardening in the second stage and breakage after a
possible "neck" formation) or brittle failure (sudden breaking in two or more pieces at a low stress state).ensile T
strength can be quoted as either true stress or engineering stress, but engineering stress is the most commonly
used.
Fatigue strength is a measure of the strength of a material or a component under cyclic loading,[7] and is usually
more difficult to assess than the static strength measures. Fatigue strength is quoted as stress amplitude or stress
range ( ), usually at zero mean stress, along with the number of cycles to failure under that
condition of stress.

Impact strength is the capability of the material to withstand a suddenly applied load and is expressed in terms of
energy. Often measured with theIzod impact strength testor Charpy impact test, both of which measure the impact
energy required to fracture a sample. Volume, modulus of elasticity, distribution of forces, and yield strength affect
the impact strength of a material. In order for a material or object to have a high impact strength the stresses must
be distributed evenly throughout the object. It also must have a large volume with a low modulus of elasticity and a
high material yield strength.[8]

Strain (deformation) terms

Deformation of the material is the change in geometry created when stress is applied (as a result of applied forces,
gravitational fields, accelerations, thermal expansion, etc.). Deformation is expressed by the displacement field of the
material.[9]
Strain or reduced deformation is a mathematical term that expresses the trend of the deformation change among the
[10] In the case of uniaxial loading the displacements of a
material field. Strain is the deformation per unit length.
specimen (for example a bar element) lead to a calculation of strain expressed as the quotient of the displacement
and the original length of the specimen. For 3D displacement fields it is expressed as derivatives of displacement
functions in terms of a second ordertensor (with 6 independent elements).
Deflection is a term to describe the magnitude to which a structural element is displaced when subject to an applied
load.[11]

Stress–strain relations
Elasticity is the ability of a material to return to its previous
shape after stress is released. In many materials, the
relation between applied stress is directly proportional to
the resulting strain (up to a certain limit), and a graph
representing those two quantities is a straight line.
The slope of this line is known as Young's modulus, or the "modulus
of elasticity." The modulus of elasticity can be used to determine the
stress–strain relationship in the linear-elastic portion of the stress–
strain curve. The linear-elastic region is either below the yield point,
or if a yield point is not easily identified on the stress–strain plot it is
defined to be between 0 and 0.2% strain, and is defined as the region
[12]
of strain in which no yielding (permanent deformation) occurs.
Basic static response of a specimen under tension
Plasticity or plastic deformation is the opposite of elastic
deformation and is defined as unrecoverable strain.
Plastic deformation is retained after the release of the
applied stress. Most materials in the linear-elastic category are usually capable of plastic deformation. Brittle
materials, like ceramics, do not experience any plastic deformation and will fracture under relatively low strain, while
ductile materials such as metallics, lead, or polymers will plasticly deform much more before a fracture initiation.
Consider the difference between a carrot and chewed bubble gum. The carrot will stretch very little before breaking. The chewed
bubble gum, on the other hand, will plastically deform enormously before finally breaking.

Design terms
Ultimate strength is an attribute related to a material, rather than just a specific specimen made of the material, and as such it is
quoted as the force per unit of cross section area (N/m2). The ultimate strength is the maximum stress that a material can withstand
before it breaks or weakens.[13] For example, the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of AISI 1018 Steel is 440 MN/m2. In general, the SI
unit of stress is the pascal, where 1 Pa = 1 N/m2. In Imperial units, the unit of stress is given as lbf/in² or pounds-force per square
inch. This unit is often abbreviated aspsi. One thousand psi is abbreviatedksi.

A factor of safety is a design criteria that an engineered component or structure must achieve. , where FS: the factor
of safety, R: The applied stress, and UTS: ultimate stress (psi or 2)[14]
N/m

Margin of Safety is also sometimes used to as design criteria. It is defined MS = Failure Load/(Factor of Safety × Predicted Load) −
1.

For example, to achieve a factor of safety of 4, the allowable stress in an AISI 1018 steel component can be calculated to be
= 440/4 = 110 MPa, or = 110×106 N/m2. Such allowable stresses are also known as "design stresses" or "working
stresses."

Design stresses that have been determined from the ultimate or yield point values of the materials give safe and reliable results only
for the case of static loading. Many machine parts fail when subjected to a non steady and continuously varying loads even though
the developed stresses are below the yield point. Such failures are called fatigue failure. The failure is by a fracture that appears to be
brittle with little or no visible evidence of yielding. However, when the stress is kept below "fatigue stress" or "endurance limit
stress", the part will endure indefinitely. A purely reversing or cyclic stress is one that alternates between equal positive and negative
peak stresses during each cycle of operation. In a purely cyclic stress, the average stress is zero. When a part is subjected to a cyclic
stress, also known as stress range (Sr), it has been observed that the failure of the part occurs after a number of stress reversals (N)
even if the magnitude of the stress range is below the material’s yield strength. Generally, higher the range stress, the fewer the
number of reversals needed for failure.

Failure theories
There are four failure theories: maximum shear stress theory, maximum normal stress theory, maximum strain energy theory, and
maximum distortion energy theory. Out of these four theories of failure, the maximum normal stress theory is only applicable for
brittle materials, and the remaining three theories are applicable for ductile materials. Of the latter three, the distortion energy theory
provides most accurate results in majority of the stress conditions. The strain energy theory needs the value of Poisson's ratio of the
part material, which is often not readily available. The maximum shear stress theory is conservative. For simple unidirectional normal
stresses all theories are equivalent, which means all theories will give the same result.

Maximum Shear Stress Theory— This theory postulates that failure will occur if the magnitude of the maximum
shear stress in the part exceeds the shear strength of the material determined from uniaxial testing.
Maximum Normal Stress Theory— This theory postulates that failure will occur if the maximum normal stress in
the part exceeds the ultimate tensile stress of the material as determined from uniaxial testing. This theory deals with
brittle materials only. The maximum tensile stress should be less than or equal to ultimate tensile stress divided by
factor of safety. The magnitude of the maximum compressive stress should be less than ultimate compressive stress
divided by factor of safety.
Maximum Strain Energy Theory— This theory postulates that failure will occur when the strain energy per unit
volume due to the applied stresses in a part equals the strain energy per unit volume at the yield point in uniaxial
testing.
Maximum Distortion Energy Theory— This theory is also known as shear energy theory orvon Mises-Hencky
theory. This theory postulates that failure will occur when the distortion energy per unit volume due to the applied
stresses in a part equals the distortion energy per unit volume at the yield point in uniaxial testing. The total elastic
energy due to strain can be divided into two parts: one part causes change in volume, and the other part causes
change in shape. Distortion energy is the amount of energy that is needed to change the shape.
Fracture mechanics was established by Alan Arnold Grif fith and George Rankine Irwin. This important theory is also
known as numeric conversion of toughness of material in the case of crack existence.
Fractology was proposed by Takeo Yokobori because each fracture laws including creep upture r criterion must be
combined nonlinearly.
A material's strength is dependent on its microstructure. The engineering processes to which a material is subjected can alter this
microstructure. The variety of strengthening mechanismsthat alter the strength of a material includes work hardening, solid solution
strengthening, precipitation hardening, and grain boundary strengthening and can be quantitatively and qualitatively explained.
Strengthening mechanisms are accompanied by the caveat that some other mechanical properties of the material may degenerate in
an attempt to make the material stronger. For example, in grain boundary strengthening, although yield strength is maximized with
decreasing grain size, ultimately, very small grain sizes make the material brittle. In general, the yield strength of a material is an
adequate indicator of the material's mechanical strength. Considered in tandem with the fact that the yield strength is the parameter
that predicts plastic deformation in the material, one can make informed decisions on how to increase the strength of a material
depending its microstructural properties and the desired end effect. Strength is expressed in terms of the limiting values of the
compressive stress, tensile stress, and shear stresses that would cause failure. The effects of dynamic loading are probably the most
important practical consideration of the strength of materials, especially the problem of fatigue. Repeated loading often initiates
brittle cracks, which grow until failure occurs. The cracks always start at stress concentrations, especially changes in cross-section of
the product, near holes and corners at nominal stress levels far lower than those quoted for the strength of the material.

See also
Creep (deformation) Fracture mechanics Molecular diffusion
Deformation mechanism map Fracture toughness Specific strength
Dynamics List of materials Statics
Fatigue (material) properties#Mechanical properties Universal testing machine
Forensic engineering Material selection

References
1. Beer & Johnston (2006).Mechanics of Materials(5th ed.). McGraw Hill. p. 210.ISBN 978-0-07-352938-7.
2. Beer & Johnston (2006).Mechanics of Materials(5th ed.). McGraw Hill. p. 7.ISBN 978-0-07-352938-7.
3. Beer & Johnston (2006).Mechanics of Materials(5th ed.). McGraw Hill. p. 5.ISBN 978-0-07-352938-7.
4. Beer & Johnston (2006).Mechanics of Materials(5th ed.). McGraw Hill. pp. 9–10.ISBN 978-0-07-352938-7.
5. Kokcharov I. Strength of Structural Materialshttp://www.kokch.kts.ru/me/t3/SIA_3_Mechanical_Properties.pdf
6. Mechanics of Materials(5th ed.). p. 52. ISBN 978-0-07-352938-7.
7. Beer & Johnston (2006).Mechanics of Materials(5th ed.). McGraw Hill. p. 60.ISBN 978-0-07-352938-7.
8. Beer & Johnston (2006).Mechanics of Materials(5th ed.). McGraw Hill. pp. 693–696.ISBN 978-0-07-352938-7.
9. Beer & Johnston (2006).Mechanics of Materials(5th ed.). McGraw Hill. p. 47.ISBN 978-0-07-352938-7.
10. Beer & Johnston (2006).Mechanics of Materials(5th ed.). McGraw Hill. p. 49.ISBN 978-0-07-352938-7.
11. R. C. Hibbeler (2009).Structural Analysis (7 ed.). Pearson Prentice Hall. p. 305.ISBN 978-0-13-602060-8.
12. Beer & Johnston (2006).Mechanics of Materials(5th ed.). McGraw Hill. pp. 53–56.ISBN 978-0-07-352938-7.
13. Beer & Johnston (2006).Mechanics of Materials(5th ed.). McGraw Hill. pp. 27–28.ISBN 978-0-07-352938-7.
14. Beer & Johnston (2006).Mechanics of Materials(5th ed.). McGraw Hill. p. 28.ISBN 978-0-07-352938-7.

Further reading
Fa-Hwa Cheng, Initials. (1997). Strength of material. Beer, F.P., E.R. Johnston, et al.Mechanics of
Ohio: McGraw-Hill Materials, 3rd edition. McGraw-Hill, 2001.ISBN 0-07-
Mechanics of Materials, E.J. Hearn 248673-2
Alfirević, Ivo. Strength of Materials I. Tehnička knjiga, Cottrell, A.H. Mechanical Properties of Matter. Wiley,
1995. ISBN 953-172-010-X. New York, 1964.
Alfirević, Ivo. Strength of Materials II. Tehnička knjiga, Den Hartog, Jacob P. Strength of Materials. Dover
1999. ISBN 953-6168-85-5. Publications, Inc., 1961,ISBN 0-486-60755-0.
Ashby, M.F. Materials Selection in Design. Pergamon, Drucker, D.C. Introduction to Mechanics of
1992. Deformable Solids. McGraw-Hill, 1967.
 Gordon, J.E. The New Science of Strong Materials.
Princeton, 1984.
Groover, Mikell P. Fundamentals of Modern
Manufacturing, 2nd edition. John Wiley & Sons,Inc.,
2002. ISBN 0-471-40051-3.
Hashemi, Javad and William F. Smith. Foundations of
Materials Science and Engineering, 4th edition.
McGraw-Hill, 2006. ISBN 0-07-125690-3.
Hibbeler, R.C. Statics and Mechanics of Materials, SI
Edition. Prentice-Hall, 2004.ISBN 0-13-129011-8.
Lebedev, Leonid P. and Michael J. Cloud.
Approximating Perfection: A Mathematician's Journey
into the World of Mechanics. Princeton University
Press, 2004. ISBN 0-691-11726-8.
Chapter 10 – Strength of Elastomers, A.N. Gent, W.V.
Mars, In: James E. Mark, Burak Erman and Mike
Roland, Editor(s), The Science and T echnology of
Rubber (Fourth Edition), Academic Press, Boston,
2013, Pages 473-516,ISBN 9780123945846,
10.1016/B978-0-12-394584-6.00010-8
Mott, Robert L. Applied Strength of Materials, 4th
edition. Prentice-Hall, 2002.ISBN 0-13-088578-9.
External links
Failure theories
Case studies in structural failure
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Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Popov, Egor P. Engineering Mechanics of Solids.
Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1990. ISBN 0-
13-279258-3.
Ramamrutham, S. Strength of Materials.
Shames, I.H. and F.A. Cozzarelli. Elastic and inelastic
stress analysis. Prentice-Hall, 1991. ISBN 1-56032-
686-7.
Timoshenko S. Strength of Materials, 3rd edition.
Krieger Publishing Company, 1976, ISBN 0-88275-
420-3.
Timoshenko, S.P. and D.H. Young. Elements of
Strength of Materials, 5th edition. (MKS System)
Davidge, R.W., Mechanical Behavior of Ceramics,
Cambridge Solid State Science Series, (1979)
Lawn, B.R., Fracture of Brittle Solids, Cambridge Solid
State Science Series, 2nd Edn. (1993)
Green, D., An Introduction to the Mechanical
Properties of Ceramics, Cambridge Solid State
Science Series, Eds. Clarke, D.R., Suresh, S., W ard,
I.M.Babu Tom.K (1998)
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