Material Testing :: Some Insights

K.K. Bajpai
Principal Scientific Officer
Structural Engineering Laboratory
IIT Kanpur
IMPORTANCE OF Material Tests (Tensile)

 The results are used in selecting materials for

engineering applications.
 Tensile properties are included in material

specifications to ensure quality.

 Tensile properties are measured during

development of new materials and processes.

 Tensile properties are often used to predict the

behavior of a material under forms of loading

other than uni-axial tension.
 Tensile Test contd…

 Strength of a material is the primary concern.

 The strength may be measured in terms of
 the stress at which plastic deformation is observed (yield
stress), or
 the maximum stress that the material can withstand
(ultimate tensile strength).
 These measures of strength are used, with appropriate
caution in engineering design.
 Material’s ductility is another important property, which
is a measure of how much it can be deformed before it
fractures.
 Low ductility in a tensile test often is accompanied by
low resistance to fracture.
Tensile Test contd…
 Ductility and Percent Elongation

 Ductility is the degree to which a material will

deform before ultimate fracture.
 Percent elongation is used as a measure of
ductility.
 Ductile Materials have %E ≥ 5%
 Brittle Materials have %E < 5%
 For machine members subject to repeated or
shock or impact loads, materials with %E >
12% are recommended.
Ductile materials -
extensive plastic
deformation and
energy absorption
(toughness) before
fracture

Brittle materials -
little plastic
deformation and low
energy
absorption before
failure
 DUCTILE VS BRITTLE FAILURE
• Classification:

(a) (b) (c)

• Ductile Ductile: Brittle: No
fracture is warning before warning
desirable! fracture
DUCTILE FAILURE

“cup and cone” fracture

 Failure Prediction Methods
Static Loads
 Brittle Materials - FT:
 Maximum Normal Stress - Uniaxial stress
 Modified Mohr - Biaxial stress

 Ductile Materials - FT:

 Yield Strength - Uniaxial stress
 Maximum Shear Strength - Biaxial stress
 Distortion Energy - Biaxial or Triaxial
 Post peak load behaviour

Load and Displacement

Control modes

Stress
Stress
OR
OR Load
Load

Strain Strain
OR OR
Displacement Displacement
 Tensile Test contd…

Important Regions:

• Elastic region
• Yielding
• Strain Hardening
• Necking

• Fracture

Note: Very little difference

between engineering and
true values in elastic region.
Stress-Strain Behaviour of Concrete

Important Regions:
 Tensile Stress vs Strain
1000

900

800

700

Stress(MPa)
600

500

400

300

200

100

0
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02
Strain

Setup at MTS
Stress vs strain curve for GFRP-epoxy bar is
shown with σu=818 MPa and E =49.5865 GPa
 Strain Measurement
• Strain ε is defined as
Change in Length ΔL d0 d0-∆d
Є1 = =
Original Length L
L ∆L
Δd
Є2= -
d0 Polarity of Strain : There exist
tensile strain (elongation) and
Є2 │ compressive strain (contraction).
ν= │
Є1 To distinguish between them, a
sign is prefixed as follows:
Plus (+) to tensile strain (elongation)
Minus (–) to compressive strain (contraction)
Strain Measurement
 Strain Measurement
The strain gauge is
commonly used to measure
changes in length, which
are related to a change in
electrical resistance.
Laminate film

Metallic resistive foil

(sensing element)

Plastic film (base)

 Strain Measurement (Wheatstone Bridge)

R1 R2
V
R3
R4

E
For Balanced Wheatstone Bridge: R1 R3 = R2 R4
 Strain Measurement (Quarter Wheatstone
Bridge Circuit)

1 Δ𝑅𝑅
𝑉𝑉 = 𝐸𝐸
4 𝑅𝑅

1
𝑉𝑉 = 𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺. ∈. 𝐸𝐸
4
 Strain Measurement (Half Wheatstone Bridge
Circuit)

E
 Strain Measurement (Full Wheatstone Bridge
Circuit)

E
Tensile Test contd…
 Tensile Test contd…

Tensile Specimens.
Enlarged ends for gripping.
Gage section
The distances between the ends of the gage
section and the shoulders should be great enough
so that the larger ends do not constrain
deformation within the gage section.
A variety of testing
machine types
(electromechanical,
hydraulic, closed-
loop servo-hydraulic,
and sizes…
…and a variety of samples sizes.
 Tensile Test contd…

 Gear Driven (or Screw Driven Machines)

 Crosshead speed
 .001 to 500 mm/min
 1 to 20 mm/min for quasi static testing

 Servo-Hydraulic Machines
 Crosshead speed
 1μm/h for creep/fatigue
 1 cycle/day to 200 cycles/s for cyclic tests
 1μm/min for tensile tests of brittle materials
 10 m/s to 30m/s for dynamic tests
(testing of seat belts/bumpers/shock absorbers etc.)
Tensile Test contd…
Tensile Test contd…
Tensile Test contd…
Stiffness of Testing Machine

L0 L0+Δ L0+Δ - F/K

Stiffness of Testing Machine..
 Stiffness of Testing Machine Contd..

If the machine is stiff with respect to the specimen, the

post-peak curve can be followed. Energy in excess of
that released by the machine as stored strain energy
must be supplied in order to deform the specimen along
ABC.
 Reference Books/Publications
 Tensile Testing
Edited By J.R. Davis, ASM International
 Experimental Stress Analysis
By J.W. Dally and W.F. Riley
 Mechanical Testing Machine Stiffness
By John E. Hockett and Peter P. Gillis, Int. J. Mech. Sci., Vol. 13, pp. 251-264