Mechanical Properties of

Engineering Material

Which is stronger, ceramic or steel?

 Mechanical Properties
Stress vs Pressure
Difference between Pressure and Stress

Key difference: Pressure and Stress are two different types of forces that are constantly working against
each other. Pressure is a type of external force that is exerted over a surface area of a material,
whereas stress is a type of internal force that acts over a cross sectional area within the material.

Pressure and Stress are two different types of forces that are constantly working against each other.
Force is an unbalanced force that produces acceleration. There are two main types of forces: internal
force and an external force.

Pressure is a type of external force that is exerted over a surface area of a material, whereas stress is a
type of internal force that acts over a cross sectional area within the material.

Essentially, pressure is the force that is exerted by an object on the area that it impacts, whereas stress
is the force that an object pushes back with when it is being deformed, i.e. has force acting on it. For
example: Imagine a ball hitting a wall. As the ball hits the wall, it exerts pressure on the wall. Stress the
force that the wall exerts back. This is what allows the ball to bounce back.
 Mechanical Properties
Stress vs Pressure
Difference between Pressure and Stress

The pascal (pronounced pass-KAL and abbreviated Pa) is the unit of pressure or stress in the
International System of Units (SI). It is named after the scientist Blaise Pascal. One pascal is equivalent
to one newton (1 N) of force applied over an area of one meter squared (1 m2). That is, 1 Pa = 1 N/m2.
Reduced to base units in SI, one pascal is one kilogram per meter per second squared; that is,
1 Pa = 1 kg/(m-s2).
 Mechanical Properties
Stress vs Strain
What is the difference between Stress and Strain?

• Stress is pressure per unit area applied to a rock or solid.

• Strain is the deformity or change in dimension of the rock as a proportion of the original dimension
thus being a dimensionless quantity.
• Strain in a body is directly proportion to the stress it is put under within its elastic limits.
• Both stress and strain are important properties of rocks that explain deformation in rocks and
formation of new layers of rocks over a longtime scale.
 Mechanical Properties
Stress vs Strain
What is Stress

Whenever a force attempts to deform an object, we say that the object is under stress. Stress is defined
as the deforming force per unit area of the object. Since we can resolve any force on an object into
directions parallel and perpendicular to the surface, we define normal stress to be equal to the force
perpendicular to the surface per unit area. Similarly, we define shear stress as the force parallel to the
surface per unit area. If the force acting on a surface is F and the area of the surface is A, then the
stress (σ) is given by:

Stress has the same dimensions as pressure, so the

units used for measuring stress are also N/m2 or Pa
(1 Pa = 1 N/m2). When forces act to lengthen the
material, the stress is referred to as tensile stress.
When the forces try to compress a material, the
stress is referred to as compressive stress.
 Mechanical Properties
Stress vs Strain
Types of stresses

Shear stress
Normal stress
Yield stress
Working stress Machine Components Under Load
Tensile Stress
Compressive Stress
Shear Stress
Shear stress : Torsional Stress
Bearing Stress
Shear stress is if two equal and opposite forces acts tangentially across the resting section of a body
Then the stress in produced in that body is called shear stress. It is denoted by Φ.

Normal stress :

Normal stress is acting in a normal or perpendicular direction to the cross section of the material. If
the forces acting on a body then the stress induced is tensile then it is compressive stress.
 Mechanical Properties
Stress vs Strain
Yield stress :

Yield stress at which the deformation or strain increases at a faster rate without any appreciable
increase in stress. This phenomenon is called Yielding.

Working stress :

Working stress of the maximum stress to which a material can be subjected practically lower than
the ultimate stress is called working stress.
 Mechanical Properties
What is Strain
Stress vs Strain

Strain measures the amount of relative deformation caused by a force acting on an object. For simplicity
here, we will only consider the normal strain, created by normal stress. Suppose the original length of the
object is l0 and due to stress, the length changes to l1. The change in length is Δl=l1 – l0. The strain ϵ is
then given by,

Since strain is given by a fraction where the numerator and denominator both have units of length, the
strain itself has no units. i.e. it is a “dimensionless quantity”. It is common to see strain expressed in
terms of percentages.
Mechanical Properties
Stress vs Strain
 Mechanical Properties
Stress vs. Strain Curve Stress vs Strain
We can draw a graph of how the strain in a body changes as we vary the stress acting on the object
(this can be done, for example, by adding weights). These graphs, called stress vs. strain curves,
reveal lots of information about the nature of the material that the object is made of. The figure below
shows the typical stress-strain curve for a ductile material (“ductile” means that the material can be
stretched out well):
The gradient of the elastic region of the curve is
called the Young Modulus. This is a very
important number for materials engineers, as it
gives how much strain would be caused by a given
stress in a material.
Stress gives the force acting per unit area of an object.
Strain gives the relative change in length due to
deforming forces.

Units
Stress is measured in pascals (Pa).
Strain has no units; it is simply a ratio.
Mechanical Properties
Stress vs Strain
Mechanical Properties
Stress vs Strain
 Mechanical Properties
Universal Testing Machine

A universal testing machine (UTM), also known as a universal tester, materials

testing machine or materials test frame, is used to test the tensile strength and
compressive strength of materials. An earlier name for a tensile testing machine is
a tensometer. The "universal" part of the name reflects that it can perform many
standard tensile and compression tests on materials, components, and structures
(in other words, that it is versatile).
 Mechanical Properties
Introduction
 Under the action of various kinds of forces, the behavior of
the material is studied that measures the strength and
lasting characteristic of a material in service.
 The mechanical properties of materials are of great
industrial importance in the design of tools, machines and
structures.
 Theses properties are structure sensitive in the sense that
they depend upon the crystal structure and its bonding
forces, and especially upon the nature and behavior of the
imperfections which- exist within the crystal itself or at the
grain boundaries.
 The mechanical properties of the metals are those which
are associated with the ability of the material to resist
mechanical forces and load.
 The main mechanical properties of the metal are strength,
stiffness, elasticity, plasticity, ductility, malleability, toughness,
brittleness, hardness, formability, castability and weldability.
 These properties can be well understood with help of
tensile test and stress strain diagram.
 Mechanical Properties
Elasticity
 It is defined as the property of a material to regain its original shape after deformation when the
external forces are removed.
 It can also be referred as the power of material to come back to its original position after
deformation when the stress or load is removed. It is also called as the tensile property of the
material.

Explanation: When a body is subjected to an external force the body will tend to deform. and after
removing the force on the body will get its original shape.
Example materials: Rubber(Natural/synthetic)
 Mechanical Properties
Proportional limit
 It is defined as the maximum stress under which a material will maintain a perfectly uniform
rate of strain to stress.
 Though its value is difficult to measure, yet it can be used as the important applications for
building precision instruments, springs, etc.
Mechanical Properties
Proportional limit
 Mechanical Properties
Elastic limit
 Many metals can be put under stress slightly above the proportional limit without taking a
permanent set.
 The greatest stress that a material can endure without taking up some permanent set is called
elastic limit.
 Beyond this limit, the metal does not regain its original form and permanent set will occurs.
Mechanical Properties
Elastic limit
 Mechanical Properties
Yield point
 At a specific stress, ductile metals particularly ceases, offering resistance to tensile forces.
 This means, the metals flow and a relatively large permanent set takes place without a
noticeable increase in load.
 This point is called yield point.
 Certain metals such as mild steel exhibit a definite yield point, in which case the yield stress is
simply the stress at this point.
 Mechanical Properties
Strength
 Strength is defined as the ability of a material to resist the externally applied forces with
breakdown or yielding.
 The internal resistance offered by a material to an externally applied force is called stress.
 The capacity of bearing load by metal and to withstand destruction under the action of
external loads is known as strength.
 The stronger the material the greater the load it can withstand.
 This property of material therefore determines the ability to withstand stress without failure.
 Strength varies according to the type of loading.
 It is always possible to assess tensile, compressive, shearing and torsional strengths.
 The maximum stress that any material can withstand before destruction is called its ultimate
strength.
 The tenacity of the material is its ultimate strength in tension.
Mechanical Properties
Strength
 Mechanical Properties
Stiffness
 It is defined as the ability of a material to resist deformation under stress.
 The resistance of a material to elastic deformation or deflection is called stiffness or rigidity.
 A material that suffers slight or very less deformation under load has a high degree of stiffness
or rigidity.
 For instance suspended beams of steel and aluminium may both be strong enough to carry the
required load but the aluminium beam will “sag” or deflect further.
 That means, the steel beam is stiffer or more rigid than aluminium beam.
 If the material behaves elastically with linear stress-strain relationship under Hooks law, its
stiffness is measured by the Young’s modulus of elasticity (E).
 The higher is the value of the Young’s modulus, the stiffer is the material.
 In tensile and compressive stress, it is called modulus of stiffness or “modulus of elasticity”; in
shear, the modulus of rigidity, and this is usually 40% of the value of Young’s modulus for
commonly used materials; in volumetric distortion, the bulk modulus.

Explanation: When a body subjected to load. the body

can resist the deformations

Measurement: N/mm (Load / Deformation )

This property Consider in the design of springs.
 Mechanical Properties
Plasticity
 Plasticity is defined the mechanical property of a material which retains the deformation produced
under load permanently.
 This property of the material is required in forging, in stamping images on coins and in
ornamental work.
 It is the ability or tendency of material to undergo some degree of permanent deformation
without its rupture or its failure. Plastic deformation takes place only after the elastic range
of material has been exceeded.
 Such property of material is important in forming, shaping, extruding and many other hot or cold
working processes.
 Materials such as clay, lead, etc. are plastic at room temperature and steel is plastic at forging
temperature.
 This property generally increases with increase in temperature of materials.
 Mechanical Properties
Plasticity

Explanation: It is a permanent deformation. When a body is subjected to an external force the body will tend to
deform. and after removing the force on the body will not get its original shape. it will maintain the nonreversible
deformation.

Example materials

Soft waxes

The Metals used in machines will have very less Plasticity index.
 Mechanical Properties
Ductility
 Ductility is termed as the property of a material enabling it to be drawn into wire with the
application of tensile load.
 A ductile material must be strong and plastic.
 The ductility is usually measured by the terms, percentage elongation and percent reduction in
area which is often used as empirical measures of ductility.
 The materials those possess more than 5% elongation are called as ductile materials.
 The ductile material commonly used in engineering practice in order of diminishing ductility are
mild steel, copper, aluminum, nickel, zinc, tin and lead.
Explanation: When a body subjected to tensile load. the ability to draw the material into wires is possible. The
materials which are rich in elasticity will have better ductility.

Example materials

Copper, aluminum.
 Mechanical Properties
Malleability
 Malleability is the ability of the material to be flattened into thin sheets under applications of
heavy compressive forces without cracking by hot or cold working means.
 It is a special case of ductility which permits materials to be rolled or hammered into thin
sheets.
 A malleable material should be plastic but it is not essential to be so strong.
 The malleable materials commonly used in engineering practice in order of diminishing
malleability are lead, soft steel, wrought iron, copper and aluminium. Aluminium, copper, tin,
lead, steel, etc. are recognized as highly malleable metals.

Explanation: When a body subjected to tensile load. the ability to draw the material into wires is possible. The
materials which are rich in elasticity will have better malleability.

Example materials
Gold and silver.
 Mechanical Properties
Hardness
 Hardness is defined as the ability of a metal to cut another metal.
 A harder metal can always cut or put impression to the softer metals by virtue of its
hardness.
 It is a very important property of the metals and has a wide variety of meanings.
 It embraces many different properties such as resistance to wear, scratching, deformation and
machinability etc.

This property will highly consider when designing of the sliding parts.

Example materials

Glass, diamond
Mechanical Properties
Hardness
Mechanical Properties
Hardness
 Mechanical Properties
Brittleness
 Brittleness is the property of a material opposite to ductility.
 It is the property of breaking of a material with little permanent distortion.
 The materials having less than 5% elongation under loading behavior are said to be brittle
materials.
 Brittle materials when subjected to tensile loads, snap off without giving any sensible elongation.
Glass, cast iron, brass and ceramics are considered as brittle material.

Example materials
Wood concrete, cast-iron.
 Mechanical Properties
Creep
 When a metal part when is subjected to a high constant stress at high temperature for a longer
period of time, it will undergo a slow and permanent deformation (in form of a crack which may
further propagate further towards creep failure) called creep.
Mechanical Properties
Creep
 Mechanical Properties
Formability
 It is the property of metals which denotes the ease in its forming in to various shapes and
sizes. The different factors that affect the formability are crystal structure of metal, grain size of
metal hot and cold working, alloying element present in the parent metal. Metals with smal1
grain size are suitable for shallow forming while metal with size are suitable for heavy forming.
Hot working increases formability. Low carbon steel possesses good formability.
Mechanical Properties
Formability
 Mechanical Properties
Castability
 Castability is defined as the property of metal, which indicates the ease with it can be casted
into different shapes and sizes. Cast iron, aluminum and brass are possessing good castability.
 Mechanical Properties
Weldability
 Weldability is defined as the property of a metal which indicates the two similar or dissimilar
metals are joined by fusion with or without the application of pressure and with or without the
use of filler metal (welding) efficiently. Metals having weldability in the descending order are
iron, steel, cast steels and stainless steels
Mechanical Properties
Weldability
 Mechanical Properties
Toughness
 The ability to resist the shock loads or impact loads.
 The amount of energy per unit volume that a material can absorb before rupturing.
 This property Consider in the design of springs.
 Mechanical Properties
Resilience
 It is the property of a material to absorb energy and to resist shock and impact loads.
 It is measured by the amount of energy absorbed per unit volume within elastic limit.
 This property is essential for designing the spring materials.