Part 6: Mechanical Properties of Materials

Learning outcomes:
− When a metal is exposed to mechanical forces, what parameters are used to
express force magnitude and degree of deformation? State Hooke's law.
− Difference between elastic and plastic deformations
− For the tensile deformation of a ductile cylindrical specimen, describe changes
in specimen profile to the point of fracture
− How are the following mechanical characteristics of metals measured?
(a) Stiffness
(b) Strength
(c) Ductility
(d) Resilience
(e) Hardness

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 Classes of property – affecting property design

Class Property
1. Ecological & Environmental Price, availability; recyclability,
carbon emission
2. Mechanical Modulus, yield strength, hardness,
fracture toughness
3. Thermal Thermal conductivity, specific heat
4. General physical Density
5. Electric and Magnetic Resistivity, dielectric constant,
magnetic permeability
6. Environmental interaction Oxidation, corrosion, wear
7. Production Ease of manufacturing, finishing
8. Aesthetic Cool, texture

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 Introduction

• Mechanical properties determine the effect of applied forces on shape and size
of the material
• American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) establishes and publishes
standards in which mechanical tests are conducted and in the interpretation of
their results.
• Key mechanical properties:
1. Strength
2. Elasticity
3. Plasticity
4. Ductility
5. Malleability
6. Tensile strength
7. Toughness
8. Hardness

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 Concept of Stress and Strain

Stress
• The internal resistance force acting per unit area acting on a material
• It uses original cross section area of the specimen and is also known as
Engineering stress
• Units: Pascal (Pa) or N/m2

𝐹𝐹
𝜎𝜎 =
𝐴𝐴0

Tensile Force Compression Force

1 kPa = 1000 Pa (kPa = kilo Pascal)

1 MPa = 106 Pa (MPa = Mega Pascal)
1 GPa = 109 Pa (GPa = Giga Pascal)

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 Strain
• Defined as change in length per original length
• It is unit-less and also known as Engineering strain

∆𝑙𝑙
𝜀𝜀 =
𝑙𝑙0

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 Shear stress
Shear stress is tangential to the area over which it acts.

𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 𝐹𝐹
Shear stress, τ = =
𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝐴𝐴0

𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 (𝛿𝛿)

Shear strain, 𝛾𝛾 = = 𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡
𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 (𝐿𝐿)

≅ θ for small strain

θ
δ
F

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 Torsion
• Torsion is a variation of pure shear
• A structural member is twisted in the manner that torsional forces produce a
rotational motion about the longitudinal axis of one end of the member relative
to the other end

𝑇𝑇 𝜏𝜏 𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺
= =
𝐽𝐽 𝑅𝑅 𝐿𝐿

where T is the applied torque,

J is the Polar M.I. (circular section = π/32 d4),
G is the shear modulus,
R is the radial position of the element, Torsional deformation
ϕ is the twist angle and
L is the length of the element

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 Engineering Stress and Engineering Strain
(for tension and compression)

𝐹𝐹
Engineering Stress : 𝜎𝜎 =
𝐴𝐴0

where F = instantaneous load applied perpendicular to the specimen cross section

(newtons (N)), and A0 is the original cross-sectional area before any load is applied
(m2)
𝜎𝜎 is in MPa (1 MPa = 106 N/m2)

𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑖 −𝑙𝑙0 ∆𝑙𝑙

Engineering strain : ε = =
𝑙𝑙0 𝑙𝑙0

𝑙𝑙0 is the original length before any load is applied and 𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑖 is the instantaneous
length
ε is unitless

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 Elastic Deformation

Elastic deformation is nonpermanent and reversible!

- valid for deformations in elastic limit (low strain value)
- linear elastic
- stress is proportional to strain

𝜎𝜎 = 𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸

This is known as Hooke's law, and

the constant of proportionality E (GPa or psi)
is the modulus of elasticity, or Young's modulus

This modulus may be thought of as stiffness, or a material's resistance to elastic

deformation

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 Influence of Bonding Forces

• Elastic modulus depends on interatomic bonding forces

• Modulus proportional to slope of interatomic force - interatomic separation
curve
𝑑𝑑𝐹𝐹
𝐸𝐸 ∝
𝑑𝑑𝑟𝑟 𝑟𝑟
0

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 Example

A piece of copper originally 305 mm (12 in.) long is pulled in tension with a stress
of 276 MPa (40,000 psi). If the deformation is entirely elastic, what will be the
resultant elongation?

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 Poisson’s Ratio

• A tensile force produces an extension along that axis while it produces

contraction along the transverse direction
𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝜀𝜀𝑥𝑥
𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑛𝑛′ 𝑠𝑠 𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅, 𝜈𝜈 = =−
𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝜀𝜀𝑧𝑧

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 • Metals and other alloys, values of Poisson's ratio range between 0.25 and 0.35
Examples:
Material Poisson’s ratio
Steel 0.25-0.33
Cast iron 0.23-0.27
Concrete 0.20
Rubber 0.48-0.50
Cork Nearly 0
Novel Foam Negative

• For isotropic materials, elastic constants are related as:

E E
G = K =
2(1 + ν) 3(1 - 2ν)

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 Room-Temperature Elastic and Shear Moduli and Poisson's
Ratio for Various Metal Alloys

Modulus of Elasticity Shear Modulus

6 6 Poisson's
Metal Alloy GPa 10 psi GPa 10 psi
Ratio
Aluminum 69 10 25 3.6 0.33
Brass 97 14 37 5.4 0.34
Copper 110 16 46 6.7 0.34
Magnesium 45 6.5 17 2.5 0.29
Nickel 207 30 76 11.0 0.31
Steel 207 30 83 12.0 0.30
Titanium 107 15.5 45 6.5 0.34
Tungsten 407 59 160 23.2 0.28

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 Example

A tensile stress is to be applied along the long axis of a cylindrical brass rod that
has a diameter of 10 mm (0.4 in.). Determine the magnitude of the load required
to produce a 2.5 × 10−3-mm (10−4-in.) change in diameter if the deformation is
entirely elastic.

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 Other elastic properties

• In the same way shear stress (τ) is proportional to shear strain (γ)
M = moment
τ = Gγ, where G is the shear modulus
simple
torsion
test

• The pressure is proportional to the negative of the volumetric strain, because

positive pressure causes the shrinkage in volume. Hence,
P = hydrostatic pressure

∆𝑉𝑉
𝑃𝑃 = −𝐾𝐾 , where K is the bulk modulus P P
𝑉𝑉0

P
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