AXIALITY OF LOADING IN THE TENSILE TEST

C . GRANT Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Newcastle upon Tyne

Axiality of loading is very important in the tensile test, particularly under creep conditions. An experimental
evaluation of bending of the test section using resistance strain gauges has been devised. This test showed that
excessive bending was present in spite of the adoption of a coupling design recommended in the literature.
The cause of bending was found to be solely due to a friction moment exerted by the pin joints which formed
the essential feature of the couplings. A crossed knife-edge design was substituted for them with satisfactory
results. Analysis of the pin joint showed it to be unsuitable for specimen alignment in the tensile test.

1 INTRODUCTION sponse of the material under test. Load is transmitted to the

BY FAR THE MAJORITY of experimental data regarding the testpiece by a precision-built universal coupling, and
strength of materials continues to be accumulated by eccentricity of the coupling relative to the testpiece may
means of the uniaxial tensile test. Such data are usually introduce flexure into the test section. Some of the geo-
expressed in terms of parameters related specifically to the metric factors affecting the eccentricity and their effects
tensile test, indeed, design codes of practice in this coun- upon tensile-test results have been discussed by Penny,
try and abroad are often expressed in these terms. Ellison, and Webster (4), although the results claimed for
Imperfections in practical tensile-test machines have the recommended universal block system were far from
previously been subjected to close scrutiny by many realized in the Newcastle tests.
experimenters to ensure that material data would be As a result of these discrepancies, bending of the test
largely independent of the test machine. During the past section has been investigated experimentally by use of
two or three decades, a great deal of attention has been resistance strain gauges. Results are compared with pre-
focused on materials operating at high temperatures dictions based upon a simple coulombic-friction model of
where time-dependent deformation or creep is the primary the behaviour of pin joints under load.
consideration. Standard test machines are often employed
to study such behaviour, with little modification except for 1.1 Notation
the possible addition of a furnace to surround the test- a Pin radius.
piece. d Test-section diameter.
The additional parameters of time and temperature in e Eccentricity of load.
the creep test inevitably cause the constitutive relations ex x component of e.
for creep to be extremely complex. It is not surprising that eg y component of e.
no satisfactory general theory of creep behaviour yet F Tensile force acting on specimen.
exists. The result is that both the designer and materials M Limiting friction moment on pin under load.
scientist require very many data collected over very long p ( 0 ) Distributed pressure on pin.
periods of time. p o Modulus of pressure on pin.
The practical answer has all too often been to provide u Strain measured by gauge 1.
banks of tensile-creep machines operating simultaneously. v Strain measured by gauge 2.
The situation is well illustrated by plate 12 in Fenner's w- Strain measured by gauge 3.
book 011 mechanical testing (I)*. Kennedy (2) observed x In-plane co-ordinate direction associated with
that 'a single test machine of high sensitivity would pro- gauge 1.
vide a great deal of illuminating information more quickly y In-plane co-ordinate direction normal to x.
than a large number of identical, expensive machines cc In-plane angle where bending is a maximum.
often employed over very extended times.' e0 Surface strain at angle 8.
Design of the creep-test machine may influence both eB Bending strain.
temperature and stress distributions in the testpiece, both eu Direct strain.
of which are very important parameters affecting creep 0 General in-plane angle.
behaviour. These considerations have been more fully p Coefficient of coulombic friction.
discussed by Smith, Grant, and Booth (3) in a paper deal-
ing with an experimental project at Newcastle University 2 T H R E E - G A U G E EVALUATION O F BENDING
involving creep testing under variable load and at variable IN T H E T E N S I L E - T E S T S P E C I M E N
temperature, of which the present work forms a part. T o ensure that testpiece couplings perform in accordance
Axiality of loading is of particular importance in such with design criteria, a room-temperature experimental
tests, which are designed to determine the transient re- determination of bending in the test section has been
devised. Three electrical-resistance strain gauges are
The M S . of this paper was received at the Institution of Mechanical attached to the centre of the test section, spaced at 120"
Engineers on 3rd August 1971 and accepted for publication on intervals around the circumference as shown in Fig. 1,
28th January 1972. 33
* References are given in Appendix 2. with their sensitive axes parallel to the testpiece axis.

JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 7 NO 4 1972 26 1

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 C. GRANT

equation (6) and in terms of the components in equations

yl (7):
e=--
d €B . . . . . .
ED
(6)

ell = --
823~; I
Equations (7)plotted in Cartesian co-ordinates gives the
trajectory of the centroid of the test section as the load is
varied. The limiting free position of the specimen cen-
troid is given when the load tends to zero. As the load
increases, the flexibility of the specimen string causes the
centroid to traverse towards the zero offset position as the
specimen string tends to ‘straighten out’.

Fig. I . Disposition of strain gauges around the circum- 3 INVESTIGATION OF THE C A U S E S OF

ference of the test section BENDING IN THE TENSILE T E S T
A tensile-creep machine has been constructed at New-
castle University for the purpose of conducting tests at
For a given load, let the gauges read u, w and w . Pro-

El
vided that plane cross-sections of the test section remain
plane during application of the load, the three gauge
readings completely determine the strain distribution in ,Pull rod
the cross-section. Let the principal bending axis be in-
clined at 8 = a+r/2. (8 is measured from gauge 1 and is
positive in the direction of gauge 2 as shown in Fig. 1.) By
definition the surface strain at this position is zD, whilst
at 8 = a, the surface strain is ED+EB. In general, the strain
will vary around the circumference in accordance with O u t e r yoke
equation (1).
€0 = ED+EBcos(~-~) . . . (1)
Insertion of the appropriate values of z0 and 0 into equa- /r
tion (1) allows eD and eBto be identified in terms of u, o, and
W:

u = ED+EB cos CL
EB
I
ZJ = q,-- (cos a - d 3 sin a)
2
EB
w = cD-- (cos a+ 4 3 sin a)
2
Equations (3) and (4) follow immediately from a re-
arrangement of equations (2) to give zD and cB explicitly
in terms of the strain-gauge readings :
u+v+w
ED =-
3
. . . . . . . * (3)

EB =
-
4 2 [(u-v)2+(o-w)2+(w-#)2]1’2 . (4)

The angular position a of the maximum bending strain

may then be obtained from equations (2), (3), and (4) as

cos a =
@-w>
sin CL = -
d3rB }
(224- w -w )
3EB
. . . (5)
H Specimen

Let e be defined as eccentricity of loading, with com- U

ponents e,, ey in the x and y directions. Then, if the test Fig. 2. Original arrangement of specimen and couplings
section remains elastic, the total eccentricity is given by in the tensile-test machine

262 JOURNAL OP S T R A l N ANALYSIS VOL 7 NO 4 I972

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 AXIALITY OF LOADING I N THE TENSILE TEST
I
Test 4
+y
t\
1
, 0.7
Test 3
t* + x
-0.7
-0.8
1:
F&. 3. Trajectories of the specimen centroid during loading
variable load and temperature (3). A universal-block type
of coupling was used to transmit load to the testpiece.
This is essentially a hybrid coupling consisting of a pin-
joint and crossed knife-edge as shown in Fig. 2. Specimen
construction is such that the upper pin-joint axis lies
parallel with the lower knife-edge, whilst the lower pin-
joint axis lies parallel with the upper knife-edge.
Components in the load string were manufactured to
close tolerances and selectively assembled to give an
anticipated axial alignment of load within 0-05 mm
(0.002 in), equivalent to 5 per cent bending on a test-
section diameter of 8 mm.
Bending of the test section under load was determined
by the three-gauge test described in the previous section.
The strain gauges used in this test were +
i n x i in
Saunders-Roe foil gauges of 120fl Q resistance, gauge
factor 2.16f0.1 per cent. Each gauge formed a single
active arm of a Wheatstone-bridge network. Phase-
sensitive Sanborn amplifiers (Model 8805A) operating
with a carrier frequency of 2.4 kHz were used to amplify
and demodulate the signals which were all automatically
recorded on punched paper tape by a Hewlett-Packard
Model 2010D data-acquisition system.
Results of the tests were analysed directly by digital
computer. Fig. 3 shows the trajectories of the test section
during loading, referred to the axes defined in Fig. 1.
Loads of up to 200 MN/m2 were applied in approximately
equal increments of 10 MN/m2.
The first two test results show the trajectories with the
JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 7 NO 4 I972
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Test 2
? Free hanging
, (normal)
I
-Y
Test 6
specimen turned through 180" about its own axis relative
to the end fittings, and in the normal position. Similar
results for these tests would indicate that the specimen
ends were not aligned with the gauge length and a reversal
of the bending direction would indicate that the end fittings
were misaligned. Fig. 3 shows that neither of these things
happened in practice; since the amount of bending was
very large (72 per cent bending, equivalent to 0.72 mm
eccentricity for an 8 mm gauge diameter) the causes were
investigated further.
The excessive bending of the specimen was tentatively
attributed to coulombic-friction torque at the two pin-
joints (see Fig. 2). A simple analysis of friction in the pin
joints (see Appendix 1) indicated quantitatively that this
would most likely be the case. The limiting friction
moment was found to be proportional to the applied load,
under the assumptions of the analysis. In these circum-
stances the joint should lock into whatever orientation it
has at the time the first load increment is applied, pro-
vided that the misalignment is such that the limiting
friction moment is not exceeded. This hypothesis was
tested experimentally by applying a lateral force during
application of the first load increment, and then continuing
the test normally with the lateral force removed. Several
tests were performed, each with a lateral force applied in
a different direction. These results are also shown in Fig. 3.
When the upper end of the specimen is pushed in the + x
direction, the upper pin locks in this orientstion as the
load is applied. The load passes through the corresponding
263
 C. GRANT
lower knife-edge causing compressive bending on the +x
side of the specimen. Conversely, when the upper end of
the specimen is pushed in the +y direction, the lower pin
joint locks and the upper knife-edge defines the line of
action of the load, causing tensile bending on the +y side
of the specimen. On average, the results of the last four
deliberately misorientated tests show that friction in
the pin joint is capable of sustaining an eccentricity of
approximately 0.8mm, similar to that predicted in Appen-
dix 1. Furthermore, additional tests show that the eccen-
tricity can be further increased by increasing the initial
load increment. The simple coefficient of friction used as
the basis for the predictions in Appendix 1 is therefore
slightly dependent on the load. The results given in
Fig. 3 are for an initial stress of 5 MN/m2 (0.3 ton/in2),
this is the lightest load increment to give acceptable results
within the limits set by the instrumentation. The tra-
jectories of the specimen centroid (Fig. 3) are seen to be
equally disposed around the origin. This shows conclu-
sively that the excessive load misalignment that occurs
with this coupling arrangement is due entirely to friction
in the pin joints. It is also clear that pin joints of con-
ventional design have no place in precision alignment
couplings.
B Pull r o d
Knife edge
fi$$j;%
Co-planar
k n i f e quide
Knife-edqe
support
support
Specimen
Fig. 4. Modified arrangement of specimen and
couplings
264
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Specimen couplings for the Newcastle tests were re-
designed as crossed knife-edges, which may be thought of
as pin joints with a very small effective pin diameter. This
causes a reduction in the friction moment. The modified
couplings, shown in Fig. 4, were again manufactured to
give load alignment within 0.05 mm (0.002 in). A three-
gauge experimental evaluation of elastic bending at room
temperature confirmed that this degree of alignment had
actually been achieved in practice.
The overall eccentricity of the modified specimen and
couplings is shown plotted to a base of direct strain in
Fig. 5. Test 2 on the original couplings is also shown in
this form for comparison. These results are clearly better
by an order of magnitude than those for the original
design. They show an estimated eccentricity of approxi-
mately 0.1 mm, equivalent to 10 per cent bending at
zero load. No significant variation in these results was
observed when small lateral forces were applied during
the first load increment. Friction in the knife-edges is
therefore insignificant in its effect on axiality of the coup-
lings. The eccentricity has in fact been traced to an
adverse accumulation of manufacturing tolerances, con-
firmed in both magnitude and direction.
4 ERRORS IN ECCENTRICITY ESTIMATES
Calculations of eccentricity are based upon differences
between the individual strain-gauge readings, and small
relative errors between readings, such as those due to
amplifier drift, greatly affect the result at small values of
direct strain. Each strain gauge and associated bridge
circuit and amplifier were cross-calibrated to minimize
consistent relative errors between readings.
If an absolute standard error on readings of f1 per cent
f l o p strain is assumed, and a tenfold increase in rela-
tive accuracy results from the cross-calibration procedure,
then the relative standard error would be f0.1 per centf
1p strain. If this error is further assumed to be random
and normally distributed, the error in eccentricity is likely
to fall within the range f~/5(0.1+10-6/cD)mm. The
I .o
0 M o d i f i e d c o u p l i n g design
v Original coupling design
0 200 400 600 800 I( I0
D I R E C T STRAIN p
Fig. 5. Comparison of eccentricities obtained with
original and modified arrangements
JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 7 NO 4 I972
 AXIALITY OF LOADING IN T H E TENSILE T E S T

error bands shown in Fig. 5 are based upon these assump-

tions.

5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks are due particularly to Dr E. M. Smith and
Mr J. M. Booth, both colleagues in the Department of
Mechanical Engineering, University of Newcastle upon
Tyne, for helpful participation in this work. Thanks are
also due to Mr A. Warren of the Departmental Technical
Staff for the skilful manufacture of the components in
difficult materials.
The work has been performed under direct grant from
the Science Research Council (Grant No. B/SR/3960) Fig. 6. Distribution of pressure around the pin
whose support is gratefully acknowledged.
APPENDIX 1
F R I C T I O N I N A P I N J O I N T USED T O T R A N S M I T Note that the constant 4/n is dependent upon the assump-
LOAD tion of sinusoidal pressure distribution around the pin.
Let the total load transmitted by the joint be F, and let the The more severe assumption of a uniform pressure gives a
pin diameter be 2a. The normal interface pressure between similar result with a constant of n/2, a? increase of
pin and housing will in general be distributed around the approximately 23 per cent in the limiting friction moment.
circumference. For this analysis the pressure is assumed to The limiting friction moment can be expressed as an
be distributed according to the following law : eccentricity of loading simply by dividing the moment M
by the force F. For the Newcastle tests, the anticipated
n n eccentricity of the joint would be 1.14-1.67 mm, a room-
p = p , cos 8, -2 < B < 5 temperature friction coefficient for the Nimonic series of
p is zero around the remainder of the circumference, and alloys in the range 0 . 1 5 4 2 2 being assumed in accordance
p o is the peak interface pressure which is dependent upon with Betteridge (5). The eccentricity measured at the
F. Fig. 6 shows this arrangement diagrammatically. specimen centre would then be 0 . 5 7 4 8 4 mm, which is
The force F is found in terms of p , by integrating the equivalent to between 57 and 84 per cent bending. Under
vertical component of pressure around the circum- creep-test conditions the lack of lubrication at the high
ference. operating temperature could give rise to a fourfold in-
ni2 crease in the friction coefficient accompanied by a
F = / - = , . p a cos 0 d0 = corresponding increase in the eccentricity of loading.

7T
= ZPoa APPENDIX 2
REFERENCES
Hence
(I) FENNER, A. J. Mechanical testing of materials 1965 (George
2F Newnes Ltd, London).
Po =--
nu (2) KENNEDY, A. J. Processes of creep and fatigue in metals
If a simple coulombic friction coefficient p is assumed, 1962 428 (Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh).
(3) SMITH,E. M., GRANT,C., and BOOTH,J. M. 'Equipment for
the limiting friction moment on the joint can similarly be creep testing at variable load and temperature', J. Strain
found. Analysis 1970 5, 145.
Limiting friction moment (4) PENNY, R. K., ELLISON,E.G., and WEBSTER, G. A. 'Specimen

M = j'" ppa2 d6' = pp,a2 /:22

-n 2
cos 6' dB
alignment and strain measurement in axial creep tests',
Mater. Res. Stands 1966 6 , 76.
( 5 ) BETTERIDGE, W. The Nimonic alloys 1961 (Edward Arnold
4 Ltd, London).
= -uaF
n'

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