German Jordanian University

School of Applied Technical Sciences

Department of Industrial Engineering
Materials and Mechanics Lab IE224
Second semester 2019/2020

Experiment 3: Tensile Test #1 – Aluminum

Objectives
▪ Understand the concept of the tensile test and how it is performed.
▪ Investigate the mechanical properties of the testing specimens such as ductility,
toughness, yield stress, ultimate tensile strength.
▪ Get familiar with the true stress-strain curve and the actual mechanical behavior.

Background
The mechanical behavior of any material can be investigated through three major tests;
tensile, compression and torsion or pure shear test. All of these tests can provide the mechanical
properties of the material which can be defined as those properties associated with elastic and
plastic reactions when load (force) is applied. The Tensile test is considered to be a good test
due to the following reasons:
▪ The apparatus simplicity with which it can be performed. (Universal testing machine).
▪ The uni-axial loading condition that results in a uniform stress distribution across the
cross section of the tested specimens.
Before performing the tensile test, it is worth mentioning that specimen should meet certain
standard dimensions in terms of its diameter and length as shown in Figure 1, where ( L0 ) is the
gauge length. The cross sectional area ( A0 ) where the load would be applied should also be
determined before performing the test. The specimen then should be held from its ends by the
grips of the universal testing machine. Upon applying tension force (load), the gauge length will
increase while the cross sectional area will decrease until the specimen fails (fracture).

Figure1: Standard tensile test specimen

After finishing the test; the output would be the load deflection curve as shown in Figure 2,
which describes the extension (elongation), occurred in length at each applied load (force). The
load deflection curve is a common output for all materials; however the representation of the
elastic and plastic regions varies from one material to another. For example, the load deflection
curve for the mild steel displays the elastic and plastic regions very clearly as compared to other
materials; hence it would be set as an example to explain these regions in details.
 Referring to Figure 2, regions on the load deflection curve can be classified as follows:
▪ The region 0-1-2 : the elastic region that contains the elastic line (0-1-2) which is a
straight line
▪ The region 3-4: yield region
▪ The region 4-5-6: plastic region
▪ The region 4-5: plastic work hardening
▪ The region 5-6: crack initiation and propagation of fracture.

Figure 2: Load- Deflection curve for mild steel, (1) proportional limit, (2) elastic limit and upper yield point, (3, and 4) lower
yield point, (5) necking point, maximum load, and plastic instability point, (6) fracture point

The load- deflection curve is often transformed to an engineering stress – engineering strain
curve according to the below equations:
▪ Engineering stress (  ): is the ratio of the tensile load (force) applied to the specimen to
its original cross-sectional area
P
Engineering stress (  ) = in MPa or N / mm 2
A0
Where P : is the applied load (force) in kN
A0 : is the specimen’s original cross sectional area in mm2

▪ Engineering strain (  ): the specimen deformation which is the ratio of the increase of
the specimen gauge length to its original gauge length.
L
Engineering strain (  ) =
L0
Where L : is extension (elongation) of the gage length
L0 : is the original gage length
It is worth mentioning that the engineering stress- strain curve will be exactly like the load
deflection curve, but with different scale as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 1: Typical engineering stress– strain. The circular insets represent the geometry of the deformed specimen at various
points along the curveEngineering stress- strain curve for steel (Source: Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction,
by: W. D. Callister, 7th ed)

Characteristics of the elastic region:

▪ The material returns to its original dimensions upon the removal of the load
▪ There will be a change in volume when it is loaded.
▪ The strain in the elastic region is too small
▪ For isotropic material, which have identical properties values in different directions;
 x =  y , a parameter termed Poisson’s ratio ( ) is defined as the ratio of the lateral and
axial strain.
x y
 =− =−
z z
Where  x , and  y are lateral strain in x and y directions respectively.
Poisson’s ratio for many materials ranges between 0.25 and 0.35.
▪ The behavior in the elastic region conforms to Hook’s law;
 = E
where E is a constant known as the modulus of elasticity and it can be also measured by the
slope of the straight line in the elastic region, in GPa . Modulus of elasticity determines stiffness
which is defined as the material resistance to elastic deformation caused by an applied force.

Yield Strength

As the stress reaches the highest point on the elastic line the material starts yielding at point
called proportional limit (yield limit) indicated as point P in Figure 4, and after that the material
begins to deform plastically.

However, hard steels and non ferrous metals do not have a defined proportional limit;
therefore a stress corresponding to a definite strain often (0.1% -0.2%) is commonly used instead
of proportional limit which is called proof stress as shown in the Figure 4. As a convention a
straight line is constructed parallel to the elastic portion of the stress–strain curve at some
specified strain offset, usually 0.002. The stress corresponding to the intersection of this line and
the stress–strain curve as it bends over in the plastic region is defined as the yield strength.
Figure 2: (a) Typical stress–strain behavior for a metal showing elastic and plastic deformations, the proportional limit P, and the yield
strength as determined using the 0.002 strain offset method. (b) Representative stress–strain behavior found for some steels
demonstrating the yield point phenomenonProof stress method (Source: Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction, by: W.
D. Callister, 7th ed)

Yield strength can be calculated according to the below equation:

Py
Yield strength (  y ) =
A0
Where Py : is the applied load (force) when material starts yielding
▪ Material resilience: is defined as the mechanical property that indicates the material’s
ability to absorb energy in the elastic region and it measured by the Modulus of resilience
( U r ) which is the area under the elastic line.

Characteristics of the plastic region:

▪ The material retains its new dimensions upon the removal of the load
▪ The volume remains constant
▪ Poisson’s ratio equals 0.5 for all materials
▪ Strains in the plastic region are larger than in the elastic region
▪ In the plastic region, as the load increases, the specimen continues to undergo plastic
deformation and at a certain value its cross section decreases due to necking. At this
point the stress reaches the maximum value, which is called the tensile strength,
indicated as point M in Figure 3. Tensile strength is also known as Ultimate Tensile
Strength (UTS), which can be calculated as follows:
P
Tensile Strength (TS) = m
A0
where Pm is the maximum applied load
 The load- deflection curve which is also known as the autographic record and the
engineering stress- strain curve are considered to be a good tools to provide the mechanical
behavior; however, it does not exactly provide the true (actual) mechanical behavior as it
depends on the original specimen’s dimensions which varies according to its cross sectional are
reduction; therefore, it should be converted to a true stress- strain curve. Accordingly, the stress
should be calculated based on instantaneous cross sectional area and strain should be calculated
based on instantaneous gauge length which depends on the characteristics of the tested
specimen. The true stress- strain curve is shown in Figure 5. True stress and true strain can be
calculated as follows:
P
True stress (  T ) =
Ai
where Ai is the instantaneous cross sectional area
L 
True strain (  T ) = ln  i 
 L0 
where Li : is the instantaneous length

Figure 3: A comparison of typical tensile engineering stress–strain and true stress–strain behaviors. Necking begins at point M on the
engineering curve, which corresponds to on the true curve. The “corrected” true stress– strain curve takes into account the complex
stress state within the neck region. (Source: Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction, by: W. D. Callister, 7 th ed)

If no volume change occurs during deformation, then A0 L0 = Ai Li , and engineering and true
stress and strain are related according to the following equations:

 T =  (1 +  )
T = ln (1 +  )

Some materials’ true stress–strain curve from the onset of plastic deformation to the point
at which necking begins may be approximated by:
 T = K Tn
where K and n are constants varying from a material to another. The parameter n is often
termed the strain hardening exponent.
 Mechanical properties that can be determined by the tensile test:

▪ Ductility: it is a mechanical property that indicates the ability of the material to have
some plastic deformation before fracture and it is measured by the maximum elongation
percentage and the maximum reduction in area from the tensile test only. Brittleness is
another property that indicates the lack of ductility in material. Ductility is expressed by:
L f − L0
% Elongation =
L0
where L f : is the fracture length
A0 − A f
% Reduction in area =
A0
where A f : is the cross sectional area at fracture point
Ductility could be investigated using a bending test, where a ductile material bends
without fracture while brittle material could not withstand bending stress, which
causes it to fail without noticeable bending.

▪ Toughness: the ability of material to absorb energy and plastically deform without
fracture, or it is the amount of energy per unit volume that a material can absorb before
fracture.
In addition to the previous discussed properties:
▪ Stiffness
▪ Resilience
▪ Tensile Strength
▪ Yield Strength
▪ Modulus of Elasticity

Materials & Equipment

In this experiment, the below would be required:

▪ A uniform plastic specimen
▪ Micrometer and caliper to measure the specimen dimensions (width, thickness and
length)
▪ Universal testing machine (UTM).
 German Jordanian University
School of Applied Technical Sciences
Department of Industrial Engineering
Materials and Mechanics Lab IE224
Second semester 2019/2020

Student name: _______________________ ID: _________________

Section: ______________

Experiment 3: Tensile Test #1 – Aluminum

Objectives
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Materials and apparatus (list)

_____________________________________________________________
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Procedure (steps)
_____________________________________________________________
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Results and discussion

Eng. Stress-Strain – part 1

• For an Aluminum dog-bone sample, create Table 1 on MS Excel. Fill up the table on MS Excel
until the “Eng. Stress” column, then draw the Engineering Stress-Strain curve. Template
below:

Table 1: Engineering and True Stress-Strain Data for Aluminum Dog-bone Sample
Universal Tensile Eng. Stress-Strain Offset Line True Stress-Strain
Machine Readings
Reading Extension Load Eng. Eng. Stress ( ) New New Offset True True Stress ( )
( ) ( ) Strain Stress Strain Slope Strain
1
2
n

• Write down the cut-off value, i.e., the highest strain value at which pre-strain data was
deleted. Write down Cell Reference (ex. A50)

• Write down the formula for the slope (ex. =SLOPE(J27:J100,I27:I100) )

• Write down the range of stress and strain values taken!

Now, you may begin answering the below questions:

• Determine the following parameters. DO NOT forget to mention UNITS:

o Modulus of Elasticity (MOE) (aka Young’s Modulus) . unit = E
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________

o Modulus of Resilience (strain energy stored below the elastic limit) .. unit = Ur
(max. energy that can be absorbed per unit volume without creating permanent
deformation)
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________

o Elastic Limit (aka Yield Strength, Yield Point) [ in this case = = proof stress ]
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
 o 0.2% offset yield strength (aka Proof stress: When a yield point is not easily defined
based on the shape of the stress–strain curve, an offset yield point is arbitrarily defined.)
_______________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

o Yield Strain (x-axis value from the same point on curve that indicates yield strength)
_______________________________________________________

o Ultimate Tensile Strength (aka Tensile Strength)

_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________

o % Elongation (AND +1 Marks % Reduction in Area)

______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________

True Stress-Strain – part 2

• Now, fill up the remaining columns in the previous table - Table 1 - on MS Excel then draw
the True Stress-Strain curve.

• Compare between Eng. Stress-Strain and True Stress-Strain Data.

o Show sample calculation for Eng. Stress, True Stress, Eng. Strain, True Strain for the
first row of data
Include Equation.

▪ Eng. Stress_____________________________________________

▪ True Stress_____________________________________________

▪ Eng. Strain_____________________________________________

▪ True Strain____________________________________________
• Email me your engineering and true stress-strain curves as an Excel file. Don’t forget to label
the axes and to add a legend: haneen.aboud@gju.edu.jo