CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY

Elasticity deals with elastic stresses and strains, their relationship and the
external forces that cause them. An elastic strain is defined as strain that
disappears instantaneously once the forces that cause it are removed. It is
very essential to understand the micro and macromechanical problems.
Examples for micromechanical problems:
stress fields around dislocations, incompatibilities of stresses at the
interface between grains, and dislocation interactions in work hardening.
Examples for macromechanical problems:
Stresses developed in drawing and rolling wire and the analysis of
specimen-machine interactions in tensile for tensile strength.
 CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY

This chapter is structured in such a way as to satisfy the needs of both the
undergraduate and the graduate students. A graphical method for the
solution of two-dimensional stress problems (the Mohr circle) is
described. On the other hand, the stress and strain systems in
tridimensional bodies can be better treated as tensors, with the indicial
notation. Once this tensor approach is understood, the student will have
acquired a very helpful visualization of stresses and strains a s
tridimensional entities
 CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY

Assume that a certain amount of force is

applied, there will be tendency to stretch the
sample, breaking the internal bonds. The
breaking tendency is opposed by internal
reactions, stresses. The resistance is uniformly
distributed over the normal section and
represented by three modest arrows at A. The
normal stress σ is defined as this resistance
per unit area. Applying the equilibrium of forces
equation from the mechanics of materials we
will have:
1) Specimen
2) Crosshead of the machine
3) Load Cell
4) Strain Gauge, extensometer,
This is the internal resisting stress to the
externally applied load and avoiding breaking of
the specimen
Stress and Strain
CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY
Stress, σ, is defined as the intensity of force at a point:
σ=∂F/∂A as ∂A→0
If the state of stress is the same everywhere in a body,
σ=F/A
A normal stress (compressive or tensile) is one in which the force is
normal to the area on which it acts. With a shear stress, the force is
parallel to the area on which is acts.
Two subscripts are required to define a stress. The first subscript denotes
the normal to the plane on which the force acts and the second subscript
identifies the direction of the force. For example, a tensile stress in the x-
direction is denoted by σxx, indicating that the force is in the x-direction
and it acts on a plane normal to x. For a shear stress, σxy, a force in the y-
direction acts on a plane normal to x.
 CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY
Because stresses involve both forces and areas, they are not vector
quantities. Nine components of stress are needed to describe a state of
stress at a point, as shown in below. The stress component σyy=Fy/Ay
describes the tensile stress in the y-direction. The stress component
σzy=Fy/Az is the shear stress caused by a shear force in the y-direction
acting on a plane normal to z.

Tensor Notation of state of stress.

Repeated subscripts denote

The nine components of stress acting on an normal stresses (e.g:σxx,σyy…)
infinitesimal element. The normal stress whereas mixed subscripts denote
components are σxx, σyy, and σzz. The shear stress shear stresses (e.g:σxy,σzx…).
components are σyz, σzx, σxy, σzy, σxz, and σyx.
 CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY
Except tensor notation is required, it is often simpler to use a single
subscript for a normal stress and to denote a shear stress by τ; for
example, σx=σxx and τxy=σxy
Stress component expressed along one set of axes may be expressed
along another set of axes. The body is subjected to a stress σyy=Fy/Ay. It
is possible to calculate the stress acting on a plane whose normal, y’, is at
an angle θ to y. The normal force acting on the plane is Fy’=Fycosθ and
the area normal to y’ is Ay/cosθ, so
σy=σy’y’=Fy’/Ay’=(Fycosθ)/(Ay/cosθ)=σycos2θ

Similarly, the shear stress acting on the x’

direction τy’x’ (=σy’x’), is given by:
τy’x’=σy’x’=Fx’/Ay’=(FySinθ)/(Ay/cosθ)=σycosθSinθ

Stresses acting on an area A’

 CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY
In the stress convention, generally tensile stresses are positive and compressive forces
are negative. σij is positive if either i and j are positive or both negative. On the other
hand, the stress component is negative for a combination of i and j in which one is
positive and the other is negative. As the applied force increases, so does the length of
the specimen. For an increase dF the length l increases by dl. The nomalized increase in
length is equal to:

Or upon integration

Where l0 is the original length. This parameter is known as the longitudinal true strain.
In many application, a simpler form of strain, commonly called engineering or nominal
strain, is used. This type of strain is defined as:

In materials that exhibit large amounts of elastic deformation (rubbers, soft biological
tissues, etc.) it is customary to express the deformation by a parameter called ‘stretch’ or
‘stretch ratio’. It is usually expressed as λ
Hence deformation starts at λ=1
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When the strains are reasonably small the engineering and the true
strains are approximately the same. Subscript t will be used for true
strain and subscript e will be used for engineering strain. The engineering
strain and true strain can be related as:

In a likewise fashion the engineering stress can be expressed as:

The engineering stress and the true stress can be related as following:

During elastic deformation the change in cross-sectional area is less than

1% for most metals and ceramics, thus σe=σt. However, during plastic
deformation the difference between true and engineering values become
progressively larger.
 CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY
The sign convention for strains is the same
as that for stresses. Positive for tensile
strains and negative for compressive strains.

The solid lines describe the loading

trajectory and the dashed lines describe the
unloading. For perfectly elastic solid, the
two kinds of lines should coincide if thermal
effects are neglected. The curve of (a) is
characteristics of metals and ceramics and
the elastic regimen can be described by a
straight line. The curve of (b) is
characteristics of rubber and stress and
strain are not proportional. However, the
strain returns to zero once the load is
removed. First the resistance to stretching
increases slightly with extension. After
considerable deformation the rubber band
stiffens up and further deformation will
eventually lead to rupture. The whole
Stress-Strain curves in elastic regimen (a) process is elastic except the failure.
for metals and ceramics (b) for rubber
 CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY

A conceptual error often made is to assume that elastic behavior is

always linear; the rubber example shows very clearly that there are
notable exceptions. However, for metals, the stress and strain can be
assumed to be proportional in the elastic regimen; these materials are
known as Hookean solids. For polymers, viscoelastic effects are very
important. Viscoelasticity results in different trajectories for loading and
unloading, with formation of hysteresis loop. The area of the hysteresis
loop is the energy lost per unit volume in the entire deformation cycle.
Metals also exhibit some viscoelasticity but it is most often neglected.
Viscoelasticity is attributed to time-dependent microscopic processes
accompanying deformation.
 CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY
As the tension goes, so does the stretch: Robert Hooke presented…

E represents the Young’s modulus and is high for metals and ceramics.
E mainly depends on composition, crystallographic structure and nature
of the bonding of the elements. Heat and mechanic treatment have little
effect on E as long as they do not affect the former parameters. Hence,
annealed and cold rolled steel have the same Young’s modulus, there
are, of course, small differences due to formation of cold rolled texture.
E decreases slightly with increases in temperature.
In monocrystals (single crystals) E shows different values for different
crystallographic orientations. In polycrystalline aggregates that do not
exhibit any texture, E is isotropic. It has the same value in all
directions.
 CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY
The values of E shown in tables are usually obtained by dynamic
methods involving the propagation of elastic waves, not from stress-
strain tests. Elastic wave is passed through a sample, the velocity of the
longitudinal and shear waves, Vl and Vs, respectively are related to the
elastic constants, by means of the mathematical expressions: ρ is the
density, E is the Young’s Modulus and G is the shear modulus.
 CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY
Strain Energy (Deformation Energy) Density
When work is done on a body, its dimensions change. The work done
(W) is converted into a heat (Q) and an increase in internal energy (U) of
the body. We can write as per the first law of thermodynamics.

For most solids, the elastic work produces an insignificant amount of

heat. Hence the work done on a body during deformation is converted
into internal energy, which is stored in the deformed material and we call
it strain energy or strain energy density when referring to the stored
strain energy per unit volume. In elastic springs the energy is stored,
while in a damping element the energy is dissipated as heat.
CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY
Consider an elemental cube under uniaxial
tension σ11. The work done is given by the
product of force and the change in length.
Convert the stress into force and strain into
displacement. The work done is the area
under the force vs. displacement curve.

Where σ11 is the tensile stress component in

direction 1 and ε11 is the corresponding tensile
strain, σx1, σx2, and σx3, are the lengths of the
sides of the cube. The work done per unit volume
is:

Similar expressions for the work done can be

obtained by other stress components. σ31 and
ε31 are the shear stress and shear strain,
respectively.
 CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY
Using the principle of superposition, i.e., Combining the results for two or more stresses
(or strains), we can write for the total work done per unit volume or the strain energy
density as:

In more, indicial compact form we can write:

The units of strain energy are J/m3 or N.m/m3 or N/ m2. The last one is the same as the
units of stress. It should not cause any confusion if the reader will recall that the strain is
a dimensionless quantity. Note that the strain energy is a scalar quantity, hence no
indexes. For a linearly elastic solid under a uniaxial stress we can use the Hooke’s law
to obtain an alternate expression for the strain energy density:

One can extend the concept of elastic strain energy density to region of inelastic
behavior by defining the strain energy density as the area under the stress-strain curve
of a material. Sometimes, we take this area under the stress-strain curve as a measure
of the toughness of a material
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Shear Stress and Strain The specimen is placed between a punch and a base
having a cyclindirical orifice; the punch compresses
the specimen. The internal resistance to the external
forces now has the nature of a shear. The small cube
in (b) was removed from the region being sheared
between punch and base. It is distorted in such a way
that the perpendicularity of the faces is lost. The shear
stresses and strains are defined as:

The area of the surface that undergoes shear is:

A mechanical test commonly used to find the shear

stresses and strains is torsion test. The relation
between the torque and the shear stress is:
 CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY
c is the radius of the cylinder and J=πc4/2 is the polar moment of inertia.
For a hollow cylinder with b and c as a inner and outer radii we subtract
the hollow part to obtain:

For metals and ceramics and certain polymers (the Hookean solids), the
proportionality between shear stress and shear strain is observed in the
elastic regimen. In analogy with Young’s modulus, a transverse elasticity,
called the rigidity or shear modulus is defined:
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Unit cube in a body subjected to tridimensional stress; only
stresses on the three exposed faces if the cube are shown.
A body, upon being pulled in tension, tends to contract
laterally. The stresses are defined in a tridimensional body
and they have two indices. The first indicates the plane (or
the normal to the plane) on which they are acting; the
second indicates the direction in which they are pointing.
These stresses are schematically shown acting on three
faces of a unit cube in Figure a. The normal stresses have
two identical subscripts: σ11 ,σ22 , σ33 . The shear stresses
have two different subscripts: σ12 ,σ13 , σ23 .These subscripts
refer to the reference system Ox1,x2 ,x3. If this notation is
used, both normal and shear stresses are designated by the
same letter, lower case sigma. On the other hand, in more
simplified cases where we are dealing with only one normal
one shear stress component, σ and τ will be used,
respectively; this notation will be maintained throughout the
text. In Figure the stress σ33 generates strains ε11 ,ε22 , ε33 .
Since the initial dimensions of the cube are equal to 1, the
changes in length are equal to the strains. Poisson’s ratio is
defined as the ratio between the lateral and the longitudinal
Unit cube being strains. Both ε11 , ε22 , are negative (signifying a decrease in
extended in length), and ε33 is positive. In order for Poisson’s ratio to be
direction Ox positive, the negative sign is used.
3
 CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY
Hence,

In an isotropic material, ε11 is equal to ε22 . We can calculate value of ν for

two extreme cases: (1) when the volume remains constant and (2) when
there is no lateral contraction. When the volume is constant, the initial and
final volumes, V0 and V. respectively, are equal to

Neglecting the cross products of the strains, because they are orders of
magnitude smaller than the strains themselves, we have

Since V=V0

For the isotropic case, the two lateral contractions are the same (ε11 = ε22 ). Hence,

Substituting equation into the previous equation, we arrive at:

v=0.5
 CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY
For the case in which there is no lateral contraction, v is equal to zero. Poisson’s ratio for
metals is usually around 0.3. The values given in the table apply to the elastic regimen;
in the plastic regimen, v increases to 0.5, since the volume remains constant during
plastic deformation.
 CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY
It is possible to establish the maximum and minimum for Poisson’s ratio. We know that
G and E are positive. This is a consequence of the positiveness and definiteness of the
strain energy function (a subject that we will not treat here-in simple words, the unloaded
state of the body is the lowest energy state.
In the equation below:

We set,

Thus:

This leads to:

The lower bound for Poisson’s ratio is obtained by deforming a body and assuming that
its volume remains constant, as was done earlier in this section. Thus:
 CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY
MORE COMPLEX STATE OF STRESS
The generalized Hooke’s law (as the set of equations relating tridimensional stresses
and strains is called) is derived next, for an isotropic solid. It is assumed that shear
stresses can generate only shear strains. Thus, the longitudinal strains are produced
exclusively by the normal stresses. σ11 generates the following strain:

v= -ε22 / ε11 = -ε33 / ε11 for stress σ11 , we also have:

For σ22 :

For σ33 :

In this treatment, the shear stresses generates only shear strains

 CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY
The second simplifying assumption is called the principle of superposition. The total
strain in one direction is considered to be equal to the sum of the strains generated by
the various stresses along that direction. Hence, the total ε11 is the sum of ε11 produced
by σ11 , σ22 ,σ33 . We obtain the generalized Hooke’s law:

Applying these equations to a hydrostatic stress situation

We can see that there are no distortions in the cube

 CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY
The triaxial state of stress is difficult to treat in elasticity. Therefore, we try to assume a
more simplified state of stress that resembles the tridimensional stress. This is often
justified by the geometry of the body and by the loading configuration. In sheets and
plates (where one dimension can be neglected with respect to the other two), the state
of stress can be assumed to be bidimensional. This state of stress is also known as
plane stress, because normal stresses (normal to the surface) are zero at the surface,
as are shear stresses (parallel to the surface) at the surface. In figure (slide 25), one
would be left with σ11 , σ12 , σ22 if Ox1x2 were the plane of the sheet. Since the sheet is
thin, there is no space for buildup of the stresses that are zero at the surface.

The opposite case, in which one of the dimensions is infinite with respect to the other
two, is treated under the assumption of plane strain. If one dimension is infinite, strain in
it is constrained; hence, one has two dimensions left. This state is called bidimensional
or, more commonly plane strain. It also occurs when strain is constrained in one
direction by some other means. A long dam is constrained. Yet another state of stress is
pure shear, when there are no normal stresses.
CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY
 CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY
Pure Shear: Relationship between G and E

There is a special case of bidimensional stress in which

σ22=-σ11. This state of stress is represented in the figure. It
can be seen that σ12=0, implying that σ11 and σ22 are
principal stresses and write σ2=-σ1. In Mohr’s circle of the
second figure the center coincides with the origin of the
axes.We can see that a rotation of 90° (on the circle) leads
to a state of stress in which the normal stresses are zero.
This rotation is equivalent to a 45° rotation in the body
(real space). The magnitude of the shear stress at this
orientation is equal to the radius of the circle. Hence, the
square shown in the last figure is deformed to a lozenge
under the combined effect of the shear stresses. Such a
state of stress is called pure shear.
 CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY
It is possible, from this particular case, to obtain a relationship between G and E;
furthermore, the relationship has a general nature. The strain ε11 is, for this case,

Eqn. 1
We have, for the shear stresses (using the normal, and not the Mohr, sign convention),
Eqn. 2
But we also have,
Eqn. 3

Substituting equations 2 and 3 into equation 1 yields

It is possible, by means of geometrical consideration on the triangle ABC in Figure to

show that

Hence,
 CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY
Anisotropic Effects

Figure shows that a general stress system acting on a unit cube has nine components
and is a symmetrical tensor. (The off-diagonal components are equal)

We can therefore write:

When the unit cube in the figure is rotated, the stress state at that point doesnot change;
however, the components of stress change. The same applies to strains. A general state
of strain is descirbed by:
 CHAPTER 1: ELASTICITY
We can also use a matrix notation for stresses and strains, replacing the indices by the
following

We now have stress and strain in general form as:

It should be noted that:

But: