ENGG103 MATERIALS IN DESIGN LABORATORY

EXPERIMENT 1: YOUNG’S MODULUS

1. Objectives
1. Determine the Young’s modulus of different materials
2. Rank the specific Young’s modulus of different materials for tensile loading
3. Ranke the specific Young’s modulus of different materials for a beam.

2. Background

Elastic Modulus
The degree to which a structure deforms or strains depends on the magnitude of the imposed
stress. For many materials that are stressed in tension and at relatively low levels, stress and
strain are proportional to each other through the relationship (Hooke’s Law):

σ=Eε (1)

where σ is the applied stress (force/area) and the unit for stress is Pa or N/m2, ε is the strain and
it is dimensionless and E is a constant of proportionality, called the Young’s modulus or modulus
of elasticity and it has the same unit as the stress.

Deformation in which stress and strain are proportional is called elastic deformation: a plot of
stress (ordinate) as a function of strain (abscissa) results in a linear relationship. The slope of
this linear segment corresponds to the modulus of elasticity, E. This modulus may be thought
of as material stiffness, or the resistance of a material to elastic deformation. The modulus is
an important design parameter used for determining elastic deflections in engineering
components. There are five main factors that affect how much a beam will deflect:
• The material the beam is made from
• The load, the type, and where it is placed
• The beam’s cross section and dimensions
• The type of support and its fixing conditions,
• The span or length of the beam.
These factors combine together to form the general beam equation:
𝐹𝐹 𝐿𝐿3 𝐹𝐹𝐿𝐿3
𝛿𝛿 = or 𝐸𝐸 =
𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾 𝛿𝛿𝛿𝛿𝛿𝛿

where δ is the elastic deflection and has the unit of m (meter) , F is the load in N(Newton), L is
the span of the beam in meters , K is a constant relating to the type of support and has no unit
and I is the second moment of area and has the unit of m4.

The general beam equation as stated only works for specific simple types of beam
configurations.
The beam material

The material property as used in the beam equation is its stiffness, different materials have
different values.
The stiffness of a material is given by its Young’s modulus, with the symbol𝐸𝐸. It is the ratio of
stress to strain, or how much a material stretches elastically when a known load is applied. For
most engineering materials, this ratio is constant until too much load is applied resulting in
permanent (plastic) deformation.
𝐸𝐸, the Young’s modulus is material dependent. The above equation can be re-expressed with 𝐸𝐸
as the subject to give:
𝐹𝐹𝐿𝐿3
𝐸𝐸 =
𝛿𝛿𝛿𝛿𝛿𝛿

The load

Only point loads will be used in this laboratory.

The beam dimensions

Imagine that you have two beams which are identical except for their thickness. Intuition should
let you predict that if you try to bend each one, that the thicker beam would bend less at
equivalent loads. That is the thicker one would be more rigid (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Beam bending.

However, it is not intuitive that this extra rigidity is not proportional to the thickness; it is in fact
the cube of the thickness. Hence, a small change in thickness has a large effect on the rigidity.

This dimensional property of the beam is called the second moment of area 𝐼𝐼 (Figure 2).
For a rectangular section beam, the second moment of area is:

𝑏𝑏𝑡𝑡 3
𝐼𝐼 =
12

where 𝑏𝑏 is the breadth and 𝑡𝑡 is the thickness of the beam.

F

Figure 2: Second moment of area.

Beam supports and fixing conditions

Beam or cantilevers have to be in some way held or supported to be useful structures.

In real life structures these supports can be very complicated, so at a basic level we used
“idealised” supports. These are supports with known attributes that make them relatively easy to
analyse.

There are three idealised supports that are commonly used, each providing a different “𝐾𝐾” term
in the general beam equation.

Pinned supports

A pinned support allows the beam to rotate at the point of contact, but stops the beam from
falling down or being pushed along.
 Figure 3: A pinned support.

Pinned and roller supports

A pinned and roller support allows the beam to rotate at the point of contact, but stops the beam
from falling down. It does not stop it from being pushed along.

Figure 4: A pinned and roller support.

Fixed supports

The fixed support stops the beam from rotating, being pushed along or falling down.

Figure 5: A fixed support.

Beams used in your experiments

For the simply supported beams in your experiments, both ends are free to rotate and with a
gentle tap can move. Hence, it acts as a pinned and roller support (Figure 4) with 𝐾𝐾 = 48.
3. Experimental Procedure
1. You will be provided with 2 beams to test. Identify the beam materials and estimate their
Young’s modulus in Table 2:
2. The experiment should be setup as shown in Figure 6.
3. For a beam, use the veneer calipers to measure the beam breadth and thickness. Calculate
the value of 𝐼𝐼 for the beam and note this in the results table.
4. Fit the beam to the supports (Figure 6:).
5. Adjust the Dial Indicator and Wire ‘Stirrup’ along to the middle of the beam (180 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚).
6. Set and zero the Dial Indicator.
7. In increments shown in Table 1 below add weights.
a. Remove the hanger to add weights (hanger weighs ~10 g).
b. Each time you add a weight, tap the work panel to reduce the effects of friction.
c. Record the deflection at each weight increment.
8. Calculate the Force in Newton’s and calculate the results of the simple beam equation
shown in the results table.
9. Plot your Force (y-axis) and your deflection (x-axis) on a piece of paper or on the blank
page of this manual.
10. Find the gradient of the curve.

𝐹𝐹𝐿𝐿3 𝐹𝐹 𝐿𝐿3 𝐿𝐿3

11. From the theory, 𝐸𝐸 = = × = 𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔𝑔 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑐𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 (𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆 𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢) × .
𝛿𝛿𝛿𝛿𝛿𝛿 𝛿𝛿 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾 𝐾𝐾𝐾𝐾
For the beam geometry used here, 𝐾𝐾 = 48. calculate the Young’s modulus of the beam.
12. Remove weights from the sample.
13. Slide the dial indicator up the work panel so that it is not touching the beam.
14. Remove the beam.
15. Repeat for the other beams.

Table 1 : Increments and maximum load for each type of sample.

Sample Increments Maximum load

Steel 100 g 500 g
Aluminium 100 g 500 g
Brass 100 g 500 g
CFRP (carbon fibre-reinforced polymer) 100 g 500 g
Wood 50 g 250 g
PE (polyethylene) 20 g 100 g
Figure 6: Experiment setup.
Figure 7: The Dial Indicator has been raised so that it's tip is no longer in contact with the beam.