BENDING TEST

Bending is a very useful test in which the specimen is bent to a

certain angle or to fracture. It can be thought to be half tension
and half compression test (Half of the specimen volume is
subjected to tension, other half to compression)

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 BENDING TEST vs TENSION TEST
Tensile test is unrivalled to determine the mechanical properties
of materials. So, why bending?
• Bend test is more suitable for brittle materials (such as ceramics and
glasses) or for materials with non-homogeneous structure (such as
composites) than the tensile test, for three reasons:
– Specimen Preparation: It is fairly difficult to prepare tensile test samples for
these. Specimen geometry for bending test is simply a rod having a circular
or rectangular cross-section.
– Gripping: It is difficult to grip brittle materials (For tension test) without
fracturing them. Since the brittle materials are usually hard, specimen ends
may slide from the grips during tension test.
– Alignment: Brittle materials will fail at a very low strain value (0.1%) which
necessiates the perfect alignment of tensile samples to avoid the presence
of bending stresses.

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 BENDING TEST
• Good for structural components (Bending beams, stiffeners etc) that are
designed mainly to support bending moments

• Very practical ductility test for ductile metals (Sheet, rod, wire etc). The
ductility can be checked quickly by bending the piece around a die or by
folding it completely.

• Routine test for the quality control of welds (reveals the weld defects).
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 3-Point Bending vs 4-Point Bending

L: Span length
L

L2

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 3 point bending fixture: Mandrel and supporting
cylinders

D=3t
Mandrel

Mandrel diameter is adjusted according to the standards or testing requirements.

Usually, D is approximately 3 times the specimen thickness, t

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 Stress –Strain diagram of bending test
CERAMICS
METALS
250 MPa
Flextural Stress

Flextural Stress
Load decrease may be
because of necking,
Al2O3 Yielding buckling or sliding of
specimen between
supports

0.0008 Flextural Strain

Flextural Strain
*Max. Stress is known as the Flexural Strength (Bend strength, Modulus of Rupture)
*Slope in the elastic region is the modulus of elasticity.
*For ceramics flexural strength is greater than the tensile strength. This is explained
by the differences in specimen volume Dr.
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subjected
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to tensile stress. 6
 Sign Convention

Convention for positive and negative moments(left),

shear force(middle) and Axial stress(right).

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 Shear(V) and Moment(M) Diagrams for
3-point Bending

L: Span length

Area: Max. moment

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 Shear(V) and Moment(M) Diagrams for
4-point Bending
P/2 P/2

P/2 L1 L2 L1 P/2

P/2
Shear Area: Max. moment

-P/2
PL1/2
Moment

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 Shear(V) and Moment(M) Diagrams for
Cantilever Beam
P
L

P
Shear Area: Max. moment

Moment

PL
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 Normal and shear stresses

Normal stresses are the result of bending moments. They are much larger as
compared to shear stresses. So in designs, normal stresses are primarily considered.

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 Normal and shear stresses
If the shear strength were zero or very low:

In reality all materials have a certain shear strength: So outer fiber elongates while inner
fibers shorten as a result of bending. Only the length of the neutral fiber remains unchanged.

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 Stress distribution (Elastic deformation)

σmax

σmin

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 Stress distribution (After yielding)
σmax TENSION SIDE

σmin
COMPRESSION SIDE

PDZ : PLASTIC DEFORMATION ZONE

EDZ : ELASTİC DEFORMATION ZONE

There may be BUCKLING at the compression side, NECKING at the tension side.

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 Distribution of axial and shear stresses
CROSS-SECTION σmax τ=0

h Neutral fiber τ max

σ=0

τ=0
σmin
b

Axial stresses are maximum at the outer fibers and zero at the neutral fiber. Shear stress, on the
other hand, is maximum at the center (Neutral fiber) and zero at the outer surfaces.

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 GENERAL FLEXTURE FORMULAS
σ 𝑀 𝐸
= =
𝑦 𝐼 𝑅
𝑦
𝑒=
𝑅
Where:
σ is tensile stress at a fiber
y is the distance from neutral axis
M is bending moment R
I is moment of inertia of the bend section
E is elastic modulus
R is the radius of curvature of the neutral fiber
e is the strain
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 Maximum moments
Mmax

P
Mmax = PL /4
L
Mmax

P/2 P/2

L1 L2 L1
Mmax = PL1 /2
L

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 Flexural Stress, Strain and Modulus
My
In general:

I

Mc
 max
For the
outer fiber:  𝜹
I
Where 𝑐
σ: Bending stress (normal stress in axial direction) 𝑒 max = ≌ 12𝛿𝑐/𝐿2
σmax: Max. bending stress at the outer fiber 𝑅
I: Moment of inertia
M: Bending moment 𝐸 = 𝑀𝑅/𝐼
y: Distance from the neutral axis
c: Distance from neutral axis to outer fiber
δ: Max deflection at the center
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 Moment of Inertia for Different Sections

h I = bh3/12 I=? I=? I=?

I = πR4/4 I = π(D4-d4)/64
d
I = πd4/64 D

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 Max Bending Stress for Different Sections
for 3-point bending
σ max= Mc/I

M = PL/4
h c = h/2 σ max= 3PL/2bh2
I = bh3/12

I = πr4/4

R M = PL/4 σ max= PL/πR2

c=r

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 Maximum Deflection, δ
δ α 1/EI

δ = FL3 ∕ 3EI

δ = FL3 ∕ 48EI

δ = Fa2(3L – 4a) ∕ 6EI

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 Flextural Rigidity (Bending Stiffness)
Flextural Rigidity (FR) is E x I
E: Elastic Modulus : Stiffness due to material
I: Moment of Inertia : Stiffness due to geometry

For increasing the rigidity of a structure, FR should be increased. This

can be done in two ways:
1) Use high-E material and/or
2) Use higher I geometry (Stiffeners like I-beams, T-beams
etc.)

b
Low I b
I=bh3/12 h h

Higher I
I=bh3/12
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 Stress State Through the Section and The
Fracture Direction
Principle Stresses Fracture Plane

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 RAILWAY RAIL 3-POINT BEND TEST

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 Moment of Inertia of UIC60 Rail Section

C = 80.92 mm

Ix-x = 3038.3 cm4

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 RAIL 4-POINT BENDING FATIGUE TEST

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 BEND TESTS IN WELD QUALIFICATION
Bending is one of the most usefull
tests that reveals the welding defects
(Hot or cold cracks, pores, lack of
fusion, HE, slag inclusions etc).

There are 4 different types:

• Root Bending
• Face Bending
• Side Bending
• Longitudinal Bending

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 LOCATION OF BENDING SPECIMENS ON A WELD

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 BENDING ANGLE
In ductility test, specimen is bent to a predetermined
angle, φ. There should be no cracking or fracture.

BENDING ANGLE, φ

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 API 1104 BENDING DIE for GUIDED
BENDING

BENDING ANGLE, φ
is 180o

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 Inspection of the bent surface

Longitudinal Root
Bend Side Bend Bend Face Bend

Macro-examination is performed on bent surfaces. There should be no cracks or

other defects bigger than a certain value (say 3 mm)

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