6.

Mechanical Properties
6.1 Tension Test

 Tensile - the most common test

 Tensile load (F) is applied uniaxially along the long axis of the specimen
Standard Specimen

.750
F

2.00
.375

500
R.

1.08
.500
gage length, l0
l l0

2.25
7.00
.25
R .250

1.125

3.68
Ao

1.08
2.00

5 samples

F
Applied load - displacement Standard specimen
relationship

ASTM - American standards for testing materials

6.2 Engineering stress-strain curves

Measure load – deformation: F - l

Compute: eng - eng

y

Extensometer Specimen

• Specimen mounted into the holding grips

• Load is applied uniaxially along the long
axis of a specimen
• A load is static
• The sample is pulled at fixed rate
Engineering Stress = LOAD / Original Cross-sectional AREA
(Ratio of applied load F, to the original area A0. Designation:eng or “S”)

eng = F/A0

Engineering Strain = Change in LENGTH / Original LENGTH

(Ratio of elongation (or change in gage length) to the original length. Designation eng or “e”)

eng = (li – l0) / l0 = l/l0

STRESS (UNITS)

 Pa = N/m2
 MPa Factor Prefix Symbol
 GPa 109 giga G
6
10 mega M
3
British
10 kilo k
-9
psi = lb/in2 10 nano n

-6
ksi = 103 psi 10 micro
-3
10 mili m

Conversion
1 psi = 6.895 x 103 Pa
1 ksi (103 psi) = 6.895 MPa
1 kg/mm2 = 9.8066 MN/m2 (MPa)

F
STRAIN

• Strain is deflection per unit length

• It depends on the mode of loading

Tension: eng = l / lo
l l0
• We’re describing engineering strain here

• Strain has no units - dimensionless

Ao

F
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 Stress- Strain Curve

 Proportional limit (P) - stress is proportional to strain up to P

 Elastic limit - reversible elastic deformation
(in most engineering materials P and E are equal)

 Yield strength (y) – irreversible plastic deformation begins

 Ultimate tensile strength (UTS) - The material’s maximum load = Fmax/ Ao
 Fracture strength (f)

Elastic region
 All materials are initially elastic!
 Elastic behavior is:
- Recoverable
- Linear
- Instantaneous
Stress is proportional to the strain!

Hook's law: = E   

    E= (GPa)

E - Modulus of elasticity (Young's modulus)
• E relates stress and strain
• It has the same units as stress

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 E  SLOPE in the linear part
of the stress - strain curve

 E is a measure of the STIFFNES of the material.

 E is determined by binding forces between atoms (depends on the strength of the interatomic
forces that vary with the type of bonding found in a given material)

 E is one of the most structure insensitive properties (only affected by the nature of
material)

 Increasing the operating temperature tends to decrease E.

 Important design value!

Elastic stresses in design:

 Design principle: the working stress must lie within the elastic range!
 The actual working stress may differ from the nominal stress.

Reasons:
STRESS RAISERS
The shape of the part may cause the stress to be higher in certain portions of the cross-section.

Stress Concentration Factor (K): maximum actual stress

nominal stress
RESIDUAL STRESS
Stresses produced by differences in plastic deformation of the metal (during casting, welding,
heat treating or cold working)

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Yield Strength

y - Stress level at which materials yields or begins to deform plastically

The irreversible plastic deformation!

 - Sharp yielding often see “yield drop” Gradual yielding  0.2% strain offset
y

0.2% Offset Yield Strength - 0.2%

method
0.2% strain = 0.002 strain
• Draw a tangent to the linear part of the stress-strain curve (if needed)
• From 0.002 on strain axis, draw a line parallel to this tangent
Plastic Deformation
• The point where this parallel line cuts the curve gives Offset yield strength.

Elastic Plastic Elastic Plastic

Elastic Plastic
Sy
Sy
Sy
y
Stress

0.002 0.002 Strain 0.002

Most metals (Al, Cu) Low carbon steel

Most Metals - Al, Mech422
Cu - StressClad Al-Alloys
and Strain Analysis - F2002
Low carbon Steel

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Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS)

UTS = max = Fmax/A0

The highest point on the stress-strain curve (also called point of NECKING).

Fracture Strength
f = Ffracture / A0
Represented by strain - f

 Work hardening - after they yield, metals get harder to deform

 Ultimate Tensile Strength - maximum load

 NECKING - beyond Fmax we see tensile instability

6.3 Ductility

• Ability of a material to deform plastically without fracture.

• Measure of amount of plastic strain that a material undergoes during tensile test
• Measured in terms of % Elongation (%EL) and % Reduction in Area (%RA):

%EL = ((lf – l0) / l0) x 100

%RA = ((A0 - Af) / A0) x 100

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 Typical Mechanical Properties
Metals in annealed (soft) condition
Typical mechanical properties
Material Yield Stress Ultimate Stress Ductility Elastic Modulus Poisson’s
6.4(MPa) – strain curve
True stress(MPa) EL% (MPa) Ratio
1040 Steel 350 520 30 207000 0.30
1080 Steel 380 615 25 207000 0.30
2024 Al Alloy 100 200 18 72000 0.33
316 Stainless Steel 210 550 60 195000 0.30
70/30 Brass 75 300 70 110000 0.35
6-4 Ti Alloy 942 1000 14 107000 0.36
AZ80 Mg Alloy 285 340 11 45000 0.29

6.4 True Stress – True Strain Curve

True Stress = Load/ Instantaneous Cross-sectional Area

The true stress Mech422
is a load -divided
Stress and
by Strain Analysis cross-sectional
instantaneous - F2002 area of specimen

true = = F/ Ai

True Strain = ln (Instantaneous Length/ Original Length)


true = ln (li / l0)

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 Engineering vs true stress-strain curves

Derivation: If no volume change occurs during deformation, that is if: Aili = Aolo

The true stress s is expressed in terms of engineering stress by: eng(1 + eng)

The true strain: true = ln (Ao/ Ai ),   T = ln (1 + )

6.5 Strain Hardening Coefficient

The curve continues to rise to a maximum stress level, which reflects strain hardening. The portion
of the true stress-strain curve (from the onset of yielding to the maximum load) may be
described empirically by the Hollomon relationship:

true = K truen
n – strain hardening coefficient
K – material constant, defined as the true stress when T = 1.

 The magnitude of “n” reflects the

ability of the material to resist further
deformation.
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 Strain hardening exponents and strength coefficients of typical metals and alloys*
Metal Crystal n K (psi)
Structure
Titanium HCP 0.05 175,000
Annealed alloy steel BCC 0.15 93,000
Quenched and tempered medium carbon steel BCC 0.10 228,000
Molybdenum BCC 0.13 105,000
Copper FCC 0.54 46,000
Cu-30%Zn FCC 0.50 130,000

The “n” is relatively low for HCP metals, but higher for BCC, particularly for FCC (table). Metals
with a low “n” respond poorly to cold working. The value of strain hardening exponent lies
between 0 and 1 (most metals between 0.1-0.5). A value of 0 means that a material is perfectly
plastic solid, while a value of 1 represents a 100% elastic solid.

7.6 Effect of Strain Rate on tensile behaviour

Strain rate (έ ) - the rate at which strain is applied to a specimen (the change in strain
over the change in time)

έ = δε/δt (sec-1)

 =Kέm m - strain rate sensitivity factor

έ - strain rate
K - material constant
   
   - true stress
Strain rate(s-1) Test
10-8 to 10-5 Creep test
10-5 to 10-1 Static tension test (hydraulic)
10-1 to 102 Dynamic tension or compression
102 to 104 High speed testing
104 to 108 Hypervelocity impact using explosively driven projectiles

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 6.7 Effect of temperature on tensile behaviour

 Strength decreases and ductility increases as the test temperature is increased

 Structural changes (recrystallization, precipitation, strain ageing)

 = A eQ/RT
Q - activation energy for plastic flow
R - universal gas constant
T -testing temperature, 0K

G. AVRAMOVIC-CINGARA, D.D.
PEROVIC, H.J. McQUEEN, METALL. &
MATERIALS TRANS. A, 27A (1996) 3478

Representative high temperature torsional stress vs. equivalent strain curves

6.8 Compression Test

eng = F/A0, eng = (li-lo)/l0

 By convention, a compressive force is negative, which yields a negative stress.

 lo > li - compressive strains are also negative

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 6.9 Shear deformation

Shear stress:  = F/A0 , Shear strain:  = tan 

F - Force imposed parallel to the upper and lower faces (area A0)

(Units same as for the tensile.)

6.10 Torsion

6.11 Hardness (H)

Hardness is defined as the resistance of material to penetration (permanent plastic deformation).
The measure of a material resistance to penetration (permanent plastic deformation)
Advantages
• Performed more frequently than any other mechanical test
• Simple, cheap
• Nondestructive
• Other mechanical properties may be estimated from hardness data
Disadvantages
• Less precise data, not useful for design calculations

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 Rockwell Hardness (HR) Tests

Indenters:
1. Diamond cone (1200)
2. Steel balls (1/16 in, 1/8 in) 54

 A minor load of 10 kg is first applied to seat the specimen (minimizes the amount of surface
preparation)
 The major load is then applied, and the depth of penetration is automatically recorded (small
penetration results in a high hardness number)

Different scales to specify load and penetrator: HRC 150, HRB 100, HRA 60, HRD 100

Brinell Hardness Tests (HB)

 HB or BHN
 Indenter: Steel ball (10 mm)
 Load: 500 kg for soft metals, 3000 kg for steel
 Standard time: 30 s
P
P- applied load (kg)
BHN = Load/Area = (kg/mm2) D - diameter of ball (mm)
(D/2)(D-D2-d2)
d - diameter of indentation
(mm)

 Diameter of indentation (average d) is measured by a small microscope

 BHN - from the table

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y

Vickers Hardness (HV) Test

 HV, or VHN
 Indenter: A square base diamond pyramid (1360 angle)
 Load: 1-120 kg
 Surface preparation

VHN = Load/Area =
2P sin (/2)/L2 = 1.854P/L2
P - applied load (kg)
L - Average length of diagonals (mm)
 = 1360 - angle between opposite faces of
diamond pyramid

 It provides a continuous scale of hardness - from very soft to extremely hard

materials

Test principles
1. Clean indenter
2. Surface - clean, dry, smooth, free from oxide
3. The thickness of the specimen - at least 10 times of the depth of indentation
4. The spacing between indentations - at least 3 to 5 times the diameter of
the indentation

MICROHARDNESS TEST
 Hardness testing under the microscope
 Vickers test (with the low load)

Correlation between HARDNESS and TENSILE STRENGTH

 Both tensile strength and hardness are indicators of a metal resistance to plastic deformation
 They are roughly proportional:

UTS (MPa) = 3.45 x HB (Brinell Hardness)

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