Tensile properties of Materials

• A tensile test is a fundamental mechanical test

where a carefully prepared specimen is loaded in a
very controlled manner while measuring the applied
load and the elongation of the specimen over some
distance.
• Tensile testing is just one way to certify the product
quality i.e. Mechanical properties.

• The output of such a tensile test is recorded (usually

on a computer) as load or force versus elongation.
Schematic representation of the apparatus used
to conduct tensile stress–strain tests. The
specimen is elongated by the moving crosshead;
load cell and extensometer measure,
respectively, the magnitude of the applied load
and the elongation.

standard tensile specimen with circular cross section

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Stress and Strain
• Engineering stress is defined as the • True stress is defined as the
instantaneous load divided by the instantaneous applied load divided by
original specimen cross-sectional area. the instantaneous cross-sectional area.

• Engineering strain is expressed as the • True strain is equal to the natural

change in length (in the direction of load logarithm of the ratio of instantaneous
application) divided by the original and original specimen lengths.
length.

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Shape of Ductile Specimen at Various Stages of Testing

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Stress - Strain Diagram
Elastic Deformation
• When the stress is removed, the material returns to the dimension it had before the load was
applied. Valid for small strains (except the case of rubbers).
• Elastic Deformation is otherwise termed as recoverable, reversible or Temporary Deformation
Plastic Deformation
• When the stress is removed, the material does not return to its previous dimension but there is
a permanent, irreversible deformation (otherwise termed as Set Deformation).

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Tensile Properties
The properties which may be determined by a tensile test (with reference to stress vs strain
diagrams for a ductile and a brittle material shown above) are as under.
Proportional Limit and Modulus of Elasticity
• It is found that the initial portion of the stress vs strain diagram is a straight line for most
materials used in engineering structures/components. In this range, the stress and strain
are proportional to each other. Therefore we can write,
σ = E. (Hooke’s Law)
• E, the slope of the straight line portion of the stress vs strain diagram is called the
Modulus of Elasticity or Young’s Modulus.
• Proportional limit is the maximum stress under which a material will maintain a perfectly
uniform rate of strain to stress. Thus the stress at the limit of proportionality point P is
known as the proportional limit.
• If within this stress, the load on the test specimen is removed at any time, the
extensometer needle will return to zero (initial position). This indicates that the strain,
caused by the load, is elastic.
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Tensile Properties
Elastic Limit

• The elastic limit may be defined as the minimum stress at which permanent deformation
first occurs. Most materials can be stressed slightly above the proportional limit without
taking a permanent set. It may be noted that now the curve is not straight line.

• For most materials the elastic limit has nearly the same numerical value as the
proportional limit.

Yield Point

• As the load in the specimen is increased beyond the elastic limit, a stress is reached at
which the material continues to deform without an increase of load. The stress at point Y
in stress vs strain diagram for a ductile material is known as Yield Point. This
phenomenon occurs only in certain ductile materials.

• Plastic deformation takes place in the specimen after elastic limit is reached. This
deformation is of a permanent type, that is, the deformation remains even after load is
removed.

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Tensile Properties
Yield Strength

• In the stress vs strain diagram for brittle materials, most non-ferrous materials and the
high strength steels do not show a well defined yield point (there is a smooth transition
from elastic to plastic region – no distinct yield point). For these materials, the maximum
useful strength is the yield strength.

• Yield strength is the stress at which a material exhibits a specified limiting

deviation from the proportionality of stress to strain.

• This value is usually determined by the offset method. The value of offset is generally
0.20 percent of the gauge length.

• Offset Yield Strength or Proof Stress - The stress corresponding to the intersection of
the stress strain curve and a line parallel to the elastic part of the curve offset by a
specified strain. Usually 0.1 to 0.2 percent. ε = 0.001 to 0.002

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Tensile Properties
Ultimate Tensile Strength

• The ultimate strength or the tensile strength is the maximum stress developed by the
material based on the original cross sectional area without fracture.

• On loading further, a ductile material will continue to stretch and will fracture. In case of a
brittle material, it breaks when stressed to the ultimate tensile strength.

• It is calculated by dividing the maximum load applied during the tensile test by the original
cross sectional area of the sample

Breaking Strength

• For a ductile material, at the maximum stress (ultimate strength), localized deformation or
necking occurs in the specimen, and the load falls off as the area decreases. This necking
elongation is a non-uniform deformation and occurs rapidly to the point of failure. The
breaking strength for a ductile material, is determined by dividing the breaking load by the
original cross sectional area, is always less than the ultimate strength.

• For brittle material, the ultimate strength and breaking strength coincide.
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Tensile Properties
Ductility

• The ductility of a material is indicated by the amount of plastic deformation that is possible
until fracture. This is determined in a tension test by two measurements

1) Percent Elongation or 2) Percentage Reduction in Area

• The amount of ductility is an important factor when

considering forming operations such as rolling and
extrusion.

• It also provides an indication of how visible overload

damage to a component might become before the
component fractures.
Schematic representations of tensile
• Ductility is also used a quality control measure to assess stress–strain behavior for brittle and

the level of impurities and proper processing of a material ductile metals loaded to fracture

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Tensile Properties
Resilience

• Resilience is the capacity of a material to absorb

energy when it is deformed elastically and then, upon
unloading, to have this energy recovered
• The associated property is the modulus of resilience,
Ur, which is the strain energy per unit volume required to
stress a material from an unloaded state(zero stress) up
to the point of yielding (yield stress)

Schematic representation showing how modulus

of resilience (corresponding to the shaded area)
is determined from the tensile stress–strain
behavior of a material

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Tensile Properties
Toughness

• The energy absorbed by a material prior to fracture is known as tensile toughness and is
sometimes measured as the area under the true stress–strain curve (also known as the
work of fracture)
• the brittle metal has higher yield and tensile strengths, it
has a lower toughness than the ductile one, as can be
seen by comparing the areas ABC and AB`C`

Schematic representations of tensile

stress–strain behavior for brittle and
ductile metals loaded to fracture

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Properties from the Stress – Strain Curve

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 Strength The ability of the
material to withstand a load
without breaking
Toughness The ability of a
material to absorb energy and
plastically deform without
fracturing

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Failure
• Failure is undesirable: Putting human lives in jeopardy, economic losses, affecting
availability of products and services.

• Physical degradation/deterioration of metal due to the application of load.

• Load may be gradual, constant or increasing

• The failure may occur before/during /closer to the end of its full service life

Causes:

• Improper materials selection and processing.

• Inadequate design of the component.

• Misuse

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Fundamentals of Fracture
Simple fracture

• Separation of body into two or more pieces in response to an imposed stress that is static
(i.e., constant or slowly changing with time) and at temperatures that are low relative to
the melting temperature.

• Fracture can also occur from fatigue (when cyclic stresses are imposed) and creep (time
dependent deformation, normally at elevated temperatures).

Classification is based on the ability of a material to experience plastic deformation.

• Ductile metals typically exhibit substantial plastic deformation with high energy absorption
before fracture.

• Brittle - there is normally little or no plastic deformation with low energy absorption
accompanying a brittle fracture.

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Fundamentals of Fracture
• Any fracture process involves two steps in response to an imposed stress

– crack formation and propagation.

The mode of fracture is highly dependent on the mechanism of crack propagation.

 Ductile fracture is characterized by extensive plastic deformation in the vicinity of an

advancing crack. The process proceeds relatively slowly as the crack length is
extended. Such a crack is often said to be stable. That is, it resists any further extension
unless there is an increase in the applied stress. In addition, there will ordinarily be
evidence of appreciable gross deformation at the fracture surfaces (e.g., twisting and
tearing).

 For brittle fracture, cracks may spread extremely rapidly, with very little accompanying
plastic deformation. Such cracks may be said to be unstable, and crack propagation,
once started, will continue spontaneously without an increase in magnitude of the
applied stress.

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Fundamentals of Fracture
• The yielding region for ductile materials often takes up the majority of
the stress-strain curve, whereas for brittle materials it is nearly
nonexistent.
• Brittle materials often have relatively large Young's moduli and ultimate
stresses in comparison to ductile materials. These differences are a
major consideration for design.
• Ductile materials exhibit large strains and yielding before they fail. On
the contrary, brittle materials fail suddenly and without much warning.
Ductile fracture is almost always preferred to brittle for two reasons.
• First, brittle fracture occurs suddenly and catastrophically without any warning; this is a
consequence of the spontaneous and rapid crack propagation. On the other hand, for ductile
fracture, the presence of plastic deformation gives warning that failure is imminent, allowing
preventive measures to be taken.
• Second, more strain energy is required to induce ductile fracture inasmuch as these materials
are generally tougher. Under the action of an applied tensile stress, many metal alloys are
ductile, whereas ceramics are typically brittle, and polymers may exhibit a range of behaviors.
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Ductile Fracture
• The material exhibits substantial plastic deformation in
the vicinity of an advancing crack with high-energy
absorption before fracture.
• There is evidence of appreciable gross deformation at
fracture surfaces (e.g., twining and tearing)
• It proceeds relatively slowly as the crack length is
extended
• Crack is stable, i.e., resists any further extension
unless there is an increase in applied stress
(a) Highly ductile fracture in which the
• Cup-and-cone fracture type
specimen necks down to a point.
(b) Moderately ductile fracture after
some necking.
(c) Brittle fracture without any plastic
deformation.

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Ductile Fracture
Ductile fracture preferred due to: Evolution of Failure in

• Ductile fracture gives warning (due to associated Ductile Materials

plastic deformation). This allows preventive

measures to be taken.

• More strain energy is required to induce ductile

facture (Ductile materials are tougher)

The failure of many ductile materials can be attributed

to cup and cone fracture.

This form of ductile fracture occurs in stages that

initiate after necking begins (Initial necking).

First, small micro voids form in the interior of the

material. (Small cavity formation)

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Ductile Fracture
• Next, deformation continues and the micro voids Evolution of Failure in
enlarge to form a crack.(Coalescence of cavities Ductile Materials
to form a crack)
• The crack continues to grow and it spreads laterally
towards the edges of the specimen (Crack
propagation).
• Finally, crack propagation is rapid along a surface
that makes about a 45 angle with the tensile stress
axis (Final shear fracture at a 45 angle relative to
the tensile direction)
• .The new fracture surface has a very irregular
appearance.
• The final shearing of the specimen produces a cup
type shape on one fracture surface and a cone
shape on the adjacent connecting fracture surface.
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Ductile Fracture - Micro-void Coalescence
Underlying mechanism of failure is Micro-void Coalescence

• A classic feature of ductile fracture characterized by a dimpled fracture surface.

• It occurs by the formation of micro-voids upon discontinuities in the metal such as

particles or precipitates.

• These voids grow during deformation and eventually join up together and with the crack
tip, which leads to final failure of the metal.

• On the microscopic level, ductile fracture surfaces also appear rough and irregular. The
surface consists of many micro voids and dimples.

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Brittle Fracture
• The material experiences little or no plastic deformation with low energy absorption.

• Cracks may spread extremely rapid; crack is unstable, i.e., crack propagation, once
started, will continue spontaneously

• Brittle fracture is characterized by rapid crack propagation with low energy release and
without significant plastic deformation.

• The fracture may have a bright granular appearance.

• The fractures are generally of the flat type and chevron patterns may be present.

• Basically, brittle fracture is a rapid run of cracks through a stressed material.

• The cracks usually travel so fast that you can't tell when the material is about to break.

• In other words, there is very little plastic deformation before failure occurs

• The cracks run close to perpendicular to the applied stress.

• Some brittle materials have lines and ridges beginning at the origin of the crack and
spreading out across the crack surface

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Stages of Brittle fracture
Brittle fracture in metals is believed to take place in three stages –

1) Plastic deformation that causes dislocation pile-ups at obstacles,

2) Micro-crack nucleation as a result of build-up of shear stresses,

3) Eventual crack propagation under applied stress aided by stored elastic energy.

Collective Information

• No appreciable plastic deformation

• Crack propagation is very fast

• Crack propagates nearly perpendicular to the direction of the applied stress

• Crack often propagates by cleavage – breaking of atomic bonds along specific

crystallographic planes (cleavage planes).

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Brittle Fracture
• Cleavage: In brittle fracture, crack propagation corresponds to successive and repeated
breaking of atomic bonds along specific crystallographic planes.

• Crack surface may have grainy or faceted texture due to changes in orientation of
cleavage planes from one grain to another.

A crack that passes through the grains within the material is

undergoing transgranular fracture. Fracture cracks pass through
grains. Fracture surface have faceted texture because of different
orientation of cleavage planes in grains

However, a crack that propagates along the grain boundaries is

termed an intergranular fracture. Cleavage is transgranular since
cracks pass through the grains.

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Why Ductile fracture is preferred more ?
Ductile fracture is almost always preferred for two reasons.

1) Brittle fracture occurs suddenly and catastrophically without any warning; this is a
consequence of the spontaneous and rapid crack propagation.
Ductile fracture, the presence of plastic deformation gives warning that fracture is
imminent, allowing preventive measures to be taken.

2) More strain energy is required to induce ductile fracture in as much as ductile materials
are generally tougher.
Ductile Brittle

Deformation extensive little

Crack propagation slow, needs stress fast

Type of materials most metals (not too cold) ceramics, ice, cold metals
Comparison
Warning permanent elongation none

Strain energy higher lower

Fractured surface rough smoother

Necking yes no

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Ductile to Brittle Transition
• The first and foremost factor is temperature. Basically, at higher temperatures the yield
strength is lowered and the fracture is more ductile in nature.

• On the opposite end, at lower temperatures the yield strength is greater and the
fracture is more brittle in nature

• As temperature increases, the atoms in the material vibrate with greater frequency and
amplitude.

• This increased vibration allows the atoms under stress to slip to new places in the
material ( i.e. break bonds and form new ones with other atoms in the material).

• This slippage of atoms is seen on the outside of the material as plastic deformation, a
common feature of ductile fracture.

• Another factor that determines the amount of brittle or ductile fracture that occurs in a
material is dislocation density. The higher the dislocation density, the more brittle the
fracture will be in the material.

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Ductile to Brittle Transition
• The idea behind this theory is that plastic deformation comes from the movement of
dislocations.

• As dislocations increase in a material due to stresses above the materials yield point, it
becomes increasingly difficult for the dislocations to move because they pile into each
other.

• So a material that already has a high dislocation density can only deform but so much
before it fractures in a brittle manner

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Ductile to Brittle Transition
• At low temperatures some metals that would be ductile at
room temperature become brittle. This is known as a ductile
to brittle transition

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DBT
• The ductile to brittle transition temperature is strongly dependant on the
composition of the metal. Steel is the most commonly used metal that shows this
behaviour.

• For some steels the transition temperature can be around 0°C, and in winter the
temperature in some parts of the world can be below this. As a result, some steel
structures are very likely to fail in winter.

Ductile fracture is always a preferred

mechanism of failure. Many cases have
occurred through history where catastrophic
failures have occurred as a result of brittle
fracture. The most infamous of these is the
sinking of the Titanic

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