Introduction to Young’s Modulus &

Alloy Microstructure and Its Interconnectedness with

Young’s (Elastic) Modulus

Authors: Ge Chen, Jiashu Cheng, Dennis Li,

Junxue Huang, Hanquan Qiao, Yiming Zhang

Revisers: Junxue Huang, Aidan Boyle

1
 Content

1. Abstract

2. Introduction

2.1 What is Young’s Modulus

2.2 What has been done about Young’s Modulus

2.3 What our research is about

2.4 Uses of Young’s Modulus

3. Experiment and Body Research

3.1 Experiment No.1—External Appearance

3.2 Experiment No.2—Combination Force

3.3 Experiment No.3—Internal Distribution

4. Conclusion

5. Reference

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Abstract
Young’s modulus is a predominant element in the current scientific world that describes elasticity

and stiffness. It can be particularly integral in numerous areas including mechanics, medical science

and engineering. It is a property determined by various factors such as temperature, chemical

composition, and molecular structure. Understanding Young’s Modulus is highly significant to

many facets of life today. For example, a recent study of bone mechanics and medical implants

indicates that adapting internal structures to alter the Young’s Modulus of bone can provide an

exceedingly effective medical treatment to those in need. Among all the possible usage and

contributions of Young’s Modulus, there is one aspect of the theorem that is confusing and easily

mistaken: the link between the microstructure (in metallic atoms and crystalline molecules), and the

pattern of their elastic modulus. Great endeavors have been done in an attempt to demonstrate their

relationship, yet almost all of them are based on perfect models which cannot exist in the reality. If

we try to replicate the outcome of these experiments, it will culminate in inaccurate results.

Thus, in order to exhibit a more applicable correlation between elasticity and microstructure, our

goal is to correlate a linear function that would actually include the defects in metallic and crys-

talline structures, which can be observed. Explanations from both experimental and theoretical as-

pects will be preserved. In addition, there will be a part demonstrating what is Young’s Modulus and

how to calculate it in a theoretical way.

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Introduction
1. What is Young’s Modulus

Being regarded as one of the most popular and predominate industries in the whole world, the

metal industrial sector has been concerned as one fundamental economical bodies among the

world. Thus, it is not a surprise when historians concluded that it is the science and industry of

metals and materials that

has had the most innovations in all of science’s many different branches and studies. Among all

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these theorems and experiment, there is one widely accepted and regarded as a cutting edge axiom

to use, and that is Young’s Modulus.

The idea has been started during 18th century and being published by physicist Thomas Young at

the beginning of 19th century. As mentioned in the abstract, Young’s Modulus is an advanced

method in the measuring the stiffness of solid materials. In specifics, Young’s Modulus declares that

there is a linear correlation between the variables that act on certain material and the de-

formation caused by the consequential force acted on them, which could be expressed as the func-
σ
tion E = (E is the symbolic expression of Young’s Modulus; σ is the symbolic expression of the
ϵ
force and stress acted on the unit surface of materials; and ϵ which is the symbolic expression of

proportional deformation).

2. What has been done about Young’s Modulus

As one of the most prominent theorems, few researches has been done trying to explain the

connection between Young’s modulus and alloy microstructure in many prospective. In our course

of research, we find articles relating Young’s Modulus to temperature, moisture, and concerning

materials from iron and bronze to silicon crystals.

During the past few centuries, many new equations had been developed as products of the

original Young’s Modulus which enabled the calculation of many diversified areas in testing the

mechanic properties. For instance, with the help of Young’s Modulus and the results of its calcula-

tion, we enabled further research about Hooke’s law of elastic potential energy, which is
1
ue(ϵ) = Eϵ2. Further researches are still in the need in order to gain full understanding of the the-
2
orem first mentioned by Thomas Young, and that is our aim right now.

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 However, again, even though the majority of the conclusions are based on experiments and

analysis, they focus on discovering the ideal interaction between the perfect models of the modulus,

neglecting the fact that there is no way for them to find one piece of pure gold in this world of

reality. This is the major problem of the now-existed-investigations.

3. What our research is about

Imagine yourself standing inside a physics lab, trying to fix an experiment about energy

conservation, what is something that you must not neglect? Friction and air resistance. We all

know how to measure friction with Ff = μ · Fn. Although there are plenty of methods which can

calculate friction precisely, many researches still ignore it in order to create the “perfect”

condition. Our research is just to focus on this kind of major distractions that exist in experiments

of Young’s Modulus.

In order to diminish the defects of the methods of investigation currently, we focus our re-

search program on discovering the interaction the deficiency of the materials could have on the re-

sults of the modulus in compare with their molecular structure.

In the article below, we will discuss the most predominant one of all the interferences: the

molecular-mixed-structure of alloy, and their correlation with their elastic modulus.

4. Uses of Young’s Modulus

Young’s modulus is applicable in many different ways. “Young’s modulus is equal to the

longitudinal stress divided by the strain. Stress and strain may be described as follows in the case

of a metal bar under tension” (Young’s modulus, Britannica). One will use Young’s modulus in

order to determine how much force you need to stretch an object. One can use young’s modulus

when making a tightrope for someone to walk on. One may need to tie the rope tight enough to a

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surface but not so tight that it snaps. One will have to apply just the right amount of stress the

object. Another application of Young’s modulus considers how far you can stretch the muscles in

one’s body. One is able to use Young’s modulus to determine how much stress can be applied.

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Experiment and Body Research(1)

Experiment No.1: The theoretical way of calculating Young’s Modulus

Purpose and the importance:

Our First experiment mainly focused on the theoretical way of calculating Young’s Modulus by

using formulas. This calculation is the base of the further study as it can provide us a general number

of Young’s Modulus working on a specific material. Our experiment will also include how to get this

formula by logical derivation.

Brief Discrimination:

We tested trials for a 20 gauge copper wire, 22 gauge copper wire, 30 pound fishing line, and a 20

gauge brass wire. We used a rather crude, straightforward method of obtaining the results rather than

using specialized equipment in a professional laboratory, and as such they might not necessarily

represent the perfect theoretical Young’s modulus of these substances. We also included the

acceptable theoretical value of the Modulus of Elasticity if it was obtainable for these substances.

Figure 1: Experimental results and comparisons with accepted values

Material tested Measured Young’s Accepted Percent Error

Modulus (average) value (GPa)
(GPa)

20 Gauge Copper 103.063 110.0 6.3%

Wire
22 Gauge Copper 107.904 110.0 1.9%
Wire
30lb Monofilament 2.266 2.13 6.4%
Fishing Line
20 Gauge Brass Wire 90.567 97.0 5.8%

(The larger the gauge is, the thinner the diameter will be.)

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Experiment Procedure:

Every substance would change its condition if it was suffering the effect of force from outside.

9
The simplest string was when the substance was stretched by force from outside. We estimated that

the length of the metal was L, the cross-section area was A. We immobilized one side, the other

side had the outside force on the stretched direction which was F, the variable in length was δL..

According to Hooke’s Theorem, in the limitation of the spring range of the substance, the string and

the force was directly proportional, so:

F δL
=E·
A L

And then, we can have:

FL
E=
AδL

The E in this equation was called Young’s Modulus.

If we inserted the data to this formula, we could get Young’s Modulus for metal(1).

(1): We actually could get any theoretical Young’s Modulus by using this formula. However, for metal, their stretches may be too little to

see, so we used δL instead of delta.

How to get this Calculation Formula:

Robert Hooke (1635-1703) first noticed that if a force was exerted on an object and the length of

the object changed, and then this changed length, δL was proportional to the weight or force

exerted on the object. Here is the equation:

𝐹 = 𝑘𝛿𝐿

Here F represented the force pulling on the object; δL was the increase of length, and k was a

proportional constant. This equation was found to be valid to almost every solid material from

iron to bone. However, it was valid only up to a point. If the force was so great, object stretched

so extensively and finally broke. This maximum ability of the material to afford the strength was

called the elastic limit. Up to the elastic limit, the object would return to its original length after

the force was removed. Nevertheless, if the force was over the elastic limit, the object would

10
never return to its original length even the force was removed completely. The equation above

was a great approximation of the relationship between F and δL almost upon to the elastic limit,

and the graph would be a straight line. If the force was over the elastic limit, the graph would

deviate from a straight and there was no simple relationship between F and δL.

Moreover, the amount of elongation not only depended on the force applied to this object, but also

related to the what the material was made and its dimensions. As a result, the constant 𝑘 in the

previous formula could be written in terms of these factors. If we used two bars made of the same

material but different in length and the cross-sectional area, and we applied the same force on it, we

discovered that the longer the object was, the more it would elongate, and the fatter the object was,

the less it would elongate. In another word, the amount of stretch was proportional to the length of

the length of the bar, and it inversely proportional to the cross-section area We could conclude those

phenomena in a simple formula:

& )
𝛿𝐿 = ' ∗ * ∗ 𝐿0

Where 𝐿0 is the initial length, A was the cross-section area, and δL was the changed length. 𝐸 was

the constant called Elastic Modulus(2). From now on, the things are getting simple. We had Elastic
&
Modulus, which had another name: Young’s Modulus, the only thing we had to do is to put E (or )
'

on one side, and then put all other elements on the other side. Thus, we got the equation:
)
𝐸 = *-. ∗ 𝐿0

From this equation, we could find that Young’s Modulus was just stress/strain.
&
(1): The reason that the E was in the denominator so that the was the actual proportionality constant was simply because it was the convention.
'

Conclusion:

Young’s Modulus is just stress/strain, and is inversely proportional to the cross-sectional

area, but proportional to the length of the object.

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Experiment No.2: The influence of combination force between solvent and solution

By definition, Young’s modulus was the ratio of stress and string of matters and was thus a re-

flection of the interaction between atoms or molecules.

From

this sim- ple idea,

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we found modulus of alloys with different component in the modulus table. To compare the influence

of the combination force between two components, we figured out two solvent with similar radius

(to avoid the influence of different shapes of the solution distribution which would be demonstrated

latter).

Since Carbon was element of

2nd period IVA group, which

contained no electron orbit p

available for more bonds, and

because chromium was transitional

element which had vacant orbit

and relatively larger ratio of charge

and radius, it was sensible to

compare their influence on

modulus of iron alloy.

It was noticeable that at 21C, as carbon content increased, carbon steel alloy modulus decreased;
13
whereas it increased when chromium content was increased in Cr-Mo steel.

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 It accorded with our prediction that when the combination force between solvent and solution was

larger than that between the solvent molecules, the Young’s modulus would be increased; contrarily,

it would be decreased.

Experiment No.3: The influence of solutions’ distribution

Our third assumption focused on the distribution

of solution in the alloys. So, in the third ex-

periment, we compared the modulus of carbon steel

with different carbon distribution. In order to

achieve this, we chose non-inoculant iron C type

iron and normal carbon steel.

From the table on the left, which

showed the modulus of gray iron (carbon

steel alloy made by extrusion when

melted, which had layered-shape carbon

distribution), we could discover that the

average modulus was above the modulus

of raw carbon-steel alloy.

Accordingly, we could infer that the more orderly the solution is distributed, the more is the

modulus increased.

(1) We used all past tense in the experiment part simply because we wanted to make the article be easy to read. Moreover, our research was done a few
months ago.

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Conclusion
In this final section, we are going to briefly reiterate some of the major points we have stated

earlier in the passage, and give our final conclusion concerning this topic, in the pursuit of helping

the readers to get a clearer view of the point we are trying to make here.

Starting with the description of Young’s Modulus, the main idea is stated that we are in the pursuit

for a possible linear function that will explain the imperfection aspects of the materials and their

influences. However, after numerous sections of researches and experiments, we find it hard to

actually conclude a formula with limited time and resources we have. By contrast, we do, through

the course of three different experiments, discover an exceptional relationship between three

aspects of imperfectness in the materials—external shape and thickness, combination force, and

internal distribution. As the statements states at the end of each experimental section, we found that

though Young’s Modulus is not dependent on their externals appearance, there is a direct proportion

between the modulus and the alloy combination force as well as their internal structure, from which

we are not able to sum up as a simple formula for now, due to our lack of time and resources, while

we can possibly discover it in the near future. This is our final achievement here.

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