ENGD2105

Materials Engineering and Processing

The science, engineering, failure and processing
of engineering materials

Lecture Notes
and

Tutorial Questions

Yong Sun (BSc, PhD)

Professor of Surface Engineering

School of ESD, Faculty of CEM, DMU

©2020

0
ENGD2105 Materials Engineering and Processing

Lab & assignment schedule

Week Lab %CW Format Deadline

1 No lab
2 No lab
3 CES-1 10% Logsheet Week 5
Refer to Bb
4 CES-2 15% Logsheet Week 6
Refer to Bb
5 Tensile testing 15% Logsheet Week 7
Refer to Bb
6 No lab
7 Hardness testing 50% Lab report Week 10
Refer to Bb
8 No lab
9 NDT 10% Logsheet Week 11
Refer to Bb
10 No lab
11 No lab

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CONTENTS Page

Module Delivery Team Information ..................................................................................... 4

1. Introduction to the module ENGD2105 ........................................................................... 5
2. Introduction to Materials Science .................................................................................... 9
2.1 Introduction ..............................................................................................................................
9
2.2 Cambridge Engineering Selector (CES) ..................................................................................
9
2.3 Classification of materials .......................................................................................................
10
2.4 Metals .......................................................................................................................................
10
2.5 Ceramics ..................................................................................................................................
12
2.6 Polymers ..................................................................................................................................
13
2.7 Composites ...............................................................................................................................
14
2.8 Summary ..................................................................................................................................
15
Tutorial 1(1):Materials Categories ..................................................................................... 15
3. Structure of Materials …................................................................................................... 16
3.1 Building blocks of materials …................................................................................................. 16
3.2 Atomic structure …................................................................................................................... 16
Tutorial 1(2): Electron Configuration ……………………………………………………. 18
3.3 Atomic bonding ........................................................................................................................ 19
Tutorial 1(3): Atomic Bonding .................................................................................................. 23
3.4 Crystal structure ...................................................................................................................... 24
Tutorial 1(4): Crystal Structure ........................................................................................ 29
4. Properties of Materials ....................................................................................................... 30
4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 30
4.2 Tensile Testing and Tensile Properties ..................................................................................... 31
Tutorial 2(I): Poisson’s ratio () ........................................................................................ 33
Tutorial 2(II): Elastic Deformation .................................................................................. 37
Tutorial 3(I) : Tensile Properties .................................................................................... 40
Tutorial 3(II): Tensile Properties ....................................................................................... 45
Tutorial 3(III): QCQ questions………………………………………………………………… 46
Tensile Testing Lab
4.3 Hardness of Materials .............................................................................................................. 50
Hardness Testing Lab
5. Strengthening Mechanisms ............................................................................................... 52
5.1 Defects in Crystals .................................................................................................................... 52
5.2 Dislocations & Plastic Deformation ......................................................................................... 53
5.3 Strengthening Techniques ........................................................................................................ 55
5.4 Strengthening by Grain Refinement ......................................................................................... 56
Tutorial 4(I): Grain refinement and Hall-Petch equation ................................................. 59
5.5 Strengthening by Solid Solution (Alloying) ............................................................................. 60
5.6 Strain (Work) Hardening .......................................................................................................... 61
Tutorial 4(II): Solid Solution and Strain Hardening ......................................................... 63
6. Phase Diagrams ................................................................................................................. 64
6.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 64
6.2 What are phases ........................................................................................................................ 64
6.3 Equilibrium binary phase diagrams .......................................................................................... 66
Tutorial 5(I): Binary Phase Diagrams............................................................................... 71
6.4 The iron-carbon (Fe-C) system ................................................................................................ 72
Tutorial 5(II): Fe-C system .............................................................................................. 75

7. Heat Treatment of Steels ……………………………………………………………………. 76

7.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 76
7.2 Carbon in Steels ...................................................................................................................... 76
7.3 Structure of Steel .................................................................................................................... 77

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 7.4 Quench Hardening of Steel ..................................................................................................... 78
7.5 Hardenability of Steels ............................................................................................................ 78
7.6 The Hardening and Softening Operations .............................................................................. 80
7.7 Heat Treatment Processes ....................................................................................................... 80
Tutorial 6(I): Steels and Heat Treatments ........................................................................ 82
8. Engineering Materials ..................................................................................................... 84
8.1 Engineering Steels ......................................................................................................... 84
8.2 Cast Irons ..................................................................................................................... 86
8.3 Aluminium Alloys and Age-hardening ......................................................................... 87
8.4 Magnesium Alloys .................................................................................................................. 90
8.5 Titanium Alloys ...................................................................................................................... 91
8.6 Superalloys ............................................................................................................................. 92
8.7 Ceramics ................................................................................................................................. 93
8.8 Polymers ................................................................................................................................. 95
Tutorial 6(II): Engineering Materials ............................................................................. 97
9. Failure and Degradation of Materials ............................................................................ 99
9.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................
99
9.2 Fracture Modes - Ductile and Brittle Fracture ........................................................................ 99
9.3 Fracture Mechanics – Stress Concentration ............................................................................ 101
Tutorial 7(I): Ductile & Brittle Fracture and Stress Concentration ..................................... 103
9.4 Fracture Mechanics – Fracture Toughness ............................................................................. 104
Tutorial 7(II): Fracture Mechanics – Fracture Toughness ............................................... 106
9.5 Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) ............................................................................................. 108
NDT Testing Lab
9.6 Fatigue Failure ........................................................................................................................ 110
Tutorial 8 8(I): Fatigue failure .......................................................................................... 116
9.7 Impact Failure ............................................................................................................. 117
9.8 Creep Failure ............................................................................................................... 120
Tutorial 8(II): Impact and Creep Failure ....................................................................... 123
10. Introduction to Materials Processing............................................................................ 125
10.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 125
10.2 Metal processing...................................................................................................................... 127
10.3 Powder processing .................................................................................................................. 131
10.4 Polymer processing.................................................................................................................. 131
10.5 Other manufacturing processes .............................................................................................. 133
Tutorial 9: Materials processing ...................................................................................... 134

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 Module Delivery Team Information

Module Leader & Lecturer

Prof Yong Sun: Office: Q2.27g
Tel: 0116 2577072
Email: ysun01@dmu.ac.uk
Lab: Q1.05

Tutorial/Seminar Tutors
Prof Yong Sun: Office: Q2.27g
Tel: 0116 2577072
Email: ysun01@dmu.ac.uk
Lab: Q1.05

Lab Session Tutors

Dr Richard Bailey: Office: Q3.05J
Tel: ext 8743
Email: Richard.bailey@dmu.ac.uk
Lab: Q1.05

4
 Chapter 1

Introduction to ENGD2105 –
Materials Engineering and Processing

1.1 Module Objectives and Learning Outcomes

This is a very important module in Engineering Year 2. The module is important because it
covers a wide range of engineering knowledge and fundamentals required in practical
applications. The module covers the science, engineering, failure/degradation and processing
of engineering materials.
The module focus on material structures, properties, testing, selection, processing and failure
mechanisms. There are many convincing reasons why study this module, isted below:
• All engineering disciplines involve the use of materials
• Help you selecting materials for applications
• Help you solving many engineering problems relating to material degradation
• Help you reducing the cost of product by using the right material for the right application
economically, safely and environmentally friendly.
• and most importantly …..
The module objectives are
• to further the students understanding of the principles of engineering materials;
• to develop the student's understanding and confidence in the application of principles;
• to develop in the student, the ability to analyse engineering problems involving materials
issues;
• to further develop the student's practical, experimental and measurement skills via a structured
programme of laboratory exercises.
After learning the module, students are expected to achieve the following learning outcomes:
(1) The student will have an understanding of the principles of materials science and
demonstrate knowledge of various common engineering materials and processes, and
apply them to the solutions of engineering problems.
(2) The student will be able to take practical measurements, analyse and critically appraise
experimental data, and present the results and critical analysis of experimental work in a
written format as a short scientific report.
(3) The student will be able to develop skills for material selection in design and demonstrate
the awareness of the impact of materials use on the global environments and sustainability.

1.2 Module Contents

• Material categories: metals, ceramics, polymers and composites.
• Material structure: crystal structure, amorphous structure, molecular structure
• Equilibrium phase diagram: binary phase diagrams, the lever rule, solidification sequence.
• Mechanical properties: tensile testing and hardness testing
• Defects in materials: point defects, line defects, surface defects.
• Strengthening mechanisms of metals: grain refinement hardening, precipitation hardening,
strain hardening and phase transformation hardening.
• Heat treatments: annealing, normalising, quenching and tempering.
• Engineering steels: low carbon steel, medium carbon steel, high carbon steel, stainless steel.

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 • Other engineering materials: aluminium alloys, titanium alloys, magnesium alloys,
cemramics, polymers and compsoite materials, recylability of materials.
• Material processing: metal casting, metal forming, polymer processing, ceramic powder
processing.
• Material failure: fracture, fatigue failure, impact failure, creep failure
• Materials selection: computer aided material information and selection techniques using
Cambridge Engineering Selector (CES).

Recommended textbooks:
1. W. D. Callister, "Materials Science and Engineering - an Introduction", John Wiley & Son.
2. C. M. Gilmore, "Materials Science and Engineering Properties", CENGAGE, Learning.

1.3 Module Delivery

The module is delivered through a combination of lectures, tutorials and a series of laboratory
based experiments. Assessment of the module is via phase test (50%) and laboratory logsheets
& reports (50%).
The laboratory exercises are designed to give students confidence in using experimental
procedures to validate theoretical results, train students to correctly use laboratory equipment
and enable students to develop technical reporting skills.

1.4 Module Assessments

Phase Test (early term 2): 50% of the overall module mark.
The phase test will be conducted during the first two weeks of Term 2. A phase test is just like a
closed-book exam. The test duration is two hours. The exact time and venue will be announced in
due course towards the end of Term 1. So please watch out for announcements via email and the
Blackboard.
Coursework: 50% of the overall module mark.
Coursework consists of 3 material testing experiments and 2 computer aided material information
and selection sessions. Details are available on the Blackboard.
The innovative approach used for teaching and learning materials in just 11 weeks is
“continuous learning” and “continuous assessment” through lectures, seminars and 6 lab
sessions and logsheets or report submission. Every week you will achieve certain learning
outcomes and earn some module marks. The lab sessions are
3 Computer labs: CES materials properties & selection
CES-1, CES-2: logsheet submission only
3 Materials testing labs: Tensile testing: logsheet only
Hardness testing: formal experiment report
Non-destructive testing: logsheet only

Table 1 below lists the lab & assignment schedule. Details are available on the Blackboard in
the “CW Submission” folder. It is very important that you must attend every lab session and
submit the logsheet or report before the deadline.

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 Lab & assignment schedule
Week Lab %CW Format Deadline
1 No lab
2 No lab
3 CES-1 10% Logsheet Week 5
Refer to Bb
4 CES-2 15% Logsheet Week 6
Refer to Bb
5 Tensile testing 15% Logsheet Week 7
Refer to Bb
6 No lab
7 Hardness testing 50% Lab report Week 10
Refer to Bb
8 No lab
9 NDT 10% Logsheet Week 11
Refer to Bb
10 No lab
11 No lab

Students must attend ALL laboratory sessions to submit his/her reports or logsheets for the
experiments. A report or logsheet submitted without participating in the laboratory session
will be given zero marks. Student must sign the attendance register during the laboratory
session; this will confirm that he/she has done the experiment.
Laboratory report or logsheet for each experiment must be submitted electronically by the
date specified on the Blackboard. There is a submission deadline for each individual piece of
work.
The Blackboard and Electronic Submission of CW
• All coursework/assignment sheets are available electronically on the
Blackboard. Folder: CW Submission
• There will be no printed handout
• All CW must be submitted electronically via the Blackboard
• All CW will be marked electronically
• You can view your mark in the “My Grades” folder on Bb.
Lab attendance RULES:
o It is vital that you attend every lab on time
o No lab attendance, no submission allowed: 0 mark
o No repeat of labs has been scheduled
o Late submission within 2 weeks of the deadline will be capped.
o Submissions 2-weeks later than due date will not be marked: 0 mark

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1.5 Resit Information
Resit is by failed components, which means:
• If you fail the module due to failure of the phase test component but pass the coursework
component, you have to re-sit the examination component.
• If you fail the module due to failure of coursework component but pass the phase test
component, you have to re-sit the coursework component.
• If you fail both phase test and coursework components, you should re-sit both components to
improve your chances of passing the module.
Resit period is normally in August. For precise dates please check with the faculty office.

1.6 How to Study This Module and Maximise Your Module Marks
(1) Attend all learning sessions, listen carefully, no talking during lessons.
(2) Attend lecture every week
(3) Recitation after lecture
(4) Attend seminar every week
(5) Attend all lab sessions
(6) Read the lecture and seminar notes carefully
(7) Complete all seminar questions
(8) Submit every logsheet/report on time
(9) Prepare for the phase test
(10) Sit for the phase

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 Chapter 2
Introduction to Materials Science

2.1 Introduction
Since men and women first started to make things, the selection of material and process has
been considered something of an art. Despite countless handbooks and computers to guide
the engineer, this essential part of the product design process has remained somewhat
mysterious, its analysis intractable.

There are about 80,000 grades of engineering materials available for use. Among them, about
3000 are more frequently used. To select a material for a specific application among these
3000 is not an easy task. In order to select materials for engineering applications and for
design, fundamental knowledges about materials are necessary. Basic knowledges include:
material structures, compositions, properties, processing, testing, failures etc. This is why this
module is important.
In this module, you will learn:
• Material structure
• Material properties
• Material testing
• How structure dictates properties
• How to change material properties
• Computer-aided material selection by CES
• Material fracture and failure
• Materials processing
Materials Science is an interdisciplinary subject demanding knowledge in physics, chemistry,
mechanics and engineering. It is a 4-year university course. To learn materials in just 11
weeks for mechanical engineering students is not an easy task and requires innovative
approaches. Three major activities are devised in this term to help you learn and grasp the
required knowledge in materials. These include
(1) Lectures: 2 hours per week
(2) Seminars: 2 hour per week
(3) Labs: 1 hour per week for 6 weeks
It is essential that you attend all learning sessions throughout the term in order to maximise
your learning and module marks.

2.2 Cambridge Engineering Selector (CES): CES Edupack 2020

What is CES? The Cambridge Engineering Selector (CES) is the natural software tool to
accompany courses on material and process selection. It was originally developed for
teaching at Cambridge University and is now used by universities and industry worldwide. It
is a sophisticated web-enabled tool for the selection of materials and design information that
enables design engineers, material and process professionals, and materials developers to get
the most from engineering materials and manufacturing processes.

9
The presentation of over 3000 materials and 125 manufacturing processes, all with a
comprehensive range of attributes, encourages students to consider materials and process
options outside their immediate experience. The system is idea for demonstrations, directed
exercises and open-ended project work. CES enables the user to find materials and processes
based on engineering design specifications very efficiently.

What can CES do?

The CES Selectors are unique tools for the rational selection of engineering materials –
metals, ceramics, polymers, composites, woods – and of manufacturing processes – shaping,
finishing, joining, and surface treatment. CES Selectors can
➢ allow users to find/extract material information and properties, and related
manufacturing processes
➢ help designers to select materials and processes during various stages of design
➢ ‘bring to life’ the characteristics and uses of the main classes of materials (metals,
polymers, ceramics, composites, etc.)
➢ relate the theories of structures, mechanics and heat transfer to material properties
➢ reinforce the importance of material properties and selection in engineering design
➢ allow the user to develop optimisation based on material properties
➢ integrate the selection of materials with choice of manufacturing process

Cambridge Engineering Selector: CES Edupack 2020 is available in ALL Queens Building
Computers. CDs are available in FOTAC for you to borrow and install in your own PC.

Please attend all CES sections in the computer labs – start from Week 2.

2.3 Classification of Materials

Engineering materials can be classified into
categories by different ways. For example,
depending on applications, materials can be
classified into structural materials, electric
materials, electronic materials, chemical
materials, magnetic materials, optical
materials, biomedical materials etc. But the
most common and scientific way is to
classify materials according to their atomic
bonds and physical/chemical nature, into four
categories, i.e.
(1) Metals: have metallic bonds, conduct
electricity and heat, have ductility
(2) Ceramics: have ionic and/or covalent bonds, contain at least two elements: one is metal
another is non-metal, are usually brittle
(3) Polymers: mostly based on carbon backbones, have molecular chains, have low strength
(4) Composites: mixtures of two or three of the above.

2.4 Metals
By looking at the periodic table, it can be easily found that about 75% of the known elements
are metallic elements (shown in blue colure). The earth is basically made of metals. The earth
10
crust is composed of metal compounds
such as metal oxides, sulphides,
carbides etc. These are metal ores. To
obtain pure metal, complex extraction
and purification processes are required.
Metals can conduct electricity and heat
quite easily. The is the most
distinguishable feature of metals from
other materials. This is due to the
metallic bond in metals, which allow
valence electrons to move around
easily. Another feature of metals is that
in the solid state they are in the
crystalline form with ordered and regular atomic arrangement. However, a piece of metal
does not contain just one crystal, but contain many small crystals with boundaries between
them. Each small crystal in a metal is called a grain, and the boundaries are called grain
boundaries. The grain size and grain boundaries have significant effects on the properties of
metals: the yield strength increases with decreasing grain size. This sounds quite strange, but
it is true that the smaller the grain size, the higher the strength. This will be explained in
details in Chapter 5.
Many factors can affect the properties of metals, include elemental nature, crystal structure,
grain size, processing and alloying.
For example, the hardness and strength of steel can be changed by heat treatment. If a piece of steel
is heated to a high temperature, say about 900oC, and then cooled, it will exhibit very different
properties (e.g. hardness) depending on the cooling rate:
Slow cooling results in low hardness, which is required for forming and machining.
Fast cooling increases the hardness of steel by several times – which is required for application. This
is called quenching.
This variation of steel properties with cooling rate (heat treatment) is due to the different
microstructure produced. This will be discussed further later in this module.

Another example is alloying. Pure

metals are rarely used because they are
mostly very soft and expensive. Almost
all engineering metals are used in the
alloyed form. Alloying has two major
effects on mechanical properties:
(1) it increases strength and
(2) it reduces ductility.
For example, pure iron (Fe) is very soft
and has no industrial use. When alloyed
with a very small amount of carbon,
it becomes steel. Steel contains 0.02% to 2.1% carbon and its strength increases with
increasing carbon content. Within this small carbon range, hundreds of different grades of
steels are made available for engineering uses. When more carbon is added, cast irons are
produced, which are another very important category of engineering materials.

11
General characteristics of metals:
Metals are the most important materials in
engineering. They are the favourite choice
of designers because they possess many
important characteristics, including
ductility, formability, mechanical strength
and toughness.
Metals can be easily fabricated into
complex components by various common
manufacturing processes, like casting,
forging, mechanical forming, machining,
and welding. The properties of metals can
be altered easily by heat treatment. For example, a piece of steel can be made soft by a process
called annealing (slow cooling); this softened steel can then be made into a component with
desired shape and geometry by forming or machining; the component can finally be hardened
by a process called quenching (rapid cooling) before it is put into use.

2.5 Ceramics
A common knowledge about ceramics is that
they are brittle and not as tough as metals.
You can bend a piece of metal into any shape
without breaking it, but you cannot do that for
ceramics. In fact, ceramics are brittle and
weak when loaded in tension, but they are
strong and hard under compression. This is
why ceramic materials are widely used in
construction.
Ceramics have many useful properties as
shown, which make them useful for
engineering applications, such as for high
temperature, corrosion resistant, and
electric/heat insulating applications.

Chemically, a ceramic material is a

compound between a metallic element and a
non-metallic element, such as metal oxide,
metal carbide, and metal nitride. Thus, a
ceramic material must contain at least two
elements, one metal and another non-metal.
These two elements are bonded together
strongly by either ionic bond or covalent bond to form a chemical compound with a specific
chemical formula, like Al2O3, FeO, Si3N4. Many ceramics contain more than one metal and
non-metal elements. The combinations of various metal and non-metal elements can result in
many chemical compounds and therefore many types of ceramic materials.

12
2.6 Polymers
From the preceding sections, we can see
that metals are related to the packing of
atoms, and ceramics are related to the
compounding between positive and
negative ions. Now for polymers,
molecules are involved.
Polymers comprise long molecular chains
of individual molecules linked by strong
covalent bonds. Most of polymers are
based on hydrocarbon molecules, i.e. C-H
compounds. The carbon atoms are bonded
strongly to form a carbon backbone, and
other atoms like H and Cl are attached to
the carbon atoms to form various kinds of
polymers. For example, for the popular
polymer, PVC, which contains three
elements, C, H and Cl. An individual
molecule has the formula: C2H3Cl. When
many of these molecules are linked
together, PVC is formed.
To understand the basic chemistry of
polymers, let’s have a look at the element
carbon (C).
Caron has an atomic number of 6, meaning
that there are 6 electrons in a carbon atom.

C
This also means that there are 4 valence electrons in
the outermost shell of carbon atoms. C
Since 8 electrons are required to saturate
the outermost shell of an atom, a carbon atom
can thus attract 4 more electrons to become saturated.
Therefore, each carbon atom has 4 free bonds.
H
Thus, methane, CH4, which is the gas we use for cooking, is a saturated compound
because 4 hydrogen atoms are attached to a carbon atom. The individual
molecule, CH4, is stable and will not be bonded with one another. This is a gas, not
H C H
a polymer. H
However, for ethylene, C2H4, there are only 4
hydrogen atoms for 2 carbon atoms. For ethylene H H H H
to become stable, the 2 carbon atoms must form
a double bond. But such a double bond is not
very stable, it can be broken by external energy C=C C C
such as heat and chemical reactions. When the
carbon double bond is broken, each carbon atom
has a free bond. Thus, each ethylene molecule
H H H H
(called a “mer”) can now bond with another Ethylene with The carbon double
molecule, followed by another, another ….. to C=C double bond bond is broken
form a long molecular chain, called “polymer”.
A polymer actually contains many such long molecular chains. In this particular example, it is
polyethylene, the most popular plastics used nowadays.

13
Most polymers are synthesised from
petroleum. They can be man-made easily and
possess many useful properties, such as cheap,
easy to shape, light-weight, corrosion
resistant. But they also have many limitations
in engineering applications, such as low
strength, low stiffness, creep easily, cannot
tolerate high temperatures, as shown in the
Slide.

2.7 Composites

Composites are distinctly different from

metals, ceramics and polymers. They are
formed by mixing different materials or
phases with a combination of properties.
Composites are not new and they can be found
in some natural materials, such as woods and
bones. Woods are polymer-polymer
composites with fibres, and bones are
polymer-ceramic composites. Composites
have also been widely in the construction
industry, such as concrete.
In engineering, composites are designed and
fabricated to meet special requirements. In
many situations, individual materials cannot
meet the application requirements. For
example, in space and transportation
applications, strong and light materials are
preferred. Strong metals such as steels are too
heavy, light metals such aluminium are not
strong enough. Polymers are very light but are
not strong enough. Ceramics can be very
strong under compression, but they are mostly
brittle. Thus, composites are required to achieve a good combination of high strength, high
stiffness and light weight, i.e. high specific strength and high specific modulus.
• Specific strength: the strength-to-weight ratio – a strong and light material has high specific
strength.
• Specific modulus: the Young’s modulus-to-weight ratio
• Young’s modulus: is a measure of material’s stiffness (This will be discussed later)
A composite consists of two different phases or constituents, one is the matrix, and another
is the disperse phase. The matrix is a continuous phase to provide the form of the part and to
hold the disperse phase together. It is somewhat like a super glue to hold parts together. The
disperse phase is the reinforcing agent distributed in the matrix to increase properties. The
proportion of the matrix and the disperse phase in a composite can be varied to achieve
different properties according to application needs. The disperse phase can be in the form of
fibres, particles and structural panels. Therefore, composites can be classified into (a) particle-
reinforced composites, (b) fibre-reinforced composites, and (c) structural composites.

14
The most widely used composites are polymer-matrix composites, because it is easy to
reinforce polymers with other materials. For example, glass-fibre reinforced polymers are
wide used in transportation and domestic appliances. Carbon fibre reinforced polymers are
what we normally called carbon fibres. They are formed by binding carbon fibres using
epoxy. Another popular composite is Kevlar, well known for its use to make bullet-proof
vests for the police and military forces.

2.8 Summary
This chapter introduces some basic information about the four categories of engineering
materials: metals, ceramics, polymers and composites. After learning, students should be able
to have a basic understanding of the 4 categories of materials in terms of
• Chemistry
• Structure
• Properties
• Limitations
More detailed discussion will be given throughout this module.
________________________________________________________________________

Tutorial 1(I): Materials Categories

1. Cite the four categories of engineering materials.

2. Briefly explain what grains are in solid metals.
3. Cite 5 factors that can affect the properties of metals.
4. How can you make a piece of steel soft and then make it hard?
5. Is the tensile strength of a ceramic material equal to its compressive strength?
6. Is a ceramic material a compound between a metallic element and a non-metallic element?
7. In a polymer, what kind of primary bond is formed between carbon atoms in a carbon
backbone?
8. Can you use polymers at temperatures above 400 °C?
9. What are the benefits and disadvantages of composite materials?

15
 Chapter 3
Structures of Materials

3.1 Building Blocks of Materials

Materials used in engineering are bulk materials which are constructed by nature or formed
by human. The basic building blocks of all materials are atoms. Three stages are involved in
the building of bulk materials, i.e.
(1) Atoms are bonded through primary/secondary bonding
(2) The bonded atoms assemble in a 3-dimensional array to form small regions
(3) The small regions assemble to form a solid piece (block) of material

Materials structures have many dimensions depending the structural scale, including atomic
scale, nanometer scale, micrometer scale and macroscale. To examine the structures of a
material, microscopes are used. A normal laboratory optical microscope can see structures in
the microscale. Powerful electron microscopes are used to see structures in the nanometre
scale or even in the atomic scale.

3.2 Atomic Structure

Atoms are the basic building blocks of engineering materials. In fact, all materials are
composed of atoms bonded together in one way or another. It is necessary to recall what we
have learnt in school Science subjects about the structure of an atom.

16
An atom consists of a nucleus and a certain number (Z#) of electrons orbiting the nucleus.
Each electron carries a tiny amount of negative charge equal to -1.60x10-19 C. The nucleus
consists of Z# number of positively charged protons and N# number of neutrons. Thus, an
atom is electrically neutral because the amount of negative charges (from the electrons) is
equal to the amount of positive charges (from the protons).
An atom is very tiny and extremely light. The atomic weight is measured as g/mol, where one
mole contains 6.023x1023 atoms, which is known as the Avogadro number (NA). Different
elements have different atomic weight, which is a measure of how heavy the element is.

There two atomic models. The most popular

one is the Bohr model, which considers that
the electrons revolve around the nucleus in
specific orbitals and the position of any
electron is well defined in its orbital. Each
electron has a specific quantised energy state
and the energy from one state to another does
not change continuously, but has a jump (like
steps).
The principal energy quantum number is
designated as, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., and the electron
shell (orbital) is designated as K, L, M, N, etc. Each shell is allowed a certain maximum
number of electrons, starting from 2, 8, 18, 32 for shell K, L. M. N, etc. The outermost shell
is called the valence shell and the electrons in this shell is called valence electrons. The
maximum number of electrons in the valence shell is 8. Thus, you need 8 electrons in the
outermost shell for the element to become
stable or inert. If an atom has fewer than 8
valence electrons, the element is then active!
Now, let’s have a look at the atomic
structure of some elements in the periodic
table.
(1) Hydrogen (H): atomic number is 1, meaning
that it has only 1 electron orbiting the K shell.
This is not stable because K shell can
accommodate 2 electrons. Thus two H atoms
combine together to form a stable gas, H2, sharing
the valence electron with each other.

17
(2) Helium (He): atomic number is 2, meaning that it has 2 electrons orbiting K shell. It is stable
because the maximum number of electrons of K shell is 2. Thus, Helium exists as an inert gas, He,
without primary atomic bonding.
(3) Lithium (Li): which is a metal with atomic number = 3. It has 3 electrons, 2 orbiting K shell and
the remaining 1 orbiting L shell. Remember that in this case, 8 valence electrons in the outermost shell
are required for the element to become stable. With only 1 valence electron, Li can easily lose this
electron to become a positive ion, favouring the formation of ionic bonding with other elements.

(4) Carbon (C): has an atomic number 6. The K shell is filled with 2 electrons, and the remaining 4
electrons orbiting the L shell. It is not easy to lose 4 valence electrons. Thus, carbon tends to share its
valence electrons with other atoms, forming a covalent bond, like in diamond and many other carbon-
based materials.
(5) Neon (Ne): has an atomic number 10. Two of the 10 electrons orbiting the K shell and the
remaining orbiting the L shell. So the number of valence electrons is 8, meaning it is stable. Thus,
Neon exists as an inert gas, Ne, without primary atomic bonding.
(6) Sodium (Na): has 11 electrons, 2 orbiting the K shell, 8 orbiting the L shell, and the remaining 1
orbiting the M shell. Like Li in (3), with only 1 valence electron, Na can easily lose this electron to
become a positive ion, favouring the formation of ionic bonding with other elements.

Summary:
• Electrons associated with an atom occupy orbitals (shells) and subshells within orbitals.
• The outermost, or valence, electrons largely determine the chemical behaviour of elements.
• In chemical reactions, most elements attempt to attain an electron structure of 8 electrons in
the outermost level. This is the most stable configuration.
________________________________________________________________________________

Tutorial 1(2): Electron Configuration

Draw a schematic diagram to show the electron configuration of each of the elements in Table 1,
and indicate the atomic bond each element tends to form.

Table 1: Elements and atomic numbers

Element Symbol Atomic number
Nitrogen N 7
Oxygen O 8
Sodium Na 11
Magnesium Mg 12
Silicon Si 14
Chlorine Cl 17

18
3.3 Atomic Bonding

3.3.1 Bond length and bonding energy

Two atoms always try to interact with each other to form some kind of bond. There are two
forces acting simultaneously, i.e. the attractive force (FA, positive) and the repulsive force
(FR, negative). The magnitudes of these opposite forces always diminish with increasing
distance (r) between the two atoms, which is called interatomic separation. The net force (FN)
is the sum of these two opposite forces. The associated energy is called the atomic bond
energy. It is important to note that:
• When the interatomic separation (r) is large, attractive force is dominant, such that the atoms
try to pull closer.
• When the interatomic separation (r) is small, repulsive force is dominant, such that the atoms
try to move away from each other further.
• There must be a specific separation where the attractive force equals the repulsive force
(FA=FR), and the net force is zero (FN=0). This is called the equilibrium separation or bond
length (r0). The corresponding energy at r0 is called the bonding energy, E0.

We all know that there are three states of a

matter: gas, liquid and solid. In the gas state,
the bond length is large and bonding energy is
small. So the energy curve is shallow and
broad and the gas atoms can move around r0
easily without changing energy too much. In
the liquid state, the bonding energy is
increased and bond length is reduced, such
that it is more difficult for the atoms to move
around r0. In the solid state, the atoms are
tightly packed with a small bond length (r0)
and large bonding energy. The energy curve becomes a deep trough: a small change in r leads
to a large change in bond energy. Thus, it is difficult for the atoms to move around r0.
Some important properties of materials are predominantly affected by the atomic bonding
energy and the shape of the bond energy curve, such as melting temperature (Tm), elastic
modulus (E) and coefficient of thermal expansion (), discussed below.

19
Tm: The transformation from a solid state to
liquid state requires the increase of bond length
and the reduction in bonding energy. The melting
temperature is mainly affected by the atomic
bonding energy and the shape of the energy curve.
A material with a deep and narrow energy curve
has a larger melting temperature than that having
a shallow and broad energy curve. It requires
more energy, i.e. high temperature, to melt a
material with larger bonding energy.

E: Young’s modulus of a material is mainly

determined by the atomic bonding energy. A deep
and narrow energy trough means that a small
change in bond length will lead to a large change
in energy. Thus, it is more difficult to stretch the
material and the material is stiffer (i.e. larger E).
Other structural factors such as alloying, heat
treatment, deformation, grain size etc. do not alter
the Young’s modulus significantly, because these
do not change the atomic bond energy. This is the
reason why all kind of steels have a similar
Young’s modulus of around 205 GP. Similarly,
all aluminium alloys have a similar Young’s
modulus around 65-70 GPa.

: When a material is heated from temperature T1

to T2, it normally will experience an expansion in
dimension (L), i.e. thermal expansion by an
amount of L. The degree of expansion (L/L0) is
proportional to temperature change (T2-T1). The
constant of proportionality, , is called the
coefficient of thermal expansion. Thermal
expansion means the increase in bond length and
the reduction in bonding energy. A deep and
narrow energy trough means that a small change
in bond length will lead to a large change in
energy. Thus, it is more difficult to change the
dimension of the material (i.e. smaller ).

3.3.2 Primary bonds

The bonding energy is determined by what
kind of bond they form and the nature of the
elements involved. Atom-atom can form
strong primary bonds or weak secondary
bonds. There are three types of primary
atomic bonds in materials, i.e.
(1) Ionic bond: one atom loses its electrons in
the outmost shell to form a positive ion and
another atom receives these electrons to
form a negative ion. Such positive ion-

20
 negative ion bond can be found in many ceramic materials.
(2) Covalent bond: electrons in the outmost shell of one atom share electrons of another atom to
form a shared atomic bond. Covalent bond is very strong and can be found in many ceramic
materials and the carbon-carbon backbone of polymeric materials.
(3) Metallic bond: the electrons in the outmost shell of all atoms join together to form an electron
cloud or a sea of electrons. These electrons can move around the atoms easily to conduct
electricity and heat. All metals have metallic bond and are thus good conductors of electricity
and heat.

(1) Ionic bond involves electron transfer from one atom to another. The atom losing electrons
becomes a positive ion, and the atom receiving the electrons become a negative ion. An example is
NaCl, table salt. Na has only 1 valence electron, while Cl has 7 valence electrons (needs 8 to become
stable). It is a lot easier for Na to give up its 1 valence electron and transfer it to Cl, such that both
become stable. Such positive-negative ions bonding happens when bonding the metallic elements in
the far-left columns with the non-metallic elements in the far-right columns in the periodic table.
Remember that a ceramic contains a least two elements, one is a metal and another is a non-metal.
Thus, ionic bonding is the primary bonding in many ceramic materials.

Ionic bonding has some unique characteristics.

Firstly, it is nondirectional, meaning that such
materials have isotropic properties. Secondly, it
must maintain electrical neutrality, i.e. the
number of positive charges must equal the
number of negative charges, and thus the positive
ions must tie up with the negative ions. This
determines that it is very difficult to deform the
material or separate the ions from one another.
Thus, materials with ionic bonding are usually:
hard, brittle, non-deformable & non-conducting.

(2) Covalent bond involves sharing of valence electrons. An example is methane, CH4, discussed
previously. Caron has 4 valence electrons. It is not easy for it to give up these 4 electrons, but rather
it prefers to share them with other atoms. Hydrogen has only one electron (in the K shell). It needs 2
electrons in the K shell to become stable. Thus 4 hydrogen atoms share each its electron with the
carbon atom, making 8 valence electrons in the carbon atom, meanwhile carbon shares one of its 4
valence electrons with each hydrogen atom, making 2 electrons in each hydrogen atom. In this way,
both carbon and 4 hydrogen atoms become stable.

21
Covalent bond can be found in materials formed
by non-metal elements and compounds between
metal and non-metal elements and elements in the
right-hand side of the periodic table. It can be very
strong as in diamond and weak as in polymers. It
is quite directional, as in carbon fibres. Many
ceramic materials and almost all polymers have
such a primary bond.

(3) Metallic bond is the primary bond in all

kinds of solid metals and metallic alloys. Metallic elements have 1, 2, or 3 valence electrons. When
the atoms bond together they do not give up their electrons. Instead, each atom donates its valence
electrons together to form an electron cloud, or a sea of electrons. These electrons belong to the entire
metal and can move around easily, and bind the atoms together. Thus, metallic bond is nondirectional,
metals are more flexible, deformable and can conduct electricity and heat, making metals very useful
materials in our society.

3.3.3 Secondary bonds

Secondary bonds are weak bonds that exist
between all atoms and molecules, and are
everywhere. They are frequently obscured by the
strong primary bonds and are not easily detectable
there. They are the predominant bond in inert gases
such argon and neon gases. In polymers, secondary
bonds exist between the molecular chains,
although within a molecular chain, primary
covalent bond is dominant.

22
3.3.4 Summary of atomic bonds
In summary, primary bonds are strong bonds and secondary bonds are weak bonds. In the three types
of primary bonds, ionic bond has large bond energy and is strong, rigid, electrically neutral and
nondirectional. Covalent bond can be strong or weak, and is nondirectional. Metallic bond is the
primary bond of metals and can be strong or weak, so we have strong metals, such as steel, tungsten
and titanium, and weak metals, such as mercury and lead. In many polymers, the bond between
molecular chains is of the weak secondary bonds.

________________________________________________________________________________

Tutorial 1 (3): Atomic Bonding

1. Explain why some materials (e.g. tungsten) have a very high melting temperature and some
have low melting temperature (e.g. lead).
2. Why all kind of steels have a similar Yong’s modulus?
3. Can you change the Young’s modulus of steel by hardening it?
4. Why different materials have different degree of thermal expansion?
5. What are the three primary bonds?
6. Why many ceramics have ionic bonding?
7. What are some common characteristics of materials with ionic bonding?
8. What is the key feature of covalent bonding?
9. Why can materials with metallic bonding conduct electricity and heat?

23
3.4 Crystal structure
When the atoms are bonded by metallic bond, or covalent bond, or ionic bond, they will
assemble together to form a material. There are two types of atomic assembly:
(1) Random packing: atoms are packed randomly, have no periodic packing. Such materials have
“noncrystalline” or “amorphous” structure. Many polymers and some complex ceramics (e.g.
glasses) have such structure and are called noncrystalline or amorphous materials. Such
materials do not have a definite melting temperature, but have a glass transition temperature
– when heated up, they become gradually softened rather than liquefied.
(2) Regular packing: atoms are packed regularly, orderly and periodically to form crystals. Such
materials have crystal structure. Almost all metals and some ceramics have crystal structure
and are called crystalline materials. Such materials have a definite melting temperature –
when heated above a critical temperature, they become liquefied.
Two Ways of Atomic Two Types of Structure
Assembly
• Non dense, Noncrystalline structure...
random packing • atoms have no periodic packing
• occurs for: -complex structures
-rapid cooling
"Amorphous" = Noncrystalline

• Dense, Crystalline structure...

regular packing • atoms pack in periodic, 3D arrays
• typical of: -metals
-many ceramics
-some polymers

All solid metals have crystalline structure:

their atoms tend to be packed densely to
achieve the lowest energy state because (1)
only one major element is present, (2)
metallic bond is not directional and (3)
densely packing results in lower energy. The
crystal structures of metals are also relatively
simple. By knowing the crystal structure,
many properties can be predicted.
There are many types of crystal structure in
materials. The most common structures are:
(1) Body-centred cubic structure (bcc): the basic
unit of the crystal is a cube, where each
corner of the cube is occupied by an atom,
and the centre of the cube is occupied by an
atom (body-centred atom).
(2) Face-centred cubic structure (fcc): the basic
unit of the crystal is a cube, where each
corner of the cube is occupied by an atom,
and the centre of each face is occupied by an
atom (face-centred atom). fcc crystal is more
densely packed than bcc crystal and thus has
a higher density.
(3) Hexagonal close-packed structure (hcp): the
basic unit of the crystal is a hexagon, where
the atoms are packed closely.

24
The crystal structure can be presented by using a unit cell: the smallest unit that can be used
to repeat many times 3 dimensionally to form the crystal. This is just like a brick in a building.
There are two unit cell models: the hard sphere unit cell and the reduced sphere unit cell. The
atom occupying each corner of the cell is shared with other cells, thus only a proportion (e.g.
1/8) of the corner atom belongs to the unit cell. This is important when working out how
many atoms are there in a unit cell. A unit cell also has cell dimensions, a, b, c, in the X, Y,
Z directions. These are called lattice parameters.

3.4.1 Simple cubic structure (SC)

The simplest structure is simple cubic
structure (SC), where the unit cell has a cubic
shape, with 8 atoms occupying the eight
corners. Each atom makes contact with 3
other corner atoms in a cell. Considering the
neighbouring cells, each atom actually makes
contact with 6 atoms (6 coordination
number). SC is not very closely packed,
leaving a big void in the centre of the cube.
Thus, it is rare, most metals do not have SC
structure.
In a SC unit cell, there is only one lattice
parameter, i.e. the edge length of the cube (a).
From the cubic geometry and the corner
atoms touching each other, it can be easily
derived that
Lattice parameter: a = 2R
where R = atomic radius.
Thus, the volume of the unit cell (Vc) is
Unit cell volume: Vc = a3 = 8R3
It is noted that each atom at each corner is shared by three cells, thus only 1/8 of that atom
belongs to the unit cell. There are 8 corner atoms, thus there is only 1 atom in a unit cell.
The atomic packing factor (APF) is an important parameter of a crystal which measures how
densely are the atoms packed, which is defined as
𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡 𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑙
𝐴𝑃𝐹 =
𝑈𝑛𝑖𝑡 𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒
By knowing the crystal structure, the number
of atoms per unit cell (n=1 for SC), unit cell
volume can be calculated, and thus the APF
can be determined. The APF for SC structure
is only 0.52, meaning that slightly more than
half of the unit cell is occupied by the atoms,
the remaining space is voids and unoccupied.
Thus, SC structure is poorly packed and this
is the reason why it is rarely found in metals.

25
3.4.2 Body-centred cubic structure (BCC)
A simple but also realistic structure is body-centred cubic structure (BCC), where the unit
cell has a cubic shape, with 8 atoms occupying the eight corners and an atom occupying the
centre of the cube. Each atom makes contact with 8 other atoms (8 coordination number).
BCC is more closely packed, found in many metals, such as iron, chromium and titanium.

Each atom at each corner is shared by three cells, thus only 1/8 of that atom belongs to the
unit cell. The atom at the cube body centre belongs entirely to the unit cell. There are 8 corner
atoms, plus the atom at the centre, thus there are 2 atoms in a BCC unit cell.
In a BCC unit cell, there is only one lattice parameter, i.e. the edge length of the cube (a).
Since the centre atom makes contact with the 8 corner atoms, the cube diagonal has a length
AC= 4R, where R is atomic radius. From trigonometry, it can be easily derived that
4𝑅
𝑎=
√3
Thus, unit cell volume
3
4𝑅
𝑉𝑐 = 𝑎3 = ( )
√3
By knowing the crystal structure, the number
of atoms per unit cell (n=2 for BCC), unit cell
volume can be calculated, and thus the APF
can be determined. The APF for BCC
structure is only 0.68, meaning that two third
of the cube space is filled with atoms, the remaining space is voids and unoccupied. This is
much densely packed than SC structure (APF=0.52) and this is the reason why BCC is
commonly found in many metals.

3.4.3 Face-centred cubic structure (FCC)

Face-centred cubic structure (FCC) is the
most densely packed crystal structure, where
the unit cell has a cubic shape, with 8 atoms
occupying the eight corners and an atom
occupying the centre of each face. Each atom
makes contact with 12 other atoms (12
coordination number). FCC is very closely

26
packed, and is commonly found in many metals, such as iron, nickel and aluminium.
Each atom at each corner is shared by three cells, thus only 1/8 of that atom belongs to the
unit cell. Half of the atom at each face-centre belongs to the unit cell. There are 8 corner
atoms and 6 faces in a cube, thus there are 4 atoms in an FCC unit cell.
In an FCC unit cell, there is only one lattice parameter, i.e. the edge length of the cube (a).
Since the atom at the face-centre contacts the 4 corner atoms on the same face, the face
diagonal has a length = 4R, where R is atomic radius. From trigonometry, it can be easily
derived that
𝑎 = 2√2𝑅
Thus, unit cell volume: 𝑉𝑐 = 𝑎3 = 16√2𝑅3
By knowing the crystal structure, the number
of atoms per unit cell (n=4 for FCC), the
APF can be determined. The APF for FCC
structure is 0.74, meaning that nearly three
quarters the cube space is filled with atoms,
the remaining space is voids and
unoccupied. This is most densely packed
crystal structure and is the reason why FCC
is most commonly found in metals.

3.4.4 Hexagonal close-packed structure (HCP)

This is another most closely-packed crystal
structure, where 12 atoms occupy 12 hexagon
corners, 3 atoms sit inside the hexagon, and an
atom occupies the top and bottom face. Thus,
there are a total of 6 atoms in a unit cell.
An HCP unit cell has two lattice parameters, a
and c, where a=2R and theoretically, c=1.633a.
HCP has the same atomic packing factor as than
in FCC, i.e. APF=0.74. Each atom contacts 12
neighbouring atoms (coordination number=12).
It is also commonly found in metals, such as
titanium and magnesium.

Summary
Four different types of common crystal
structures have been briefly introduced.
Things to remember include coordination
number, number of atoms per unit cell (n),
lattice parameter (a) and atomic pack factor
(APF). FCC and HCP are the most densely
packed and are commonly found in many
metals. BCC is also common in metals due
to its simple atomic packing (although not
very dense).

27
3.4.5 Density computation
Density of a material () is defined as mass (M) per unit volume (V), i.e.
𝑀
𝜌=
𝑉
The theoretical density of a crystalline material can be easily computed by using the
information of the unit cell of the crystal, where
𝑀 = 𝑛𝐴/𝑁𝐴 (number or atoms per unit cell times mass of per atom)
where n=number of atoms/cell
A=atomic weight
NA=Avogadro number (6.023x1023)
𝑉 = 𝑉𝑐 (unit cell volume)
Thus
𝑛𝐴
𝜌=
𝑉𝑐 𝑁𝑎
By knowing the particular element, atomic
radius (R) and atomic weight (A) are known.
From the known crystal structure, n and Vc are
also known. Thus, the theoretical density of the crystal can be computed, as shown in the
example.
Now, can you calculate the density of other metals?

3.4.6 Polymorphism and allotropy

Some metals, such as Fe and Ti, have different crystal structure depending on temperature. They
undergo an allotropic transformation from one
structure to another when heated or cooled across a
critical temperature. These kinds of metals are
normally heat-treatable because the structure can be
changed/controlled through heating, cooling and
alloying. For example, iron (& steel) has BCC
structure below 912°C and FCC structure above
912°C. Thus, under equilibrium conditions, an
allotropic transformation takes place at 912°C. This
critical temperature can be changed by adding

28
carbon and other alloying elements. The transformation can be suppressed by rapid heating or cooling.

Single Crystals
• The entire solid material is one crystal,
with atomic regularity over the whole
volume
• Properties may vary with direction:
anisotropic
• Very rare, size limited
• Mainly used in semiconductors, like
silicon wafers

3.4.7 Single crystals vs polycrystalline materials

A single crystal means that a whole piece of solid material is made of one crystal with all atoms
packed orderly and periodically. Single crystal materials are very rare and have limited sizes. They
are mainly used in the semiconductor industry such as single crystal silicon wafer or single crystal
diamond.
In engineering, almost all crystalline materials are polycrystalline, meaning that there are many small
crystals in a piece of solid material. Thus, a small piece of metal may contain many small crystals.
The size of the small crystals can vary from nanometres to millimetres. Since the crystals are so small,
they are termed “grains”. Thus each small crystal in a material is called a grain. Grains in a material
make boundaries with one another – these are called grain boundaries.
Grain boundaries are areas of irregularities and atomic disorder in the material, and thus play an
important role in affecting material properties. For example, if the material is exposed to chemical
attack, grain boundaries are more vulnerable to the attack. Grain boundaries can also impede
dislocation motion and thus help to increase the yield strength of materials – This will be discussed in
more details later.
Polycrystalline materials
• Most crystalline materials are polycrystalline
• The material consists of many small single crystals
• Each crystal inside is a grain
• Grains make boundary with one another
• Grain boundaries are areas of irregularities
Grain
boundaries

grains Seen under a

Schematic microscope

________________________________________________________________________

Tutoria1 I (4): Crystal Structure

1. Aluminium has an FCC structure. If the atomic radius of aluminium is 0.143 nm, calculate the
volume of its unit cell in cubic meters.
2. Iron has a BCC crystal structure at room temperature and an FCC structure at 950 °C. Compute
the theoretical densities of BCC and FCC iron. Given the atomic radius of iron is 0.124 nm, and
the atomic weight of iron is 55.85 g/mol.

29
 Chapter 4
Properties of Materials

4.1 Introduction
Material selection is based on functional and properties requirements and cost consideration.
It is important to understand material properties and how the properties are measured &
tested. This chapter will address these issues.
Materials have various kinds of properties and functions, such as mechanical, chemical,
physical, manufacturing, optical, electrical, and biomedical properties, just to name a few.
Materials find two major types of applications:
(1) Structural applications: involve stresses, strains, deformation, fracture and failure. Thus
mechanical properties are the major concern here.
(2) Functional applications: involve various chemical, physical and biomedical functions. Thus
functional properties are the major concern here.

Two major engineering applications Structural/Mechanical Properties

of materials
(1) Structural applications:
structures, machinery, buildings, bridges,
cars, airplanes ….
- require to resist mechanical loads/forces:
strength, stiffness, ductility, toughness …
(2) Functional applications:
electrical, electronic, magnetic, optical,
thermal devices, body implants …..
- require specific functional properties for
specific application
Material’s response to external forces and loads
Question: How does a material respond to
an external force?
F
Three processes involved
1. Elastic deformation: when the force
is small - recoverable
2. Then, plastic deformation at larger
force - permanent
3. Fracture, if the force is large enough
But for brittle materials, process 2 is negligible.

This module deals with mechanical properties only. A simple question is that “How does a
material respond to an external force?”.
When an external force is applied to a material and the force is increased continuously, the
material will experience three processes: i.e. elastic deformation, then plastic deformation
and finally fracture. All materials have a certain degree of elasticity, i.e. when they are loaded
below the elastic limit, they can experience recoverable elastic deformation. This elastic limit
is usually the limit (divided by a factor of safety) used in design.
Some materials can have an extended length of elastic deformation, such as rubbers. Some
materials can tolerate large amount of plastic deformation without fracture, such as when you
bend a piece of steel wire. Some materials Mechanical Properties
cannot have much plastic deformation, such
Ductility/
as when you bend a piece of glass or Strength Formability Rigidity Toughness Durability
graphite. Thus, for brittle materials, process Tensile % elongation Tensile Impact Fatigue
2 is negligible. As discussed later, the ability Yield % reduction modulus strength Creep
in area Shear
of a material to accommodate some plastic Compressive
Shear Bend radius modulus
Notch
sensitivity
Wear

deformation is very important in Hardness Flexural

modulus Fracture
engineering. Creep toughness
Stress rupture
In terms of mechanical properties, there are Various methods have been developed and standardised to
test and measure these properties under various loading
many property attributes relating to and stress conditions
strength, ductility, rigidity, toughness and

30
durability, as shown in the slide. Various experimental methods have also been used to
measure these properties. The most widely used method is tensile testing, which is discussed
in detail in the following section.

4.2 Tensile Testing and Tensile Properties

4.2.1 Test method
Tensile test is the most important testing method to measure materials properties, such as
Young’s modulus, yield strength, tensile strength, ductility and toughness. The test is very
simple. It requires (1) a standard specimen with known dimensions and (2) a standard
machine which can apply the load continuously and measure the extension of the specimen.
(a) The specimen can have a circular, square or
Tensile Stress-Strain Testing
rectangular cross-section. But it must have
Test specimen Test Method Measurement
a dog-bone like shape. That is the two ends
must be larger than the central portion
Load
because the specimen must be gripped VS
firmly at the two ends during the test. The Elongation
central portion with a uniform cross-
section is called the gauge length. All
Stress
measurements are conducted at this gauge VS
length. Strain
(b) The specimen is firmly gripped by jars in
the machine and aligned in the loading
direction properly.
(c) The specimen is pulled by an increasing load (F), until it breaks. The load (F) is recorded
continuously.
(d)At the same time, the extension or elongation of the specimen is measured and recorded
continuously.
Thus, after tensile testing, an Elongation vs Load curve is obtained for the material. This
curve records the material’s behaviours under tension to the point of breaking, including
elastic deformation, plastic deformation, and fracture.

4.2.2 Stress and strain Tensile Stress-Strain Testing

In engineering, it is necessary to convert load What happen to the specimen during the test?
F
into stress and elongation into strain. Assume • Stressed by tension:
Engineering stress: s= F/A0
the specimen has an original gauge length, L0, • Elongated: l=l1-l0
cross-sectional area, A0, and diameter, d0. Engineering strain:  = l/l0
l0 l 1
During the tensile test under a load, F, the length A0 • Reduced diameter: d=d1-d0
d0 X = d/d0 negative
is increased to L1, and at the same time the
Poisson’s ratio: an important
diameter is reduced to d1, then the stress and d1 material property: u = -  /
X
strain can be easily calculated, as shown in the Z
u = 0.25 theoretical
slide. It is important to note that strain has no F
X = 0.1 ~ 0.35 in reality
unit, because it is the ratio of two length values.
It is important to note that there are two strain components:
(1)  = L/L0, due to the elongation of the specimen in the loading direction. This has a
positive value.
(2) x=d/d0, due to the shrinkage of the diameter in the perpendicular direct (x). Since
d has a negative value, x also has a negative value.

31
The above states a general rule of materials deformation: If a material is expanded in a
direction by a load, it must shrink in other perpendicular directions. The degree of shrinkage
in other perpendicular directions is related to an important material property: Poisson’s ratio,
discussed below.

4.2.3 The Poisson’s ratio ()

The Poisson’s ratio correlates the two perpendicular strain components, and is defined as the
ratio of x to ,
x
 =− …………. (eq.4.1)

Note that Poisson’s ratio, , must have a positive value. Thus a minus sign is necessary in
eq.4.1 because x and  have opposite signs (x is negative and  is positive).
Poisson’s ratio is a material property. It relates one strain component to another in the
mutually perpendicular directions. Its value for each material can be found easily by using
the CES package.
Theoretically, all uniform materials should have the same Poisson’s ratio of 0.25, meaning
that if a material is stressed in a direction to increase the length by 1%, the material will
experience shrinkage in perpendicular directions by 0.25%. In reality, materials are non-
uniform and the Poisson’s ratio can vary slightly, but never be larger than 0.5.
The best way to develop a better understanding of theories and the numerical skills involved
is through many examples:

Example 1: elongation Poisson’s Ratio ()

This example gives the original length and diameter
of the specimen. After pulling, the resultant length
and diameter are also given.
L0=100 mm; L1=105 mm; d0=20 mm; d1=19.7mm
(1) The first step is to determine the change in length
and diameter:
L = L1 - L0 = 105 - 100 = 5 mm (elongation)
d = d1 - d0 = 19.7 - 20 = -0.3 mm (shrinkage)
(2) The second step is to find the two strain
components:
 = L/L0 = 5/100 = 0.05 ……. in the stress direction
x = d/d0 = -0.3/20 = -0.015 ……. due to diameter shrinkage
(3) The final step is take the ratio of x and , with a minus sign , that is Poisson’s ratio:
 = - x/ = - (-0.015/0.05) = 0.3 ……. This must be a positive value below 0.5.

Examples:
1. A bar of 20 mm diameter and 100 mm
long is pulled by a force to reach a
x
length of 105 mm. Correspondingly,
contraction
the diameter is reduced to 19.7 mm.
What is the Poisson’s ratio of this
material?
2. The Poisson’s ratio of aluminium is 0.33.
If an aluminium bar of 20 mm diameter
and 200 mm long is stressed by tension
to reach a length of 210 mm, what is the
reduction in diameter of the bar?

Example 2:
This example gives the Poisson’s ratio, the original length and diameter and the length after tension. To find
the reduction in diameter, i.e. d, we need to find the strain component, x, first.
(1) List all the knowns and unknowns:
=0.33; d0=20 mm; L0=200 mm; L1=210 mm; d1=? (unknown); d=d1-d0=? (unknown)
(2) Find strain in the stress direction, :
 = L/L0 = (L1 – L0)/L0 = (210 – 200)/200 = 0.05
(3) Find x, using  = - x/; Thus, x = -  = - 0.33x0.05 = - 0.0165 …… negative strain means shrinkage.
(4) Find reduction in diameter (d), using x = d/d0: Thus d = xd0 = (-0.0165)x20 = - 0.33 mm

32
Tutorial 2 (I): Poisson’s ratio ()

elongation


x
contraction

1. A bar of 40 mm diameter and 200 mm long is pulled by a force to reach a length of 210 mm;
correspondingly, the diameter is reduced to 39.4 mm. What is the Poisson’s ratio of this material?
(answer: 0.3)
2. The Poisson’s ratio of aluminium is 0.33. If an aluminium bar of 40 mm diameter and 400 mm
long is stressed by tension to reach a length of 420 mm, what is the reduction in diameter of the
bar? (answer: -0.66 mm)
3. When a tensile stress is applied along the longitudinal axis of a circular steel bar (=0.3) and
results in a strain of 0.005.
(1) What is the strain induced in the transverse direction? (answer: -0.0015)
(2) Is the diameter of the bar increased or decreased? Explain.
(3) If the original cross-section diameter of the bar is 10 mm, what is the final diameter?
(answer: 9.985 mm)
________________________________________________________________________________

4.2.4 Typical tensile stress-strain curve

Tensile Stress-Strain Testing
A typical tensile stress stain curve is shown What can be measured by a tensile test?
in the slide. It comprises three regimes: Tensile stress-strain curve
(1) The initial linear regime due to elastic Tensile Plastic deformation
Engineering Stress, s

deformation. Young’s modulus of the strength

material is the slope of the linear line. Yield Fracture
(2) The non-linear curved regime due to strength
plastic deformation. From this regime, the Young’s modulus
Fracture Ductility
yield strength, tensile strength, and strain strength
hardening behaviour can be derived. Engineering strain, 
(3) The final fracture point, where the Elastic
fracture strength and ductility can be deformation Toughness: area covered by the
s- curve
derived.
It can be seen that many important material properties can be determined by a simple tensile
test. In the following sections, details will be given regarding each regime and the properties
that can be derived.

4.2.5 The linear regime – Elastic deformation (Hooke’s Law)

The initial regime of a typical tensile stress-strain curve is linear for most engineering
materials. This is due to linear elastic deformation of the material. When the material is loaded
within this regime and then unloaded, it will return to the original state. Thus elastic
deformation has the following characteristics:

33
 • It is recoverable
• It is not permanent
• The linear regime indicates that stress is proportional to strain, as stated by the well-known
Hooke’s law:
Stress = Young’s modulus x Strain: s = E
The Hooke’s law can take other forms, i.e.
Young’s Modulus = Stress / Strain: E = s/  This is the slope of the linear line.
Strain = Stress / Young’s modulus:  = s/E
Tensile Stress-Strain Testing Units
Elastic Deformation: recoverable, after unloading Force (F): N (Newton)
the material return to its original state. Stress (s): N m-2 (Newton per square meter)
Young’s modulus (E): same as stress
Linear elastic behaviour but mostly use GPa (GN m-2) or MPa (MN m-2)
Strain (): has no unit.
s unload
But length has a unit: m (meter)
Slope=E Area (A): m2
load
Important Note: in all calculations, the unit of F must be “N”,
 s and E must be “N m-2” and Area must be “m2”
Hooke’s Law: s = E Conversion:
E: modulus of elasticity or Young’s modulus - 1 kN = 103 N; 1 MN = 106 N; 1 GN = 109 N
a measure of material’s stiffness and resistance to 1 MPa = 106 N m-2; 1 GPa = 109 N m-2
elastic deformation 1 m2 = 106 mm2

It can be seen that Young’s modulus (E) can only be calculated from the linear regime of the
stress-strain curve. It is also called modulus of elasticity, or elastic modulus. It is a measure
of material’s resistance to deformation. It is the most important property used for stress
calculation.
When using the Hooke’s law for stress, strain and Young’s modulus calculation, it is
important to pay attention to the units involved, as shown in the slide. In order to avoid any
confusion, it is advisable that:
The Force should be converted to Newton (N) – sometimes it is given in kN (103 N) or MN
(106 N).
The cross-sectional area should be converted to square meter (m2) – dimensions are usually
given in millimetre (mm). Be careful about the conversion: 1 mm2 = 10-6 m2.
A common mistake: 1 mm2 = 10-3 m2 This is totally wrong!

Example 1:
Since the steel bar of 200 mm long is pulled to
201 mm elastically, the strain can be calculated easily:
 = L/L0 = (201 – 200)/200 = 0.005
Since the deformation is elastic, the Hooke’s law
can be applied here, i.e. s = E
The Young’s modulus is given:
E=200 GNm-2 = 200x109 Nm-2 (to make life easier,
it is better to convert GNm-2 to Nm-2).
Thus, s = E=200x109x0.005 = 1x109 Nm-2
=1000x106 MNm-2= 1000 MPa
Note: You do not have to convert the stress from Nm-2 to MNm-2 or MPa. But MPa is the stress unit more
frequently used in engineering because 1 Nm-2 is really a very small stress value.

34
Example 2:
Since the deformation is elastic, the Hooke’s law can
apply here.
To calculate the Young’s modulus: E = s/, the stress
and the strain must be determined separately.
Stress = Force / Cross-sectional area: s = F/A0
F = 5 kN = 5x103 N (convert kN to N)
The cross-sectional area of a circular bar of 20 mm
diameter:
A0 = r2 = (20/2)2 = 314.2 mm2 = 314.2x10-6 m2
(note the conversion from mm2 to m2 by x10-6)
s = F/A0 = 5x103/314.2x10-6 = 15.9x106 Nm-2
Strain:  = L/L0 = (204 – 200)/200 = 0.01
Thus, E = s/ = 15.9x106 / 0.01 = 1.59x109 Nm-2 = 1.59 GPa

Example 3:
When dealing with such a question, it is important to
recall that stress and strain are vectors: they have
magnitude and direction. By default tensile stress and
strain are positive, while compressive stress and
strain are negative and thus have a minus sign.
Thus, in this example involving compression,
s = - 210 MNm-2 = -210x106 Nm-2;
E is given: E = 70 GNm-2 = 70x109 Nm-2
(1) According to Hooke’s law:
 =s/E = -210x106/70x109 = -0.003 (This is a negative strain in the bar.)
(2) Use strain definition:  = L/L0 = (L1 – L0)/L0;
Rearrange: L0 = L1 – L0; L1 = L0 + L0 = (1+)L0
The original length of the bar: L0 = 500 mm
Thus, the final length: L1 = (1+)L0 = (1 + -0.003)x500 = 498.5 mm
Clearly, as a result of compression, the bar is shortened.

4.2.6 Relationship among E, G and :

Shear test can also be conducted to measure If the testing is done under shear condition:
the shear properties of materials. During the Elastic Shear Deformation:
Hooke’s Law also applies: Shear strain
test, a shear force is applied which is parallel
to the plane rather than normal to the plane. =G
Shear stress
After the test, a shear stress-strain curve is also Shear modulus
produced. The initial linear regime can also be Units: E, G: GPa or MPa

described by the Hooke’s law: shear stress () Relationship among E, G and u, the three elastic
properties of materials:
is proportional to shear strain ():
E = 2G(1+u)
 = G
where G is the shear modulus.
In reality, shear testing is not as popular as tensile testing because there exists a very good
relationship among Young’s modulus, shear modulus and Poisson’s ratio:
E = 2G(1+)
35
Thus from tensile test results, the shear modulus of the material can be calculated:
G = E/(2(1+))
The Poisson’s ratio can also be calculated from the two modulii:
 = E/2G – 1

4.2.7 Theory of elastic deformation Atomic View of Elastic Deformation

Scientifically, several further questions can be
asked regarding elastic deformation: bonds
stretch

• Why is elastic deformation recoverable? return to

initial
• Can elastic deformation continue forever? 
• What affect the elastic deformation behaviour? F
Elastic means reversible!
(1) Elastic deformation is recoverable because it
involves atomic bond stretch only, no atomic bond •• bonds stretch,
atomic separation increases,
breaking. This behaves like a spring. When • but no bond breaking
stressed, the atoms in the stress direction are
stretched to increase the separation between
atoms, at the same time the atoms in the perpendicular direction are squeezed resulting in a decrease
in atomic separation. It is thus easy to understand that atomic bond energy plays the most important
role in determining how easy the atoms are stretched, i.e. the E value.
(2) However, elastic deformation cannot be continued forever because when the atoms are stretched
beyond a certain atomic separation, atomic breaking will occur which will result in atomic sliding and
thus plastic deformation. This critical condition is called the elastic limit of the material, usually
marked by the yield strength of the material. Different materials have different elastic limit or yield
strength. Even the same material can have very different elastic limit after different processing and
heat treatment.
(3) Different factors affecting the two elastic
Young’s Modulus: Comparison
properties: Young’s modulus and elastic limit 1200
1000
(yield strength) of materials: 800
600
Diamond

Si carbide
ECeramics >
400 Tungsten Al oxide Carbon fibers only
Molybdenum Si nitride EMetals >>
Young’s modulus: is mainly affected by the
Steel, Ni CFRE(|| fibers)*
200 Tantalum <111>
Platinum Si crystal
E(GPa) 100
Cu alloys
Zinc, Ti
<100> Aramid fibers only
EPolymers
80 Silver, Gold AFRE(|| fibers)*
atomic bonding energy, i.e. the nature of the 60
40
Aluminum
Magnesium,
Tin
Glass-soda Glass fibers only
GFRE(|| fibers)*
s
ceramics
material. The Young’s modulus of different
Concrete
20 GFRE*

109 Pa
CFRE*
Graphite GFRE( fibers)*
categories of materials differ greatly due to the 10
8
6
CFRE( fibers)*
AFRE( fibers)*
metals
Polyester
4
difference in atomic bonding. In general, the 2
PET
PC
PS
Epoxy only

Young’s modulus of ceramics is larger than that of 1

PP
HDPE
polymers
0.8
0.6 Wood( grain) 
metals which is larger than that of polymers. 0.4
PTFE

0.2 LDPE

It is also important to note that structural features

such as alloying, changing crystal structure, heat
treatments etc. do not affect the Young’s modulus of a material too much, for example
• All kinds of steels with different carbon contents and alloying elements have a similar
Young’s modulus of about 205 GPa, because the addition of these alloying elements does not
affect the atomic bonding between iron atoms.
• Hardening by quenching or by cold working does not affect the Young’s modulus of steels.
• All aluminium alloys have a similar Young’s modulus of about 70 GPa, regardless of alloying
and processing.

Elastic limit or yield strength: although many structural factors do not affect the Young’s
modulus, i.e. the slope of the linear regime of tensile stress-strain curve, they do affect the elastic
limit, i.e. the length of the linear regime. This is what materials scientist and engineers can do to

36
improve materials properties, i.e. to extend the elastic limit such that the material becomes stronger
and can tolerate more elastic deformation. We will discuss this in details later.
________________________________________________________________________________

Tutorial 2(II): Elastic deformation

1. A material has a Young’s modulus of 110 GN m-2 and a Poisson’s ratio of 0.31. What is its Shear
modulus? (answer: 42 GPa)
2. A certain material has a Young’s modulus of 310 GN m-2 and shear modulus of 130 GN m-2.
What is its Poisson’s ratio? (answer: 0.192)
3. A piece of steel of 400 mm long is pull elastically to 402 mm. What is the stress in the steel?
The Young’s modulus of steel is 200 GN m-2 (GPa). (answer: 1000 MN m-2)
4. A round bar of 10 mm diameter and 100 mm long is pulled elastically by a force of 1.2 kN to a
final length of 102 mm. What is the Young’s modulus of this material?
(answer: 763.9 MN m-2)
5. Aluminium has a Young’s modulus of 70 GN m-2. If an aluminium bar of 0.25 m long is
compressed by a stress of 210 MN m-2:
(1) what is expected strain in the bar? (answer: -0.003)
(2) what is the final length of the bar? (answer: 0.24925 m)
6. The Young’s modulus of aluminium is 70 GPa (70 GN m-2). If a piece of aluminium bar having
an original length of 100 mm is elastically deformed by a tensile stress of 100 MN m-2,
calculate the final length of the aluminium bar under the force. (answer: 100.143 mm)
7. A 100 mm long rubber having a cross sectional area of 100 mm2 has to be stretched to a length
of 130 mm. What is the stress required? What is the force required? The Young’s modulus of
rubber is 2 MPa. (answer: 60 N)
8. A cylindrical steel bar having a diameter of 10 mm and a length of 50 mm is stressed by a tensile
force of 100 kN. Under this force, the length of the bar is increased to 50.3 mm. The yield strength
(sy) of the steel is 1500 MN m-2, and the Poisson’s ratio () is 0.3.
(1) Calculate the tensile stress in the bar. (answer: 1273 MPa)
(2) Calculate the strain in the loading direction. (answer: 0.006)
(3) Is the deformation elastic or plastic? Explain.
(4) Calculate the Young’s modulus (E) of the steel. (answer: 212.2 GPa)
(5) What is the reduction in diameter of the bar under this force? (answer: -0.018 mm)

37
4.2.8 The non-linear regime - Plastic deformation
When the specimen is loaded above the elastic limit, plastic deformation starts and the stress-
strain curve is no longer linear. The non-linear part of the curve is due to plastic deformation.
Plastic deformation means that it is permanent and
unrecoverable. Once plastic deformation occurs,
the material will be deformed permanently and will
not be able to return to its original state.
If the load is released completely after some
plastic deformation, only partial recovery takes
place to recover the elastic deformation only.
Therefore, the unloading curve does not follow the
original loading curve, but is a straight line parallel
to the initial straight line of elastic deformation, as
shown in the slide.
This parallel line concept is very important. By drawing a parallel line, we can determine the
amount of plastic strain (P) by the intercept of the parallel line with the horizontal axis (
axis). Then from the total strain (T), we can determine the amount of elastically recovered
strain (E):
Atomic View of Plastic Deformation
T = P + E
After plastic deformation, the material is
permanently elongated. If the original length
due to
of the specimen is L0, then the final length of dislocation motion
the specimen (after the load is completely
removed) will become:
F
Lf = (1+P)L0
Theoretically, if the elastic limit is exceeded, Plastic means permanent! linear
elastic
linear
elastic

atomic breaking will happen. If all atomic plastic

bonds are broken at the same time, the

material will fracture immediately, meaning no plastic deformation. For plastic deformation
to occur, it requires that
(1) the atomic bonds are broken one by one, not all together,
(2) the atomic planes slide over one another such
that the atomic bonds are reformed.
Such material deformation behaviour is possible due to the existence and movement of
dislocations in the structure. This will be discussed further later.

Example:
A specimen of 100 mm long is tensile tested to a stress of 180 MPa.
The stress-strain curve is shown in figure.
(1) Determine the Young’s modulus of the specimen.
(2) Determine the total strain (T), plastic strain (P) and elastic
strain (E) at 180 MPa stress.
(3) If the stress of 180 MPa is completely removed, determine the
final length of the specimen.

38
Solution:
(1) Young’s modulus (E) can be found from any point in 200
the linear part of the curve, e.g. point 1, from which, the
stress is 80 MPa, and strain is about 0.005. Thus 160
E = s/ = 80x10 /0.005 = 160x10 Nm = 160 GPa

Stress, s (MPa)
6 9 -2

(2) The total strain can be found by drawing a vertical line 120
e
(line a) from the loading point to intercept with the strain
b a
axis: T = 0.026. 80 1
Drawing a line b parallel to the original straight line e, the
plastic strain can be found from the intercept with the strain 40
axis: P = 0.014.
Elastic strain is thus: E = T – P = 0.026 – 0.014 = 0.012 0
0 0.01 0.02 0.03
(3) Since the plastic strain P = 0.014, the specimen is Strain, 
permanently elongated even after the load is completely
removed. The final length = (1+ P)L0 = 1.014 x 100 = 101.4 mm.

4.2.9 How to determine the onset of plastic deformation and the yield strength
Ideally, the onset of plastic deformation can
Onset of Plastic Deformation
be determined by the transition between the (Yield Strength of the Material)
linear and non-linear part of the stress-strain Elastic-plastic transition:
s difficult to determine
curve. The yield strength of the material (sy) accurately
sy
is determined exactly from the transition Yield
point. However, in reality, for many materials strength
the transition is not sharp, but is quite gradual.
It is thus difficult to determine the yield 
Use 0.002 strain offset to define yield strength
strength precisely. 0.2% proof stress
Material’s resistance to plastic deformation
Thus, more frequently, a strain offset Criterion: when s > sy, material deform plastically
technique is used to determine the yield
strength of material, as shown in the slide.
This technique involves 4 steps:
(1) A small strain, e.g. 0.002 or 0.2% is used as an offset.
(2) From this strain on the strain axis, draw a straight line parallel to the initial linear line.
(3) This parallel line will intercept with the stress-strain curve
(4) From this intercept point, the yield strength, sy, is determined.
The yield strength determined by this way is called the proof stress, e.g. 0.2% proof stress,
meaning it is determined by using 0.02% strain as the offset. By using the strain offset
technique, the difficulty in determining the
exact transition point can be avoided and Yield Strength of the Material: YS or sy
therefore it is subjected to less error. Material’s resistance to plastic deformation

Yield strength is a very important material Criterion: when s > sy, material deform plastically
property. It basically sets a limit for elastic
If the applied stress is above the
Applied Stress

deformation. It is also used as an important Plastic yield strength of the material,

design limit: deformation the material will deform plastically
Yield strength This is a design limit
• When the applied stress is below the yield
Elastic If the applied stress is below the
strength, only elastic deformation will occur. deformation yield strength of the material,
Thus the component will return to its original only the material will deform elastically only
state after use, i.e. after the load is removed.

39
 This is the desired situation in many practical applications. Therefore, make sure that you do not
go beyond this limit in your design.
• When the applied stress is above the yield strength, the material will have some plastic
deformation. Thus the component will not be able to return to its original state after use. This
situation should be avoided in design.
Clearly, in order to avoid permanent plastic deformation in use, an important design criterion
is that
Stress induced in use must be less than the yield strength of the material
In reality, in order to make absolutely sure the above criterion, a safety factor is often used in
design.

Onset of Plastic Deformation

(Yield Strength of the Material)

A very important design criterion:

Engineering components and parts must be designed
within the elastic limit of the materials, i.e.

Stress induced in use < Yield strength of the material

e.g. in simple tension: F/A < sy

Example 1:
Since sy = 800 MPa, the stress below this value will cause elastic deformation only, i.e. 250 MPa and 700
MPa, and the stress above this value cause some plastic deformation, i.e. 1020 MPa and 850 MPa.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Tutorial 3 (I): Tensile properties

1. The yield strength of aluminium alloy is 200 MN m-2. Which of the following applied stresses
can cause plastic deformation to this alloy? Which can only cause elastic deformation?
50 MN m-2, 420 MN m-2, 150 MN m-2, 250 MN m-2
2. A specimen of 200 mm long is 1200
tensile tested to a stress of 1000 MPa.
The recorded stress-strain curve is
shown in the figure. 1000
Stress, s (MPa)

(1) Determine the Young’s modulus

of the specimen.
800
(2) Determine the yield strength at a
strain offset of 0.002. 600
(3) Determine the total strain (T),
plastic strain (P) and elastic 400
strain (E) at 1000 MPa stress.
(4) If the stress of 1000 MPa is 200
completely removed, determine
the final length of the specimen.
0
0 0.01 0.02 0.03
Strain, 

40
4.2.10 The necking phenomenon
After plastic deformation starts, it will continue with increasing stress until the maximum
point on the stress-strain curve. This maximum point measures the tensile strength (sTS) of
the material:
sTS = Fmax / A0
For relatively brittle materials, fracture will happen when the maximum point is reached.
However for ductile materials, after the maximum point plastic deformation will continue but
the stress required to continue the deformation is decreased. Thus we will see the decline in
the stress-strain curve after the maximum point.
The drop in stress after the maximum point, which occurs only to ductile materials, is due to
the phenomenon of necking. As can be seen from the slide, during the initial elastic
deformation stage, the specimen is elongated uniformly. During plastic deformation below
the maximum point, the elongation is also uniform. However, after the maximum point, a
neck is formed in the specimen. Thus further deformation becomes concentrated at the
necking area. The neck becomes smaller and smaller and the specimen finally fractures at the
neck. Since the necking area is smaller, lower load is required to sustain the deformation.

Plastic Deformation
Necking and Fracture
Necking occurs
Tensile Strength (TS) after this point
• The maximum stress the material can sustain before
fracture
s Why the stress drops?
Fracture
strength sf
TS

Due to necking

 Uniform elongation

So, what is necking?

Brittle materials do not experience necking,
but rather fracture

It is important to distinguish the

deformation and fracture behaviour Necking and Fracture
between ductile and brittle materials. • Ductile fracture:
large plastic deformation
Ductile materials have large plastic deformation before fracture
before fracture. The stress-strain curve has a • Brittle fracture:
very limited plastic
maximum point with decreasing stress after the deformation before
maximum. The material will experience fracture
necking and fracture in a cup&cone mode.
Thus, the maximum
Brittle materials have very limited plastic amount of strain
deformation before fracture. They fracture at the upon fracture is a
measure of ductility
maximum point and do not form a neck. The of materials
fracture surfaces are usually quite flat with
shinny appearance.
From the slide, it can be seen that the amount of total strain upon fracture is much larger for
ductile materials than for brittle materials. Thus the final strain before fracture should be a
good measure of material’s ductility.

41
4.2.11 Quantification of ductility
Indeed, the ductility of materials can be quantified. Two parameters are used in engineering
for ductility:
(1) Percent elongation (%EL): The larger the %EL, the more ductile is the material. Generally
speaking, brittle materials have small %EL less than 5%, while ductile materials have large
%EL more than 5%.
(2) Percent reduction in area (%RA): for ductile materials, this can be a large value because of
neck formation. For brittle materials, this can be close to zero because of no neck formation.

Quantification of Ductility Ductility – Comparison of Materials

Measured by Ceramics (brittle)
s
• percent elongation
 l f − l0  Metals (ductile)
% EL =   x100
 l0 
• percent reduction in area Polymers (very ductile)
 A0 − A f  Small %EL
% RA =   x100 Brittle if %EL<5

 A0  Ductility: polymers > metals > ceramics
Large %EL E &TS: Ceramic > metals > polymers
The larger the %EL and/or %RA, Ductile if %EL>5 Q: which material is more reliable
the more ductile is the material for structural applications? Toughness

When comparing the ductility of different categories of materials, it is generally true that
metals are much more ductile than ceramics and polymers are more ductile that metals. We
need to pull a piece of metal longer in order to break it than pulling a piece of ceramics; and
for a piece of plastic, you need to pull it even longer before you can break it.
So this ductility ranking is really different from the ranking of Young’s modulus and tensile
strength. When material reliability is concerned in design, a question is usually raised: which
material is more reliable to resist fracture? This is related to another property – toughness,
which can also be derived from the tensile-stress strain curve.

4.2.12 Toughness – the area under the s- curve

The toughness of a material is measured by the area covered by the tensile stress-strain curve,
as highlighted in the slide for ceramics, metals and polymers. It is a measure of the total
amount of strain energy required to break the material. Thus the larger the area, the more
energy is required and the material is tougher. Mathematically, the area covered the stress-
strain curve is expressed as:
 max
Toughness = energy to break the material =  sd
0

Toughness
• The ability of a material to absorb energy up to
fracture, i.e. the resistance to fracture
• Measured by the area under the s- tensile curve
s Ceramics: small toughness
Metals: larger toughness
Polymers: small toughness
 the stress states.
Toughness
A few points to note:
• Toughness depends on both ductility and strength
• Metals are tough because they have high strength
and good ductility
• Ceramics have smaller toughness because they have
poor ductility (although they have high strength)
• Polymers have smaller toughness because they have
low strength (although they are ductile)
• The toughness of material is also affected by the test
and environmental (e.g. temperature) conditions, and

42
When comparing the toughness of different categories of materials, it is obvious that metals
are generally tougher than ceramics and polymers, because toughness is determined by both
strength and ductility, i.e. by how far the curve is moving upwards and to the right-hand side.
A tough material will require more energy to
break, and the fracture mode is ductile, Toughness
meaning plastic deformation is involved. Important concept:
There are two reasons why ductile fracture is ductile fracture is always preferred, for two reasons:
more preferred in engineering, as shown in the
(1)The presence of plastic deformation gives warning
slide. Just imagine bending a steel bar, the bar before fracture occurs. On the other hand, brittle
will be bent gradually (plastic deformation) fracture occurs suddenly and catastrophically
without any warning.
before breaking. This gradual bending is slow
and gives a warning of fracture. You feel safer (2) More strain energy is required to induce ductile
fracture, i.e. a ductile/tough material does not
to bend a steel bar. Now if you are bending a fracture so easily.
piece of glass, it will not be bent gradually
because it is brittle and does not show any ductility. The glass will fracture suddenly and
quickly without any warning, which may cause harm to your hands. You do not feel so safe
to bend a piece of glass.
Similarly, in engineering, plastic deformation before fracture gives warnings. If permanent
deformation occurred, e.g. a shaft is no longer straight or the gear teeth are deformed, it warns
you that it is the time to service the machine and replace the shaft or gear. This will avoid
final fracture which may cause catastrophe.

4.2.13 Modulus of resilience

It is necessary to introduce another property – Modulus of Resilience, Ur
modulus of resilience, Ur, which is used for • Material’s ability to absorb elastic energy
spring applications. It is measured by the area • Measured by the area under the elastic region in
the s- curve.
under the elastic region in the stress-strain y sy
curve. It is the elastic energy that the material U r =  sd
0
can absorb. Assuming linear elastic region, then
1 s y  s y
2
1
To make springs, the material to be used U r = s y y = s y   =
should have a large Ur value. This can 2 2  E  2E
maximise the energy that the spring can • Materials with high sy & low E
absorbed and improve the efficiency and
(thus high Ur) are suitable for
0.002 y
spring applications
durability of the spring.
The Ur value is determined by other two
properties, i.e. yield strength (sy) and
Young’s modulus (E). Materials for spring
applications should have high yield strength
and low Young’s modulus. Increasing sy is
more efficient because it has a square
relationship with Ur. This is the reason why
most spring steels contain relative high carbon
contents and are hardened to their maximum
strength.
The table compares the Young’s modulus, yield strength, price and modulus of resilience of
some metallic alloys. Clearly, AISI6150 steel is the best and cheap material for making
springs. Titanium alloy Ti6Al4V also has a larger Er value, but it is very expensive comparing

43
to steel. Cost is a very important consideration in materials selection. Other considerations
are safety, environmental impacts and legal requirements.

4.2.14 Strain hardening (work hardening)

Now, from any point on the non-linear part Strain Recovery after Plastic Deformation
of the stress-strain curve below the new yield strength
maximum point, if the stress is removed loading
Initial yield strength
completely, the parallel line technique can
Re-load
be used to denote the unloading line, and to
unloading
find the plastic strain on the horizontal axis:
the specimen is permanently strained. If the Plastic deformation
specimen is stressed again with increasing leads to increased
yield strength – Total strain
load, it will follow this parallel line and start Strain Hardening (elastic+plastic)
to yield at the intercept point on the curve. or Work Hardening Elastic strain
This means that a new yield strength is
achieved and this new yield strength is higher than the original yield strength.
This is a very important phenomenon in materials science: strain hardening or work
hardening. When a material was plastically deformed previously, its yield strength is
increased. The more plastic strain is, the higher the yield strength is, following the non-liner
part of the stress-strain curve. Thus the shape of the stress-strain curve also provides
information on the strain hardening ability of the material.
Strain hardening is a powerfully technique for hardening materials. It also has important
implications in manufacturing. This will be discussed in more details later.

4.2.15 Summary – Tensile properties

From the simple tensile testing, many important material properties can be obtained. After
learning this chapter, students are expected to be able to determine or calculate the following
properties:
E, sy, sTS, %EL, %RA, toughness, Ur, strain hardening
Students are expected to know how to do all
Examples of stress-strain response of
the calculations and interpret a typical tensile various materials
stress-strain curve to find all relevant s s s
properties. Ductile material with
Brittle materials
Ductile material Glasses, ceramics,
significant work with low work some plastics,
What we have discussed so far are based on a hardening hardening rate cast iron, some metals
  
stress-strain curve typical of ductile materials. Yield point
In reality, the shape and size of the curve is s s s Fiber

Materials with Composite

different for different materials due to different discontinuous
Structural breakdown
Matrix
yielding:
elastic, plastic and fracture behaviour. Some some steels & reorganisation
  
typical tensile stress-strain curves for different Ductile polymers
Orientation
strengthening
materials are shown in the slide.

Tensile Testing Lab: there is a lab session on tensile testing of 4 metal specimens and 4 polymer
specimens. Students are required to attend the lab session and then complete and submit the logsheets.
All information is available on the CW submission folder of the Blackboard.

44
Tutorial 3 (II): Tensile properties

1. Use the following recorded stress-strain curve for a material to complete parts (a) to (e).
(a) Compute the modulus of elasticity. (answer: appx 26 GPa)
(b) Determine the yield strength at a strain offset of 0.002. (answer: appx 320 MPa)
(c) Determine the tensile strength of this material. (answer: appx 365 MPa)
s y2
(d) Compute the modulus of resilience. ( U r = )
2E
(e) A cylindrical specimen of this material 10.0 mm in diameter and 120.0 mm long is
pulled in tension with a force of 10,000 N; the force is subsequently released.
(i) What is the final length of the specimen at this time? (answer: no change,120 mm)
(ii) Compute the final specimen length when the load is increased to 27,000 N and then
released. (answer: 120.84 mm)
400

350

300
Stress (MPa)

250

200

150

100

50

0
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06
Strain

2. A tensile test uses a test specimen that has a gauge length of 50 mm and a cross sectional area =
200 mm2. During the test, the specimen yields under a load of 98,000 N. The corresponding gauge
length = 50.23 mm. This is the 0.2 % (0.002) yield point. The maximum load = 168,000 N is
reached at a gauge length = 64.2 mm. After test to fracture, the final gauge length = 74.3 mm, and
the specimen necked to an area = 92 mm2. Determine
(a) yield strength sy at 0.002 strain offset. (answer: 490 MPa)
(b) modulus of elasticity E. (answer: 188.5 GPa)
(c) tensile strength TS. (answer: 840 MPa)
(d) ductility in terms of percent elongation. (answer: 48.6)
(e) ductility in terms of percent reduction in area. (answer: 54)

3. A cylindrical specimen of a hypothetical metal alloy is stressed in compression. If its original and
final diameters are 30.00 and 30.04 mm respectively, and its final length is 105.20 mm, compute
its original length if the deformation is totally elastic. The elastic and the shear moduli of this
alloy are 65.5 and 25.4 GPa respectively. (answer: 105.69 mm)

45
Tutorial 3 (III): Multiple choice questions

1. Young’s modulus is a measure of

(a) material’s resistance to plastic deformation
(b) material’s resistance to fracture
(c) material’s ductility
(d) material’s resistance to elastic deformation

2. A stiff material means that

(a) it has a large Young’s modulus
(b) it has a high strength
(c) it is ductile
(d) it can absorb more energy before fracture

3. The Young’s modulus of aluminium, steel and polystyrene is 70 GN/m2, 200 GN/m2 and 1.2
GN/m2, respectively. If a stress of 20 MN/m2 is applied to these three materials, which will
experience the largest elastic deformation?
(a) aluminium
(b) steel
(c) polystyrene

4. A material will deform elastically when

(a) the applied stress is greater than the yield strength of the material.
(b) the Young’s modulus is exceeded.
(c) the applied stress is below the yield strength of the material.

5. Yielding of a material means that

(a) the material deforms plastically
(b) the material deforms elastically
(c) the material does not deform at all
(d) the material fractures

6. The yield strength and tensile strength of a material are 200 MN/m2 and 320 MN/m2 respectively.
If a tensile stress of 250 MN/m2 is applied, the material will
(a) deform elastically
(b) fracture
(c) deform only plastically
(d) deform both elastically and plastically

7. Strain hardening means that

(a) plastic deformation increases the toughness of the material
(b) plastic deformation enhances the yield strength of the material
(c) plastic deformation increases the stiffness of the material

8. The yield strength and tensile strength of a material are 200 MN/m2 and 320 MN/m2 respectively.
A tensile stress of 250 MN/m2 is applied to the material and then removed. If the same specimen
is stressed again, its new yield strength is
(a) 200 MN/m2
(b) 320 MN/m2
(c) 250 MN/m2
(d) 450 MN/m2

9. It took a 100 N force to bend a piece of steel wire, 120 N to unbend it, and 140 N to re-bend it
back to the same angle. This is because
(a) the diameter of the steel wire was increased

46
 (b) the steel wire was shortened
(c) the steel wire was strain hardened
(d) the steel wire was hardened due to the heat generated

10. The tensile strength of a material is defined as

(a) the load at yielding point divided by original cross sectional area
(b) Young’s modulus times strain
(c) load at fracture divided by original cross sectional area
(d) maximum load divided by original cross sectional area

11. A cylindrical bar having a cross sectional area of 50 mm2 is pulled by a tensile force of 7,500 N.
The resultant tensile stress is
(a) 150 MN/m2
(b) 150,000 MN/m2
(c) 3750 MN/m2
(d) 75 MN/m2

12. A material is deformed elastically to a strain of 0.005 by a tensile stress of 800 MN/m2. What is
the Young’s modulus of this material?
(b) 160,000 GN/m2
(c) 4000 GN/m2
(d) 160 GN/m2

13. A steel bar of 100 mm long is pulled to a length of 100.3 mm by a stress of 600 MN/m2. If the
bar remains elastic, what is the Young’s modulus of the material?
(a) 6 GN/m2
(b) 200 GN/m2
(c) 60,000 GN/m2
(d) 180 GN/m2

14. An aluminium bar having a cross sectional area of 100 mm2 is pulled by a force of 12,000N. If
the yield strength of aluminium is 85 MN/m2, it will deform
(a) elastically
(b) plastically

15. The yield strength and Young’s modulus of a titanium alloy are 1500 MN/m2 and 150 GN/m2
respectively. If a bar of this alloy of 200 mm long is pulled by a stress of 1200 MN/m2, what is
the final length of the bar after the stress is completely removed?
(a) 200.01 mm
(b) 202 mm
(c) 200 mm
(d) 201.6 mm
16. Which of the following material is the toughest?
(a) ceramics
(b) polymers
(c) metals

17. A material fractures following elastic deformation without appreciable plastic deformation. This
material is
(a) brittle
(b) ductile

18. Under some circumstances, normally ductile materials may fracture in a brittle mode. Which
three of the following situations may make a ductile material become brittle?
(a) When the material is melted

47
 (b) At very low temperatures
(c) At very high strain rate during deformation
(d) Under a very high stress
(e) When a sharp notch is introduced at the surface of the material
(f) When the material is heated above 50% of its melting temperature

19. Plastic deformation is useful in engineering, because (may be more than one)
(a) it allows for the forming of the material into shapes by deformation
(b) the material can resist high loads without deformation
(c) it gives warning before the component fractures
(d) it absorbs more energy before the component fractures.

20. Alloying is a common technique used to modify the properties of materials. The following figure
shows the tensile stress-strain curves measured for pure aluminium and an aluminium alloy.
Carefully examine these two curves and identify which of the following statements are true (may
be more than one).

Aluminium alloy

Stress

Pure aluminium

Strain

(a) Alloying increases the yield strength and tensile strength

(b) Alloying does not affect the yield strength
(c) Alloying also increases the stiffness (Young’s modulus)
(d) Alloying reduces ductility
(e) Alloying increases toughness

48
21. Two grades of steel, AISI 1020 and AISI 1045, both in the annealed condition, were tensile-tested.
Which of the following figure correctly shows (schematically) the stress-strain curves for these
two materials?

AISI 1045 AISI 1045 AISI 1045

Stress

Stress
Stress

AISI 1020 AISI 1020 AISI 1020

Strain Strain Strain

(a) (b) (c)

22. Two AISI 1045 steel specimens, one annealed and the other quench-hardened, were tensile-tested.
Which of the following figure correctly shows (schematically) the stress-strain curves for these
two specimens?

Hardened
Hardened Hardened
Stress

Stress
Stress

Annealed Annealed Annealed

Strain Strain Strain

(a) (b) (c)

49
4.3 Hardness of Materials
Although tensile testing is simple and can Hardness
derive many useful material properties, it has • Hardness: a measure of material’s resistance to
some disadvantages, including: localised plastic deformation.
(1) it requires the use of standard dog-bone like • Making an indent on material’s
• Hardness testing: surface under a known force
specimens; • Measure the size of the indent
(2) it is destructive: the specimen is tested until indenter F area (A)
break; therefore
(3) it cannot be used to test real components
Material Hardness Value: F/A
In many situations, the properties of real
• Higher hardness means: higher resistance to plastic
components have to be tested and this must be deformation, higher strength, better wear resistance
done non-destructively because the
components will be put into use.
Hardness
Hardness testing is the most frequently used
Hardness testing is most widely in industry because
method to test the mechanical properties of (1)It is very simple, cheap, no skill required
materials and real components. (2)It is nondestructive, can be made on real parts
Indenters and test methods:
Hardness is a measure of a material’s
Pyramid
resistance to localised plastic deformation by (diamond)
indentation or scratch. It also gives a good Spherical Conical
indication of a material resistance to wear. (hardened steel) (diamond) HV/HK
HB HR
Generally, the harder a material is the more Brinell tests: Rockwell tests: Vickers/Knoop tests:
wear resistant it is. For metals, there is also a for metals and for all materials &
for soft metals hardened steels hard materials
roughly proportional relationship between
hardness and tensile strength.
Hardness testing is relatively straightforward, simple, and in many cases non-destructive and
can be made on real components.
Special machines, called hardness testers, are commonly placed in engineering organizations.
The test involves making an indentation on the surface of a material with a known indenter
and under a known load. The depth and dimensions of the indentation is measured and this is
converted from the knowledge of the load applied to a hardness number (no units).
Hardness Test Methods Hardness
Hardness Test Indenter Load Application Hardness-Tensile strength: Correlation
Vickers or Diamond 1 g to 2000 g Microhardness of TS = CxHardness
Knoop steels and ceramics Constant C: vary with material,
Brinell Ball 500-3000 kg Soft steels & metals has to be determined empirically
40 HRC for each material
Rockwell C Diamond cone 150 kg Hardened metals (thick) Roughly,
Rockwell B Ball 100 kg Soft steels & nonferrous for steels: TS (MPa) = 3.45 x HB
Rockwell T Ball 15, 30 & 45 kg Thin soft metals for ceramics: TS (MPa) = 3 x HV
Rockwell N Diamond 15, 30 7 45 kg Thin hard metals Comparison of hardness of materials
Rockwell A Diamond 50 kg Cemented carbides
Rockwell R Ball 10 kg Polymers
Shore Needle Spring Elastomers
Durometer

A number of hardness testing techniques are available for testing different materials. The
differences are normally in the shape of the indenter. Typical indenters include hardened steel
balls, conical diamonds, and diamond pyramids. The selection of a proper technique and
indenter for the test depends on the nature, strength, and size of the material to be tested.

50
The three most widely used techniques are (1) Rockwell hardness test; (2) Brinell hardness
test; and (3) Vickers hardness test.
(1) Rockwell hardness tests: constitute the most common method of hardness measurements of
virtually all metals and some polymers. Several different scales may be utilised from possible
combinations of various indenters and different loads, depending on how hard or how soft the
material is. Indenters include spherical hardened steel balls having standardised diameters for
testing a wide range of not-so hard materials, and a conical diamond for testing hard materials.
The load applied ranges from 15 kg to 150 kg depending on the test scale.
When specifying Rockwell hardness, both hardness number and scale symbol must be
indicated. The scale is designated by the symbol HR followed by the appropriate scale
identification. For example, 45 HRC represents a Rockwell hardness of 45 on the C scale.
This technique is not suitable for testing brittle materials such as ceramics because (a) the
hardened steel balls are not hard enough or (b) the high load applied would induce cracking
in the brittle material.
(2) Brinell hardness tests: use a 10.00 mm diameter hardened steel (or tungsten carbide) ball as
the indenter. Standard loads range between 500 kg and 3000 kg. Harder materials require
greater applied load. The Brinell hardness is specified by the measured number together with
the symbol, HB. For example, 500 HB represents a Brinell hardness of 500.
(3) Vickers hardness tests: are widely used to measure the hardness of hard materials, such as
hardened steels and ceramics. For each test, a small diamond indenter having pyramidal
geometry is forced into the surface of the material. The resulting impression is observed under
a microscope and measured; this measurement is then converted into a hardness number.
Careful specimen surface preparation (grinding and polishing) may be necessary to ensure a
well-defined indentation that may be accurately measured, because the indentation may be
quite small due to the small load applied.
Two kinds of Vickers hardness test methods are available depending on the applied load
range. In Vickers Microhardness testing, the applied load range is between 5 g and 1000g;
while in common Vickers hardness testing, the applied load can be up to 50 kg.

Hardness Testing Lab: there is a lab session on hardness testing of materials. Two techniques will
be used in the lab session: Rockwell hardness testing and Vickers hardness testing. Students will test
a series of carbon steels and heat treated high speed steels. Students are required to attend the lab
session and then complete and submit a formal report. All information is available on the CW
submission folder of the Blackboard.

51
 Chapter 5. Strengthening Mechanisms

The mechanical properties of crystalline materials, e.g. metals, can be changed significantly
by several techniques. These are mostly related to the defects in the crystals. It is useful to
understand the techniques that can be used to make metals stronger and how the strength of
metals is related to crystal defects.

5.1 Defects in Crystals Defects in Crystals

In a perfect crystal, every atomic position is and
occupied by a host atom and there are no Strengthening of Metals
foreign atoms. However, in reality very few Questions:
crystals are perfect. They always have some How and why can metals be plastically deformed without breaking?
defects. There are three types of defects in How can metals be made stronger?
crystals:
(1) Point defects: include vacancies, impurities/
foreign atoms. These point defects induce Defects in Crystals
lattice-strain in the crystal.
Can a crystal be perfect? No, many defects exist
(2) Line defects: i.e. dislocations – a half plane of
atoms are missing from the crystal. This
induces more lattice strain and provides the
opportunity for atomic sliding.
(3) Planar defects: mainly include grain boundaries
impurities
in polycrystalline materials. As discussed
later, grain boundaries are beneficial in Perfect crystal?
increasing material strength. vacancies

Lattice strain: is very important in 1. Vacancies and self-interstitial

understanding material deformation behaviour in
the atomic scale. In an ideal crystal, the horizontal Vacancy
distortion
and vertical lines linking the atomic centres are of planes
straight, meaning that they are free from strain. If
Atoms surrounding the vacancy are attracted towards
there is a vacancy, then the atoms surrounding the it, deviate from ideal positions – lattice strain
vacancy tend to move towards the vacancy to
reduce the gap. So the lines linking the atomic self-
distortion interstitial
centres are bent around the vacancy. This bending of planes
in the atomic scale is called lattice strain. Now if
we recall that strain can cause strain hardening. Atoms surrounding the interstitial are squeezed
Thus lattice strain can also cause strain hardening
in the atomic scale. If there are many vacancies in
How does alloying affect material properties?
the crystal, it is easy to imagine that the crystalline
• It introduces impurities in the
material will be hardened by many lattice strains material to effect
inside. Therefore, vacancies in crystal can make the (1) Solid solution hardening when
crystal stronger, sounding strange but it is true due the alloying atoms dissolve in Smaller alloying atom
the lattice, causing lattice strain
to strain hardening. (2) Precipitation or dispersion
hardening due to the formation
Alloying effect: Similarly, if there are some of hard second phase dispersed
Larger alloy atom
throughout the material
impurity atoms or interstitials in the crystal, these a second phase particle
impurity or alloying atoms will either occupy some • It reduces the ductility of material
atomic positions to substitute the host atoms or • It reduces the electric and thermal
squeeze into the interstitial sites. In both cases, a conductivity of material
lattice strain is induced surrounding each impurity

52
atom, i.e. the line linking the atomic centres is no longer straight around the impurity atom. Thus,
alloying a metal by adding a small amount of other elements can always increase the mechanical
strength of that metal, for two reasons:
(1) Solid solution hardening: due to the lattice strain induced by individual alloying atoms
dissolved in the crystal;
(2) Precipitation hardening: when the amount of alloying element added exceeds the solubility
limit, the excess alloying element will segregate and combine with the host atoms to form
many small particles precipitating in the lattice, causing hardening

It should be pointed out that alloying always

increases the strength, but reduces the ductility
and conductivity of metals. Alloying normally Alloy
does not affect the Young’s modulus too much.

Stress
If we compare the tensile stress-strain curves of
a pure metal and its alloys, they should look
Pure metal
somewhat like what shown in the slide. Can you
figure it out?
The alloying effect can be further studied through
two case studies shown in the slides below. Strain

Alloying Effect: Case Studies

Case 1: Why carbon make steel stronger and harder? Alloying Effect: Case Studies
Steels: Fe-C alloys with 0.02-2.0 wt% C. Case 2: Why aluminium alloys have much higher
strength than pure Al?
• Some C atoms dissolve in Fe BCC lattice (), causing
solid solution hardening
• Some C combine with Fe to form hard Fe3C cementite FCC Al + Large amount of
phase, causing dispersion hardening inclusions CuAl2 precipitates


99% pure Al Al-Cu-Mg alloy
for aircraft use
20mm
• Solid solution hardening: some Cu and Mg dissolve
Pure Fe: Single phase 0.8 wt% C
0.4 wt% C +Fe3C in FCC Al
• Precipitation hardening: fine-dispersed particles in
• %C Fe3C Strength the matrix of FCC Al

5.2 Dislocations & Plastic Deformation

If in an original perfect crystal, a half plane of
atoms is removed, the remaining half plane Linear Defects - Dislocations
This extra half-plane is dislocated
seems dislocated in the crystal – this is a
dislocation. The atoms surrounding the
missing half plane will squeeze to come closer
together, causing lattice distortion and lattice
strain. Thus, there is a large strain field A perfect crystal If this half-plane The lattice is
surrounding the dislocation. When a shear is removed distorted
Dislocations:
stress is exerted in the crystal, the dislocation • are line defects caused by dislocated half-plane atoms
can move step by step. One of the most • cause localised lattice distortion
• can move between crystal plane to
important discoveries in materials science is produce permanent (plastic) deformation.
that
Dislocation motion is responsible for plastic deformation in metals.

53
 Linear Defects - Dislocations

Dislocation line

Dislocations play a very important role in deformation

behaviour of metals

Just imagine, if a material is stressed above the elastic limit, the atomic bonds are broken and
the material would fracture into pieces. However, this does not happen in metals, instead
plastic deformation takes place rather than fracture.
To break all atomic bonds together at one time, an extremely high stress is required. This is
analogous to moving a piece of large carpet laying perfectly on the floor. However, if there
are dislocations in the material, when the elastic limit is exceeded, the dislocations will move
step by step, involving atomic breaking and reforming. This is analogous to moving a large
piece of carpet with some waves (humps). Each wave is like a dislocation. By moving the
waves, the carpet can be moved easily and progressively. See demonstration below.

Shear Shear Shear Shear

stress stress stress stress

Shear Shear Shear Shear

stress stress stress stress

Shear Shear Shear

stress stress stress

Permanent
Shear Shear Shear deformation
stress stress stress

It can be seen that dislocation motion involves breaking one atomic bond next to the
dislocation and progressing the dislocation by one atomic distance. When the dislocation
progresses to the edge of the crystal, an atomic step is produced, which is the plastic
deformation in the atomic scale. If there are many dislocations inside, many atomic steps and
a large deformation can be produced. What Are Required for Dislocation Motion
Therefore, with dislocation motion, the (1) Dislocations: created during fabrication, depending
material can deform plastically without on materials – Metals: 103 – 1010/mm2; Dislocation
breaking. Ceramics: 102-104/mm2 density
2 Silicon: 0.1-1/mm .
In order for dislocations to move in the (2) Dislocation mobility: depends on crystal structure
crystal, three requirements must be met as FCC > BCC > HCP
Metals with FCC structure are usually more ductile than
shown in the slide. The yield strength of the those with BCC and HCP structure
material is the minimum stress required for (3) A sufficiently large stress: you have to apply a stress
that is large enough to move the dislocations –
dislocation motion. It is material-dependent Applied stress > the critical value for the material
and depends on many structural factors. Yield strength: material-dependent

54
The dislocation theory has been proven experimentally. If a single crystal is pulled, many atomic steps
can be seen clearly, which lead to elongation. If a polycrystalline material is deformed, many
dislocation slip or sliding lines can be seen easily.
In summary, dislocation motion is responsible for plastic deformation in crystalline materials.
Metals are ductile because there are many dislocations inside and the dislocations can
slide/slip relatively easily. Ceramics are brittle because there are fewer dislocations and the
dislocations are more difficult to move because of the complicated structure. Polymers are
deformation by a different mechanism because they are non-crystalline materials.

Verification Dislocation and Plastic Deformation:

direction
of force A few points to note:
• Most metals are ductile because dislocation density is
high and dislocation motion/slip is possible
• But metals with HCP structure (e.g. Mg) are relatively
slip plane brittle because dislocations in HCP structure are
more difficult to move
• Metals can be strengthened by impeding dislocation
motion via compositional & structural control – e.g.
solid solution, precipitation, work hardening
• Ceramics are brittle they have complex structure and
A single crystal
dislocations are very difficult to move/slip
Slip lines on polycrystalline
after deformation copper after plastic • Polymers deform plastically via a different mechanism:
by tension deformation viscous flow of molecular chains

5.3 Strengthening Techniques

Therefore, metals can be made stronger (higher sy) by making dislocations more difficult to
move, using several techniques discussed in the following sections, including
(1) grain refinement;
(2) solid solution (alloying);
(3) strain hardening;
(4) quenching;
(5) age-hardening.

The principle of these strengthening techniques is very straightforward: impede dislocation

motion. If dislocation motion is impeded, plastic deformation will be restricted and thus a
higher stress is required to induce the dislocation motion. This means that the yield strength
will become higher and the material becomes stronger.

So, how to strengthen metals?

Dislocation motion Plastic deformation
Impeded

Plastic deformation Materials

becomes more difficult becomes stronger

Strengthening principle:
To impede dislocation motion
(make it more difficult for dislocations to move)

55
5.4 Strengthening by Grain Refinement
As discussed earlier, metallic alloys are polycrystalline materials containing many tiny
crystals (grains). The grains have different orientations and make boundaries with other
grains. Therefore, there are many grain boundaries inside a piece of metal. Dislocation motion
must happen along a specific crystal direction. When the dislocation reaches a grain
boundary, it has to overcome two obstacles in order to continue the motion in another grain:
(1) It has to change the direction because the other grain is oriented differently;
(2) It has to overcome the atomic disorder in the grain boundary region.
This is just like driving a car from one country to another. The border between two countries
is like a grain boundary. At the border there are a series of immigration, custom and security
checks, and the road condition in the other country can be very different. The border between
two countries will slow you down.
(1) Strengthening by Grain Refinement (1) Strengthening by Grain Refinement
• A solid material contains many grains
• Each grain has different orientation Large Small
• Dislocation slip from one grain to another grains grains
changing direction
• Grain boundaries are barriers to slip, and
Slip
thus strengthen the material Grain boundary
plane
• Small grains have more grain boundary
areas
Slip
• Grain refinement thus strengthen the material plane
Grain B
Grain A

Therefore, grain boundaries are barriers to dislocation motion and effectively strengthen
the materials. The more grain boundaries, the stronger is the material. To introduce more
grain boundaries, the number of grains should be increased. This can be done by making the
grain size smaller, as shown. Thus, the main conclusion is that
Grain refinement strengthens the material due to increased grain boundary areas.

(1) Strengthening by Grain Refinement (1) Strengthening by Grain Refinement

Two reasons why grain boundaries impede
dislocation motion A very important concept:
(1) Different orientation of the grains –– Yield strength of a material
slip has to change direction
(2) Atomic disorder within the grain boundary increases with decreasing
region – add difficulty to dislocation slip grain size – due to increased
grain boundary areas

It is thus necessary to quantitatively determine the relationship between grain size (diameter)
and the yield strength of material. This quantification is well described by the famous Hall-
Petch equation, which was derived semi-empirically based on theoretical analysis and many
experimental investigations. s : yield strength (MPa)
y

ky s0: a constant (MPa)

Hall-Petch equation: s y = s 0 + where ky: a constant (MPa mm )
d d: grain diameter (mm)

56
Please take note of the units used for the Hall- (1) Strengthening by Grain Refinement
Petch equation. Basically, the “MPa and mm” Quantitative: Hall-Petch Equation
system is used in all calculations.
The Hall-Petch equation can also be written as: Yield Constants sy
strength
s y = s 0 + kyd − 12 ky
s y = s0 + ky

Thus, graphically, a plot of sy versus d -1/2 d

s0
should be a straight line. From the straight line, Grain d-1/2
the two constants, s0 and ky, can be diameter Brass Alloy

determined:
s0 = the intercept of the straight line with the vertical axis
ky = the slope of the straight line
In reality, the grains in a material are not circular and are not uniform in size. The grain
diameter, d, is the average of equivalent circular sizes.

Examples

Example 1: Examples of using Hall-Petch Equation

In order to use the Hall-Petch equation to calculate 1. The yield strength of a copper alloy is 100 MPa when its
yield strength, the values of the two constants, s0 average grain diameter is 0.25 mm. Estimate the yield strength
and ky, must be known. of the same alloy if its grain diameter is reduced to 0.04 mm.
The value of s0 = 80 MPa for this alloy.
k
In this example, see the slide, the constant, s0, is Solution: use Hall-Petch equation s = s + y
y 0
given, but another constant, ky, is not given. (to remember) d
ky is not known yet. This can be determined as follows:
The first step is to find the value of ky. When d = 0.25mm, sy = 100 MPa, thus
ky
Once both s0 and ky are known, then the yield 100 = 80 + ky = (100-80) 0.25 =10 MPa mm
strength, sy, can be calculated for any grain 0.25
Now, you can use the H-P equation (s0=80, ky=10) to calculate
diameter.
sy for any grain diameter.
A common mistake in solving the problem is to mix 10
For d = 0.04 mm: s y = 80 + = 130 MPa
up sy and s. 0.04

Example 2:
In this example, the values of the two constants, s0 and ky, are not given, but the yield strength, sy, for two
different grain diameters are given. Thus we can build two simultaneous equations to find the values of s0 and
ky, then the yield strength for any grain diameter can be calculated, or the grain diameter required to produce a
specific yield strength can be calculated.
Examples of using Hall-Petch Equation Examples of using Hall-Petch Equation
2. The yield strength of an aluminium alloy is 70 MPa and Example 2.
118 MPa when its grain diameter is 4.0 mm and 0.64 mm, ky ky 2k y − 0.8k y 1.2
respectively. Estimate the yield strength of the same alloy (2) – (1): 48 = − = = k y = 0.75k y
0.8 2 0.8  2 1.6
if its grain diameter is reduced to 0.04 mm.
ky
Solution: use Hall-Petch equation s y = s 0 + Thus ky = 64
d ky 64
Both s0 and ky are not known yet. This can be determined: From (1) 70 = s 0 + = s0 + = s 0 + 32
2 2
When d = 4.0mm, sy = 70 MPa, thus Thus s0 = 38 MPa
ky ky Now, you can use the H-P equation (s0=38, ky=64) to calculate
(1) 70 = s 0 + = s0 + sy for any grain diameter.
4.0 2
When d = 0.64 mm, sy = 118 MPa, thus For d = 0.04 mm: 64
s y = 38 + = 358 MPa
ky ky 0.04
(2) 118 = s 0 + = s0 +
0.64 0.8
Solve these two simultaneous equations for s0 and ky:

57
Example 3: (This is a variation of example 2)
The yield strength of an aluminium alloy is 70 MPa
and 118 MPa when its grain diameter is 4.0 mm and
0.64 mm, respectively. At what grain diameter will
the yield strength be 300 MPa?
Solution: following the solution in example 2, build
two simultaneous equations to find the values of s0
and ky:
s0=38 MPa; ky=64

ky 64
s y =s0 + = 38 + = 300
d d
64
d= = 0.2443; d = 0.06 mm
300 − 38
In order to increase the yield strength to 300 MPa, the grain diameter must be reduced to 0.06 mm.

Question: How to change the grain size of a polycrystalline material?

After learning this section, we know that reducing grain size can increase yield strength of the
material. The reason behind this is that the smaller the grain size, the more the grain boundary areas,
and grain boundaries can impede dislocation motion. The further question is that in reality how can
the grain size of a material be changed?
The grain size of a material can be changed by heat treatments and a combination of mechanical
working and heat treatments. If a material is heated to high temperatures and kept there for a period
of time, the higher the temperature and the longer the time of keeping, the larger the grains will grow.

58
Tutorial 4 (I): Grain refinement and Hall-Petch equation

1. Estimate the yield strengths of an alloy when its average grain sizes are 0.1 mm and 0.02 mm
respectively, if s0=100 MPa and ky = 20 MPa mm in the Hall-Petch equation:
(answers: 163.2 MPa, 241.4 MPa)

2. The strength of a copper alloy is 100 MPa when its average grain size is 0.05 mm. Estimate the
strength of the same alloy when the grain size is reduced to 0.01 mm. Assume value of s0 for
the alloy is 30 MPa. (answer: 186.5 MPa)

3. The strength of a nickel alloy is 500 MN/m2 when its average grain size is 0.16 mm. The strength
is increased to 750 MN/m2 by reducing the average grain size to 0.04 mm. Estimate the strength
of the same alloy when the grain size is further reduced to 0.01 mm.
(answer: 1250 MPa)

4. The following figure shows the relationship between yield strength (sy) and average grain size
(d) experimentally measured for a metallic alloy. Determine
i) the values of the constants, s0 and ky, in the Hall-Petch equation
(answer: 200 MPa, 50 MPa mm )
ii) the yield strength of this alloy when its average grain size is 0.005 mm. (907 MPa)

600

500
Yield Strength (MPa)

400

300

200

100

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
-1/2 -1/2
d (mm )

5. The yield strength for an iron that has an average grain diameter of 5x10-2 mm is 135 MPa. At a
grain diameter of 8x10-3 mm, the yield point increases to 260 MPa. At what grain diameter will
the yield point be 205 MPa? (Answer: 1.48x10-2 mm)

59
5.5 Strengthening by Solid Solution (Alloying)
As discussed earlier, metals can be made (2) Solid Solution Strengthening
stronger by adding other elements to form An example: adding some nickel to copper
alloys. Alloying increases strength but

Yield Strength

Elongation
reduces ductility of the metal, as can be seen
for nickel-copper alloy, as an example.
A common phenomenon is that for the same
material, if the strength is increased, its wt% Ni wt% Ni
ductility will be reduced at the same time. Strength increases, but ductility decreases with
Therefore, strength and ductility always increasing Ni addition
change in opposite directions. Why??? Alloying effect – Solid Solution (Ni in Cu)
When a metal is alloyed with other alloying
elements, some of the alloying atoms will
dissolve in the lattice to induce solid solution hardening, due to the lattice strain surrounding
each solute atom. When the alloying atoms dissolve in the lattice, there are three possible
situations:
(1) If the alloying atoms are slightly smaller than (2) Solid Solution Strengthening
the host atoms, the alloying atoms will
Lattice strain induced by solute atoms
substitute some of the host atoms, inducing a
Substitutional Interstitial
tensile lattice strain surrounding the alloying
atoms. Solute atom smaller
than host atom:
(2) If the alloying atoms are slightly larger than Tensile strain
the host atoms, the alloying atoms will
substitute some of the host atoms, inducing a Interstitial atoms
compressive lattice strain surrounding the Solute atom larger
are normally larger
Than host atom: than the interstitial
alloying atoms. Compressive sites, inducing
(3) If the alloying atoms are very small strain compressive strain
compared to the host atoms, the alloying
atoms will occupy some of the interstitial (2) Solid Solution Strengthening
sites of the lattice, inducing a compressive
Some Important Points to Note
lattice strain. For example, in steel, the
(1) Impurity atoms (alloying elements) that substitute
atomic size of carbon atoms is much smaller some host atoms or occupy the interstitial sites, can
than the host iron atoms. Carbon will not take cause solid solution strengthening of the material.
the position of the iron atoms, but rather are (2) This strengthening effect is due to the lattice strain
squeezed into the interstitial sites, inducing a induced on the surrounding host atoms.
very larger lattice strain. This is one of the (3) Lattice strain impedes dislocation motion – leading
reasons why the strength of steel increases to strengthening of the material
with increasing amount of carbon. (4) Thus, alloys are always stronger than pure metals

In all cases, the lattice strain can impede dislocation motion and thus can increase strength,
because dislocations have to overcome the energy barrier set by the lattice strain. Normally,
solid solution hardening by interstitial elements is more effective than by substitutional
elements. Alloying steel with carbon is more effective in increasing strength than with
expensive metallic elements such as chromium and nickel. Therefore, carbon content is the
most important factor determining the strength of steel.

60
5.6 Strain (Work) Hardening
(3) Strain Hardening (Work Hardening)
We have come across the phenomenon of
Well-known fact: When a metal is plastically deformed
strain hardening. If we look at the tensile it becomes stronger with increasing amount of
stress-strain curve again, the non-linear deformation – strain (cold work) hardening
regime of the curve can be described by: Why? Strain-hardening

Stress
Dislocation interactions
s = Kn Dislocation density
increases, lattice strains s=Kn
interact, dislocations
where n is called the strain hardening more difficult to move
exponent, which has a value between 0 and
1. Thus stress increases with strain. Yielding: dislocation Strain
start to slip
The strain hardening phenomenon can best n: strain hardening exponent

be demonstrated by bending a piece of metal.

As you are continuously bending the
metal reversibly, the metal becomes harder and harder and finally will fracture.
Strain hardening is due to the interaction between dislocations. As the metal deforms
plastically, dislocations start to move. At the same time, more dislocations are generated. The
moving dislocations will interact with one another, resulting in dislocation tangling. The
tangling dislocations then become more and more difficult to move, thus the metal is
hardened.

Cold work and Hot work:

It is important to distinguish between cold work and hot work. Strain hardening only happens under
cold work condition. It does not happen under hot work condition.
The critical temperature dividing cold work and hot work is about half of the melting temperature of
the alloy. This is called the recrystallization temperature, i.e.
Trecrystal = 0.5Tmelt
When deforming the metal at temperatures below Trecrystal, it is cold work. This is a common
manufacturing process to form metals into shapes, like cold forging and stamping. It at the same time
also produces strain hardening, i.e. the finish component will have a higher strength and hardness than
the starting material.
When deforming the metal at temperatures above Trecrystal, it is called hot work. It does not produce
strain hardening because the working temperature is high enough such that the deformed crystals are
recrystallised to remove the strain effect. Hot working is also a common process for metal forming,
e.g. hot forging, where the metal is heated to a high temperature and then forged into shape. The finish
component will remain relatively soft.

(3) Strain Hardening (Work Hardening)
Some concepts and definitions
Cold work: deforming metals at temperatures
below the recrystallisation T
(normally < 0.5 Tmelt) –
the deformed structure is retained.
• It is commonly used to form metals into the
required shape/geometry – economic process
• It also produce strain-hardening
(3) Strain Hardening (Work Hardening)
Some concepts and definitions
Hot work: deforming metals at temperature
> recrystallisation T, the deformed
structure is not retained, the metal
is not strain-hardened.
It is also commonly used for metal forming,
but needs heating and energy, good for
deforming strong metals

61
When calculating the critical temperature, we must make sure that temperatures be measured in Kelvin
K, not in Degree Centigrade.
Example 1:
The melting temperature of a steel alloy is 1450 oC, what is the recrystallization temperature?
Solution:
• Convert the melting temperature from oC to oK by adding 273,
Tmelt = 1450 + 273 = 1723 oK
• Use Trecrystal = 0.5Tmelt = 0.5 x 1723 = 861.5 oK
• Convert Trecrystal from oK to oC by subtracting 273: 861.5 – 273 = 588.5 oC

Example 2:
The melting temperature of a metallic alloy is 321 oC. When this alloy is deformed at room temperature
(26oC), will it be hardened? Why and why not?
Solution:
• Convert the melting temperature from oC to oK by adding 273,
Tmelt = 321 + 273 = 594 oK
• Use Trecrystal = 0.5Tmelt = 0.5 x 594 = 297 oK
• Convert Trecrystal from oK to oC by subtracting 273: 297 – 273 = 24 oC
• Since the recrystallization temperature is 24 oC, deforming the alloy at 26 oC is hot working. Thus the
alloy will not be hardened.

(3) Strain Hardening (Work Hardening)

(3) Strain Hardening (Work Hardening)
A few points to note
(a) (b)
• Amount of deformation – percent cold work (%CW):
A0 – Ad
%CW = ( A0 )x100
• Material strength increases with increasing %CW
Hardening effect
• Strain hardening can be used to enhance mechanical Increased strength increases with %CW
properties of materials Reduced ductility
• But it also imposes difficulties for cold work Strain hardening leads to

Under cold working conditions, material strength will increase with increasing amount of
deformation. The parameter %CW is used to calculate the amount of cold work quantitatively. It is
simply the ratio of the reduction in cross-sectional area to the original cross-sectional area. The larger
the CW%, the stronger is the material.
It is worth noting that cold work increases material strength, but reduces its ductility. Cold work does
not have much effect on Young’s modulus. See the example given in the slide.

Process Annealing
(3) Strain Hardening (Work Hardening) is a heat treatment process used to soften
Example: Compute the tensile strength and ductility of cold-worked and strain hardened metals,
a cylindrical copper rod if it is cold worked such that and restore the original grain structure
the diameter is reduced from 15.2 mm to 12.2 mm. without affecting the deformed shape of
Solution the part Heat to 0.5 – 0.75 Tm,
(1) Calculate %CW first:
2 2 for about 2 hours
 15.2mm   12.2mm 
   −  
%CW = 
2   2 
2
x100 = 35.6%
 15 .2 mm 
  
 2 
(2) From Fig. (a), read tensile strength: 340 MPa Deformed structure After annealing
From Fig. (b), read ductility: 7%EL

62
Process annealing: When a metal is deformed under cold working condition, the grains inside are
also deformed along the stress direction. Such a deformed structure maybe detrimental in some
applications. Process annealing can be carried out to restore the original structure and remove the
strain hardening effect. This is conducted by heating the deformed material above the recrystallization
temperature between 0.5 – 0.75Tmelt for a couple of hours. During this heat treatment, the deformed
crystals will recrystallize and grow in size, and the strain hardening effect will be removed.
_______________________________________________________________

Tutorial 4 (II): Solid Solution and Strain Hardening

1. Rank the strength and ductility of the following silver alloy in decreasing orders and explain
your ranking:
(a) silver alloyed with 5 wt% copper
(b) pure silver
(c) silver alloyed with 2.5 wt% copper

2. Two previously undeformed specimens of the same metal are to be plastically deformed by
reducing their cross-sectional areas. One has a circular cross section, and the other is rectangular;
during deformation the circular cross section is to remain circular, and the rectangular is to remain
rectangular. Their original and deformed dimensions are follows:

Circular (diameter, mm) Rectangular (mm)

Original dimension 15.2 125 x 175
Deformed dimension 11.4 75 x 200

Which of these specimens will be the hardest after plastic deformation, and why?

3. Briefly explain why some metals (e.g. lead and tin) do not strain hardened when deformed at
room temperature.
The melting point of lead is: 327oC
The melting point of tin is: 232oC
Note: (1) The recrystallisation temperature of a metal is around 50% of its melting
temperature in the Kelvin scale
(2) A metal strain-hardened only when it is deformed below the recrystallisation
temperature.

4. Two previously undeformed cylindrical specimens of an alloy are to be strain hardened by

reducing their cross-sectional area (while maintaining their circular cross section). For one
specimen, the initial and deformed radii are 16 mm and 11 mm, respectively. The second
specimen, with an initial radius of 12 mm, must have the same deformed hardness as the first
specimen; compute the second specimen’s radius after deformation. (Answer: 8.25 mm)

5. An undeformed specimen of some alloy has an average grain diameter of 0.04 mm. You are
asked to reduce its average grain diameter to 0.01 mm. Is this possible? If so, explain the
procedures you would use and name the processes involved. If it is not possible, explain why?

6. Describe in your own words the three strengthening mechanisms (i.e. grain size reduction, solid
solution strengthening, and strain hardening). Be sure to explain how dislocations are involved
in each of the strengthening techniques.

63
 Chapter 6: Phase Diagrams

6.1 Introduction
Engineering materials are mostly alloys containing more than one element. The mixture of
two or more elements results in various changes in phases, structures and properties. For
example, when carbon is added to iron, steel is produced. Pure iron contains a single phase
called ferrite (-phase), while steels contain two phases, i.e. -phase and cementite (a
compound Fe3C). Cementite is a hard phase and makes steel hard. The relative amount of -
phase and cementite depends on carbon content and temperature. It is important to understand
and predict the phases and structures in an alloy as a function of alloy composition and
temperature.
A phase diagram is just like a “road map” that can be used to predict phase constituents, phase
composition and amount of each phase in an alloy system under equilibrium conditions. It
tells us when we combine two elements, what we get. There are two variables in a binary (2-
elements) phase diagram: temperature (vertical axis) and composition (horizontal axis). Thus,
if we specify composition and temperature, then we can tell “how many phases we get”, “what
is the composition of each phase” and “how much of each phase do we get”.
It is thus very important to develop some basic knowledge of phase diagrams.

6.2 What Are Phases?

If we start with element A, and combine it with element B (varying amounts), what will we
get? There are 3 possible cases: (1) We get a single solid solution (B completely dissolved in
A); (2) We get two solid solution (B dissolved in A and A dissolved in B); and (3) We get a
compound (chemical reaction between A and B to form AxBy)

(1) Case 1: Single phase solid solution

In this case, the solute element B is completely
dissolved in solvent element A to form a solid
solution rich in A. This is normally called the
-phase, which has uniform properties. The
properties of A are altered by dissolving B.
For example, if we add some sugar to water, sugar
will dissolve in water to form syrup, which is a
liquid solution phase (not a solid solution in this

64
case). However, if we add too much sugar, some sugar crystals will not dissolve in water. Then, we
have two phases in the system: syrup + sugar crystals. Syrup is a liquid solution phase and sugar
crystal is a solid phase. How much sugar crystals in the system depends on two factors: the amount
of sugar added (composition) and temperature. Temperature is always an important factor because hot
water can dissolve more sugar than cold water!
When B dissolves in A, the structure of A is
not changed, but properties maybe changed
(compare water with syrup). The solute
atoms occupy either the substitutional or
interstitial positions in the solvent (A) lattice.
In many cases, there may be a limit in the
amount of solute B that can dissolve in the
solvent A – This is called the solubility limit.
For example, only a certain amount of sugar
can dissolve in a fixed amount of water. The
solubility limit is temperature-dependent: it
normally increases with increasing temperature. If the amount of B in the system exceeds the
solubility limit, then new phases will form, such as sugar crystals in syrup.
Now, we can construct a simple water-sugar phase diagram with two axes: sugar composition
(weight%) as the horizontal axis, and temperature (℃) as the vertical axis, as shown in the
slide. The red line is the solubility limit line
of sugar in water: the higher the temperature,
the more sugar dissolves in water. This line
divides the two phase fields: to the left of the
line, a single phase (syrup) exists, and to the
right of the line, two phases (syrup+solid
sugar) exist. We use this phase diagram to
predict phases in the system. For example, in
a system containing 70% sugar, we can
predict that at 20℃, there are two phases
syrup+solid sugar, i.e. not all sugar dissolves
in water. However, if the temperature is
increased to 80℃, then we have a single phase, syrup, i.e. all sugar dissolves in water.

(2) Case 2: Two solid solution phases

Since there may be a solubility limit of one
element dissolving in another (partially
miscible), it is highly possible that when
combining two elements, two solid solution
phases can be formed, one rich in A (i.e. B
dissolves in A) and another rich in B (A
dissolves in B). These two solid solution
phases are usually termed -phase and -
phase, respectively. Each phase forms into
many small regions (grains) in the system,
thus there are phases boundaries in the material.

65
(3) Case 3: A compound phase
If the solubility limit of B in A, or A in B, is exceeded, it is possible that A and B will reaction
chemically to form a compound phase with a fixed chemical formula and composition, i.e.
AxBy. For example, when the amount of carbon in steel exceeds 0.02 wt%, carbon reacts
with iron to form a hard carbide phase, cementite (Fe3C). Therefore, steel contains a mixture
of ferrite (-phase dissolving 0.02% carbon) and cementite. Microstructural examination can
reveal the various phases and grain/phase boundaries in the materials.

6.3 Equilibrium Binary Phase Diagrams

6.3.1 Isomorphous systems
When elements A and B are completely miscible, a single solid solution phase () is formed
in the solid state. The phase diagram consists of two lines, the solidus line and the liquidus
line, both starting from the melting temperature of element A (0% B) and finishing at the
melting temperature of element B (100% B). Above the liquidus line, a liquid phase exists,
and below the solidus line, the solid -phase exists. Between the two lines is a 2-phase field
where -phase and liquid phase co-exist. Thus, pure metals melt or solidify at a constant
temperature, while alloys melt or solidify over a temperature range. From the phase diagram,
we can find the following information for a particular alloy (%B) at a particular temperature:
(a) phases present, (b) composition of each phase and (c) relative amount of each phase.

Take 60%Cu-40%Ni alloy as an example. The Cu-Ni phase diagram is shown in the slides.
Firstly, draw a vertical line at the composition 40%Ni. Then along this vertical line, we can
work out the phases presnt, phase composition and relatively amount of each phase at various
temperatures, as shown in the slides below.

66
The Lever Rule is very important in the study
of phase diagrams. It allows us to compute
the relative amount of each phase in a 2-phase
field. For example, in carbon steel, it is
important to know how much ferrite and how
much cementite are there, and how the
amount of cementite changes with carbon
content. Please study the Lever Rule
carefully.

Solidification sequence
Alloys are made by melting the metal and
then adding the required elements in the
liquid state. Then the liquid alloy is cooled
and solidifies into a solid material. The
solidification sequence can be predicted by
the phase diagram and the microstructure
developed depends on cooling rate, i.e. slow
cooling and fast cooling. Take 65%Cu-
35%Ni alloy as an example. Starting from the
liquid, when it is cooled down to the liquidus
line, the first bits of solid crystal is formed.
By drawing a tie-line, the Ni composition of
the first solid () is 46%Ni (not 35%Ni).

67
With further cooling, various tie-lines can be
drawn at various temperatures within the -L
phase field. The composition of the -phase
continuously changes (decreasing) along the
solidus line, and the composition of the liquid
changes (also decreasing) following the
liquidus line. Upon touching the solidus line,
the last bits of liquid has a composition of
24%Ni (not 35%), while finally the solid -
phase has a composition of 35%Ni, matching
the composition of the alloy.
Clearly, during the solidification process, the
compositions of the liquid and the solid are
different, and the solid phase formed at
different times has different compositions. In
order to achieve a uniform composition of
35%Ni in the solid, atomic diffusion is
required, i.e. the Ni atoms (starting from
46%) must be able to diffuse from the solid
formed at earlier time to the solid formed at
later times. Diffusion requires time, and this
is achieved only during slow cooling which
allows more time for diffusion.
Under fast cooling conditions, solidification will be slightly delayed and the composition of
the solid formed will be non-uniform because there is less time for atomic diffusion. The
actual solidus line will fall below the equilibrium solidus line. In this case, the solid formed
at earlier times will keep its higher Ni content and the solid formed at later times will keep its
lower Ni content, resulting in a non-uniform coring structure in a grain. This results in
deteriorated and non-uniform properties and variation in melting temperatures within a grain.
Such a non-uniform composition is undesirable in engineering applications. Fast cooling is
common in engineering practice and inhomogeneous composition in a solidified alloy is quite
common. A homogenisation heat treatment after solidification is commonly used to eliminate
the coring: by heating to a high temperature in the solid region to facilitate atomic diffusion.

68
6.3.2 Binary eutectic systems
If element A and element B have limited solubility limits with each other, two solid solution
phases may be formed in the solid state, i.e. -phase (rich in A) and -phase (rich in B). Then,
a eutectic system is formed, which has three single-phase fields: ,  and L (liquid). The three
single phase fields are separated by three 2-phase fields: +, +L, and +. The invariant
point at E has a fixed composition and temperature, where the eutectic reaction takes place.
There is a solubility limit of B in -phase (CE) and solubility limit of A in  (CE).

The eutectic reaction takes place at point E

in an alloy with composition CE and at a
constant temperature TE, i.e. the liquid phase
is transformed into two solid phases ( and
) with fixed compositions (CE and CE).

The relative amount of  and  phases in the

eutectic alloy can be found by using the
Lever Rule:
𝐶𝛽𝐸 − 𝐶𝐸
𝐴𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝛼 =
𝐶𝛽𝐸 − 𝐶𝛼𝐸

𝐶𝛼𝐸 − 𝐶𝐸
𝐴𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝛽 =
𝐶𝛽𝐸 − 𝐶𝛼𝐸

Typical examples of eutectic phase diagrams include the Cu-Ag and Pb-Sun system. The
techniques developed previously can be used to predict phase present, phase composition and
phase amount.

69
For example, to determine the phases present,
phase composition and amount of each phase
in a 40%Sn-60%Pb alloy at 150℃, (1) draw a
vertical line at the composition C1=40%Sn; (2)
draw a tie-line at 150℃; (3) intercept point is
in the + field, thus  and  phases are
present; (4) from the intercept of the tie-line
with the two solidus lines, the compositions of
-phase (C) and -phase (C) can be found;
(5) finally, using the Lever Rule, the relative
amounts of  and  phases can be computed.

6.3.3 Other binary systems

There are many other types of binary phase diagrams. The same principles can be applied to
determine (1) phases present, (b) phase composition and (3) relative amount of each phase.

6.3.3 Summary

70
Tutorial 5(I): Binary phase diagrams

1. Using the binary Pb-Sn phase diagram, determine (1) the phases present, (2) phase compositions,
and (3) relative amount of the phases for the 30 wt% Sn-70 wt% Pb alloy at three different
temperatures:100°C, 200 °C and 300 °C.

2. A 65 wt% Ni- 35 wt% Cu alloy is

heated to a temperature within the
alpha+liquid phase region. If the
composition of the alpha phase is
70 wt% Ni, determine
(a) the temperature of the alloy.
(b) the composition of the liquid
phase.
(c) the mass fractions of both
the phases.

71
6.4 The Iron-Carbon (Fe-C) System
The iron-carbon (Fe-C) system is the most important binary system in engineering materials
because steels and cast irons are Fe-C alloys. It is necessary to examine the Fe-C phase digram
in order to understand the structural changes of these materials with different carbon contents
and at various temperatures.

6.4.1 The element iron (Fe)

Pure iron is an allotropic element, meaning that it exists with different crystal structures
depending on temperature.
• A temperatures below 912°C, Fe has a BCC crystal structure with an atomic packing fact
(APF) of 0.54.
• At temperatures between 912°C and 1394°C, Fe has an FCC crystal structure with a denser
APF of 0.78.
• At temperatures from 1394°C until melting (1538°C), Fe has BCC structure again.

Thus, Fe undergoes an allotropic transformation at 912°C from BCC to FCC (upon heating)
or from FCC to BCC (upon cooling). Such an allotropic transformation is important in
structure control by heating and cooling. When carbon is added to iron, steels (<2.14%C) and
cast irons (>2.14%C) are formed, and the allotropic transformation temperature is changed.
The phases and structrures can be predicted by the Fe-C phase diagram.

6.4.2 The Fe-C phase diagram

According to the Fe-C phase diagram shown
in the slide, there are 3 solid phases in the Fe-
C system: -phase (ferrite), -phase
(austenite), and cementite (Fe3C). Cementite
has a fixed composition of 6.7 wt%C,
represented by the right-hand side vertical
axis. The Fe-C phase diagram is drawn up to
the composition of cementite (6.7 wt%C). In
between the three single phase fields, there
exist various two-phase fields. Thus, it is
possible to produce various mixture of phases in an Fe-C alloy by altering carbon content and
temperature. The equilibrium structure of steels (0.022 - 2.14%C) is a mixture of -phase and
cementite at room temperature upon to 727°C.

72
There are two important invariant points in
the Fe-C diagram:
• the eutectic point at 1147°C, where the liquid
transforms into two solid phases ( and
Fe3C).
• the eutectoid point at 727°C, where the solid
 phase transforms into other two solid
phases ( and Fe3C).
The eutectoid reaction is very important. It
occurs in steel with a fixed carbon content of
0.76% and at a fixed temperature of 727°C.
The transformation products,  and Fe3C,
have fixed composition, 0.022%C and
6.7C%, respectively.
Steels are classified into three categories
based on carbon content relative to this
eutectoid composition (0.76%C).
• Eutectoid steel: has a carbon content of
0.76%.
• Hypoeutectoid steels: have carbon content
less than 0.76%C.
• Hypereutectoid steel: have carbon content
larger than 0.76%C.

6.4.3 Eutectoid steel

Eutectoid steel has a fixed carbon content:
0.76%C. The eutectoid temperature is 727°C.
Above 727°C, this steel has a single -phase
(austenite), and below 727°C, it has a mixture
of  and cementite phases. So, when the steel
is cooled slowly from a high temperature
(>727°C), it undergoes the eutectoid reaction:
𝟕𝟐𝟕℃
𝜸 (𝟎. 𝟕𝟔%𝑪) → 𝜶 (𝟎. 𝟎𝟐𝟐%𝑪) + 𝑭𝒆𝟑 𝑪(𝟔. 𝟕%𝑪)

The transformation products,  and Fe3C,

have fixed carbon contents and form into
alternative layers in each column or grain.
Such a kind of lamellar (layered) structure in
steel is called Pearlite, because it resembles
the surface pattern of a pearl. This is the most
important structure in all kinds of steels,
because it has a unique feature and can be
found in all steels under equilibrium
conditions (annealed condition).

73
The composition of Pearlite is 0.76%C and it
contains a mixture of ferrite () and
cementite (Fe3C) with fix compositions. It is
necessary to find out the relative amounts of
these two phases in Pearlie. This can be done
easily by using the Lever Rule. The
horizontal line at 727°C is the tie-line,
starting from 0.022%C () through 0.76%C
(P) to 6.7%C (Fe3C). From this tie-line, it can
be worked out that in Pearlite, there are 11
wt% Fe3C and 89 wt% . Eutectoid steel is a
strong steel because the ferrite () is
reinforced by the hard (but also brittle) cementite (Fe3C).

6.4.4 Hypoeutectoid steel

With carbon contents between 0.022% and
0.76%, hypoeutectoid steels also contain a
mixture of +Fe3C, in the form of pre-
eutectoid ferrite (’) and Pearlie (P). When a
steel with a carbon content C0 is cooled from
austenite (), some austenite will transform to
ferrite first. This is called pre-eutectoid ferrite
(’). When reaching the eutectoid
temperature, 727°C, the remaining austenite
will then transform to Pearlite. Thus,
hypoeutectoid steels have a mixture of ’+P.
The relative amounts of ’ and P depend on carbon content of the steel (C0) and can be
computed by using the Lever Rule, as shown in the slide. Clearly, the higher the carbon
content in the steel, the more the amount of P, and thus the stronger is the steel.

6.4.5 Hypereutectoid steel

With carbon contents between 0.76% and
2.14%, hypereutectoid steels also contain a
mixture of +Fe3C, in the form of pre-
eutectoid cementite (Fe3C’) and Pearlie (P).
When a steel with a carbon content C0 is cooled
from austenite (), some austenite will
transform to cementite first. This is called pre-
eutectoid cementite (Fe3C’), which normally
forms into a network structure and is
detrimental to properties. When reaching the
eutectoid temperature, 727°C, the remaining
austenite will then transform to Pearlite. Thus, hypereutectoid steels have a mixture of
Fe3C’+P. The relative amounts of Fe3C’ and P depend on carbon content of the steel (C0) and
can be computed by using the Lever Rule, as shown in the slide. Clearly, the higher the carbon
content in the steel, the more the amount of Fe3C’, and thus the more brittle is the steel.
In summary, under equilibrium conditions (usually means annealed condition), although the
three types of steels have a similar mixture of phases: +Fe3C, they have different structural

74
features and properties. It is important to
compute the relative amount of each phase in
the structure and understand the effect of
carbon content on properties. Eutectoid steel
is relatively hard and strong, while
hypoeutectoid steels are relatively ductile and
their strength increases with increasing
carbon content. Hypereutectoid steels
contains large amount of cementite and thus
are very hard but also very brittle, only
suitable for making cutting tools and
mould/dies.
_________________________________________________________________________

Tutorial 5(II): Fe-C system

Use the Fe-C phase diagram shown below, calculate the relative amount of phases at 720 °C:

(1) the relative amount of ferrite () and cementite (FeC) in steels containing 0.2%C, 0.4%C
and 0.6%C.
(2) the relative amount of pre-eutectoid ferrite and pearlite in 0.5%C steel.
(3) the relative amount of pre-eutectoid cementite and pearlite in 1.2%C steel.

75
 Chapter 7: Heat Treatment of Steel

7.1 Introduction
Engineering metals and alloys are divided
Metals & Heat Treament
into two groups: ferrous and nonferrous • Ferrous Alloys – steels and cast irons
alloys. Ferrous alloys are based on the • Nonferrous Alloys
element iron, including steels and cast irons. ➢ Al Alloys
Other metals are classified as nonferrous. ➢ Mg Alloys
➢ Ti Alloys
This chapter will deal with ferrous alloys. We ➢ Superalloys
➢ Cu Alloys
will start from the very basics and progress ➢ …others
to the important topics of heat treatment of
steels.

7.2 Carbon in Steels

As discussed in Section 6.4, when carbon is
added to iron to form steels, a new phase
called cementite which is an iron-carbon
compound (Fe3C) is formed, which is hard
but brittle. This hard cementite phase
reinforces the iron matrix (ferrite) and thus
makes steel harder and stronger. The
structure with appropriate mixture of ferrite
and cementite in steel is called pearlite. A
steel containing 0.76 %C has 100% pearlite
structure. Steel containing less than 0.76%C
has a mixture of ferrite and pearlite, whilst steels with more than 0.76%C has a mixture of
cementite and pearlite.
Steels contain 0.02% to 2% carbon. Other alloying elements such as Cr, Ni, V etc. are added
to form alloyed steels. The addition of carbon will alter the structure, improve the properties
and more importantly facilitate heat treatments of steels. Generally, with increasing carbon
content, the strength of steel increases but the ductility is reduced. This is why most of
engineering steels contain less than 1% carbon. Too much carbon in steel will make it too
brittle. On the other hand, too little carbon in steel will result in insufficient strength. A right
balance must be achieved for specific applications. It is important to note that:
It is carbon that makes steel strong and hard, but also makes it more brittle.

Steels Questions:
➢ Composition: 0.02 – 2 wt% C + other alloy elements
➢ Majority: < 1.0 wt% C
1. Why does carbon make steel stronger?
➢ > 1.0 wt% C: steels are very hard but brittle
suitable for tooling applications only
2. Why can steel be hardened by quenching
Carbon in steels
Strength or Hardness

Makes steel strong, hard, but

from high temperature?
Ductility

more brittle by
(1) Forming Cm: %C Cm
(2) Allow further hardening We need to look at the structural changes
by heat treatment by (1) adding carbon and (2) by quenching.
wt%C
How? by quenching

76
To further answer the questions of (1) why carbon makes steel stronger and (2) why steel can
be hardened by quenching from high temperature, we need to look at the structure of steel in
more details.

7.3 Structure of Steel

As mentioned earlier, at room temperature,
pure iron has a BCC structure called ferrite.
With the addition of carbon, some carbon
atoms dissolved in the ferrite lattice to
produce solid solution hardening effect. But
ferrite can only dissolve a very small amount
of carbon, up to just 0.02%C. Thus the solid
solution hardening effect is very limited.
The other carbon atoms combine with iron
atoms to form cementite (Fe3C). Cementite is a very hard ceramic phase and can significantly
increase the strength of steel. Unfortunately, cementite is also quite brittle, its formation also
leads to embrittlement of steel.
The cementite (Fe3C) phase (Cm):
➢ A compound with complex crystalline structure
➢ Hard but very brittle
➢ Addition of carbon to iron (form steels) leads to
the formation of Cm, and increase in strength,
but reduction in ductility

One of the reasons why carbon makes steel hard and

strong, but brittle

Therefore, the amount of cementite in steel has the most significant effect on the strength of
steel. Increasing carbon content increases the amount of cementite, and thus increases the
strength of steel. In addition, the size, shape, and distribution of cementite in steel can also
affect the properties, which can be changed by heat treatment.
At room temperature, steel comprises a mixture of ferrite and cementite. When steel is heated
above a certain critical temperature, about 727oC, the mixture of ferrite and cementite is
transformed to a single structure: austenite, because iron can dissolve more carbon at high
temperatures.

77
For example, a steel containing 0.76%C is composed of a mixture of ferrite and cementite,
called Pearlite, at room temperature. When this steel is heated above 727oC, it is transformed
to austenite. Thus at high temperatures, all the carbon atoms are dissolved in the austenite
lattice and there is no cementite. Now, if the heated steel is cooled slowly back to room
temperature, the original structure, Pearlite, i.e. ferrite+cementite, will form again. However,
such a reversible transformation can only be achieved under very slow cooling conditions,
because it takes time for the atoms to rearrange and for carbon atoms to react with iron atoms
to form cementite. If the steel is cooled rapidly from high temperatures, the austenite will not
be transformed back to the original structure. The steel is then quench-hardened.

7.4 Quench Hardening of Steels

When the steel is cooled slowly from
austenite, it will be transformed back to the
original equilibrium structure. However if
the steel is quenched at a rapid cooling rate,
it will not be able to transform back to the
mixture of ferrite and cementite because the
carbon atoms have no time to escape to form
cementite. Instead, a new structure is
formed, called martensite. Martensite has
a BCC structure but with all the carbon
atoms trapped inside because the carbon
atoms cannot escape during rapid cooling.
This large amount of carbon trapping causes a large amount of lattice strain, and thus induces
a very significant hardening effect. This is the reason why steel can be hardened by
quenching.
Martensite formation in steel by quenching Quench hardening of steels
is a very important concept. The more
Slow cooling: austenite Ferrite + Fe3C
carbon in steel, the more carbon trapping in
Rapid cooling: austenite martensite
martensite, and thus more hardening effect.
steels suitable for
Therefore, the hardness and strength of 800 quench-hardening
Strength & hardness of
Brinell Hardness

quench hardened steel also increases with martensite increases with 600 Martensite
increasing carbon content. If we compare amount of carbon-trapping:
the hardness of slowly cooled (annealed) hardness of hardened steel 400

increases with increasing

steel with that of quenched steel, the carbon content in the steel 200 slowly cooled

difference is of several times. By quenching, 0

the hardness of steel can be increased by 0 0.2 0.4 0.6

wt% C
0.8 1

several times.

7.5 Hardenability of Steels • OK, steel can be hardened by quenching

To harden steel by quenching, martensite
must be produced. Therefore the purpose of
quenching is to produce martensite. This is
only achieved when the heated steel is
cooled from austenite at cooling rates above
a critical rate. Cooling at a rate below this
critical rate, steel will not be hardened.
• Quenching means rapid cooling (not quite exactly)
• The question is that how rapid it should be
• There must be some critical cooling rate that should be
achieved in order to harden steel
• If the cooling rate is below the critical rate, steel will not
be hardened because martensite will not form
• Actually, quenching means cooling at a rate above the
critical rate
• Ideally, steel should be hardened by cooling as slow as
possible, because rapid cooling can do a lot of
damages to the component

78
Knowing this critical cooling rate is very important.
Ideally, steels should be hardened by cooling at moderate cooling rates to produce martensite,
because rapid cooling causes a lot of damage to the component, including distortion,
dimensional change and even cracking. Lowering the critical cooling rate is beneficial from
engineering point of view. This is related to the concept of hardenability of steels, which is
defined as the ease with which steel can be hardened by quenching. A steel has a good
hardenability if it can be hardened by
relatively slow cooling than a steel which Hardenability of steels
requires rapid cooling to harden. Rapid cooling: austenite martensite
❑ The critical cooling rate for martensite formation
Various grades of alloy steels have been strongly depends on chemical composition in the steel
developed such that they can be hardened at ❑ Plain carbon steels require extremely high cooling
rate, e.g. by water cooling – poor hardenability
relatively slow cooling rates. For example,
❑ Alloying steel with other elements (Cr, Ni, Mn …)
plain carbon steels can only be hardened by reduces the critical cooling rate – beneficial in
cooling in cold water, which is a very severe achieving quench-hardening without a need of severe
quenching – good hardenability
cooling medium, while most alloy steels can
be hardened by cooling in mineral oils which Main function of alloy elements in steels:
To improve hardenability such that steel can be
produce lower cooling rates, and some high hardened to a larger section by moderate cooling
alloy steels can be even hardened by cooling
in air.
The hardenability of steels very much depends on the chemical compositions, namely, carbon
content and alloying elements:
• Plain carbon steels require a very high cooling rate to produce martensite. This normally
means water cooling. The hardenability increases with carbon content, thus it is easier to
harden high carbon steels than to harden low carbon steels.
• For low carbon steels, i.e. steels contain less than 0.25%C, it is practically not viable to be
hardened by quenching, because the required cooling rate is so high that it is difficult to
achieve it. Water cooling is usually not fast enough to harden low carbon steels.
• By adding other alloying elements, such Cr, Ni, Mn etc., the hardenability of steels can be
improved considerable, such that the alloy steels can be hardened by oil-cooling or even by
air-cooling. This is important to reduce component distortion and for large components.
Although alloy elements in steels have many functions, the main function of alloy elements
is to improve the hardenability such that steels can be hardened to a larger section by moderate
cooling.
When quench hardening steels, the size of the component should be considered because
cooling rate depends on component size. In the same cooling medium, a small component
will be cooled more quickly than a large component. Thus a small component may be
hardened, but a large component may not be hardened under the same cooling condition.
Alloy steels are more suitable for making large components because they have better
hardenability.
Similarly, the cooling rate is not uniform throughout the component. The surface is always
cooled faster than the interior. The cooling rate is always the maximum at the surface and
decreases towards the centre. To make sure that the component is hardened through the cross-
section, it is critical that the cooling rate at the centre is higher than the critical cooling rate
for martensite formation, otherwise only a hard skin is produced in the component.

79
7.6 The Hardening and Softening Operations
Hardening: The hardening operation is very
straightforward, including Typical hardening Operations

(1) heating the component above the critical   soaking

Critical T
Tempering is always
required after
temperature to form austenite; quenching

T (oC)
(2) soaking the component at that temperature to
quenching Tempered M
achieve uniformity; heating 160-600oC
(3) cooling the component (quenching) at a +Fe3C
1-2h
cooling rate higher than the critical rate to tempering
produce martensite. Time (h)
(4) tempering: all quenched components must be Hardened Reduce hardness
but too brittle Improve toughness
tempered by reheating to 160-600 oC for a Martensite

couple of hours.
Tempering is always required after quenching, because the martensite is quite brittle and
contains residual stresses. Tempering is to toughen the steel and to remove the residual
stresses, but at the expense of reducing
How to Soften a Steel? By annealing
hardness. After tempering, the component can
achieve a good combination of strength and   soaking Critical T
toughness. T (oC)
Very slow cooling
across the critical T
Softening steel: In many cases, steel +Fe3C
heating
components can be too hard to be machined.
They must be softened to facilitate machining.
The softening process is just the opposite of Martensite Time (h)
or fine, hard
hardening in terms of cooling. By slow cooling structure
from austenite, the equilibrium structure
containing a mixture of ferrite and cementite is obtained, which is relatively soft, good for
machining. Slow cooling normally means cooling inside the furnace.

7.7 Heat Treatment Processes

Steels are given many different types of heat treatments to achieve different properties. The
most important factors, which influence the final microstructure and properties, are:
• Austenitising temperature: The temperature to which the steel is heated to form fully austenitic
structure (a high temperature phase).
• Cooling rate: The rate at which the steel is cooled from austenite.
The first step in heat treatment is to heat the steel above a certain critical temperature so as to
transform the room temperature structure (usually called pearlite) to a high temperature
structure (called austenite). The required heating temperature depends on the chemical
composition of the steel and the type of heat treatment required. After holding at this
temperature for a period of time to achieve uniformity throughout the component, the steel is
then cooled down to room temperature at various cooling rates. Different combinations of the
above parameters result in different heat treatment processes, some of which are discussed
below.

80
 Heat Treatment of Steels
Heat Treatment of Steels Austenitising
Temperature
Cooling

For structural and properties control Eutectoid

Temperature

Furnace cooling
• Annealing: furnace cool, long time, coarse structure, (Annealing)

Temperature
Charging

soft & ductile, good for machining and cold work

• Normalising: air cool, fine structure, for structural
refinement Austenitising
Time
• Hardening: quenching, to produce martensite Heating
• Tempering: always required after quenching – Air cooling
(Normalising
Quenching
to increase toughness and ductility (Hardening)

Time

Fully Annealing
This is a heat treatment to achieve a very slow cooling rate (usually cooled in furnace) from
austenite, so that near equilibrium microstructure could be obtained. Such a structure, usually
called coarse pearlite structure, has a low strength and high ductility. The main purpose of
this treatment is to soften the steel for manufacturing such as machining and cold forming.

Normalising
This involves austenitising at a chosen temperature and then air cooling to room temperature.
A fine pearlite structure with enhanced strength is obtained. The purpose of this treatment is
to refine the microstructure for subsequent heat treatments, or to produce a fine pearlitic
structure with adequate strength for machining and final applications.

Quench Hardening
This process involves a heat treatment to produce a hard structure called martensite. In most
steels, a fast cooling through the transformation is required to produce martensite and hence
a quench from the austenitising temperature is needed. Martensite is produced when the
transformation to pearlite is suppressed by rapid cooling. The minimum cooling rate for
martensitic transformation (a measure of hardenability) depends on the chemical composition
of the steel and the austenitising temperature. Many engineering steels are designed, with the
addition of other alloying elements such as Cr, Ni, Mn, Mo, etc. to facilitate the formation of
martensite under moderate cooling rates. Formation of martensite at a lower cooling rate
helps to reduce the tendency towards component distortion and cracking.

Tempering In steel, the maximum hardness

hardness is associated with the fully
martensitic structure. However, Ductility
Hardness, Ductility

martensite is also a brittle phase. The

characteristics of martensite and
Lower
martensitic transformation also Carbon Higher
determine that various levels of residual Carbon
stresses are generated in the quenched
parts. Tempering is the heat treatment
given to a quenched martensitic steel to
increase its toughness, to reduce its
hardness and to relieve the residual Tempering Temperature

81
stresses. Tempering is always required after quenching. The tempering temperature is
normally between 160oC and 600oC and tempering time is 1 to 2 hours.
During tempering, structural modification to the hard and brittle martensite takes place.
Accompanied with this modification are softening and an increase in toughness. Hence
various combinations of hardness and toughness could be obtained in a steel by controlling
the tempering parameters, which range from the hard and brittle as-quenched martensite to
the fully tempered, soft and ductile microstructure. The steel with a higher carbon content
possesses higher hardness but lower ductility after quenching and tempering.

Secondary Hardening: Tempering alloyed high carbon tool steels can induce an increase in
hardness in certain tempering temperature range (450oC – 600oC) – a phenomenon called
secondary hardening. This is due to the precipitation of fine carbide particles such as
vanadium carbide, tungsten carbide … dispersed in the matrix, inducing precipitation
hardening. Such ability facilitates the use of tool steels and die/mould steels at higher
temperatures without softening.
_________________________________________________________________________

Tutorial 6 (I): Steels and Heat Treatments

Please read the note in Chapter 7, and then answer the following multiple choice questions.

1. Which two of the following alloys are ferrous alloys?

(a) steels; (b) aluminium alloys; (c) cast irons; (d) titanium alloys

2. The range of carbon content in steels is

(a) 2.1% to 4.5%; (b) 0.02% to 2.0%; (c) 0.5% to 1.0%; (d) 4.5% to 6.7%

3. The carbon content in AISI 1060 steel is

(a) 60%; (b) 6%; (c) 0.6%; (d) 1%

4. The crystal structure of iron at room temperature is called

(a) ferrite; (b) austenite; (c) pearlite; (d) cementite

5. The crystal structure of iron at 1000°C is called

(a) ferrite; (b) austenite; (c) pearlite; (d) cementite

6. Pearlite in steel is
(a) a mixture of austenite and cementite; (b) a mixture of ferrite and austenite
(c) a mixture of ferrite and cementite; (d) carbon in steel

7. At equilibrium, steel containing less than 0.8% C has a structure of

(a) a mixture of pearlite and cementite; (b) a mixture of ferrite and pearlite;
(c) a mixture of cementite and austenite

8. The process of heating a steel to a high temperature and then cooling it slowly in furnace is called
(a) normalising; (b) tempering; (c) hardening; (d) annealing

9. The process of heating a steel to a high temperature and then cooling it in air is called
(a) normalising; (b) tempering; (c) hardening; (d) annealing

82
10. The process of heating a steel to a high temperature and then cooling it rapidly is called
(a) normalising; (b) tempering; (c) hardening; (d) annealing

11. The structure produced in steel by quenching is called

(a) martensite; (b) cementite; (c) austenite; (d) pearlite

12. A quenched steel should always be

(a) tempered; (b) annealed; (c) normalised; (d) quenched again

13. Which of the following are the effects of tempering (maybe more than one)
(a) increasing hardness; (b) increasing toughness;
(c) reducing toughness; (d) reducing residual stresses

14. Tempering also reduces the hardness of alloyed high carbon tool steels irrespective of tempering
temperature.
(a) True, or (b) False.

15. Secondary hardening occurs in tool steels at which tempering temperature range?
(a) 200 – 300°C; (b) 350 – 440°C; (c) 450-600°C; (d) 600 – 700°C.

16. Secondary hardening is due to

(a) second quenching; (b) formation of fine carbides dispersed in the matrix;
(c) formation of austenite; (d) formation of harder martensite.

17. Which of the following heat treatment procedure can be used to harden a 0.4%C steel?
(a) heating the steel to 900oC to form a fully austenitic structure, soaking at that temperature for
some time, then cooling the steel rapidly in water down to room temperature.
(b) heating the steel to 500oC for recrystallisation, then cooling rapidly in water.
(c) heating the steel to 900oC to form a fully austenitic structure, soaking at that temperature for
some time, then cooling the steel slowly in furnace down to room temperature.

18. Some alloy steels can be hardened by cooling from austenite (high temperature) just in air,
because
(a) the alloying elements harden the steel
(b) it is not necessary to form martensite
(c) the alloy steels have very good hardenability and can form martensite by air-cooling.
(d) the steels have been hardened previously.

19. The major purpose of adding alloying elements to steel is

(a) to make the steel look better; (b) to increase the hardenability of steel;
(c) to increase the ductility of steel; (d) to increase the conductivity of steel.

Short Questions:
1. Briefly describe a heat treatment process that can be used to harden the 0.55%C steel.

2. A piece of steel is too hard to be machined. Can you soften it for machining? How?

83
 Chapter 8: Engineering Materials

In Chapter 2, a brief introduction has been given to various categories of engineering

materials, including metals, ceramics, polymers and composites. This chapter provides more
details of commonly used engineering materials and their typical applications.

8.1 Engineering Steels Classification of

Engineering Steels
There are hundreds of different grades of
Low carbon (<0.25%C)
steels, most of them having carbon contents Plain carbon steels Medium carbon (0.25 – 0.6%C)
less than 1.0% but containing various types and High carbon (>0.6%C)
amounts of alloying elements. Low carbon (<0.25%C)
Low alloy steels Medium carbon (0.25 – 0.6%C)
The cheapest types of steel are “plain carbon High carbon (>0.6%C)
steels” which does not contain any other Tool/Die steels
High alloy steels
alloying elements purposely added. However, Stainless steels [Fe-Cr-(Ni) alloys]
all steels contain small amounts of silicon and
manganese which are used as deoxidisers during steel making. The carbon content
determines the properties of plain carbon steels.
As mentioned earlier, other alloying elements are added mainly to improve the hardenability
of steels. “Low alloy steels” are widely used to make important components that require
quench hardening. The total amount of alloying elements in low alloy steels is normal less
than 4% or 5%. The carbon content also determines the properties of low alloy steels. The
alloying elements are there to help hardening the steel more easily.
High alloy steels are special steels for making tools, dies and moulds. The carbon content in
tool steels can be quite high, sometimes up to 2%. Stainless steels belong to high alloy steels
because they contain at least 13% chromium (Cr).

8.1.1 Low carbon steels Low Carbon Steels

Low carbon steels are the most widely used Composition: <0.25%C
+ various alloying elements in small amounts
engineering materials because of its Characteristics: Can not be quench hardened
combination of good strength, good (C% too low, difficult to produce martensite)
formability, availability and low cost. They Can be strengthened by cold work
Low cost
are best known as structural materials to Properties: Application:
• Strength: relatively low, but Sheets
make various kinds of structures, listed in enough for many structural uses Car body
the slide. • Ductility: very good Structural shapes
• Formability: very good Pipelines
• Machinability: very good Buildings,
Low carbon steels are ductile such that that • Weldability: very good Bridges
can be formed into complex shapes by Towers
Manufacturing cost: low ….
mechanical forming. They are not very hard
such that they can be machined easily.
They can be joined to form large structures by welding. Therefore, they are the key structural
materials when quench hardening is not required.
A unique character of low carbon steel is that they are never used in the hardened condition
because industrially it is not viable to quench harden low carbon steels, for two main reasons
related to its low carbon content:
(1) It requires a very high cooling rate to produce martensite in low carbon steels. Such a critical
cooling rate cannot even be achieved by water cooling. Remember, the hardenability of steel
decreases with decreasing carbon content.

84
 (2) Even when low carbon steels can be hardened by very severe quenching, the hardening effect
is not very significant. Thus it is not worth doing it. If hardened steel is required, medium
carbon steels should be used.

Example:
What is the approximate carbon content in AISI1018 steel? Can this steel be quench hardened industrially?
Why?
Answer: The carbon content in AISI1018 steel is about (18/100)% = 0.18%. This steel is not viable for quench
hardening industrially because the required cooling rate is too high and the resultant hardening effect is
insignificant.
Medium Carbon Steels
0.5-2%Mn
8.1.2 Medium carbon steels 0-4%Cr
Composition: 0.25-0.6%C + 0-4%Ni
Medium carbon steels are used for making 0-1%Mo
heavy duty structural components that Characteristics:
• Can develop high strength by quenching
require a good combination of strength, • Good combination of strength and toughness
toughness and wear resistance. They are • Manufacturing: relatively easy
used to make such important components as
Application:
gears, shafts, power transmission parts etc. for structural components requiring high strength,
For these types of components, low carbon toughness and wear resistance: gears, wheels, shafts,
engine parts and many machine parts
steels do not have sufficient strength.
Slide 125: Medium carbon steels
Components made of medium carbon steels
are usually hardened by quenching to produce martensite, followed by tempering to improve
toughness.
The manufacturing cost of medium carbon steel components is relatively high, because it
needs to go through several steps:
(1) The steel is made soft by annealing. This is to facilitate forming and machining.
(2) The soft steel is formed into the components by forming or machining.
(3) The component is hardened by quenching and then tempered.
(4) The component is finally finished off by grinding or polishing for use.

8.1.3 High carbon steels High Carbon Steels

With increasing carbon content above 0.6-1.4%C (+ large amount of various elements)
For making tools and dies for material cutting/forming
about 0.6%, steels become quite hard, but
also quite brittle. This is because of the Characteristics:
increased amount of cementite or the • Can be hardened easily
• Very hard and good wear resistance
increased amount of carbon trapped in • Quite brittle
martensite. • Resist higher temperatures up to 700oC
• More costly
High carbon steels have some unique • More difficult to form and fabricate
characteristics: they are hard, wear • Only used to make tools, dies, moulds …
resistant, can be hardened easily by
quenching, even by air cooling. These render them useful for some applications, such as
to make tools, dies and moulds. These components are used to cut, machine and deform other
metals and materials. Thus hardness and wear resistance are the primary requirements. But
tools such as hacksaw blades break easily because they are made of high carbon steels.
The manufacturing procedure of components made of high carbon steels is similar to that for
medium carbon steels. The high carbon steel must be made soft first by annealing, and then
fabricated into the tools, the tools are then hardened by quench hardening, followed by
tempering. A final finishing touch is usually required before the tools can be used.

85
8.1.4 Stainless steels
Stainless Steels
Stainless steels are best known for their
Compositions: iron based alloys + 11-30%Cr
resistance to normal atmosphere and + 0-35%Ni + 0.02-1.2%C+Mo, Ti, Ta, Nb, N etc.
environment without rust or stain formation.
The reason behind the good corrosion Why Stainless: Cr oxide protective film-
(5-10 nm thick): a minimum 11-13%Cr is required
resistance of stainless steels is the alloying to provide adequate corrosion resistance.
element, chromium (Cr). It is Cr that makes
• Ferritic SS
stainless steel stainless. • Martensictic SS
• Austenitic SS
In order for steel to become stainless, a • Duplex SS
minimum 11-13%Cr is required. This is why • Precipitation hardening (PH) SS
all stainless steels contain at least 13%Cr,
some contain even up to 30%Cr.
Chromium in stainless steel helps to form a chromium-rich oxide film on the surface to protect
the steel from further reaction with the environment. Such a protective oxide film is called a
passive film which is very thin, very dense, very adherent and insoluble in many
environments. A minimum of 13% Cr is required in steel form such a high quality passive
film.
There are several types of stainless steels based on structure. If the structure is ferrite, then it
is ferritic stainless steels which contains very little carbon and thus is relatively soft. If the
structure is austenite, then it is austenitic stainless steels which contains a small amount of
carbon and is also relatively soft. The strongest stainless steels are martensitic stainless steels
which contain a sufficient amount of carbon to form martensite. Duplex stainless steels
contain a mixture of martensite and austenite.

8.2 Cast Irons

When more than 2.1% up to 4.5% carbon is added to iron, cast irons are produced, which is
a group of widely used material in manufacturing. Irons containing more than 4.5% carbon
are called “pig” irons because they possess no useful properties for engineering applications.
The large amount of carbon usually exists in the form of graphite in cast irons. In some cast
irons, carbon exists in the form of cementite.

Cast Irons
4

3 Ductile
Si%
irons
2 Malleable
irons
Gray
irons
1
Steels White
irons
0 1 2 3 4 5
C%

86
As the name suggests, case irons are used to make bulky and complex components by the
process called “casting”. Casting is the most economic manufacturing process, which
involves:
(1) Melting the metal by heating well above the melting temperature;
(2) Pouring the molten metal into a mould, usually a sand mould. The molten metal will fill the
cavity of the mould and take its shape;
(3) Solidification of the molten metal in the mould, forming a solid component;
(4) Retrieving the solid component from the mould.
Cast irons are divided into several categories depending
on the form and shape of carbon. Gray iron contains
graphite flakes and is the cheapest but is also the most
brittle because each graphite flake serves as a crack
inside. Graphite has the lubricating ability and can absorb
vibration. Thus gray iron is good for making the bases of Gray Iron graphite
White Iron
machines. Through proper heat treatment or casting
control, the graphite flakes can be turned into spherical
shapes, as in malleable and nodular irons, which are more
ductile than gray iron. When carbon takes the form of
cementite, white iron is produced, which is the hardest
Malleable Iron Nodular Iron
among all because cementite is a hard phase. White iron
is good for making diggers and earth moving equipment.
In general, it is more economic to make components by casting, especially large, bulky and complex
components. Cast irons should be used mainly to resist compression rather than tension & impact
loading because of their brittleness.
Cast Irons: Applications
Cast Irons: Some Select Guidelines
Cook ware
➢ Casting is an economic process to form a component
in one operation, with minimal machining & joining Gears
➢ There is no limit in size for casted component
➢ Cast irons are relatively cheap and possess good anti-
vibration, compressive, lubricating properties, and Earth-moving
Lantern Statue equipment
good machinability
➢ They should be designed to resist compression, rather
than severe tension and impact loading
➢ They are widely used to make bulky, complex-shaped
components that require stability and resist loads Bell Lathe

8.3 Aluminium Alloys and Age-hardening

Aluminium alloys are the second most widely used metallic alloys in engineering. Unlike steels which
can be quench-hardened, aluminium alloys cannot be quench-hardened. Age-hardening or
precipitation hardening is the main technique for hardening aluminium alloys and many other non-
ferrous alloys. The principle of precipitation
hardening is introduced in this section, which is Aluminium Alloys
a very important topic in materials science.
Al: Most abundant metal in earth’s crust (8%wt)

8.3.1 Pure aluminium (Al) • Light (=2.99 g/cm3) • Weldable

Aluminium is the most abundant metallic • Good electrical and thermal • Castable
element on the earth crust. There are more conductivity • Machineable
aluminium ores than iron ores. Aluminium • Ductile (FCC structure) • Formable
ores are mostly in the form of aluminium • High strength-to-weight ratio • Surface
hardenable
oxide, Al2O3, which is very stable. • Will not rust
• Non-toxic

87
Complicated extracting processes are used to extract Al from the ore. This makes aluminium
more expensive than iron.
Aluminium is a light metal with a density below Cu
3 as compared to about 8 for iron. Components Ni
made of aluminium are much lighter than those Fe
made of steels. Aluminium alloys are the key Ti
materials to replace steels in increasing Al
applications for weight reduction and thus Be
energy saving. Aluminium finds applications in Mg
electrical engineering and heat exchangers Li
because it has good conductivities. Aluminium
is non-toxic and does not rust, so they are widely 0 2 4 6 8 10
Density (g/cm3)
used for corrosion resistance and in kitchen
utilities.
In terms of manufacturing, aluminium can be casted, welded, machined, mechanically
formed, and surface hardened. It is thus economic to make components out of aluminium.
However, aluminium has some serious shortcomings. Firstly, it is not very strong compared
to steel. This limits its application for heavy duty applications. Secondly, aluminium cannot
be hardened by the simple quenching process because there is no martensite formation.
Aluminium has just one crystal structure, FCC, in the solid state. There is no phase
transformation possible.
Al-Alloys
8.3.2 Aluminium alloys
Major Alloying Elements: Cu, Mn, Si, Mg, Zn, Li
Pure aluminium is a very soft metal, which ➢to increase strength by Al alloys
can be demonstrated by the softness of • Solid solution hardening cannot be
kitchen foils. To make it into useful material • Precipitation hardening quench
hardened
in engineering, aluminium is alloyed with Hardness: 20 HB 120 HB
other alloying elements. Several series of sT: 90 480 MPa
aluminium alloys are commercially Steels: 500-2000 MPa
Polymers: 10-95 MPa
available, each relying on a major alloying
➢ but ductility, corrosion
element. Through alloying, the hardness of resistance reduced
aluminium can be increased by more than 6
times and tensile strength increased by more than 5 times. However, even the strongest
aluminium alloy is still weaker than the softest steel. But if we take the ratio of strength to
weight, i.e. specific strength, aluminium alloys are similar to steels.
Two hardening mechanisms are involved when aluminium is alloyed by other elements, i.e.
(1) solid solution hardening, where individual alloying atoms are dissolved in the aluminium FCC
lattice to cause lattice strains; and (2) precipitation hardening, where the alloying atoms combine with
the host aluminium atoms to form compound particles dispersed in the FCC structure. The following
section discusses the principle of precipitation hardening and how to achieve it through proper
heat treatment.

8.3.3 Precipitation hardening or Age hardening

To understand the principle of precipitation hardening, let’s look at the following slide.
Assume that aluminium is alloyed with a few percent of an alloying element, e.g. copper (Cu),
some of the Cu atoms dissolve in the aluminium FCC lattice to induce solid solution
hardening. Such a hardening effect is limited because only a limited number of Cu atoms can
be dissolved (just like only a limited amount of sugar can be dissolved in water). The excess

88
Cu atoms will segregate at grain boundaries
to combine with Al atoms to form large Solid solution
hardening
Precipitation
hardening
particles of Al-Cu compounds. The reason that . . .
large particles form at grain boundaries is that . . . . ....
..... . . . . .
. . . . . .. . . . . . .
grain boundaries are areas of irregularity, of . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . .
. . ....... . . . .
more openness and high energy. Such large . . . . . .. . . . . . .
particles at grain boundaries have very limited . . . . . . ...... . . . . .
hardening effect. It is easy to understand that Alloy element Segregate at grain Fine-dispersed
dissolve in the boundaries Particles in the
in order to achieve the maximum hardening matrix matrix
Hardening limited
effect, the particles should be (1) small in size; Solubility limited
Hardening limited Add more alloy element?
(2) large in number, i.e. there are many of
them; and (3) distributed uniformly, i.e.
dispersed in the structure, not only at grain boundaries.

Precipitation hardening
Precipitation hardening of a precipitation
hardenable alloy is accomplished by three
heat treatment stages, including

(a) Solution treatment: heat the alloy in the solid

state to just below the melting point
(b) Quenching: at high cooling rate
(c) Aging: heat the alloy to certain temperature
(much below the solution treatment temperature)
and soaked for some hours

To fulfil the above three requirements, a proper heat treatment procedure must be followed,
which involves three steps. In brief, when the aluminium alloy is solution treated at high
temperature (normally around 500oC), all alloying atoms, e.g. Cu atoms, are dissolved in the
FCC lattice. Then when the alloy is quenched from high temperature, all Cu atoms remain in
solid solution because they cannot escape during rapid cooling. Note that this quenching
process does not harden the alloy because there is no martensite formation. Finally, when the
alloy is reheated to about 200 oC, i.e. aged at 200oC , the Cu atoms gain some thermal energy
and start to react with the Al atoms to form many small particles everywhere, dispersed in the
structure. The final stage is called ageing because it takes place at relatively low temperatures
for quite a long time which can be 24 hrs. Some aluminium alloys are designed such that they
can be hardened by ageing at room temperature, which is called natural ageing.

. Al-Alloys
. .. . ... . . .
. . .. . . . . .
. .. . . Precipitation-hardening heat treatment - aging
.. . . . . .. . .. . . Three steps:
. .
.. .. . . .. .. . . Solution treatment ... . . . . 1. Solution heat treatment: heating to dissolve all
. . .. .. . . . . ... . . .
Temperature

T0
Quenching
alloy elements in Al and form a single and
. . uniform phase (solid);
. 2. Quenching: rapidly cooled (in water) to retain all
. ....
..... . .
Aging

. ..
alloy element in Al at room temperature -
. . T2
supersaturation (unstable);
. ... . . . .
....... . . 3. Aging: Heat the supersaturated alloy to 100 - 300oC
. .. . .
. . ...... . Time for some hrs, allowing for precipitation of metastable /
phases - precipitation hardening

89
In practice, the solution treatment temperature
and the ageing temperature depend on the specific Al-Alloys
Precipitation-hardening heat treatment - aging
aluminium alloy grade. The final hardening effect to dissolve alloying element
depends on ageing temperature and time. To 500
in solid solution
T
achieve optimal hardening, a right balance of ( C) o
to precipitate fine/dispersed
400
temperature and time should be selected. Water
metastable particles
300
Insufficient ageing temperature and time will Quench

200
result in under-ageing because the particles are Solution
not fully developed in size and number. On the 100 Treatment up to 20 h or more Air cool
Age Hardening
other hand, too high temperature or too long time
Time
will result in over-ageing, because the particles
will grow too big and the number of particles is reduced.

Al-Alloys Al-Alloys: Selection Guilines

Applications
• All sorts of structural part
• Consumer items - fabricability + cosmetic appearance
• Architectural applications: window/door frames
• Electrical wiring
• Automobiles - weight reduction
• Food containers - non-toxic + corrosion resistance
• Marine/Off-shore applications: - pitting
➢ Al is abundant and is quite cheap
➢ It is much lighter than steels
➢ It can be formed into shape much easier than steels
➢ It does not rust and offer pleasant appearance
➢ Stronger and stiffer than polymers
➢ Used to replace steels in many applications
➢ Key material for weight-saving, yet still offering
good strength and stiffness
❑ Much lower strength and stiffness than steels
❑ Poor wear and fatigue resistance
❑ Poor resistance to high temperatures

8.4 Magnesium Alloys

Magnesium (Mg) is relatively a new comer compared to other metals. It found commercial
uses only since 1920’s. Magnesium has similar properties to aluminium although its strength
is slightly lower than that of aluminium. However, Mg is even lighter than Al. Its density is
only 1.74, which is about 60% of Al. In recent years, Mg becomes more attractive in
engineering because of its very light weight, which helps to reduce the weight of machines
such as aircrafts, trains and cars, and thus reduce energy consumption.
Magnesium has a HCP structure in the solid state. This makes it relatively brittle as compared
to other metals. Similar to aluminium, magnesium is mostly used in the alloyed form and
hardened by solid solution hardening and precipitation hardening. The heat treatment process
to achieve precipitation hardening is similar to that for aluminium alloys.

Magnesium Alloys Magnesium Alloys

• Pure Mg: very weak, soft, but poor ductility
• abundant: 2% earth’s crust • Mostly used in alloyed form
• light: density 1.74 g/cm3 • Can be strengthened by alloying: Al, Mn, Zn …
• highest thermal Cu • Cold forming - extremely limited
expansion coefficient
Ni
• Hot forming possible
Fe
• Poor formability - limitation for some applications
• good electrical/thermal Ti • Castable
conductivity Al

• appearance: white
Be Corrosion resistance:
• melting point: 650 C
Mg
Li
• Suitable for outdoor exposure
• Not so good as Al-alloys, but better than steels
• commercial use: 0 2 4 6 8 10 • Pitting in seacoast environments
Density (g/cm3)
since 1920 • Most active, should not be coupled with other metals

Due to its HCP structure and its poor ductility, magnesium alloys have poor formability. This
means that it is not easy to form magnesium alloys into components by cold forming. Casting,

90
hot forming and machining are more practical manufacturing processes for magnesium
alloys. Precaution should be taken when dealing with magnesium filings and powders,
because it is very active and the powders and filings can burn in air causing excessive heat.
There is no hazard when during with bulk magnesium alloys.
Due to its reactivity, magnesium and its alloys should not be coupled with other metals in
use, because this can cause galvanic corrosion.

Magnesium Alloys Magnesium Alloys

Mechanical: Better mechanical properties than Applications
plastics Main advantage: weight reduction
Strength: 70 - 220 MPa, lower than Al-alloys
s/ (specific strength) < Al-alloys • Non-structural applications (for reduced weight)
Modulus of elasticity: 45 GPa • Aircraft
E/ similar to most other metals • Automotive
Lower ductility • Mobile phone
Fabrication: Poor formability, but good castability • Laptop computers
Better machinability than any other metal • Pagers Limiting factors:
Mg filings, powders or chips can burn with • Cameras (1) Poor formability
extreme heat (2) Poor ductility

Magnesium alloys have gradually become new players in the field of light metals. Many new
alloys have recently been developed and application potentials have been identified, with the
purpose to replace aluminium alloys and to further save weight. The use of magnesium alloys
can make mobile phones, laptops and cameras lighter and long lasting. Increasing
applications have been found in cars, aircrafts and trains, where light weight and energy
efficiency are most important.

8.5 Titanium Alloys

Titanium is a popular metal which possesses
many good properties. These render it useful Titanium Alloys
Characteristics of Ti
in many fields, like aerospace, biomedical,
• Relatively light: 4.54 g/cm3 versus
military and sports. Titanium is much lighter
7.8 g/cm3 for iron
than steel but is as strong as steel. Among all • High strength: better than most alloy steels
engineering metals, titanium has the highest • Highest specific strength:
specific strength, meaning that components strength/density ratio
• Extremely good corrosion resistance
made of titanium will be stronger and lighter
• Lower elastic modulus (E): 107 GPa
than those made of other metals. (210 GPa for Fe)
Titanium is bio-compatible with human • Good bio-compatibility
• Good elevated temp properties (~550oC)
tissues and thus can be implanted into human
body to replace damaged bones without the
danger of rejection by the human tissues. This Titanium Alloys
is why it is one of the few metals used as Characteristics of Ti
biomaterials. • Extremely reactive
• Form compounds with other interstitial
Titanium has smaller Young’s modulus than elements: O, N, C, H
• Form intermetallic compounds (brittle)
steel. The Young’s modulus of titanium is
with other metals
more close to that of natural bones. Thus when • Natural form of existence: TiO2 - very stable
used to replace damaged bones, titanium is • Extremely difficult to extract
mechanically more compatible than stainless
steels. The smaller Young’s modulus also • Relatively expensive
means that titanium is more flexible

91
elastically. When used to make sports facilities like the shaft of a golf club, tennis or
badminton rackets etc., they are not only lighter but also can flex more and drive the balls
further.
Titanium also possesses extremely good corrosion resistance. It is actually one of the most
corrosion resistant metals. It can resist almost all kinds of acids except for hydrofluoric acid
(HF) which is a very nasty chemical requiring strict regulation to use in laboratories. Titanium
is widely used in the chemical processing industry.
Titanium is very reactive and can react with interstitial elements to form compounds and other
metallic elements to form brittle intermetallic compounds. Titanium exists on the earth crust
in the natural form of TiO2, which is extremely stable. It is very difficult to extract titanium
from its ores and this is the reason why titanium is expensive: its price is 10 to 30 times higher
than steels.
Titanium is used in engineering for two main
Titanium Alloys
reasons, as summarised in the slide. With Application
increasing uses, the price of titanium can come Ti and its alloys are used for two main reasons:
down significantly in the future. However, (1) Their specific strength: in space industry, aircraft,
titanium has some serious limitations that automobiles, sports facilities, …
limit its use in general engineering. Firstly, (2) Their corrosion resistance: much better than
stainless steel in chemical processing …
titanium has very poor friction and wear
properties. When sliding with itself or other Also, for their bio-compatibility: non-toxic,
materials, titanium tends to score, scuff, gall no harmful tissue reactions - for medical instruments,
bone, hip-joints, etc.
and adhere to the counterface, resulting in
high friction and high wear rates. Thus, titanium cannot be used to make such important
components as gears and bearings. Secondly, titanium cannot be fusion-welded with other
metals because the formation of intermetallics will make the joint brittle. Thirdly, apart from
the high cost of raw material, it is very difficult to machine titanium. During machining or
cutting, titanium tends to stick to the cutting tool, making the operation difficult and tool life
shorter.
Application of Ti

Titanium Alloys
Limitations:
Engine parts Space
• Extremely poor friction and wear properties:
Off-shore
tend to score, scuff and adhere to the counterface
• Cannot be fusion-welded to other metals -
their reactivity promotes formation of brittle
intermetallics at the joint
• High cost both in material and fabrication Sports&body Arts
Military

8.6 Superalloys
Titanium discussed above is actually one of the few metals that can be used at temperatures
above 500oC. The maximum temperature that titanium can be used is about 600oC. This is
not enough when jet engines are concerned, where the operating temperature can be well
above 1000oC. Superalloys are special alloys developed for high temperature applications,
especially for making jet engine components.

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At high temperatures, material properties will
deteriorate. The material may suffer from Superalloys
creep (remember the critical temperature
0.4Tm), may be softened, and may be oxidised For High Temperature Applications
or chemically attacked by the environments. (more than 1000oC)
Special alloys, such as nickel-based
superalloys and cobalt-based superalloys are
designed to resist high temperatures. These
alloys contain many alloying elements such
Cr and Al, which provide the high
temperature strength and oxidation resistance. A Jet Engine A turbine blade

Superalloys
Material Requirements for High Temperatures
• Good creep resistance
• High mechanical strength at high temperatures
• Good resistance to oxidation
• Good corrosion resistance
Shortcomings of most metals
• Softened at high temperature
• Creep at high temperature
• Oxidised at high temperature
Superalloys
Nickel-based & Cobalt-based superalloys
• Designed for high temperature requirements
• Alloyed with Fe, Cr, Mo, Mn, Al … to give
• Solid solution hardening
• Precipitation hardening
• High temperature oxidation resistance is
given by Cr, Al…., which form stable oxide
films on surface for further protection

Jet engine components made of superalloys are usually coated with a layer of ceramic
material to serve as a thermal barrier. This reduces the temperature in superalloy base and
thus prolongs the life of the components such as turbine blades.

8.7 Ceramics
Ceramics have the following structural and
properties characteristics:
• Ceramics are compounds between
metallic and non-metallic elements. A
ceramic contains at least one metal and
one non-metal elements.
• Most ceramics have ionic bond,
comprising positive ions and negative
ions. The total number of positive
charges must equal the total number of
negative charges. Thus, a ceramic is
electrically neutral.
• Ceramics have more complicated
structures than metals because of the
interlocking between the positive and
negative ions.
• Most ceramics are hard but brittle.
• The compressive strength of ceramics
can be 5 to 10 time higher than the tensile strength. Thus ceramics should be used to resist
compression rather than tension.
• Ceramics have better high temperature strength and corrosion resistance than metals.

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To understand the nature of ceramics, let’s take
two very common ceramics as examples, i.e. FeO
(iron oxide) and ZrO2 (zirconia), see the slide.
FeO is a ceramic used for magnetic recording. It
carried equal portions of Fe positive ions Fe+2
(cation) and O negative ions O-2 (anion). Fe+2
carries two positive charges and O-2 carries two
negative charges. Thus, the ceramic FeO contains
equal amount of positive charges and negative
charges – it is electrically neutral! This is the basic
requirement for a ceramic material. You can also
see now why ceramics are insulators, because they
are electrically neutral and cannot conduct electricity.
ZrO2, commonly called zirconia, is an engineering ceramic used to make bearings. It contains a cation
(Zr4+) and two anions (2xO-2). Since Zr4+ carries 4 positive charges, 2 O-2 are needed to balance the
positive charges to achieve electric neutrality. This is again the basic requirement for a ceramic.
Some ceramics can conduct electricity under certain environmental conditions. This is because the
electric neutrality is destroyed by internal and external factors.
Ceramics can have two structural forms, i.e.
crystalline and non-crystalline. For
crystalline ceramics, the crystal structure is
much more complicated than that of metals.
The simplest type of ceramic crystal structure
is that of sodium chloride, NaCl, i.e. salt. Cl-
anions form the face centred cubic (fcc)
crystal structure and Na+ cation form another
fcc structure. These two structures are locked
together, such that it is difficult to move
them. Therefore, NaCl has no plasticity – it
cannot be deformed.
Another thing to note is that many ceramics Non-crystalline Ceramics: Example
have non-crystalline structure because with • Many ceramics have non-crystalline structure
(it is not easy to achieve atomic regularity in some
the complex composition, it is difficult to ceramics with complex composition and structure)
arrange the atoms or ions regularly. The • Ceramics with the same composition (formula) can
can be both crystalline and non-crystalline
typical example is silicon dioxide, SiO2, the
basic composition of glasses. SiO2 can be Example: SiO2 - Formula for quartz, sand, glasses
arranged regularly and periodically to form random
periodic
into a crystalline material, Quartz. SiO2 can regular irregular
also be arranged in a random manner to form
into a non-crystalline material, glass. Crystalline SiO2 Non-crystalline SiO2
Quartz Glasses
The common manufacturing processes for
metals, such as casting, machining, metal forming, forging and welding, do not apply to most
ceramic materials. The most common processing route for ceramics is by powder
processing, as shown in the slide. This involves powder production, mixing, compaction and
finally firing in a furnace or kiln.
Due to the nature of powder processing, components made by this route are normally not
100% dense. There are always some pores inside the component. If the structure of a ceramic
is examined, many features can be found, including grains, grain boundaries, second phase

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particles, pores and microcracks. Each pore is just like a crack, which can propagate under
tensile or shear stresses, leading to fracture.

Ceramic Powder Processing MICROSTRUCTURE OF CERAMICS

❑ Most ceramics are not fully dense
Powder ❑ Contain 5% to 20% porosities, & microcracks
Mixing Compaction Sintering/
Production Firing Grain Grains (crystals)
boundaries of ceramic

Pores left by
Micro-

processing
By cracks
mechanical
and/or
chemical
means
Sintered Al2O3 Particles of
second phase

Q: Why ceramics do not deform plastically?

Based on the information provided so far, • Strong/rigid ionic and covalent bonding
some interesting questions regarding • Complex crystal structure, which limits
Because of
atomic slip
ceramics can find answers, such as the two • Voids/microcracks which favour fracture
questions in the Slide. Other typical
Q: Why ceramics have better high-temperature
questions are highlighted below: strength and corrosion resistance?
Because ceramics have the natural forms of metal-
Q: Why is it difficult to machine ceramics? nonmetal compounds, which are chemically stable
A: for two reasons, (1) it is difficult to clamp ceramic and have relatively high melting temperatures
firmly because it will break easily, (2) ceramic is too Note: most metals exist in the earth crust in the form of
hard to cut, and it will damage the cutting tool easily. compounds, e.g. oxides

Q: Why is the compressive strength of ceramics much higher than the tensile strength?
A: Because of the existence of pores and microcracks in powder processed ceramics. Under tension, the pore or
crack will open in size, which leads to easy fracture. On the other hand, under compression, the pores and cracks
will not open, but rather seal up. Therefore, ceramics can resist compression much better than tension.
Now, can you answer the following questions precisely?
Q: Why is it difficult to test ceramics by the tensile testing method?
Q: Why is bending test more suitable for ceramics?

8.8 Polymers
A polymer is composed of many long molecular chains. In each molecular chain, there are
many individual molecules linked together by the strong covalent bond, mostly carbon-
carbon bond. The bond between the molecular chains, i.e. the inter-molecular chain bond can
be either the weak secondary bond or the strong covalent bond.
• When the inter-molecular bond is of the secondary type, the molecular chains are weakly
boned together in the polymer. This is just like a bowl of cooked spaghetti. The resultant
polymer is relatively weak, more flexible, and can be remelted upon heating, and thus can be
recycled. All thermoplastic polymers have this type of molecular structure.
• When the inter-molecular bond is of the covalent type, the molecular chains are strongly
bonded together by the cross-linked covalent bond. Such a crosslinking structure is analogous
to a piece of fishing net where every line is cross-linked strongly. Such type of polymers are
stronger, more rigid, can resist higher temperatures and cannot be remelted upon heating.
Therefore, they cannot be recycled. All thermoset polymers have this type of crosslinking
structure.

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 Polymer Structure Polymer Structure
• Many molecular chains combine to form a polymer
What are polymers? material
• Plastics and rubbers (Elastomers) • Inter-molecular chain bonding is mostly secondary,
• Organic compounds based on carbon and hydrogen… but can be covalent by crosslinking (e.g. in thermoset
• Composed of long molecular chains with covalent polymers (hard plastics)).
bond in the chain, and secondary bond between chains
Example: Polyethylene One ethylene molecule
H H H H H H H H
Secondary
Polyethylene: -[C2H4]-n C–C C–C C–C ….. C–C bonding force •Crosslinking:
H H H H H H H H •Random chain covalent bond between
arrangement: Amorphous chains – strong, hard
One molecular chain •Secondary bonding •Random: amorphous
Covalent bond
between chains

Most polymers are amorphous with or without crosslinking, meaning that the molecular
chains are arranged randomly without any particular order. However, molecular chains in
some polymers without crosslinking can be arranged regularly to follow a certain repeatable
pattern. This forms polymer crystals in some regions in the polymer, while other regions
remain disordered. This is called semicrystalline polymers. A semicrystalline polymer has no
crosslinking. Thus a semicrystlline polymer must be a thermoplastic polymer. There is no
crystallinity in all crosslinked thermoset polymers.

Polymer Structure Polymer Structure

• Most polymers are amorphous, with or without
Can be amorphous or semicrystalline
crosslinking
• Some polymers can be made semicrystallines, with (1) Linear polymers Inter-chain:
Chains can pack more densely, secondary
regular arrangement of some molecular chains bonding
regularly (more crystallinity):
PE, PVC, PS, PMMA, nylon …
(2) Branched polymer Inter-chain:
Branching lowers polymer density, secondary
crystallinity, but enhances stiffness bonding
and strength
Amorphous region
(3) Crosslinked polymers
Chemical reaction between chains Inter-chain:
can be promoted to form covalent covalent
bond between chains – stiffen & bonding
Crystalline region harden the polymer

There are three types of chain structure as

Polymer Families
shown in the slide. Type (1) and type (2) have • soften and liquefy when heated, harden
when cooled
no crosslinking, but linear polymers are more • These processes are reversible and maybe
Thermoplastic: repeated many times
flexible and have higher density, and • easy processing & can be recycled
• linear, branched, amorphous, semicrystal,
branched polymers have lower density and • no crosslinking
high strength and stiffness. Type (3) has • permanently hardened when heated for
for the first time
crosslinking structure and is the strongest. • do not soften upon subsequent heating
Thermoset: • cannot be recycled
• crosslinking forms during first heating
According to molecular structure, polymers • subsequent heating causes degradation
rather than softening
are divided into three families, as shown in the • 100% amorphous
slide. Each family has its own characteristics, Elastomers: - rubbers, slightly crosslinked, up to 1000%
elastic deformation
please read through these slides carefully.
In summary:
(1) Thermoplastic polymers: do not have crosslinking structure, can be linear or branched, can
be either amorphous or semicrystalline, are relatively weak, can be remelted upon heating and
re-hardened upon cooling many times. Therefore, thermoplastics are recyclable. You can
collect many thermoplastics bottles and remelt them together to form into new parts.
(2) Thermoset polymers: have crosslinking structure, can be amorphous only, very strong but
quite brittle, can resist higher temperatures, but cannot be remelted upon heating. Therefore,

96
 thermoset polymers cannot be recycled because they cannot be remelted. This is because of
the crosslinking structure. Upon heating, thermoset polymers will tar or burn rather than melt.
A crosslinked thermoset polymer is just like a single gigantic molecule because all molecular
chains are strongly bonded together. They cannot be separated without degradation.
(3) Elastometers: belong to the thermoset category with crosslinking. But the degree of
crosslinking is very small in order to ensure elasticity by the highly kinked molecular chains.
Slight crosslinking is required to hold the chains together during stretching.
_________________________________________________________________________

Tutorial 6 (II): Engineering Materials

Steel and cast irons

1. Which of the following materials is most suitable for making the body of a car?
(a) low carbon steel; (b) medium carbon steel; (c) high carbon steel; (d) pure aluminium
2. Which of the following materials is most suitable for making a coldworking die?
(a) low carbon steel; (b) medium carbon steel; (c) high carbon steel; (d) cast iron
3. Which of the following materials is most suitable for making a power transmission shaft?
(a) low carbon steel; (b) medium carbon steel; (c) high carbon steel; (d) aluminium
4. Which of the following are characteristics of cast irons?
(a) high carbon content; (b) brittle; (c) cheap; (d) good damping ability; (e) all of the above
5. Which of the following materials is most suitable for making the base of a power saw machine?
(a) low carbon steel; (b) medium carbon steel; (c) high carbon steel; (d) cast iron
6. Cast iron has good damping/anti-vibration ability because
(a) it contains some polymer foams; (b) it contains some graphite; (c) it is porous
7. The major element that makes stainless steel ‘stainless’ is
(a) iron (Fe); (b) carbon (C); (c) chromium (Cr); (d) copper (Cu)
8. The minimum requirement on chromium in stainless steels is
(a) 1%; (b) 13%; (c) 3%; (d) 30%
9. Many stainless steel articles carry a symbol “18-8”. This symbol means that the stainless steel
contains
(a) 18% Cr + 8% Ni; (b) 18% Fe + 8% Cr; (c) 18% C + 8% Cr; (d) 18% Cr + 8% C

Non-Ferrous alloys

10. Aluminium alloys can be strengthened by quenching to form a martensite structure.

(a) true, or (b) false
11. The two most important requirements for achieving precipitation hardening are
(a) proper size and number of the precipitate particles; (b) grain size of the matrix phase;
(c) uniform distribution of the precipitate particles; (d) melting temperature of the matrix phase
12. The three heat treatment stages to achieve precipitation hardening in an aluminium alloy are
(a) annealing; (b) solution treatment; (c) rapid cooling; (d) hardening; (e) aging
13. Aluminium alloys are widely used, because
(a) they are light; (b) they have good strength-to-density ratio; (c) they have pleasant
appearance; (d) they have good corrosion resistance; (e) all of the above
14. The main reason for the use of magnesium is that
(a) it is strong; (b) it is easy to shape by deformation; (c) it is light; (d) it is tough

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15. Titanium is used for which of the following two useful properties?
(a) strength-to-density ratio; (b) cost; (c) wear resistance; (d) corrosion resistance
16. Which of the following materials is most suitable for make a jet engine component?
(a) stainless steel; (b) cast iron; (c) titanium alloy; (d) nickel based superalloy;
(e) aluminium alloy

Ceramics and polymers

17. Which two of the following are ceramic materials?

(a) steel; (b) alumina (Al2O3); (c) polystyrene; (d) glasses (SiO2)
18. Ceramics have more complex structures than metals, and are more brittle because
(a) dislocations are more difficult to move in ceramics; (b) there are no dislocations in ceramics;
(c) there are too many dislocations in ceramics
19. Quartz and ordinary glass have the same constituent, i.e. silica (SiO2), so they have no differences
in structure and properties.
(a) True, or (b) False
20. The three families of polymers are
(a) thermoplastics; (b) hard plastics; (c) thermosets; (d) elastomers; (e) soft plastics
21. All thermoplastics have a crosslinked molecular structure.
(a) True, or (b) False
22. Epoxy is a thermosetting polymer. It is molecular structure must be
(a) crosslinked; (b) linear; (c) branched; (d) crystalline
23. Which of the following materials cannot be recycled (maybe more than one)?
(a) polystyrene (thermoplastic); (b) rubber; (c) polyethylene (thermoplastic);
(d) bakelite (thermoset)
24. Rubbers have a large elastic extension, because
(a) their molecular chains are tightly kinked and slightly crosslinked.
(b) they have an amorphous structure.
(c) their molecules are large and long
25. Polystyrene (PS) is polymeric material used to make CD cases. It has a semicrystalline structure.
Is PS recyclable? Why?
(a) Yes or (b) No
Your reasoning:

Short Questions

26. Briefly describe the properties and typical applications of low carbon steels, medium carbon
steels, and high carbon steels.
27. Briefly explain why stainless steels are ‘stainless’.
28. How does titanium compare to steel for the shaft on a golf club?
29. Explain why the compressive strength of ceramics is usually much greater than its tensile
strength.
30. Explain why it is difficult to measure the stress-strain behaviour of brittle ceramics by a tensile
test.
31. Discuss the differences between thermoplastic polymers and thermosetting polymers, in terms
of molecular structure, strength, response to heating and recycling.

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 Chapter 9: Failure and Degradation of Materials

9.1 Introduction
Nothing will last forever. Engineering components will fail after a certain period time of use.
Any failure before the designed lifetime is premature and deserves post mortem analysis.
Failure analysis is an important engineering discipline because it helps to identify the causes
of failure and to prevent future occurrence of such incidents. Examples of failure are given in
Fig. 9.1.
Materials failure can be due to improper selection and use of materials, or improper
processing of materials. But not all failures are material’s faults. Design plays an important
role in component’s performance. Environmental factors are other important considerations.

Figure 9.1: Examples of failure

Common modes of failure include mechanical
failure and environmental degradation, as
summarised in Fig. 9.2. This chapter focuses
on mechanical failure and metallic corrosion.
Various failure modes will be introduced,
including ductile and brittle fracture, fatigue
failure, impact failure and creep failure. The
principle of fracture mechanics is introduced
and used to predict mechanical failure.
Common Failure Modes/Causes
Mechanical Failure: deformation, cracking, fracture
➢ Overstressing: tensile, compressive, shear, bending …
➢ Impact: brittle, ductile, mixed modes
➢ Fatigue: cyclic stress, cyclic thermal effect …
➢ Creep: at elevated temperatures for long period
➢ Wear
Environmental Degradation:
➢ Corrosion
➢ Weathering
➢ Sunlight (UV: ultraviolet)
➢ Thermal

Figure 9.2: List of common failure modes

9.2 Ductile and Brittle Fracture

9.2.1 Fracture process
Fracture means that a material is separated
into two or more pieces by internal or external
stresses. Three stages are involved in the
fracture process, i.e. crack formation, crack
propagation and final fracture, see Fig. 9.3.
For fracture to happen, a crack must be formed
first, then the crack must propagate or grow in
size, and when the crack reaches a critical size,
final fracture happens. Each of these three
Fracture Process
Fracture: separation of a body into two or more pieces
Three stages: (1) Crack formation
(2) Crack propagation
(3) Final fracture
A few points to note:
• Cracks normally form at inclusions, void/pores
• In many materials, micro-cracks always exist, and
stage 2 determines the fracture behaviour
• Cracks in ductile materials grow slowly (stable) due
to plastic deformation at crack tips
• Cracks in brittle materials grow rapidly (unstable)
Figure 9.3: Fracture process

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stages depends on the of the material, the quality of the material, the stress state and the
environmental conditions. Almost all engineering materials are flawed, meaning that they
contain some defects, inclusions, voids and even micro-cracks. Thus stage 1 – crack
formation is not a major concern. Once the crack reaches a critical size, final fracture normally
happens very rapidly. Therefore, stage 2, i.e. crack propagation, determines the fracture
behaviour.
Thus, to slow down the fracture process, we need to slow down the propagation of the crack,
which depends on the ductility and toughness of the material. Cracks in ductile materials grow
slowly, while cracks in brittle materials grow rapidly. This is because in ductile materials,
plastic deformation takes place at the crack tip, i.e. before the crack can grow, plastic
deformation must happen first, which consumes some of the strain energy and slows down
crack propagation. On the other hand, in brittle materials, very little plastic deformation is
possible and the crack tip will advance without experiencing plastic deformation. It is thus
important to have some understanding of ductile fracture and brittle fracture.

9.2.2 Ductile fracture vs Brittle fracture

The difference between ductile and brittle fracture can best be demonstrate through tensile
testing, shown in Fig. 9.4. When a highly ductile material is tested to fracture, a neck is
formed gradually and the final fracture area is very small, just like a sharp point. The
corresponding stress-strain curve extends to very large strain before final fracture. For
moderately ductile materials, a neck is also formed and the stress-strain curve also goes
through a maximum and then declines. Ductile fractured surfaces have a cup-and-cone shape
at the necking area. The formation of the neck, which can be seen visually, is a good sign of
plastic deformation before fracture. If the two fractured pieces are put back together, the
original shape of the specimen cannot be recovered because of the permanent plastic
deformation. Such fracture is slow because it needs more strain as can be seen from the stress-
strain curve.
On the other hand, when a brittle material is tensile tested, it fractures without a neck
formation, i.e. without much plastic deformation. The stress-strain curve is just a straight line
followed by fracture. Brittle fractured surfaces are flat, shiny and without any sign of
permanent deformation. If the two fractured pieces are glued together, the original shape of
the specimen can be recovered nicely. Such fracture is rapid because it needs only a small
amount of strain.
Ductile and Brittle Fracture
Under simple tension Ductile and Brittle Fracture
s X
Feature of fractured surface
x

x


Highly Moderately Brittle

ductile ductile fracture fracture Ductile Cup-and-cone Brittle
fracture (common) Ductile
Polymer & glasses at
elevated temperature Necking before fracture No necking

Fig. 9.4: Ductile & brittle fracture Fig. 9.5: Fractured surfaces

Another demonstration of ductile fracture and brittle fracture is the failure of a pipe: one made
of steel, and another made of ceramic, as shown in Fig. 9.6. When the steel pipe is fractured,
it happens in the form of rupture. There are obvious signs of tearing, twisting and lifting near

100
the rupture zone. These are signs of plastic deformation. There is no way you can recover the
original shape of the pipe by putting the fractured pieces together, because they have been
permanently deformed. On the other hand, the brittle ceramic pipe will fracture into many
pieces. If you glue all these pieces together, the original shape of the pipe can be recovered
nicely because the fractured pieces have not been permanently deformed.
Example: Failure of a pipe
Ductile Fracture Features
• Plastic deformation before fracture
• Ductile failure: • Plastic deformation during crack growth
--one piece • Slow crack growth rate
--large Ductile fracture is more desirable for two reasons:
deformation
(1)The presence of plastic deformation gives warning
before fracture occurs. On the other hand, brittle
fracture occurs suddenly and catastrophically
• Brittle failure: without any warning.
--many pieces
--small (2) More strain energy is required to induce ductile
deformation fracture, i.e. a ductile/tough material does not
fracture so easily.

Fig. 9.6: Fracture of metal and ceramic pipes Fig. 9.7: Ductile fracture

Clearly, ductile fracture involves plastic deformation before and during fracture. It happens
slowly and is more desirable for the two reasons listed in Fig. 9.7. On the other hand, brittle
fracture happened rapidly without any warning and thus can cause catastrophe.

9.3 Fracture Mechanics – Stress Concentration

Fracture mechanics differs from conventional mechanics in that it deals with stresses at cracks
and the prediction of fracture in a quantitative way. It helps to answer such questions as
(1) If there are some defects or cracks in the component, is it safe to use it?
(2) How do you know there are defects in the material and their sizes and locations?
In this section, the concept of stress concentration is introduced and quantitative formulae are
used to calculate the maximum stress at the tip of a crack of know sizes and dimensions.
If the theoretical yield strength of a material is calculated from its atomic bond energy and
the actual or real yield strength is tested using tensile testing, it is found that the difference
between the two can be 10 to 100 times. The theoretical linear part of the stress-strain curve
is up to 100 times longer than what is measured. The actual strength of an engineering
material can be 100 times lower than the theoretical strength. Why?
We can do a simple experiment. If there is a
bucket of heavy weight, and a small wire is IDEAL VS REAL MATERIALS
used to lift it (see Fig. 9.8). It is often found A well known fact: the actual strength of real material
that the shorter the wire, the more weight it can is 10 to 100 times less than its theoretical strength
lift, or the longer the wire, the more chances it Theoretical: TS ~ E/10 s
Why?
Real: TS < E/100
will break. Thus, how much weight the wire
can lift also depends on the length of the wire. Observe:
The longer the wire
Size does matter! The reason behind this --- the smaller the load
phenomenon is that all engineering materials to fail it 

are flawed. No materials are perfect, they Reason: Flaws are stress
➢ Flaws cause premature failure concentrators!
always contain flaws and defects. The flaws or ➢ Larger samples are more flawed!
defects can cause stress concentration, i.e. can
increase stress by many times locally. Fig.9.8: A simple experiment

101
Larger samples contain more flaws and thus have more chances of stress concentration and
fracture. This is the reason why a longer wire has more chances to breaking when lifting a
heady weight.
Consider a large plate with a small elliptical Fracture Mechanics
hole, see Fig. 9.9. If a nominal stress, s0, is Stress Concentration: Flaws are stress concentrators
applied to the plate, this stress will be the • Elliptical hole in a plate:  a 
s max = s 0  2 + 1
same everywhere in the plate, except for the  t 
region close to the edge of the hole. The
closer to the edge of the hole, the larger is the s0
stress. At the edge of the hole, the stress is the t
maximum, meaning that stress is
concentrated at the edge of the hole. s max a
❖Stress concentration factor: Kt = =2 +1
s0 t
The maximum stress, smax, at the hole
depends on the size of the hole and the Fig.9.9: Stress concentration
sharpness of the edge or tip. The sharpness
of the tip is measured by its radius of curvature, t: the smaller the t value, the sharper is the
tip. Assume the length of the hole is 2a, then smax can be calculated by the following equation:
 a 
s max = s 0  2 + 1
 t 
The ratio of smax to s0 gives the stress concentration factor, Kt. It can be seen that the larger
and the sharper the hole are, i.e. increasing 2a and decreasing t, the higher is the maximum
stress. Therefore, in design to minimise stress concentration if the need of a hole cannot be
avoided, try to design it smaller and avoid sharp corners, i.e. use circular holes or round the
corners of the hole to increase t.
Let’s look at two special situations. The first is a circular hole of radius r in a large plate, see
Fig. 9.10. In this case, the length of the hole is the diameter of the hole, i.e. 2a=2r, a=r. The
radius of curvature of the circular edge is obviously the radius of the hole, i.e. t = r.
Substituting into the equation, it is derived that Kt=3, i.e. at the edge of a circular hole in a
plate, the stress is 3 times of the nominal stress. This is the best situation we can obtain. For
other holes with different geometries, the Kt value would be much larger than 3. Therefore,
if a hole is needed in a plate, a circular hole is the best design. But it still has a stress
concentration factor of 3!
Fracture Mechanics
Fracture Mechanics Stress Concentration: Corners are stress concentrators
Stress Concentration: Flaws are stress concentrators s max a
Kt = =2 +1
s max a 2.5
s0 t
Kt = = (2 + 1)
s0 t
2.0 Increasing W/h
1.5

• Large Kt promotes failure: 1.0

0 0.5 1.0
r/h
sharper fillet radius
Important: Implication in design
✓Avoid sharp corners
✓Increase fillet radius
✓Avoid abrupt change in section size

Fig. 9.10: Stress concentration at a circular hole Fig. 9.11: Stress concentration at T junctions

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Another situation is T junctions with widths w and h and a fillet radius r, see Fig. 9.11. The
stress concentration factor, Kt, increases with decreasing fillet radius and increasing section
width ratio, w/h. In order to reduce stress concentration, the fillet radius should be increased
and section width ratio should be reduced, i.e. avoiding abrupt change in sections in your
design.
Example:
When using the above equation for maximum What is the magnitude of the maximum stress that exists
stress calculation, the unit for s0 and smax is at the tip of an elliptical flaw inside an aluminium casting
when a tensile stress of 100 MPa is applied?
usually MPa, and that for a and t is mm. See The geometry of the flaw as measured by non-destructive
testing (NDT) is as follows: length (2a)=2mm;
example in Fig. 9.12. It should also be noted radius of curvature (t)= 0.2 mm
that if the hole is internal, i.e. not at the edge of Solution:
 a 
the plate, its length is designated as 2a. If the Use … s max = s 0  2 + 1
hole is at the edge of the plate, its length is  t 
designated as a, i.e. the whole length is used for  1mm 
the calculation. s max = 100MPa 2 + 1 = 547MPa
 0.2mm 
The example shows that the maximum stress is Fig. 9.12: Example of stress concentration
more than 5 times of the applied stress. calculation
_________________________________________________________________________

Tutorial 7 (I): Ductile & Brittle Fracture and Stress Concentration

1. Describe the mechanism of crack propagation for both ductile and brittle modes of fracture.

2. Explain why ductile fracture is more desirable than brittle fracture.

3. What is the magnitude of the maximum stress that exists at the tip of an internal crack having a
radius of curvature of 2.5x10-4 mm and a crack length of 2.5x10-2 mm when a tensile stress of
170 MPa is applied? (Answer: smax = 2574 MPa)

4. Estimate the theoretical fracture strength of a brittle material if it is known that fracture occurs
by the propagation of an elliptically shaped surface crack of length 0.5 mm and having a tip
radius of curvature of 5x10-3 mm, when a stress of 1035 MPa is applied. (Answer: 21.7 GPa)

5. A steel plate of 200 mm width and 10 mm thickness has a circle hole of 20 mm diameter. If the
applied tensile load to the plate is 200 kN, what is the maximum stress at the edge of the hole?
(Answer: 300 MPa)
200 kN

200 mm
10 mm

20 mm

200 kN

103
9.4 Fracture Mechanics – Fracture Toughness
No we can proceed to predict fracture based THREE TYPES OF CRACK MODES
on the principle of fracture mechanics and
material’s fracture toughness. There are 3
types of crack modes. Mode I is a tensile
mode, i.e. the crack is opened by a tensile
stress. The other modes are opened by a
shear stress. A compressive stress cannot Mode I: Mode II: Mode III:
Opening or Sliding mode Tearing mode
open a crack. We deal with mode I cracks Tensile mode
here. Most frequently
encountered
A tensile crack opens due to the large stress
Fig. 9.13: 3 types of cracks modes
concentrated at the tip of the crack. Thus,
if the stress intensity at the crack, K, is above a certain value for a specific material, the crack
will propagate and it is not safe to use the component. This critical stress intensity value, KIC,
is called the fracture toughness of the material, which is a material property. Thus, if
K  K IC
then the crack will grow and fracture will happen: it is not safe to use the component. In order
to make sure that the component is safe for use, the K value must be less than the KIC value.
The stress intensity factor, K, can be calculated using the following equation:

K = Ys a
where s is the applied tensile stress, a half of the internal crack length, or the length of a
surface crack. Y is a constant depending on the location of the crack. If the crack is at the
centre, Y=1; if the crack is at the surface, Y=1.1.
WHEN DOES A CRACK PROPAGATE? GEOMETRY, LOAD, & MATERIAL
K = Ys a
MPa m
➢ t at a crack tip is ❑ Expression of K: or ksi in
very small!
• Condition for crack propagation:
➢ Result: crack tip
stress is very large! K ≥ KIc
➢ Crack propagates when: s
tip
stip = K Stress Intensity Factor: Fracture Toughness:
2 x --depends on load & --depends on the material,
the tip stress is large
enough to make: increasing K geometry. s temperature, environment,
rate of loading.
K ≥ KIc
x Y=1 a Y=1.1
Depends on ,
Fracture toughness:
applied stress &
material property
crack geometry

Fig. 9.14: K & KIC Fig. 9.15: Stress intensity factor, K

We can predict fracture now if the applied stress and the crack size are known. The Y value
is given or can be found out by using known experimental results. For example, if a
component having a fracture toughness of KIC and an internal crack length of 2a is fractured
at a critical stress of scr, then the Y value can be determined by making Y the subject in the
equation, as follows:
K IC
Y=
s cr a
The fracture mechanics equation has practical implications in design and use. You can use it
to predict the allowed design stress if the maximum crack size is known, see Fig. 9.16.

104
 K IC
s design  DESIGN AGAINST CRACK GROWTH
s a • Crack growth condition: K ≥ KIc
That is, even there is a crack in the component, Ys a
• Largest, most stressed cracks grow first!
you can still use it provided that the maximum --Result 1: Max flaw size --Result 2: Design stress
stress in use is below sdesign. dictates design stress. dictates max. flaw size.
1  Kc 2
Kc
sdesign  a max   
More frequently, fracture mechanics equation is Y a max   Ysdesign 
used to determine the maximum allowable crack
or defect size in the component based on the
design stress, i.e.
2
1  K IC 
amax   Fig. 9.16: Design against fracture
  Ys design 

As mention earlier, there are always defects in engineering materials. If the maximum defect
size is smaller than amax, then it is safe to use the component.
Fracture toughness, KIC, is a very important material property if design against fracture is
required, such as in aerospace and transportation applications where any fracture can be fatal
and cost life. KIC is material dependent, as shown in Figs 9.17&9.18. Generally, metals have
much larger fracture toughness than ceramics and polymers. The fracture toughness has a
weak positive relationship with strength, i.e. a higher strength material has better fracture
toughness.

FRACTURE TOUGHNESS

FRACTURE TOUGHNESS

K Icmetals
increasing

K Iccomp
K Iccer  K Icpoly

Fig. 9.17: Comparison of fracture toughness Fig. 9.18: Fracture toughness vs strength

When using the fracture toughness equation, K=KIC=Ys a , for calculation, the unit of K
and KIC is MPa m , the unit of s is MPa, and DESIGN EXAMPLE 1: Aircraft Wing
the unit of a is m. A conversion from mm to m • Material has KIC = 26 MPa m
• Two designs to consider...
is often needed for a. Special care should be Design A
Design B
--use same material
taken for the a value: --largest flaw is 9 mm
--failure stress = 112 MPa
--largest flaw is 4 mm
--failure stress = ?
Internal crack length = 2a K Ic
• Use... s c =
External (surface) crack length = a Y amax
• Key point: Y and KIC are the same in both designs.
The examples given in Figs 9.19 to 9.25 show --Result: 112 MPa 4.5 mm 2 mm

the use of the fracture toughness equation. (sc a max )A = (sc a max )B
Please study them carefully and pay attention to
• Reducing flaw size pays off! ( )B = 168 MPa
Answer: sc
the various numerical and computation steps.
Fig. 9.19: Example 1

105
 DESIGN EXAMPLE 2: Pressure Vessel DESIGN EXAMPLE 2: Pressure Vessel
A pressure vessel made of a special steel: Solution:
KIc = 80 MPa m , r = 1.0 m, t = 20 mm (1) Find the maximum stress allowed for a crack size 2a=2 mm
Maximum internal crack size: 2a = 2 mm Y=1
K Ic
Q: what pressure (p) should be set to the releasing valve? K Ic = Ys max amax ; Thus s max =
Y amax
pr
(2) Use … s=
2t
pmax r K Ic
=
2t Y amax
pr 80MPa m  2  0.02m
s= pmax =
K Ic 2t
=
Y amax r 1.0    0.001m 1.0m
= 57.1MPa
2t
Thus, the pressure set to the releasing valve: below 57 MPa

Fig. 9.20: Example 2 Fig. 9.21: Example 2

Application of fracture mechanics

K = Ys a
1. Predict fracture
Example: An alloy steel has a plain strain fracture toughness
of 60 MPa m . Will a component made of this steel experience
fracture if it is known that the largest internal crack in the
component is 2 mm long and the applied stress is 1000 MPa?
Assume Y=1.1.
• Condition for crack propagation: Solution:
KIc = 60 MPa m

K ≥ KIc Calculate K…. Y=1.1; s=1000 MPa; a = 1 mm =1x10-3 m

K = Ys a = 1.1x1000 x 1x10 −3  = 61.7 MPa m

Since K > KIc, fracture will occur.

Fig. 9.22: Fracture criterion Fig. 9.23: Predict fracture

Application of fracture mechanics

Application of fracture mechanics
2. Predict stress allowance 3. Predict flaw/defect allowance
Example: An alloy steel has a plain strain fracture toughness
Example: An alloy steel has a plain strain fracture toughness
of 60 MPa m . It is known that the largest internal crack in a
of 60 MPa m . If a component made of this steel is exposed to
component made of this steel is 2 mm long. What is the a tensile stress of 1000 MPa, determine the maximum length
maximum stress that can be applied to this component of the internal defect that is allowed inside the component
without inducing fracture? Assume Y=1.1. without causing fracture during service? Assume Y=1.1.
Solution: Solution: In order to avoid fracture: K < KIc
In order to avoid fracture: K < KIc Thus the maximum allowable defect is when K = KIc
Thus the maximum allowable stress is when K = KIc Use … K = Ys a max = K Ic
Use … K = Ys max a = K Ic Known: KIc=60 MPa m , Y = 1.1; s = 1000 MPa
Known: KIc=60 MPa m , Y = 1.1; a = 1 mm = 1x10-3 m Thus 1.1x1000 x a max = 60
60 2
Thus, 1.1xs max x 1x10 −3  = 60 a max = = 9.5 x10 −4 m = 0.95 mm
60 (1.1x1000) 2 
s max = = 973.2 MPa
1.1x 1x10 −3  Thus, the maximum allowed length of the internal defect is: 2amax = 1.9 mm

Fig. 9.24: Predict stress allowance Fig. 9.25: Predict defect allowance

106
Tutorial 7 (II): Fracture Mechanics – Fracture Toughness

Application of fracture mechanics:

1. Predict fracture:

Example: An alloy steel has a plain strain fracture toughness of 60 MPa m . Will a component
made of this steel experience fracture if it is known that the largest internal crack in the
component is 2 mm long and the applied stress is 1000 MPa? Assume Y=1.1.
Solution:
KIc = 60 MPa m
Calculate K…. Y=1.1; s=1000 MPa; a = 1 mm =1x10-3 m
Thus K = Ys a = 1.1x1000 x 1x10 −3  = 61 .7 MPa m
Since K > KIc, fracture will occur.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Q1: An airplane component made of an aluminium alloy having a plain strain fracture toughness of
30MPa m is known to have an internal crack of 4 mm long. Is it safe to use the component if
the maximum applied stress is 300 MPa? Assume Y = 1.1.

Q2. (In many cases, the value of Y is not given. You have to work it out first using other information
given. Try the following question.)
Some aircraft component is fabricated from an aluminium alloy that has a plane strain fracture
toughness of 40 MPa m . It has been determined that fracture results at a stress of 300 MPa when
the maximum internal crack length is 4.0 mm. For this same component and alloy, will fracture
occur at a stress level of 260MPa when the maximum internal crack length is 6.0 mm? Why or
why not? (answer: K = 42.4 MPa m , fracture will occur)

2. Predict stress allowance:

Example: An alloy steel has a plain strain fracture toughness of 60 MPa m . It is known that the
largest internal crack in a component made of this steel is 2 mm long. What is the maximum stress
that can be applied to this component without inducing fracture? Assume Y=1.1.
Solution:
In order to avoid fracture: K < KIc
Thus the maximum allowable stress is when K = KIc
Use … K = Ys max a = K Ic
Known: KIc=60 MPa m , Y = 1.1; a = 1 mm = 1x10-3 m
Thus, 1.1xs max x 1x10 −3  = 60
60
s max = = 973.2 MPa
1.1x 1x10 −3 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Q3: An airplane component made of an aluminium alloy having a plain strain fracture toughness of
30MPa m is known to have an internal crack of 4 mm long. What is the maximum stress that
can be applied to this component without inducing fracture? Assume Y = 1.1.

107
Q4. (In many cases, the value of Y is not given. You have to work it out first using other information
given. Try the following question.)
Suppose that a wing component on an aircraft is fabricated from an aluminium alloy that has a
plane strain fracture toughness of 26 MPa m . It has been determined that fracture results at a
stress of 112 MPa when the maximum internal crack length is 8.6 mm. For this same component
and alloy, compute the stress level at which fracture will occur for a critical internal length of 6.0
mm. (answer: 134 MPa)

3. Predict flaw/defect allowance:

Example: An alloy steel has a plain strain fracture toughness of 60 MPa m . If a component made
of this steel is exposed to a tensile stress of 1000 MPa, determine the maximum length of the
internal defect that is allowed inside the component without causing fracture during service?
Assume Y=1.1.
Solution:
In order to avoid fracture: K < KIc
Thus the maximum allowable defect is when K = KIc
Use … K = Ys a max = K Ic
Known: KIc=60 MPa m , Y = 1.1; s = 1000 MPa
Thus 1.1x1000 x a max = 60
60 2
a max = = 9.5 x10 −4 m = 0.95 mm
(1.1x1000) 2 
Thus, the maximum allowed length of the internal defect is: 2amax = 1.9 mm
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Q5. A large plate is fabricated from a steel alloy that has a plane strain fracture toughness of 32.4
MPa m .
(a) If, during service use, the plate is exposed to a tensile stress of 500 MPa, determine the
minimum length of a surface crack that will lead to fracture. Assume a value of 1.0 for Y.
(answer: 1.34 mm)

(b) The following table shows the detection limits (hypothetical) of several NDT techniques
available on the market. Which one would you suggest to use for NDT of such components?

Technique Microscopic Dye Ultrasonic Magnetic Eddy

penetrant particle current
Minimum
detectable 1.5 mm 1.8 mm 2.0 mm 1.1 mm 1.0 mm
crack size

108
9.5 Non-Destructive Testing (NDT)

From the preceding sections on fracture mechanics, K=Ys a , it is clear that cracks and
defects play the most important role in the safe use of components. It order to make sure that
it is safe to use the component, K < KIC. This is particularly important in components used in
aerospace, aircrafts, nuclear reactors and other critical fields where failure can be fatal. To
calculate K, we need to know the size and location of the largest crack or defect in the
component. Thus components must be tested and inspected for defects. This must be done
non-destructively, using non-destructive testing (NDT) or non-destructive inspection
techniques; because the components pass the test will be put into use.

Non-Destructive Testing
(NDT) Commonly used NDT techniques
of Flaws & Cracks
K IC
s design 
Y amax
You have to measure amax in the component
non-destructively to determine sdesign
Fig. 9.26: NDT Fig. 9.27: Summary of NDT techniques

NDT is very important in industry and in our society. Without it, aircrafts will not fly safely
and high speed trains will not run safely. NDT is analogous to health inspection by doctors
in hospitals who check your body inside out by using various techniques without harming
you. NDT professionals in industry are thus also regarded as industrial doctors.
Cracks or defects can be developed in a component during (1) material production, (2)
material processing and (3) component use. For example, casting may produce cavities or
blowholes in the component; forging may result in the formation of internal cracks; welding
may develop cracks at the weld zone and heat affected zone; and quenching may produce
surface cracks on the component. Also, a component may not have any sizable defects at the
beginning of use, but cracks may develop during use. Therefore, important components used
in aircrafts for example must be NDT inspected before use, and it must also be NDT inspected
regularly during use to make sure that the crack if any is below the critical size.
Many NTD techniques are available, ranging from the simple visual inspection to the more
expensive high tech ultrasonic and acoustic emission techniques. Fig.9.27 summaries most
of the NDT techniques.
The reason why there are so many techniques is because defects in components have many
different features, some are internal and buried inside, some are external at the surface, some
are subsurface (just below the surface), some are small and some are large. Students are
advised to conduct further research via other text books and the internet.
Each technique has its own advantages and limitations. Some techniques can only be used to
detect surface defects, such as visual inspection, microscopic technique and dye penetrant.
Some techniques can be used to detect surface and subsurface defects such as magnetic
particles and eddy current. Ultrasonic technique can be used to detect all kinds of defects,
internal and external. Every technique has its own detection limit on defect sizes. For
example, visual inspection can only detect large defects on surface, while microscopic
techniques can “see” smaller defects on surface.

109
In the example shown in Fig. 9.28, the empirical
unit system was used, as in the USA. It highlights
the importance of NDT in the nuclear industry.
In this case, the calculated maximum allowable
surface crack is 0.8 in, or about 20 mm. Several
techniques can be used to ”see” such cracks easily,
such as dye penetrant, eddy current and magnetic
particle. If the detected crack length is below 0.8
in, then it is a “pass”, and the component is safe to
use. If the detect crack length is larger than 0.8 in,
then it is a “fail”, and the component should be
discarded and scrapped.
Fig. 9.28: Example
NDT: Example 1
A large steel plate used in a nuclear reactor has a plane strain
fracture toughness of 80,000 psi(in)1/2, and is exposed to a
stress of 45,000 psi during service. Design an NDT procedure
capable of detecting a crack at the edge of the plate before
the crack is likely to grow unstably.
Solution: need to determine minimum crack size that will
propagate unstably under 45,000 psi stress
Use … K IC = Ys a
80,000 = (1.1)(45,000 ) a
a = 0.8 in.
Such a deep crack at surface should be relatively easy to detect
e.g. by dye penetrant, magnetic particle, eddy current …

A video clip made by the American Society for NDT will be played during the lecture to
demonstrate what NDT professional do all over the world and to highlight the current
shortage in NDT professionals.

NDT Lab: Many NDT techniques are available in the Materials Laboratory. In this lab
session, students have the opportunity to see the demonstration and use of these techniques,
for testing various defected components and materials. The technique include: visual
inspection, microscopic techniques, dye penetrant, eddy current, ultrasonic, and magnetic
particles. After the lab session, students are required to submit the logsheets electronically
before the deadline set on the Blackboard.

9.6 Fatigue Failure

The preceding sections on fracture mechanics emphasise that under a known tensile stress, s,
it will be safe to use the component if the size of the crack is smaller than the critical size. In
reality, this statement is true only under static loading conditions, i.e. the tensile stress is
constant and does not change with time. By proper design against fracture, a structure rarely
fails after a single stress cycle or under a constant stress.
However, if the stress changes with time and
moves up and down at a certain frequency, i.e. Fatigue Failure
if the stress is cyclic, then the structure will fail
A well-known fact:
after a certain number of cycles even when the A structure or a machine or a material seldom fails
stress level is below the critical value. This is after a single stress cycle even the stress is very high;
but it fails after many repeated cycles even at a much
fatigue failure, which occurs in structures lower stress level
subjected to dynamic and fluctuating stresses Fatigue failure: occurs in structures subjected to
after a certain number of stress cycles. Thus, dynamic and fluctuating stresses after a lengthy
period of repeated stress cycles.
fatigue failure is always caused by stress cycles. • Key points: Fatigue...
Without stress cycles, there will be no fatigue --can cause part failure, even though smax < sc.
failure. Fatigue failure is a very important --causes ~ 90% of mechanical engineering failures.
failure mechanism because it accounts for 90% Fig. 9.29: Fatigue
of mechanical failure in engineering.

9.6.1 A stress cycle

To understand fatigue failure, we need to look at a typical stress cycle shown in Fig.9.30. In
the stress cycle, the stress moves up to a maximum and then moves down to a minimum.
Thus, there are two basic stress components in a cycle: the maximum stress, smax, and the

110
minimum stress, smin. If smax = smin, then Cyclic Stresses
there is no stress cycle and there will be no Stress range:
fatigue. From smax and smin , several stress Stress amplitude: sr/2 sr = smax-smin
parameters relating to fatigue can be derived, sa = S smax
as shown in Fig. 9.30. Stress amplitude, sa, sa
sr

Stress
or S: sa=S=( smax - smin)/2, is the most sm
important parameter in fatigue. It denotes the 0 time
smin
magnitude of stress variation around a
central line. Mean stress: Stress ratio:
sm=(smax+smin)/2 R=smin/smax

Fig. 9.30: Fatigue

9.6.2 Fatigue S-N curves

Fatigue testing is normally carried out under rotating-bending or pull-and-push conditions at
a high frequency. The stress is reversed from tensile to compressive symmetrically in each
cycle. The tests are conducted at various stress amplitudes until fracture. At each stress
amplitude, the number of cycles to failure is recorded. The smaller is the stress amplitude, the
longer the sample lasts before fracture. It requires 12 to 15 samples and takes several weeks
to complete a series of fatigue tests for a material.
A plot of stress amplitude (S) versus the number of cycles to failure (log(N)) generates the
widely used fatigue S-N curve, as those shown in Figs 9.32 to 9.34. From the S-N curve,
fatigue properties of the material can be derived, including fatigue limit, fatigue strength and
fatigue life, as shown in the figures.
The fatigue S-N curve always declines with increasing number of cycles to failure, i.e. the
lower the stress amplitude, the longer the fatigue life. For a limited number of materials,
typically steels and titanium alloys, the S-N curve levels off at a certain stress amplitude level.
This is the fatigue limit of the material. When the stress amplitude is above this limit, the
material has a limited fatigue life determined by the S-N curve. When the stress amplitude is
below this limit, there will be no fatigue failure, see Fig. 9.32. Thus fatigue failure is
avoidable by design to make sure that the stress amplitude does not go above the fatigue limit.

Fatigue Testing S-N Curves

specimen compression on top s max − s min

2
bearing motor counter
bearing Fatigue
flex coupling limit
tension on bottom If stress is
below this
Rotating-bending fatigue test setup limit, the
• the specimen is subject to bending under various loads material
• the specimen is also subject to high speed rotation last forever
• the number of cycles (N) for failure under each stress
amplitude (S) is recorded At this stress, the material can last 105 cycles,
• an S-N curve is plotted i.e. the material has a fatigue life of 105 cycles

Fig. 9.31: Fatigue testing Fig. 9.32: S-N curve

The fatigue limit of a material is less than half of its tensile strength, see Fig. 9.33. Fatigue
failure can indeed happen at very low stress amplitude level, even within the elastic limit.
Since steels and titanium alloys have a fatigue limit, they are the key materials in design
against fatigue failure. For other materials, like aluminium and copper alloys, the S-N curve
declines continuously and does not level off, meaning that there is no fatigue limit, see Fig.

111
9.34. This means that components made of these materials will always suffer from fatigue
failure, although it may need many millions stress cycles.
• Sometimes, the fatigue limit is zero!
Note: Fatigue strength decreases with increasing # of cycles
• Most engineering steels and S
S = stress amplitude
titanium alloys have a case
Al, Cu, for
Mg
fatigue limit, below which Sfat unsafe Al (typ.)
alloys,
Fatigue polymers
fatigue failure does not occur
strength
• Sfat  (0.250.5)sT Log(N) for 107
• Design criterion: cycles safe
s<S for specific life
s < Sfat to avoid fatigue 103 105 107 109
N = Cycles to failure

Fig. 9.33: S-N curve Fig. 9.34: S-N curve

Now, we have learnt three things about fatigue, including what fatigue is, what causes fatigue
(i.e. cyclic stresses) and how to interpret the fatigue S-N curve. Several important questions
still need to be answered, including
(1) Why does fatigue happen when the original crack is smaller than the critical size? This deals
with the science behind the phenomenon of fatigue.
(2) If a component failed by fatigue, how can you tell it is due to fatigue? This deals with the
identification of fatigue failure.
(3) How can we increase fatigue life of components? This deals with the measures we can take
to increase component life.
The following sections address these issues.

9.6.3 The fatigue failure process

To understand why fatigue happens, it is necessary to look at the fatigue failure process which
is similar to other fracture processes, which involve three stages, i.e. crack formation, crack
propagation and final fracture. The fatigue life, i.e. the total number of stress cycles to failure,
is the sum of stress cycles required for crack initiation, for crack propagation and for final
fracture, see Fig. 9.35.
Fatigue Failure Processes
(1) Crack Initiation: Most fatigue failures are
Fatigue Failure Processes initiated at the surface of the component, due to
• Maximum stress at the surface
Crack formation Propagation Final Failure • Structural irregularity at surface: sharp corner, machining
marks, scratches … stress concentration

Fatigue life, Nf, (number of cycles to failure) crack origin

Final failure

Nf = Ni + Np + NF = Ni + Np “Crankshaft
failure”
Initiation propagation Final crack
(small) initiation

Fig. 9.35: Fatigue process Fig. 9.36: Crack initiation

Crack initiation:
Fatigue cracks are mostly initiated at the component surface, for two reasons:
(1) Under most loading conditions such as bending, torsion and twisting, maximum stresses occur
at the surface;

112
 (2) Surfaces have more structural irregularities such as edges, corners, machining marks etc.,
which are sites of stress concentration.
The fatigue crack initiation site can be easily identified on the fracture surface by a shiny and
featureless spot usually close to a stress concentration site such as the keyway or the edge of a hole,
as shown in Fig. 9.36.

Fatigue Failure Processes

(2) Crack Propagation:
Beach marks (clamshell pattern) & striations.
•Macroscopic •Microscopic
dimensions dimensions
•Caused by • formed by
interruptions crack advance
of operation during a single
load cycle
There may be thousands of striations within one
beachmark
The presence of beachmarks and striations on a fracture
surface confirms that the cause of failure was fatigue

Fig. 9.37: Crack propagation Fig. 9.38: Beach marks & striations

Crack propagation:
Once a small crack is formed, whether it will propagate depends on the stress magnitude and
the stress cycle. According to the principle of fracture mechanics, under static loading
conditions, the surface crack of length a will not propagate if K < KIC. Therefore a small crack
will not impose any danger in the use of the component under static loading conditions.
However, under dynamic loading conditions with stress cycles, where the stress fluctuates at
a high frequency, the small crack can actually grow a small distance after each stress cycle.
In other words, cyclic stresses facilitate the propagation of the crack. Every stress cycle leads
to a small increase in the crack length, a, and as the a value is increased, the K value is also
increased. After many stress cycles, a will be increased to the critical value, acr, such that
K=Ys a =KIC, then final fracture will occur. This is fatigue failure.
The crack advances progressively with every stress cycle and will stop growing if stress
cycles cease, i.e. when the machine is turned off. For example (see Fig. 3.38), at 9.00 am
when the working day starts, the machine is turned on. There may be thousands of cycles
during the operation. Each cycle leads to a small advancement of the crack and leaves behind
a small mark on the crack path. These small marks, due to crack growth by each stress cycle,
are called Striations, which can only be visible under a powerful electron microscope. At
5.00 pm of the day, the machine is turned off, causing an interruption to the operation. This
leaves behind a larger mark at the crack path. These large marks, due to the interruption of
operation, are called Beach Marks, which can be visible using a magnifying lens or even by
the unaided eye. There are thousands of striations between two beach marks, because there
are thousands of cycles in an operation. Examples of beach marks and striations are given in
Slide 225.
The rate of fatigue crack growth in a material is affected by several factors, as shown in Slide
226. The crack grows faster when the stress amplitude is increased, when the crack gets longer
and when loading frequency increases. A fast running machine will have shorter fatigue life.
Once the crack grows to the critical length, K>KIC, final fracture happens. Thus there must
be a final fracture zone at the fracture surface, which can be ductile, brittle or a mixture of
these two depending on the nature of the material, see Fig. 9.39. Therefore, at a fatigue

113
fractured surface, three distinct zones can be seen, corresponding to crack initiation, crack
propagation and final fracture, as shown in Fig. 9.40.
Fatigue Failure Processes
Typical Fatigue Fractured Surface
(2) Crack Propagation:
Beach marks (clamshell pattern) & striations. Final failure
With ductile/brittle features
Stage II
With beachmarks and
striations (high mag.)
Stage I
Flat and featureless

Crack initiation
Beach marks may be seen Need high magnifications
in electron microscope to see Mostly at surface, notches,
with unaided eye striations corners, flaws (even at center)

Fig. 9.39: Beach marks and striations Slide 9.40: Fatigue fracture surface

Now the first two questions raised at the end of section 9.6.2 can be answered as follows:
(1) Why does fatigue happen when the original crack is smaller than the critical size? This is because
the crack will grow after every stress cycle (which leaves behind striations), and after many stress
cycles, the crack grows to the critical length such that K=Ys a >KIC, then fracture happens.
(Note: Without stress cycles, the small crack will not grow, and there will be no fracture).
(2) If a component failed by fatigue, how can you tell it is due to fatigue? The two most important
features at a fatigue fractured surface are “striations” and “beach marks”. So, if you can see these
two features under an electron microscope, together with the crack initiation and the final fracture
zones, you can be quite sure that the fracture is due to fatigue.
To answer the third question (3) How can we increase fatigue life of components? We need to
understand the factors that affect fatigue life.

9.6.4 Factors affecting fatigue life

Several factors can affect the fatigue life of engineering components, as shown in Figs 9.41
to 9.47. The first factor is the mean stress (sm). Most of the available fatigue S-N curves are
measured at sm=0, i.e. under reversed tensile-compressive symmetrical stress conditions. In
reality, many dynamic loading conditions are not symmetrical with sm≠0. A general rule is
that as sm is increased, the S-N curve is moved downwards, i.e. fatigue life is shortened. The
Goodman’s law can be used to convert the fatigue limit measured at sm=0 to other situations.

Factors Affecting Fatigue Life Factors Affecting Fatigue Life

1. Mean stress: sm 2. Surface effects: Most fatigue failures are initiated
• S-N curve represents the dependence of fatigue life on at the surface of the component, due to
stress amplitude: (smax-smin)/2 • Maximum stress at the surface
• Such curves are measured for a constant mean stress, • Structural irregularity at surface: sharp corner, machining
mostly for sm=(smax+smin)/2=0 marks, scratches … stress concentration
(1) Design factors: avoid structural
S (sa)

sa irregularities or modify design

sm1 to reduce sharp contour changes
sm2
+ sm3 (2) Surface finish:
sm3

Log(N) • machining and grinding marks can be fatigue crack

sm2

initiation sizes, and thus can limit fatigue life

Stress

The Goodman’s law

sm • to increase fatigue life, polishing to remove machining
_ sm1=0 S fat = S fat,s m =0 (1 − ) marks and scratches
0.67TS
Fig. 9.41: Factors affecting fatigue – mean stress Fig. 9.42: factors affecting fatigue – surface effects

114
The second factor is surface effect. Any stress concentration at the surface can shorten fatigue
life. Thus, design to avoid or minimise stress concentration plays a role here. Surface finish
also has a large effect on fatigue life. The smoother the surface is, the longer is the fatigue
life. Thus, polishing is extremely effective in increasing fatigue life.
To further increase fatigue life, two very powerful techniques are widely used in industry:
(1) Introducing compressive residual stresses at the surface, i.e. put the surface under compression
before use. Shot peening is the technique widely used to achieve this purpose, which involves
bombarding the component surface by many small metal or ceramic shots at high speeds to create
plastic deformation. This not only hardens the surface (strain hardening) but also puts the surface
under compression. The compressive residual stress retards crack growth and off-sets the applied
tensile stress. After shot peening, the fatigue life can be increased by 1000%. Many engineering
components subjected to cyclic stresses are shot peened in critical areas, as can be seen from Figs
9.43 and 9.44.
(2) Surface hardening: surface hardening by carburising or nitriding introduces interstitial elements
carbon or nitrogen into the surface layer of steels, resulting in a hardened layer or case. At the
same time compressive residual stresses are developed. Both effects can considerably increase
the fatigue limit and fatigue life of steel components, as shown in Figs 45 and 46. Most of the
power transmission components in automobiles and aircrafts are either carburised or nitrided to
increase fatigue life.

Shot-Peened Components
Factors Affecting Fatigue Life
3. Surface treatments:
(1) Impose compressive residual stress in the surface
Shot peening
Put surface into
compression to S Shot-peened
resist crack
propagation normal

Log(N)
+
Residual stress

• off-set the applied tensile stress:

resultant stress is reduced
_ Compressive stress • reduce crack growth rate
at surface (crack grow under tension and
close under compression)

Fig. 9.43: Factors affect fatigue – shot peening Fig. 9.44: Shot-peened part

Factors Affecting Fatigue Life

3. Surface treatments:
(2) Case hardening to increase Case Depth

surface hardness and introduce 1200

Hardness
1.2
1000 1
compressive residual stresses:
HARDNESS (HV0.1)

800 0.8
e.g. carburising, nitriding …
wt% N

600 N-content 0.6

400 0.4 Nitrided gears
200 0.2
0 0
0 100 200 300
DEPTH FROM SURFACE (mm)
400 Carburised gear
Nitrided En40B steel
Higher surface strength:
resist crack initiation
Compression: resist crack growth

Fig. 9.45: Factors affecting fatigue – case hardening Fig. 9.46: Case-hardened parts

115
 Factors Affecting Fatigue Life
The working environment also affects fatigue. 4. Environmental effects:
Frequent temperature variations can lead to Thermal fatigue:
thermal fatigue because this causes a fluctuation Arise from fluctuating thermal stress, e.g. by repeated
in thermal stresses, i.e. thermal stress cycles. heating-cooling cycles Coefficient of thermal expansion

In a corrosion environment, the fatigue crack can s = ET

grow faster, leading to reduced fatigue life. This
is called corrosion fatigue, which has the synergy
between fatigue and corrosion.
Corrosion fatigue:
Fatigue life shortened in corrosive environments:
• Corrosion pits: stress concentration, crack nucleation
• Corrosion accelerate crack propagation
Corrosion fatigue fractured surfaces normally show corrosion
products and fatigue characteristics

Fig. 9.47: Environmental effect

_________________________________________________________________________

Tutorial 8 (I): Fatigue failure

1. Fatigue failure of a material is due to

(a) an excessively high static stress; (b) high strain rate;
(c) dynamic load involving stress cycles; (d) static load for a long period of time
800
2. The following figure shows an S-N fatigue
curve measured for a metal alloy. Answer 700

the following questions. 600

Stress Amplitude (MPa)

(1) The fatigue (or endurance) limit of this 500

material is 400
(a) 350 MPa; (b) 740 MPa; 300
(c) 260 MPa; (d) 0 MPa
200

(2) The fatigue life of the material at a 100

stress amplitude of 340 MPa is 0
(a) 105 cycles; (b) 106 cycles; 102
100 103
1000 104
10000 105
100000 106
100000 107
1E+07 108
1E+08 10 9
1E+09
(c) 109 cycles; (d) 103 cycles 0
Numder of Cycles to Failure

(3) The fatigue strength of the material for a fatigue life of 106 cycles is
(a) 200 MPa; (b) 350 MPa; (c) 400 MPa; (d) 285 MPa
(4) If the designed life of a component is 108 cycle, it is safe to use the material at a stress
amplitude of 350 MPa. (a) true, or (b) false
(5) If the stress amplitude in service is 400 MPa, it is safe to use the material up to a lifetime of
104 cycles, (a) true, or (b) false

3. Briefly explain the difference between fatigue striations and beachmarks both in terms of (a)
size and (b) origin.

4. List four measures that can be taken to increase the resistance to fatigue of a metal alloy.

5. Briefly explain (1) What causes fatigue; (2) Why fatigue happens; (3) How fatigue failure can
be identified.

116
9.7 Impact Failure
As mentioned earlier, engineering components rarely fracture under static loading conditions.
Most failures happen under extreme loading or environmental conditions. Fatigue failure
discussed in the previous section is caused by cyclic loading. Another extreme loading
condition is impact loading, which can cause fracture more easily.
It is important to note that toughness of a material not only depends on the material itself, but
also depends on the environmental and stress loading conditions. A very tough material at
room temperature and under static loading may become brittle and be fractured easily under
three conditions, shown in Fig. 9.48.
(1) At low temperatures
(2) If there is stress concentration, e.g. existence of a notch or a crack in the material
(3) High speed loading, or high strain rate
Any of the above three conditions would change material behaviour. In particular, the
combination of the above three conditions becomes a nightmare to materials: because they
would break easily. Therefore, impact toughness is an important consideration if the
component is expected to be used at low temperatures under impact loading conditions.
Impact testing is designed to represent these severe conditions. Fig. 9.49 shows typical
impact testing set up. It involves
(1) The use of a notched test specimen to provide a point of stress concentration;
(2) Securing of the test specimen to the anvil. The difference between the two test methods, Charpy
and Izod, lies in the way the specimen is placed on the anvil;
(3) Striking a hammer to the specimen to fracture it. The difference between the initial height and
final height of the hammer is a measure of the energy required to break the specimen. The
specimen can be cooled or heated to different temperatures for the test.

Impact Testing
Impact Failure Test specimen: notched
sample
Note: a tough material may experience brittle
fracture under certain conditions, i.e.
(1)At low temperatures: ductility decreases with
decreasing temperature Test methods:
(2) A sharp notch or crack exists, causing stress
concentration and a triaxial stress state
final height initial height
(3) High speed impact loading: high strain rate
Charpy
Impact test is designed to represent these severe Loading: Impact blow from a
weighed pendulum hammer Izod
conditions

Fig. 9.48: Impact failure Fig. 9.49: Charpy & Izod Impact testing

The impact test measures the impact energy of the material. It is widely used to compare the
impact toughness and fracture behaviour of different materials (Fig. 9.50). More importantly,
it is used to establish the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature (DBTT) of materials, as
shown in Fig. 9.51. As temperature is reduced, it is observed that
• The impact energy is decreased for all types of materials, meaning that it is easier to break a
material at low temperatures.
• For materials having BCC and HCP crystal structures, such as steels and titanium alloys, there
is a sharp drop in impact energy below a critical temperature, marking the transition from
ductile to brittle. This is called the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature (DBTT). Above
DBTT, the material is ductile, below DBTT, the material becomes brittle and breaks very
easily because only a small amount of impact energy is required.

117
 • For materials with FCC crystal structure, such as nickel and aluminium alloys, there is no
obvious DBTT. Thus this type of materials is more suitable for low temperature applications
if impact loading is involved.

What is measured by impact testing? Ductile-to-brittle transition

Impact energy (J): energy absorbed by the specimen Note:
FCC metals (Cu, Ni, Al …) • most FCC metals
• The difference between the initial and final heights
of the hammer is a measure of energy required to do not experience

Impact Energy
BCC metals (iron)
break the specimen and polymers such transition
• Higher impact energy means better resistance to Brittle Ductile
• BCC&HCP metals
fracture (better toughness). and polymers have
High strength such transition
Applications: metals&ceramics • High strength
• used to compare the impact toughness of materials materials are
• used to assess the fracture behaviour (ductile or Ductile-to-brittle
T always in the brittle
brittle) of materials under impact loading Transition temperature regime.
• used to determine the ductile-to-brittle transition (DBTT)
temperature The lower the DBTT, the wider the application T-range

Fig. 9.50: Impact energy Fig. 9.51: Ductile-to-brittle transition

Ductile-to-brittle transition DESIGN STRATEGY:

DBTT very much depends on material composition STAY ABOVE THE DBTT!
if impact loading is expected
• Pre-WWII: The Titanic • WWII: Liberty ships

Carbon Steels: Fe-Mn-0.05C alloys:

Impact energy Impact energy • Problem: Used a type of steel with a DBTT ~
%C %Mn
DBTT DBTT Room temp.

Fig. 9.52: Composition effect Fig. 9.53: Design strategy

The impact energy and the DBTT are affected by a small change in material composition, as
shown in Fig. 9.52. For steels, the impact energy decreases with increasing carbon content,
meaning that it is easy to break high carbon steels than low carbon steels by impact loading.
More importantly, the DBTT increases a lot when carbon content is increased. Thus it is not
advisable to use high carbon steels at low temperatures under impact loading conditions.
Fig. 9.52 also shows that manganese (Mn) has a positive effect on the impact energy of low
carbon steels by increasing impact energy and decreasing the DBTT. Steels containing a
sufficient amount of Mn are more suitable for low temperature applications.
A design strategy to avoid impact fracture is “Stay above the DBTT”, Fig. 9.53, i.e. use the material
in the ductile regime (the high impact energy regime), as shown in the example in Fig. 9.54.
Example
Select a Fe-Mn-0.05C alloy in a structural design that
may see service temperatures as low as 0oC. Suggest
an appropriate Mn content for the alloy
Strategy: ensure the
alloy is ductile at 0oC
DBTT < 0oC
Alloy with 1%Mn:
Ductile above 25oC
Brittle at 0oC
Alloy with 2%Mn
DBTT < -25oC
Ductile at 0oC – the choice

Fig. 9.54: Example Fig. 9.55: Examples of impact fraction

118
Fig. 9.55 shows some examples of impact failures which can happen everywhere. Impact
energy and BDTT are important material properties in design against impact failure.
Case study: In the case study, the famous Titanic cruiser is considered, see Figs 9.56 to 9.58. The
titanic sank due to the impact onto an iceberg at -2oC, which caused the rupture of 6 forward
compartments. This is a typical case of impact loading at relatively low temperatures.
The steel used to make the titanic ship hull was low carbon steel with 0.2% C. It is very similar to the
modern AISI 1020 steel, which is also used to make ship hulls nowadays. The only difference is that
the Titanic steel contains less Mn and more sulphur (S) than the modern steel.

CASE STUDY CASE STUDY

The Titanic The Titanic: Failure analysis
Sinking: on 12 April 1912 Tensile test results
Cause: striking an iceberg 3 to 6 times larger than the ship Property Titanic SAE 1020 Not much
Damage: 6 forward compartments of the ship were ruptured difference
Yield strength 193 MPa 207 MPa
Failure analysis: 1996, at University of Missouri-Rolla Tensile strength 417 MPa 379 MPa in tensile
Material of ship hull: similar to modern 1020 steel Elongation 29% 26% properties
(0.2 wt% C), but with less Mn and more S (lower Mn/S ratio) Reduction in area 57% 50%
1020
Note: modern 1020 steel is widely used to make ship hulls
Impact test results titanic
J
Service condition: T= -2oC, impact onto iceberg
The titanic steel has DBTT: 32oC
Visual inspection: impossible after 84 years in the ocean Modern 1020 steel DBTT: -27oC
20J
Fractography: impossible, same reason as above
Property testing: tensile and impact tests -27oC 32oC T

Fig. 9.56: Case study – The Titanic Fig. 9.57: The Titanic-Testing

A series of tests were conducted to compare the Titanic steel with the modern AISI1020 steel. Tensile
tests showed that the Titanic steel has slightly higher tensile strength and better ductility than the
modern steel. Thus under static loading, the Titanic steel is actually slightly better the modern steel.
However, impact tests revealed a large difference in impact energy and DBTT between the two steels,
see Fig. 9.57. The Titanic steel has lower impact energy and a DBTT of about 32oC, while the modern
steel has higher impact energy and a DBTT of about -27oC.
Thus, at -2oC when the Titanic sank, the ship hull was in a brittle stage because the DBTT of the
Titanic steel was 32oC! That was why the ship hull fractured by colliding onto an iceberg. If the Titanic
were made of the modern 1020 steel, it would not rupture by colliding onto such an iceberg because
the DBTT is -27oC. Many lives could have been saved. Of course, in 1912, the theory of impact
fracture was not developed yet.
The difference in the Mn and S contents between CASE STUDY
The Titanic: Failure analysis
the Titanic steel and modern steel makes a huge
Conclusion
difference in DBTT. Sulphur as an impurity is the • The titanic steel was the best ship building plain carbon steel
enemy in steel, making it brittle under impact at that time, which is comparable with the modern 1020 steel
loading. Mn is used to clean the steel by forming in composition (except lower Mn/S ratio) and tensile properties
• But the titanium steel has DBTT above room temperature;
MnS compound. This also explains why thus the steel became brittle below RT
manganese helps to increase the impact energy • When collide with the iceberg at -2oC, which is much below
and reduce the DBTT of steel, shown in Fig. DBTT, the steel ruptured because the energy requiring to
fracture the steel is much reduced
9.52. This case study thus highlights the • The difference in Mn/S ratio between the titanic and modern
importance of impact energy and DBTT. steel is responsible for the large difference in DBTT

Fig. 9.58: The Titanic-Conclusions

119
9.8 Creep Failure
Another extreme condition that can cause component failure is high temperature. When the
working temperature is higher than 40% of the melting temperature of the material (0.4Tmelt),
creep will happen, where the deformation changes with time at a constant stress. Jet engine
components which are subjected to high temperatures can suffer from creep failure.

Creep Failure A simple experiment

High temperature deformation behaviour A schematic creep curve rupture
❑ Deformation changes with time.
L
❑ For metals, occurs at elevated temperature, primary
 secondary
T > 0.4 Tmelt
❑ Amorphous polymers (plastics & rubbers)
tertiary L
T > 0.4Tmelt
are especially sensitive. =L/L
T < 0.4Tmelt Load

time Q: will  change

with time?
Instantaneous
Failure due to creep. Stress rupture of a jet engine turbine blade. deformation Yes or No, but depends on temp.

Fig. 9.59: Creep failure Fig. 9.60: An experiment

Let’s look at an experiment shown in Fig. 9.60. A bar of length L is subject to a tensile load,
and as a result, the bar is elongated by an amount of L. The strain is =L/L. If the load is
kept constant for a very long time, the question is that whether the strain  remains unchanged
for all time. This depends on temperature: (1) if the temperature is below 0.4Tmelt, then the
strain remains constant over the time, and the bar will not fracture; (2) if the temperature is
higher than 0.4Tmelt, then the strain  will increase slowly with time even the load is constant.
This leads to the gradual increase in length of the bar and final rupture. This is creep failure.
Creep failure is dangerous in that the component is safe at the early stage of loading, but it
will deteriorate with time and finally fracture without any change in load or stress.
The three stages in the creep curve are shown in Fig. 9.60: the primary, secondary and tertiary
stages. The outcomes of creep are rupture and stress relaxation. The time required for creep
rupture is called creep life. Stress relaxation
means that the stress decreases with time, OUTCOMES OF CREEP
leading to the loosening of fixings and joints, ❑ Rupture under constant stress after a certain
period of time for service
such as loosening of bolt and nut, which can be ❑ Stress relaxation under constant strain: stress
very dangerous. decrease with time

The parameter that determines whether creep Two test methods:

will happen or not is temperature with the ➢ Constant stress test: measure deformation as
function of time, creep rate, time for rupture
critical value 0.4Tmelt. As usual, in all ➢ Constant strain test: measure stress relaxation time
temperature calculations, the scale is Kelvin K.
Thus the melting temperature,Tmelt, must be Fig. 9.61: Outcomes of creep
converted to the oK scale.
Example 1: The melting temperature of a titanium alloy is 1620oC, determine the critical temperature for creep
failure.
Solution: Convert the melting temperature from degree centigrade to the Kelvin scale by adding 273,
Tmelt = 1620 + 273 = 1893oK
Calculate the critical temperature: Tcreep = 0.4Tmelt = 0.4 x 1893 = 757.2oK
Convert the critical temperature from oK back to oC by subtracting 273: 757.2 – 273 = 484.2oC
Thus when this alloy is used at a temperature above 484.2oC, then creep is expected.

120
Example 2: An aluminium alloy having a melting temperature of 520oC is used to make a combustion engine
component to be worked at a temperature of 80oC. Is creep failure a consideration?
Solution: First we need to calculate the critical temperature for creep,
Tcreep = 0.4Tmelt = 0.4x (520 + 273) = 0.4 x 793 = 317.2oK - 273 = 44.2oC
The working temperature of 80oC is higher than Tcreep, thus creep is definitely a consideration.

Presentation of creep rupture tests

Stress and temperature effect

❑instantaneous
strain increases.
❑steady-state creep
rate increases.
❑rupture lifetime
is diminished

Stress (logarithmic scale) versus rupture lifetime (log scale) for

a low carbon-nickel alloy @ 3 temperatures.

Fig. 9.62: Stress and temperature effect Fig. 9.63: presentation of creep results

The two most important factors affecting creep rupture time are temperature and stress level,
as shown in Fig. 9.62. The creep rate increases with temperature and stress. Thus increasing
temperature and stress will shorten creep life.
Conventionally, the creep life of a material is measured experimentally by testing at various
temperatures and stress levels until rupture. The results are presented as a “Stress vs Rupture
time” curve for each temperature. Thus each temperature should have a corresponding curve,
as shown in Fig. 9.63. This is inconvenient because there are too many temperatures.
A new data extrapolation method using a
Data Extrapolation Method
Larson-Miller parameter, or LM parameter, • Difficult to obtain data under real conditions (long life)
became popular in presenting creep testing • Short life/time tests conducted at higher T and s
• Use data extrapolation to predict creep life at other T&s
results. The LM parameter combines
temperature (T) and rupture time (tr) together ➢ Larson-Miller Parameter: LM = T (C + log t r )
into one parameter, and has a general form:
LM = T(C+logtr) ➢Data plotted
as s vs LM
Thus if stress is plotted against LM parameter,
then all the data points fall into a single curve.
At a constant stress, the LM parameter is
constant. Such a curve can be used to predict Fig. 9.64: LM parameter
creep life at other stress levels or at other
temperatures. Larson-Miller Parameter Design example
Using the Larson-Miller data for
S-590 iron (right Figure),
Example 1: Fig. 9.65 predict the time to rupture for a
component that is subjected to a
The example shown in Fig. 9.65 is typical of problem stress of 140 MPa at 800oC(1073 K).
solving using the results presented graphically. In the SOLUTION
graph, the vertical axis is stress with a unit MPa, and the For s = 140 MPa
horizontal axis is the LM parameter, given as: x103 LM = 24.0x103 (see Fig.)
T(20+logtr) (K-h), where x103 means all values on the thus, 24.0x103 = T(20 + log t)
axis should x103, T(20+logtr) is the expression of the = 1073 (20 + log t)
LM parameter, and (K-h) denotes the units of Solving for time, t (in h)
22.37 = 20 + log t
temperature and time. Details of solution are given in t = 233 h (9.7 days)
the figure. Further examples are given below.
Fig. 9.65: Example of LM parameter

121
Example 2: A material is selected for application under a stress of 120MPa and at a temperature of 800oC. In
a laboratory creep test at a temperature of 1100oC, it was found that under this same stress level, final rupture
took place after 1000 hours. The Larson-Miller parameter for this test is expressed as: LM=(T+400)(12 + log
tr), where T is temperature in Kelvin K and tr is rupture time in hour. Determine the lifetime of this material at
800oC under a stress of 120MPa.
Solution:
At 1100 oC, rupture time tr = 1000 h
LM = (T+400)(12+logtr) = (1100+273+400)(12+log1000) = 26595
(remember to convert temperature 1100oC to oK by adding 273: 1100+273)
At 800 oC, under the same stress, LM has the same value
LM = 26595 = (800+273+400)(12+logtr)
(The only difference is T)
logtr = 18.05 – 12 = 6.05
tr = 106.05 = 1122018.5 hrs

Example 3: A nickel superalloy component in a jet engine can survive up to 100 hours at a service temperature
of 1200oC under a constant stress of 200MPa. The Larson-Miller parameter for this material has been
experimentally determined as: LM=(T+320)(14+logtr), where T is temperature in Kelvin K and tr is rupture time
in hour. If the service temperature is reduced to 1000oC, calculate the lifetime of the component under the same
stress level of 200MPa.
Solution:
At 1200 oC, tr = 100 h
LM=(T+320)(14+logtr) = (1200+273+320)(14+log100)
= 28688
At 1000 oC, under the same stress, LM has the same value
LM = 28688 = (1000+273+320)(14+logtr)
logtr = 18.01 – 14 = 4.01
tr = 104.01 = 10233 hrs

Why does creep happen at high temperatures? This is related to the mechanism of creep
deformation. At sufficient high temperatures, the atoms inside the material gain sufficient
energy to move around under a constant stress. The grain boundaries tend to slide to align
themselves along the stress direction, resulting in the gradual elongation of the material in the
stress direction, and the formation of voids and cracks at grain boundaries, see Fig. 9.66. Thus
grain boundaries favour creep deformation. Materials with small grains have poor creep
resistance. Large grain materials are more favourable for making components servicing at
high temperatures. It is also derived that if a component is made of a single crystal, it must
have very good creep resistance and a long creep life because there are no grain boundaries
in the component.
As mentioned earlier, nickel superalloys are developed to make jet engine components
because superalloys have good resistance to creep. The first generation of superalloys are
polycrystalline materials with many grain boundaries. Their creep life is limited. The second
generation of superalloys are produced by directed cooling during casting, producing oriented
grains along one direction. The creep life is much increased because the grain boundaries are
already oriented. The current state of the art of jet engine turbine blades are made of single
crystal nickel superalloys, which have the best creep life because there are no grain
boundaries, see Fig. 9.67.

122
 Creep Mechanisms Engine Turbine Blades: Ni-superalloy
Creep of metals: occurs as a result of atomic diffusion Oriented Single crystal
Polycrystalline columnar grains
and grain boundary (GB) sliding
Result: formation of voids and then cracks at grain
boundaries
Note: at T < 0.4Tm, diffusion and sliding are difficult and
thus creep is not obvious

Larger grain size

improves creep
resistance: reduced
grain boundary
areas, & reduce GB
sliding/diffusion Improved creep Further improved
Creep cavities at GB in stainless steel resistance creep resistance

Fig. 9.66: Creep mechanism Fig. 9.67: Development of jet engine turbine blades

Materials response
Fig.9.68 compares the creep behaviour of
different categories of materials. Metals always (1) Metals: creep at T > 0.4 Tm
Alloys for high temperature applications:
suffer from creep if the service temperature is stainless steels, Ni-based, Co-based superalloys,
sufficiently high. Ceramics have better creep refractory metals …with large grain structure
resistance because they have very high melting (2) Ceramics: most have good creep resistance due
temperatures. Polymers have very poor creep to their high melting temperature
resistance because of the low melting
(3) Polymer & rubbers: poor creep resistance due
temperatures. their low melting temperature
Thus ceramics have the best resistance to creep. Fig. 9.68: Materials response
This is why jet engine turbine blades made of
nickel superalloys are coated with a layer of ceramics to cope with the high temperatures of the
working engine.
________________________________________________________________________________

Tutorial 8 (II): Impact and Creep Failure

Impact fracture
1. The ductile-to-brittle transition temperature of a material is
(a) the temperature above which a ductile material becomes brittle
(b) the temperature below which a ductile material becomes brittle
(c) the only temperature at which the material is brittle
2. A material is ductile at room temperature under static loading conditions. Thus, it is regarded as
being always ductile, (a) true, or (b) false

Creep
3. Give the approximate temperature at which creep deformation becomes an important
consideration for each of the following metals:
(a) Example: nickel: Tmelt=1455oC
Solution: Creep starting temperature TCP = 0.4Tmelt (note: Tmelt must be in K scale)
Thus, Tcreep = 0.4(1455+273) = 691 K , this can be converted back to oC:
TCP = 691 K = 691-273 = 418oC
The temperature at which creep becomes an important consideration for nickel is
691 K or 418oC.
(b) copper: Tmelt=1085oC; (c) tungsten: Tmelt=3410oC; (d) lead: Tmelt=327oC

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4. Creep deformation will not take place at elevated temperatures if the applied stress is within the
elastic limit. (a) true, or (b) false
5. The melting temperature of a metal is 670oC. Creep deformation becomes an important
consideration at temperatures above
(a) 268oC; (b) 104oC; (c) 335oC
6. The melting temperature of lead is 330oC. Will lead creep at room temperature (23oC) if a stress
is applied to it? (a) yes, or (b) no
7. Which three of the following statements are true regarding creep?
(a) Stress has no effect on creep rate.
(b) Rupture lifetime decreases with increasing temperature.
(c) At the same temperature and stress level, all materials have the same rupture lifetime.
(d) Rupture lifetime decreases with increasing stress.
(e) Most ceramics have better creep resistance than metals.
8. Using the Larson-Miller (LM) data for a stainless steel (Fig. Q8),
(1) Predict the time to rupture for a component that is subjected to a stress of 100 MPa at
600oC. (answer: 4.6x105 h, or 52.5 years)
(2) Predict the maximum stress allowed at 600oC if the designed lifetime of a component is
1000 hr.
(3) Predict the maximum temperature allowed for a lifetime of 10000 hr at a stress level of 50
MPa.

Fig. Q8: Logarithm stress versus LM parameter for an 8-18 Mo stainless steel.

9. A material is selected for application under a stress of 200MPa and at a temperature of 800oC. In
a laboratory creep test at a temperature of 1000oC, it was found that under this same stress level,
final rupture took place after 1000 hours. The Larson-Miller parameter for this test is expressed
as: LM=T(16 + log tr), where T is temperature in Kelvin K and tr is rupture time in hour.
Determine the lifetime of this material at 800oC under a stress of 200MPa.

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 Chapter 10: Introduction to Materials Processing

10.1 Introduction
Manufacturing is the most important
engineering activity and plays an important
role in a nation’s economy. Only when
materials are manufactured into useful
components and their assemblies, are added
values achieved. This chapter introduces the
basic materials processing techniques,
including metal processing, polymer
processing and ceramics processing. Some of
the metal processing techniques, like heat
treatments, have been introduced in previous
chapters.
To process a material into a useful component, normally a series of processes are required.
Firstly, the feedstock material is purchased in
bulk, such as in the form of bar, plate, tube, billet
etc. and it must be processed into suitable
size/shape through primary processes, such as by
cutting or sectioning.
Secondly, a secondary process is applied to turn
the material into the required shape with
dimensional control, such as by casting, forging,
moulding etc.
Thirdly, depending on properties requirements,
the component may be subjected a property-
enhancing process, such as heat treatment, to achieve the required properties.
Fourthly, a finishing operation, such as grinding, polishing and/or coating, is applied to enhance
dimensional accuracy, surface finish, tolerance and/or surface properties.
Finally, the finished components are assembled to make useful machines, devices and structures.
Therefore, there are many kinds of materials processing processes involved. This chapter
focuses on the secondary processes, i.e. turn a material into the required shape/geometry.
Let’s look at an example “How to make a steel ball?”. Several processes are possible. A steel
ball can be made by casting, forging,
machining, or even from steel powders
(powder processing). Each process has its
own characteristics, in terms of equipment,
dies/mould/tools required, energy
consumption, material utilisation rate (scrap
material produced), efficiency (production
rate) and cost, etc. Which process to use
depends on many factors, including
precision/surface finish requirement,
property requirement, production quantity,
cost consideration, etc. It is not an easy

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decision. Availability is another important consideration: you can only use what are available.
This is the concept of Design for Manufacturing – design in such a way that the components
can be manufactured economically using available resources such as available techniques in
your workshop.

Another example is the “production of a spool-shaped part”. Again, several processes are
possible and we also face the issue of what to use. In Design for Manufacturing, an
important principle is to achieve “Green Design”, which considers
• Life cycle analysis/assessment
• Environmental assessment
• Recycling
• Disposal
The “Green Design” principle is based on
(1) Two inputs: Raw material + energy
(2) Four activities during a product cycle: materials production + product manufacturing
+ product use + product disposal
(3) Five outputs: useful products + water effluents, air emissions + solid wastes + other
impacts (social, economic, environmental).
Therefore, during product design, we need to consider the green approach, making sure that
“useful products” are produced for “use” using the minimum amounts of raw materials and
energy with minimal harmful environmental impacts.
Social consideration includes safety, legal issues and legislation of using materials and
processes. For example, asbestos is no longer allowed to be used as a heat insulating material
due to health concern; aluminium is not
allowed to be used to make window and door
frames because of its high thermal
conductivity causing loss of heat; and
chromium electroplating is illegal in Europe
because of heath concern.
There are 9 classes of materials processing,
as shown in the slide. Materials processing
depends very much on the types of materials
to be processed. Each category of materials
has its own specific processes.

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10.2 Metal Processing
Metals are normally processed into shapes
by two primary methods: casting from the
liquid state, and mechanical forming by
applying forces. Other processes can also be
used, such as powder processing (using
metal powders as the starting materials) and
machining (metal cutting). This later two
methods can also be used for other types of
materials such as ceramic powder processing
and machining of all types of materials.

10.2.1 Metal casting

Metal casting involves
(1) melting the metal to the liquid state
(2) pour the liquid metal into a mould
(3) solidification of the liquid metal inside the cavity of mould, forming a solid part which
takes the shape of the cavity of the mould
(4) retrieving the part from the mould after cooling down.

When liquid metal solidifies, it normally

shrinks in volume. Because cooling is not
very uniform: the cooling rate is always fast
near the walls of the mould, a pipe or cavity
can be formed in a casted metal. This should
be avoided and taken into consideration when design components for casting.
During solidification, the crystals normally grow following a dendritic (tree-like) growth
pattern, with a main trunk and side branches. Such dendritic structure is typical of castings of
metals. Due to this growth pattern, the liquid metal trapped in between the dendrites will
solidify at a later stage, leading to shrinkage and then the formation of many blowholes. Thus,
casted components normally have inferior properties as compared to those produced by
forging and machining. A post-casting forging process can be used to consolidate the cast
metal to seal up the blowholes, thus improving the properties of the component.
There are two groups of casting processes:
• Expendable mould casting: the mould is destroyed in order to retrieve the component.
• Permanent mould casting: the mould is used repeatedly for many times.

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(1) Sand casting – expendable mould

(2) Shell casting – expendable mould

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(3) Investment casting – expendable mould

(3) Die casting – permanent mould

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10.2.2 Mechanical processing

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10.3 Powder Processing

10.4 Polymer Processing

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10.4.1 Polymer extrusion

10.4.2 Injection moulding

10.4.3 Compression moulding

10.4.4 Transfer moulding

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10.4.5 Thermoforming

10.5 Other Manufacturing Processes

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Tutorial 9: Materials processing

1. Why the principle of “Green Design” is important in manufacturing?

2. List the two inputs, four activities and five outputs in “Green Design” consideration.
3. What are some social considerations in the use of materials and processes?
Casting:
4. What are differences between expendable mould casting and permanent mould die casting?
5. Which of the following metals would typically be die casted (maybe more than one)?
(a) aluminium; (b) cast iron; (c) steel; (d) tin; (e) tungsten; (f) zinc
6. Suggest a suitable manufacturing process:
(1) Turbine blade made of nickel based alloys:
(a) Die casting
(b) Investment Casting.
(2) 6-cylinder engine block (cast iron)
(a) Sand casting
(b) Diecasting
(c) Shell casting
(3) Automobile piston casting (Al alloy):
(a) Sand casting
(b) Die casting.
(c) Shell casting
(4) Zinc alloy castings:
(a) Sand casting
(b) Shell casting
(c) Die casting.

Mechanical processing
7. What are the differences between cold working and hot working in terms of working
temperature, work material properties, and product quality?

8. Describe the metal extrusion process.

Powder processing:

9. List the four process steps in powder processing.

10. Explain why powder processing is more suitable for producing small and thin parts.

11. Which of the following(s) is (are) most efficiently produced by powder metallurgy without
extensive secondary processes?

Polycarbonate spur gear A 680 kg air compressor Aluminium beverage can 710 g, air compressor eccentric
and pulley (iron infiltrated with copper)

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Polymer processing:

Recommend a suitable manufacturing process for the following products from the list:

injection moulding, extrusion, thermoforming, compression/transfer moulding.

(a) Discharge head-tight tolerance component (b) Tray for medical accessories
(TS)
use in high precision pump manufacturing.

(c) Texture tube (TP) (d) Thermoset Circuit breaker

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