MATERIALS AND THEIR PROPERTIES
It is
2.1 The best material is the one that will serve the
desired purpose at the lowest cost for the
manufacture and operating maintenance.
The material often “makes or breaks” the machine.
DEFINITIONS
Age Hardening – Occurs in some metals, notable
certain stainless steel, aluminum, and copper alloys at
ambient temperature after solution hear treatment, the
process being one of a constituent precipitating from
solid solution. Where used, the consequences include
increased strength and hardness, decreased ductility.
Alloy – Substance with metallic properties, composed
of two or more elements of which at least one is a
metal.
Alloying Elements – in steel are usually considered
to be the metallic elements added for the purpose of
modifying the properties.
Anisotropy – characteristic of exhibiting different
properties when tested in different direction.
Brittlesness – Tendency to fracture without
appreciable deformation
Charpy Test – A specimen is supported at both ends
as a single beam is broken by the impact of a falling
pendulum. The energy absorbed in breaking the
specimen is a measure of the impact strength of the
metal
Cold Shortness – Brittleness of metal at ordinary or
low temps
Cold Working – process of deforming a metal
plastically at a temperature below the recrystallization
temp and at a rate to produce strain hardening.
Frequently used because it increases strength and
machinability and improves surface finish. It reduces
ductilitiy. Commercial amount of cold working of steel
are of the order of 10-20%
Damping Capacity – ability of a material to absorb
damp or vibrations. Process of absorbing kinetic
energy of vibrations owing hysteresis. The absorbed
energy is then dissipated to the surrounding as heat.
At a particular stress level, cast iron is much better
damping material than steel.
Decarbunization – is a loss of carbon from the
surface of steel, occurring during hot rolling, forging
and heat treating, when the surrounding react with the
carbon (As oxygen and carbon combining)
Ductility – property that permits permanent
deformation before fracture in tension. There is no
absolute measure of ductility.
The percentage elongation and the
percentage of are are used as indices, the higher
these indices, the more ductile the material is said to
be. Ductility is the opposite of brittleness but there is
no sharp division line for purpose of definition.
frequently assumed that
Ductile Material – Elongation greater than
5% in 2in. Gage
Brittle Material – Elongation less that 5% in
2in. Gage
Elasticity – ability of a material to be deformed and to
return to the original shape. Stress is proportional to
strain only during an elastic deformation
Embrittlement – Involves the loss of ductility because
of a physical or chemical change of the material
Free Carbon is that part of the carbon content of steel
or iron that is in the form of graphite or temper carbon
Hand Drawn is a temper produced in a wire, rod, or
tube by cold drawing
Homogeneous Materials – have the same structure
at all points
Isotropic – Materials have the same properties in all
directions
Izod Test – Test in which a specimen supported at
one end as a cantilever beam is broken by the impact
of a falling pendulum. The energy absorbed in
breaking the specimen is a measure of the impact
strength. Impact values in the tables should be
considered more qualitative than quantitative because
the actual varioation of samples from the same
universe is quite wide
Killed Steel – steel that has been deoxidized with a
strong deoxidizing agent such as silicon or aluminum,
in order to eliminate a reaction between the carbon
and oxygen during solidification. Ingots of killed steel
are sounder, containing fewer gas holes, and more
homogenous than non-killed or rimmed steel: these
are desirable characteristics for forgings and heavy
rolled sections.
Machinability – is a somewhat indefinite property that
referes to the relative ease with which a material can
be cut. In the case of steels, cold drawn AISI B1112
being cut with a high speed tool-steel tool and with a
proper cutting oil is usually taken as 100%. Free
cutting brass is a reference for copper alloys. Such
data as in table AT7 are roughly relative at best since
the actual conditions of operations vary widely
Malleability – material’s susceptibility to extreme
deformation in rolling or hameering. The more
malleable the metal, the thinner the sheet into which it
can be formed (Usually cold). Gold and Aluminum are
quite malleable
Mechanical properties - are those that have to do
with the stress and strain: ultimate strength and
percentage elongation
Percentage Elongation – extension in the vicinity of
the frature of a tensile specimen, expressed as a
percentage of the original gage length as 20% in 2 in
Percentage Reduction of Area – smallest area at Transxverse Strength – refers to the results of a
the point of rupture of a tensile specimen divided by transverse bend test, the specimen being mounted as
the original area a simple beam, also called rupture modulus.
Frequently applied to brittle materials especially cast
Physical Properties – exclude mechanical iron.
properties, and are other physical properties such as
density, conductivity, coefficient of thermal expansion. Work Hardening – same as strain hardening
Chemical properties include corrosion resistance
Wrough Steel – Steel that has been hammered,
Plasticity – ability of a metal to be deformed rolled, or drawn in the process of manufacture; it may
considerably without rupture. In a plastic deformation, be plain carbon or alloy steel.
the material does not return to its original shape.
Poisson’s Ratio – ratio of the lateral strain
(contraction) to the longitudinal strain (extension)
when the elements is loaded with longitudinal tensile
force
Precipitation Heat Treatment – brings about the
precipitation of constituent from a supersaturated solid
solution by holding the body at an elevated
temperature, also called artificial aging. In some
alloys, precipitation may also occur at ambient
temperature, a process called aging.
Proof Stress – stress which causes a specified
permanent deformation of a material, usually 0.01%
or less
Red Shortness - a brittleness in steel when it is red
hot
Relaxation – associated with creep, is the decreasing
stress at a constant strain; important for metals in
high-temperature service
Residual Stresses – are those not due to applied
load or temperature gradients: they exist for various
reasons, as unequal cooling rates, cold working, etc.
Rimmed Steel – completely deoxidized steel. Ingots
of this steel have a surface layer quite free of slag
inclusions and gas pockets, which results in the
optimum surface on rolled sheets
Solution Heat Treatment – process of holding an
alloy at a suitably high temperature long enough to
permit one or more constituents to pass into solid
solution and then cooling fast enough to hold the
constituents as a supersatured solution
Stiffness – ability to resist deformation. It is
measured by the modulus of elasticity in the elastic
range: the higher the modulus, the stiffer is the
material
Temper – condition produced in a non-ferrous metal
by mechanical or thermal treatment: for example,
annealed temper (soft), hard temper, spring temper.
Toughness – capacity of material to withstand a
shock load without breaking. The impact strength
though not an absolute measure, evaluates
toughness. Formerly, the energy required to pull a
standard tensile specimen in two was taken as the
toughness, but this quantity is not representative
because of the effect of the cold working of the
specimen during the slow-speed test.