Machine Design Exit Exam Reviewer
at all points
Definition of Terms
Age Hardening – It is also called precipitation
hardening. Occurs in some metals, such as stainless
steel, aluminum, and copper alloys at ambient
temperature after solution heat treatment, the process
being one of the constituents precipitating from solid
solution.
Alloy – it is a substance with metallic properties,
composed of two or more elements of which at least one
is a metal
Alloying Elements – usually considered to be metallic
elements added for the purpose of modifying the
properties
Brittleness – it is the tendency to fracture with
appreciable deformation
Charpy test – is one in which a specimen is supported
at both ends as a simple beam, is broken by the impact
of a falling pendulum.
Cold Shortness – brittleness of metals at ordinary or
low temperatures
Cold Working – process of deforming a metal
plastically (permanently) at a temperature below the
recrystallization temperature and at a rate to produce
strain hardening.
Damping Capacity – is the ability of a material to
absorb or damp vibrations (absorption of kinetic energy
of vibration owing to hysteresis)
Decarburization – loss of carbon from the surface of
the steel, occurring during hot rolling, forging, and eat
treating, when the surrounding reacts with the carbon
Ductility – property that permits permanent
deformation before fracture in tension
Ductile Material – elongation > 5% in 2” gage
Brittle Material – elongation < 5% in 2” gage
Elasticity – ability of a material to be deformed and
return to the original shape. (elastic deformation - It is
when stress is proportional to strain)
Embrittlement – involves loss of ductility due to
physical or chemical change of a material
Free Carbon – part of the carbon content of steel/ iron
that is in the form of graphite or temper carbon
Hard Drawn – temper produced in wire, rod, or tube
by cold drawing
Homogeneous materials – have the same structure
Isotropic Materials – have the same properties in all
directions
Izod test – test in which a specimen is supported at
one end as a cantilever beam broken by the impact of a
falling pendulum
Killed Steel – the steel that has been deoxidized with a
strong deoxidizing agent such as silicon or aluminum,
to eliminate a reaction between the carbon and oxygen
during solidification
Machinability – refers to the relative ease with which
the material can be cut.
Malleability – material’s susceptibility to extreme
deformation in rolling or hammering. (the more
malleable the thinner the sheet into which it can be
formed)
Mechanical Properties – are those which have to do
with stress and strain
Percentage Elongation – extension on the vicinity of
the fracture of a tensile specimen
Percentage Reduction of area – smallest area at the
point of rupture of a tensile specimen divided by the
original area
Physical Properties – density, conductivity,
coefficient of thermal expansion
Plasticity – is the ability of a metal to be deformed
considerably without rupture.
Poisson’s Ratio – ratio of lateral strain to longitudinal
strain
Prcipitation Heat treatment – brings about the
precipitation of a constituent from supersaturated solid
solution by holding the body at an elevated
temperature, also called artificial aging.
Proof Stress – is that stress which causes a specified
permanent deformation of a material
Red shortness – is a brittleness in steel when it is red
hot
Relaxation – associated with creep, it is the decreasing
stress at a constant strain
Residual Stresses – are those not due to applied loads
or temperature gradient
Rimmed Steel – is incompletely deoxidized steel
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
supersaturated solution
Stiffness – is the ability to resist deformation.
Measured by modulus of elasticity in the elastic range
Strain hardening – is increasing the hardness and
strength by plastic deformation at temperatures lower
than the recrystallization range.
Temper – is a condition produced in a non-ferrous
metal by mechanical or thermal treatment
Toughness – capacity of the material to withstand a
shock load without breaking
Stress relieving – heating of a metal body to a
suitable temperature, and holding it at that
temperature for a suitable time for the purpose of
reducing internal residual stresses.
Tempering – reheating of a hardened or normalized
steel to a temperature below the transformation range,
followed by any desired rate of cooling. Quenched steel
is tempered in order to reduce internal stresses, to
restore a certain amount of ductility, and to improve
toughness.
Transformation Range – is the temperature interval
during which austenite is formed during heating, also
the temperature which austenite disappears during
cooling

Transverse Strength – refers to the results of a

transverse bend test, wherein the specimen being
mounted as a simple beam. Also called rupture modulus

Work Hardening – same as strain hardening

Wrought Steel – steel that has been hammered, rolled,

or drawn in the process of manufacture

Heat Treatment Terms

Aging – is a change in a metal by which its structure

recovers from an unstable r metastable condition that
has been produced by quenching or cold working

Annealing – is a heating and slow cooling of a solid

metal, usually done to soften it

Critical Range – same as transformation range

Drawing – often used to mean tempering

Graphitizing – causes the combined carbon to

transform wholly or in part into graphitic pr free carbon

Hardening – heating of certain steels above the

transformation range and then quenching, for the
purpose of increasing the hardness

Malleablizing – an annealing process whereby

combined carbon in white cast iron is transformed
wholly or in part to temper carbon.

Normalizing – heating of an iron-base alloy to some

100F above the transformation range with subsequent
cooling to below that range in still air at room
temperature. The purpose is to produce a uniform
structure

Spheroidizing – is any heating amd cooling of steel

that produces a rounded or globular form of carbide. It
is a prolonged heating followed by slow cooling.