CHAPTER THREE

Mechanical Properties of Materials

The Stress-Strain Diagram

The strength of a material depends on its ability to sustain a load without undue deformation or failure.
This property is inherent in the material itself and must be determined by experiment.

The following shape shows the typical metal specimen used in the
tension test. This specimen has a standard shape and size.

Before testing, two small punch marks are placed along the
specimen’s uniform length. Measurements are taken of both the
specimen’s initial cross-sectional area,A , and the gauge-length distance L between the punch marks.

The dimensions shown in the figure are the typical dimensions for steel specimen.

Now, there are two ways to describe the stress-strain diagram:

▪ Conventional Stress-Strain Diagram

The stress generated in the specimen due to axial load could be found by dividing the
axial force P by the original cross sectional area of the specimen A :

�
�=
�

Likewise, the strain could be found by dividing the change of the specimen length, δ, by
the specimen original length L :

�=
�

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 Plotting the corresponding values of the normal stress σ in the vertical axis and the
normal strain ϵ in the horizontal axis resulting curve is called conventional stress-strain
diagram as shown:

From this curve we can identify four different ways in which the material behaves,
depending on the amount of strain induced in the material:

✓ Elastic Behavior
The material in this region is said to be linear elastic. The upper stress limit to this
linear relationship is called the proportional limit, σpl . If the stress slightly
exceeds the proportional limit, the curve tends to bend and flatten out as shown.
This continues until the stress reaches the elastic limit. Upon reaching this point,
if the load is removed the specimen will still return back to its original shape.

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 ✓ Yielding
A slight increase in stress above the elastic limit will result in a breakdown of the
material and cause it to deform permanently. This behavior is called yielding.
The stress that causes yielding is called the yield stress or yield point, σY , and the
deformation that occurs is called plastic deformation.
** Notice that once the yield point is reached the specimen will continue to
elongate (strain) without any increase in load. When the material is in this state,
it is often referred to as being perfectly plastic.

✓ Strain Hardening
When yielding has ended, an increase in load can be supported by the specimen,
resulting in a curve that rises continuously but becomes flatter until it reaches a
maximum stress referred to as the ultimate stress, σu . The rise in the curve in this
manner is called strain hardening.

✓ Necking
the stress–strain diagram tends to curve downward until the specimen breaks at
the fracture stress, σf . Up to the ultimate stress, as the specimen elongates, its
cross-sectional area will decrease. This decrease is fairly uniform over the
specimen’s entire gauge length; however, just after, at the ultimate stress, the
cross-sectional area will begin to decrease in a localized region of the specimen.

▪ True Stress–Strain Diagram

Instead of always using the original cross-sectional area and specimen length to calculate
the stress and strain, we could have used the actual cross-sectional area and specimen
length at the instant the load is measured. The values of stress and strain found from
these measurements are called true stress and true strain, and a plot of their values is
called the true stress–strain diagram.
The basic difference between the two curves is that the material actually sustains
increasing stress as shown in the True stress-strain diagram.

** Why do we use the Conventional Stress-Strain Diagram?

Because most engineering design is done so that the material supports a stress within the
elastic range. So that the strain error between the two curves within the Elastic range is
about (0.1%) which is very small.

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Stress-Strain Behavior of Ductile and Brittle Materials
Materials can be classified as either being ductile or brittle, depending on their stress–strain
characteristics.

▪ Ductile Materials
Any material gives high strains before fracture is called ductile material. Such as steel.
There are two ways to specify the ductility of materials:
✓ The percent elongation:

�� − �0
�� � � �� = x 100%
�0

✓ The percent reduction of area:

�0 − ��
�� � � � �� � = x 100%
�0

• Offset Method:
Is a graphical procedure to find the yield strength.
Normally a 0.2% strain is chosen, and from this point on the axis, a line
parallel to the initial straight-line portion of the stress–strain diagram is
drawn. The point where this line intersects the curve defines the yield
strength.

▪ Brittle Materials
Materials that exhibit little or no yielding before failure are referred to as brittle
materials. Such as concrete.

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Hooke’s Law
As been noted before, the stress–strain diagrams for most engineering materials exhibit a linear
relationship between stress and strain within the elastic region. The relationship between the normal
stress and the normal strain within the elastic range can be mathematically expressed as:

�= ��

Where; E: constant value named modulus of elasticity or Young’s modulus.

- The modulus of elasticity is a mechanical property that indicates the stiffness of a material. For
example, steel has a higher modulus of elasticity than the wood.
- If the stress in the material is greater than the proportional limit, the previous equation is no longer valid
due to non-linear relationship between the normal stress and the normal strain when exceeding the
proportional limit.

▪ Strain Hardening
If a specimen of ductile material, such as steel, is loaded into the plastic region and then
unloaded, elastic strain is recovered as the material returns to its equilibrium state. The
plastic strain remains, however, and as a result the material is subjected to a permanent
set. In the following figure the slope of line O′A′is the same as line OA.

If the load is reapplied, the atoms in the material will again be displaced until yielding
occurs at or near the stress A′, and the stress–strain diagram continues along the same
path as before. It should be noted, however, that this new stress–strain diagram, defined
by O′A′B, now has a higher yield point A′ , a consequence of strain-hardening. In other
words, the material now has a greater elastic region; however, it has less ductility, a
smaller plastic region, than when it was in its original state.

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Strain Energy
When a deformation occurs in a material due to external loading, the materials stores an energy
throughout its volume called strain energy.

Work is determined by the product of force and displacement in the direction of the force . Now consider
a volume element of material as shown in the figure, the applied force causes a normal stress on the top
and bottom of the element, also it causes an increase in the element length among the z-direction.

= �/ ∆ ∆

� = ∆ = �
/

� = � ∆� = � ∆ ∆ = �∆

= �∆ /

Since the force is increased uniformly from zero to its final magnitude ∆F
when the displacement ϵ ∆z is attained, the work done on the element by the
force is equal to the average force magnitude ∆F/ times the displacement ϵ ∆z.

For applications, it is sometimes convenient to specify the strain energy per unit volume of material. This
is called the strain-energy density, and it can be expressed as:

∆
= = ��
∆

If the material behavior is linear elastic Hooke’s law is applicable, then ϵ = σ/E:

�
=
�

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 ▪ Modulus of Resilience
If the strain energy is measured up to the proportional limit, it is referred to as the
modulus of resilience:

��
� = � �� � =
�

The modulus of resilience equals the shaded

triangular area under the diagram:

▪ Modulus of Toughness:
If the strain energy is measured up to the point of fracture, it is referred to as the modulus
of toughness; which can be determined by calculating the area under σ − ϵ diagram.

As shown in the diagram the shaded area

expresses the modulus of toughness:

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Poisson’s Ratio
While applying an axial tensile load to a deformable body, the body will elongate in the direction of the
load and contraction will occur in the lateral direction, as shown in the figure:

� �
For the following figure: �� � =
�
�
�′ Original Shape
���� =
� �/� � �/�

* limitations: 1. The material must be homogeneous. �′

2. The material must be isotropic. Final Shape

Within the elastic range the ratio of these strains is a constant, since the deformations δ and δ′ are
proportional. This constant is referred to as Poisson’s ratio, , expressed as:

����
=−
�� �

** The negative sign is included here since longitudinal elongation (positive strain) causes lateral
contraction (negative strain), and vice versa.

Poisson’s ratio is a dimensionless quantity and its maximum possible value is .5.
Therefore ≤ ≤ .5.

If the deformable body was subjected to multiaxial loads the method of super position is used to find the
strain in each direction. As the following figure:

� = [ � − (� + � )]
�

� = [� − � +� ]
�

� = [ � − (� + � )]
�

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The Shear Stress-Strain Diagram
The shear stress-strain diagram was studied in the laboratory specimens in the shape of thin tubes and
subjecting them to a torsional loading. The following figure shows shear stress-strain diagram:

Like the tension test, this material when subjected to shear will exhibit linear-elastic behavior and it will
have a defined proportional limit, pl . Also, strain hardening will occur until an ultimate shear stress, u ,
is reached. And finally, the material will begin to lose its shear strength until it reaches a point where it
fractures, f .

As the normal stress-strain diagram, the elastic behavior in shear stress-strain diagram is linear, and so
Hooke’s law for shear can be written as:

=�

Where; G: is the shear modulus of elasticity or the modulus of rigidity.

The three material constants, E, and G are actually related by the equation:

�
�=
+

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