Modulus of

Elasticity
Lecture # 2
 Young's modulus
 It may be defined as the ratio between stress and strain
within the elastic limit.
 Young's modulus, also known as the tensile modulus, is a
measure of the stiffness of an elastic material and is a
quantity used to characterize materials.
 Stiffness is the rigidity of an object — the extent to which
it resists deformation in response to an applied force. The
complementary concept is flexibility or pliability: the
more flexible an object is, the less stiff it is.
 It can be experimentally determined from the slope of a
stress-strain curve created during tensile tests conducted
on a sample of the material.
 It is also commonly called the elastic modulus or
modulus of elasticity, because Young's modulus is the
most common elastic modulus used, but there are other
elastic moduli measured, too, such as the bulk modulus
and the shear modulus (shear stress/shear strain).
 Young's modulus is named after Thomas Young, the 19th
century British scientist. However, the concept was
developed in 1727 by Leonhard Euler, and the first
experiments that used the concept of Young's modulus
in its current form were performed by the Italian scientist
Giordano Riccati in 1782, predating Young's work by 25
years.
 Young's modulus is the ratio of stress, which has units of
pressure, to strain, which is dimensionless; therefore,
Young's modulus has units of pressure.
 The SI unit of modulus of elasticity (E, or less commonly Y)
is the Pascal (Pa or N/m²). The practical units used are
megapascals (MPa or N/mm²) or gigapascals (GPa or
kN/mm²). In United States customary units, it is expressed
as pounds (force) per square inch (psi). The abbreviation
ksi refers to thousands of psi.
 The Young's modulus calculates the change in the dimension
of a bar made of an isotropic elastic material under tensile or
compressive loads. For instance, it predicts how much a
material sample extends under tension or shortens under
compression. Young's modulus is used in order to predict the
deflection that will occur in a statically determinate beam
when a load is applied at a point in between the beam's
supports. Some calculations also require the use of other
material properties, such as the shear modulus, density, or
Poisson's ratio.
 Young's modulus is not always the same in all orientations of a
material. Most metals and ceramics, along with many other
materials, are isotropic, and their mechanical properties are
the same in all orientations. However, metals and ceramics
can be treated with certain impurities, and metals can be
mechanically worked to make their grain structures
directional. These materials then become anisotropic, and
Young's modulus will change depending on the direction of
the force vector. Anisotropy can be seen in many composites
as well. For example, carbon fiber has much higher Young's
modulus (is much stiffer) when force is loaded parallel to the
fibers (along the grain). Other such materials include wood
and reinforced concrete. Engineers can use this directional
phenomenon to their advantage in creating structures.