Material Testing

(ME321-Material, Science and Engineering)

Introduction:
Many materials, when in service, are subjected
to forces or loads; examples include the
aluminum alloy from which an airplane wing is
constructed and the steel in an automobile
axle.In such situations it is necessary to know the
characteristics of the material and to design the
member from which it is made so that any
resulting defor-mation will not be excessive and
fracture will not occur.
The mechanical behavior of a material reflects
the relationship between its response or
deformation to an applied load or force. The
mechanical properties of materials are
ascertained by performing carefully designed
laboratory experiments that replicate as
nearly as possible the service conditions.
CONCEPTS OF STRESS AND STRAIN

If a load is static or changes relatively slowly

with time and is applied uniformly over a cross
section or surface of a member, the
mechanical behavior may be ascertained by a
simple stress–strain test; these are most
commonly conducted for metals at room
temperature.
One of the most common mechanical
stress–strain tests is performed in
tension. A tensile test is one of the most
fundamental and common types of
mechanical testing.
Tensile testing
A tensile test applies
tensile (pulling) force to
a material and
measures the
specimen's response to
the stress.
Tensile tests determine how strong a material is
and how much it can elongate. Tensile tests are
typically conducted on electromechanical or
universal testing instruments, are simple to
perform, and are fully standardized.
The tensile testing machine is designed to
elongate the specimen at a constant rate,and to
continuously and simultaneously measure the
instantaneous applied load (with a load cell) and
the resulting elongations (using an extensometer).
Concepts of Tensile Testing

Stress is the amount of force per unit cross sectional

area.

Strain is the ratio of the change in length to the original

length, sometimes expressed as a percent. Tensile tests
use plots of stress vs strain to display results.
WHY PERFORM A TENSILE
TEST OR TENSION TEST?
Tensile testing provides details of the tensile
mechanical properties of a material. These properties
can be plotted on a graph as a stress/ strain curve to
show details such as the point at which the material
failed as well as providing details of properties such as
the modulus of elasticity, strain and yield strength.
Tensile testing has a variety of uses, including:

• Selecting materials for an application

• Predicting how a material will perform under
different forces
• Determining whether the requirements of a
specification, contract or standard are met
• Demonstrating proof of concept for a new
product
• Proving characteristics for a proposed patent
• Providing standard quality assurance data
for scientific and engineering functions
• Comparing technical data for different
material options
• Material testing to provide evidence for use
in legal proceedings
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-shape-of-a-ductile-specimen-changes-during-
tensile-testing_fig1_319773789
Test properties

 Elastic Deformation
 Young’s Modulus
 Proportional Limit
 Plastic Deformation
 Yield Strength
 Ductility
 Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS)
COMMON TENSILE TESTING STANDARDS

Though there are many ASTM and ISO standards used for
tensile testing, these are some of the most common:

ASTM D638 - Tensile Testing of Plastics

ISO 527-2 - Tensile Testing of Plastics
ASTM D412 - Tensile Testing of Elastomers
ISO 37 - Tensile Testing of Elastomers
ASTM E8/E8M - Tensile Testing of Metallic Materials
ISO 6892 - Tensile Testing of Metallic Materials
References:

Fundamentals of Materials Scienceand Engineering, an

integrated approach by William Caliste and et al. 3rd
edition
https://www.instron.us/en-us/our-company/library/test-
types/tensile-test
https://www.twi-global.com/technical-
knowledge/faqs/what-is-tensile-testing#:~:text=Tensile
%20Testing%20is%20a%20form,sample%20until%20it
%20fully%20fails.&text=It%20is%20used%20to%20find,be
%20stretched%20before%20it%20breaks.