UNIT – I

Fundamentals
b) Mechanical
Properties and Their
Testing
 SYLLABUS

Tensile test, engineering stress-strain curve, true stress-strain curve,

types of stress-strain curves, compression test, bend test, torsion test,
formability, hardness testing, different hardness tests-Vickers,
Rockwell, Brinnel, Impact test, fatigue test, creep test.

No of Lect. – 07, Marks: 12

Material Testing
Materials testing is a much narrower field
than materials science or engineering.
It is determining the strength of certain
materials.
It is mostly used to determine safety. Ex.
concrete samples are tested.
It is not used to design new materials to be
used in new applications.
Stress Engineering and true stress-strain curves

Strain
Load Extension curve
Evaluation of properties –

1) Proportional stress
It is the highest value of
stress up to which stress is
proportional to strain. above
this proportionality between
stress & strain ceases & the
stress-strain curve divers
from linearity.
Evaluation of properties –

2) Elastic limit
It is the highest value of
stress up to which the
deformation are elastic or
temporary & beyond which
they are plastic or permanent.
Evaluation of properties –
3) Ultimate tensile stress (U.T.S.)
i) It is the point or highest value of stress at which material can bear or sustain
maximum load without failure.
ii) Ultimate tensile stress is denoted as UTS and it is defined as maximum value of
stress in plastic region that the metal can sustain without failure.
iii) The ductile metal still continue to deform even after reaching UTS value.
iv) From the value of UTS, the stress decreases while the strain increases. The
stress strain curve slants down from UTS point. It is shown in fig.
Evaluation of properties –

4) Breaking stress (B.S.)

i) It is termed as failure stress
or fracture stress.
ii) It is defined as the value
of stress at which the metal
breaks.
iii) This is the last value of
stress shown by stress strain
curve.
Evaluation of properties –
5) Yield stress (Y.D.)
i) It is the stress at which the material yields i.e. shows plastic deformation at
constant stress value.
ii) This is the point on the stress-strain curve at which metal passes from elastic
region to plastic region.
iii) In some of the materials, it is clearly indicated as a constant stress value where
strain occurs, while in some of the metals a clear indication of yield point is not
observed.
Evaluation of properties –

6) Resilience
It is the total
energy absorbed
by the material
during its elastic
deformation. It is
area up to the
elastic load in a
load-extension
diagram as show
in figure.
Evaluation of properties –

7) Toughness
It is the total energy
absorbed by the
material prior to its
fracture. This energy
is the sum of elastic
& plastic energy. It is
total area under the
load-extension
diagram as show in
figure.
Evaluation of properties –

8) Stiffness
It is the resistance of the
material for elastic
deformation & is expressed
by Young’s Modulus. It is the
slop of the initial part of true
stress-strain curve.
Evaluation of properties –

9) Ductility
It is the ability of the
material to exhibit
large plastic
deformation prior to
the fracture under
tensile loading
condition also it is
defined as the ability
of material to be
drawn into fine wire.
it is expressed by %
elongation.
Evaluation of properties –

10) Malleability
It is the ability of the
material to exhibit
large plastic
deformation prior to
the fracture under
compressive loading
condition. also it is
defined as the ability
of material to be
rolled into thin
sheets. it is expressed
by % reduction.
Tension Test
This test is widely used to determine strength, ductility, resilience,
toughness and several other material properties. A test specimen of
circular, square or rectangular cross section of a suitable size is prepared
from the material to be tested. Care should be taken at the time to avoid
sharp changes in section to reduce stress concentration. This reduces the
chances of the failure of specimen at low stress values.

Fig - Standard specimen for tensile test

The specimen is held by suitable
means between the two heads of a
testing machine and subjected to a
progressively increasing tensile load
until it fractures. a record of load
acting on the specimen with
extension of the specimen is
obtained. Generally tensile test is
performed on universal testing
machine, Hounsfield tens meter,
ignitron and material testing system.
Performance of tensile test is shown
in fig. Tensile test are done on fixed
length called as gauge length.
Fig - Tensile testing machine
 Compression Test
1. Test is basically used for finding out compressive strength of material.
2. Compression test is opposite if the tension test.
3. It is performed on the same machine on which tensile test is done.
4. Generally brittle materials are good in compression than in tension and therefore they are
used in compression loads.
5. Compression test is mainly used to test brittle material such as cast iron, concrete,
stones, bricks and ceramic products.
6. During testing fracture occurs in brittle materials and therefore ultimate strength is
determine corresponding to the fracture point.
7. Following points we have to consider at the same time of determining compressive
strength by compression test:-
a. Top and bottom faces of the specimen are perfectly parallel to each
other.
b. Prevent the friction between the ends of the specimen and heads of the
testing machine if it is not done then it prevent the deformation of the
specimen uniform uniformly throughout the length.
c. Length of the specimen not more than twice the diameter of it, it helps to
avoid the buckling.
d. Maintain length to diameter (L/D) ratio.
8. Test specimen is of square, rectangular or circular in cross section.

9. L/D ratio is between 1.5 and 10 for different materials but generally ratio
of 2 is commonly used, when L/D > 10, bending is occurs which
reduces the compression strength and when L/D<1.5 responsible for
frictional effects at the end which increases compressive strength.
10. Effect of L/D ratio on compressive strength is given below as L/D ratio
increases, compressive strength decreases due increases amount of
bending stresses.

Fig - Principal of compression test Fig - Specimen in compression test

Fractures in compression test
If a ductile metal is tested for compression, it bulges at the center making
specimen barrel shaped. This occurs due large plastic deformation of ductile
metal. Metals with comparatively low ductility and high hardness develop
surface cracks. Brittle metals fail along a plane diagonally with the base
plane. Such metals also fail with a shear cone shaped fracture (called as hour
glass fracture). A material such as cast iron and concrete fails by a shear plane
while stone fails by shear cone fracture. Specimens with higher L/D ratio do
not fracture. They show buckling or bending. Too short specimens get
crushed.

Fig - Fractures in compression test

Erichsen cupping test
Erichsen cupping test is used to measures the formability. Formability is
the ability of sheet material to be formed into a specific shape or
configuration. It is ability of a material to form into a desirable shape or
specific dimension in any forming operation. Erichsen cupping test is
performed on Erichsen cupping tester which is shown in fig. In this test
sheet is held between two ring-shaped clamping dies and a hemispherical
punch having dia. 20mm.
With the help of punch acting wheel movement is carried out into punch
and it applied the force on the sheet until fracture occurs. Height of the
dome produced due to application of force in the sheet is measured. It is
nothing but formability. The dome height is very sensitive to the
thickness of sheet and increases approximately by 0.24 mm with every
0.1 mm increases in sheet thickness. The visual examination of dome
gives information regarding grain size, anisotropy of sheet etc.
Rough appearance of dome indicates a large grain size. Radial cracks
indicates equal strength of the sheet in all the direction (i.e. sheet is isotropic)
and circumferential cracks indicate anisotropic properties of the sheet. If the
cracks are in one direction, it indicates variation in ductility in different
directions as shown in figure.
Erichsen standard curves as shows in fig.
shows typical values of depth of cup
expected for various thicknesses of metals.

Fig - Principle of Erichsen cupping test

HARDNESS TEST-
The hardness of a metal is defined as its resistance to plastic deformation, mostly
by indentation. Hardness is not a fundamental property of a metal as it gets easily
changed by various heat treatments and cold working.

Hardness is defined in a number of ways.

(a) Elastic Hardness- It is defined as the amount of energy absorbed under
impact loads. It is also called as rebound hardness. It is related with elastic
property of material.

(b) Indentation Hardness- It is defined as the resistance offered by a metal to

permanent indentation during application of static (gradual) or dynamic
(impact) toads.

(c) Scratch Hardness- It is defined as the resistance of a metal to scratching.

(d) Machining Hardness - It is defined as the resistance of a metal to various

machining operations such as drilling, cutting etc.

(e) Wear or Abrasion Hardness- It is defined as the resistance of a metal to

wear or abrasion.
 CLASSIFICATION OF HARDNESS
TEST

There is several hardness tests carried out in the engineering

industries. These different hardness tests are classified as
follows:
1) Brinell Hardness Test
2) Poldi Hardness Test
3) Vickers Hardness Test
4) Rockwell Hardness Test
5) Micro-Hardness Test
6) Superficial Hardness Test
7) Sceleroscopes
8) Durometers
1) BRINELL HARDNESS
TEST

This test can be performed by two methods,

Standard method –
In which we have to use load about 250-500 Kg for soft material and 500-3000
Kg for hard material like iron and pure steel in the combination of 10mm ball
indenter.
Non standard test –
Non standard test in which, we have to use load of about 100-250 Kg, in which
we use combination of ball indenters having dia. 1, 2.5 and 5mm.

PRECAUTIONS -
The surface of the specimen of which hardness is to be measured should be
smooth and free from all the surface defects, oils and extraneous materials.
The surface on which impression is to be taken should be parallel to bottom
surface so as to obtain circular impressions.
The thickness of specimen to be tested must be sufficient so that the anvil
support will not be affecting the penetration of the ball.
 B.H.N = Load applied in Kg (P)
1) BRINELL Area of indentation
= P
HARDNESS TEST πDh

h= D–X
2
In Δ OCB.
OB2 = OC2 + CB2
(D/2)2 = X2 + (d/2)2
 X2 = (D/2)2 – (d/2)2
 X = √ (D2-d2)
2
 h = D - √ (D2-d2)
2

Therefore the surface area of a segment will be equal to

 πDh = πD (D - √D2-d2)
2
This is the area of indentation
Now, BHN = load applied _
Area of indentation
Fig - Brinell indentation BHN = 2P _
πD [D - √ (D -d )]
2 2

Where, applied load is in kg and area of indentation is in

square mm.
Advantages –
1) Surface scratches and roughness have less influence on the Brinell test.
2) Brinell hardness test is useful for measuring hardness of cast components,
heterogeneous materials like cast iron and powder metallurgical
components.

Disadvantages –
1) Because of the large size impression, the test is not suited for small objects
subjected to fatigue. D
2) Due to the stress concentration at these marks there could be a potential site
of failure.
3) The ball indenter particularly steel balls are lightly to deform when testing
hard materials. As a result hardness measurement may not be as accurate.
4) Thin materials cannot be tested because o large depth of penetration.
5) The test is slow, required more time and readings are subjected to personal
errors.
6) The ball indenter is likely to deform while testing hard materials. This
increase the diameter of impression and gives lower hardness number.
7) Because of large size of ball and high loads impression are larger. These
impressions may decrease the useful life of the component.
2) POLDI HARDNESS TEST -

Poldi hardness test works on the same principal as that of Brinell. The
instrument is small in size and consists of hollow steel tube approximately 4
inch in length in which a plunger is fitted. At the bottom end of the tube a steel
ball of 10mm diameter is fitted. Above this ball a slot is provided for inserting a
steel bar of known hardness. This bar is called as Standard Bar and its hardness
is printed on the bar. Fig shows the Poldi Hardness test.

A - Standard test bar,

B- Brinell ball,
C - Plunger,
D - Holder,
E - Magnifiscope
 Procedure

1) The standard bar is inserted in the slot of the instrument. This bar touches
the slot as well as the lower end of the plunger.
2) The entire assembly is held with the left hand over the specimen surface of
which hardness is to be measured and hammer blow is given with the right
hand on the top of the plunger.
3) Due to the above blow, two impressions are obtained simultaneously. One
of the specimen and other on standard bar
4) The diameter of the impressions is measured by using Magnifiscope.
Magnifiscope is small instrument which magnifies the image to about 10
times and has a calibrated grid in its eye piece.
5) Hardness of the material can be found out by using the equation of Brinell
as below;

 B.H.N.sp = 2P_________ ………………… (i)

πD [ D - √(D2-dsp2) ]
 Procedure

\B.H.N.sp = 2P_________ ………………… (i)

πD [ D - √(D2-dsp2) ]

 B.H.N.std = 2P_________ ………………….. (ii)

πD [ D - √(D2-dstd2) ]

Where, P = Force applied in Kg.

B.H.N.sp = Brinell hardness number of specimen.
B.H.N.std = Brinell hardness number of standard bar.
dsp = Diameter of circular impression of specimen in mm.
dstd = Diameter of circular impression of standard bar in mm.
D = Diameter of steel ball in mm (10mm).

Dividing equation (i) / (ii)

B.H.N.sp = D - √ (D2-dstd2)
B.H.N.std D - √ (D2-dsp2 Therefore,

B.H.N.sp = D - √ (D2-dstd2) X B.H.N.std

D - √ (D2-dsp2)
Precautions –
1) The tube should be held in perfectly in vertical direction on the specimen for
getting a circular impression and to avoid elliptical impression.
2) Specimen should be kept on hard platform to avoid rebound.
3) The hammer blow should be moderate i.e. it should be neither be too heavy nor
be to light

Advantages -
1) It is portable.
2) It is not costly like Brinell hardness test.
3) Less skill is required for finding out hardness.
4) It is highly convenient and suitable to estimate approximate hardness of large
size component in factory or field.

Disadvantages –
1) Two impressions have to be measured instead of one like Brinell, one for
standard bar and other for specimen.
2) Calculations are involved so it is subjected to personnel errors.
3) Hardness is calculated is not exact, it is approximate i.e. less accuracy.
4) Large size ball indenter and larger pressure application effects on the life of
component.
 3) Vickers hardness test
Vickers indenter is made up of diamond in the form of square base
pyramid with an included angle of 1360 with an opposite faces. This
1360 angle is chosen because it corresponds to the most desirable ratio
of indentation diameter to ball diameter of 0.375 in the Brinell
hardness test. Load to be applied are in the range of 1 to 120 Kg. For
case harden components 1 to 2.5 Kg load is suitable for most of the
other material 10 to 40 Kg load is suitable. For cast iron and cast
components higher loads are required.

Precautions
1) The surface of the specimen should be smooth and free form oxide,
dirt and defects.
2) High level of police is required.
3) Test surface should be parallel to the bottom surface otherwise they
will not be perfectly square.
4) Thickness of the test piece should be at least 1.5 times the diagonal
of the impression.
Vickers hardness test

Fig - Vickers indentation

 Vickers hardness test
Procedure -
1) Hardness tester is semi automatic operation in which after the specimen surface is
brought close to the indenter.
2) The preset load is applied for some definite time and the load is removed automatically.
3) The time of load application and load duration can be controlled and is between 10 to
30 sec.
4) After an impression has been made on the test surface. The diagonals of the square
impression are measured by a special measuring microscope. As well as the impression
can be projected at the magnified scale, on a focusing scale and the diagonals can be
measured.
5) From the measured diagonal, area of indentation can be calculated,

VHN = = 2P sinθ/2
P/A d2
Where P = Load in Kg
d = Diagonal of square impression
A = Area of indentation in Square-mm
θ = Angle between the opposite faces
But when θ = 1360 then VHN = VPN =
6) Hardness number is also called as Vickers’s pyramid number or diamond pyramid
number or diamond hardness number.
 Vickers hardness test
Advantages
1) Because of small size of indenter life of the component does
not get affected.
2) Hard materials can also test because of diamond indenter.
3) Hard as well as soft material can also test.
4) Hardness of thin, material can be tested.

Disadvantages
1) Vickers hardness tester is much complicated and expensive
then Brinell and Poldi hardness tester.
2) It is not portable.
3) Skill is required to operate it.
4) Calculations are involved so it is subjected to personnel errors.
 4) Rockwell hardness test

In this method hardness of metal is correlated with the depth of

indentation and not with the area of indentation. Rockwell hardness is
inversely proportional to depth of indentation. In this test two types of
indenters are used.
i) Hard steel balls of 1/16”, 1/8”, 1/4”, and ½” diameters.
ii) Brale indenter which is made up of diamond.
Loads are applied in two stages, Minor load of 10 kg is applied then
major load is applied. The major loads are of 60,100 and 150 kg. The
various combinations of loads and indenters are indicated by letters such
as A, B, C etc. There are 15 combinations as shown in table.

Precautions
1. The surface of the specimen should be flat.
2. Care should be taken that successive impression should not be
superimposed on one another at the time of hardness determination.
 Rockwell hardness test
Symbols for various combinations of loads and indenters –
Major Load (Kg)
Indenter
60 100 150
Brale indenter A D C
1/16”-ball indenter F B G
1/8”- ball indenter H E K
1/4” - ball indenter L M P
1/2” - ball indenter R S V

Proper scale selection according to component condition is given below,

Thin – low load i.e.60 kg.
Thick – high load i.e. 150 kg.
Hard – brale indenter
Soft - 1/16”- ball indenter
Very soft - 1/8” or 1/4” ball indenter
Very very soft - 1/2” - ball indenter
 Rockwell hardness test
Procedure-
1) The specimen is placed on the anvil. The pointer is idle neither the minor load nor the
major load is applied.
2) The anvil along with the specimen is raised so that the specimen touches the indenter
by further raising the anvil slowly; major load of 10 kg is applied. At this stage, the
small pointer on the dial coincides with the index mark.
3) Major load of 100 kg is applied by means of a release handle provided on the right side
of the instrument. This load is applied gradually by means of dashpot arrangement.
4) This major load 100 kg consist of original minor load of 10 kg = additional load of 90
kg.
5) Without removing the minor load of 10 kg, major load is removed. Due to this, elastic
recovery in the deformed region is occurs
6) Without removal of minor load, hardness number is read directly from the dial. This
value is Rockwell hardness number denoted as RB = Hardness number.
7) The minor load of 10 kg is removed and next reading is taken.
8) The hardness indicating dial on the machine is inscribed with 100 equal divisions and
each division corresponds to vertical motion of 0.002 mm. two sets of numeral are
indicated on the dial, one set is printed in red and other is printed in blanch. The red
numerals are used for ball indenters and black for brale indenter.
 Rockwell hardness test
Advantages
1. It is more flexible than the Brinell, a large number of
combinations of indenters and loads make it more
useful to test a wider range of materials.
2. Rockwell testers are also fitted with a number of
fixtures for testing different sizes and shapes of metal
parts.
3. Hardness can be read directly from the dial without ant
calculations.
4. Less skill is required to operate the Rockwell hardness
tester.
5. Both types of indenters used steel balls and diamond
cone, it combine the advantages of Brinell and Vickers
hardness tests.
6. It is not portable.

Disadvantages
1. The choice of wrong scales and loads may results in faulty readings.
2. The steel ball gets deformed, if used for hard metals.
3. Test is not useful for some materials such As porous bearings and heterogeneous materials.
4. Periodic calibration is necessary.
 5) Micro hardness test
This test may be referred as a modified form of Vickers’s hardness test which uses
small loads. Micro-hardness test is effectively used for very small and thin
components. This is because of very small impressions produced by less loads. Test
loads are between 1 and 1000 gms. In this test, two types of indenters are used. They
are:
(a) 136° square-based Vickers’s diamond pyramid indenter or
(b) Elongated knoop diamond indenter.
The knoop indenter is made of diamond and ground to pyramidal form so that it
produces a diamond shaped Indentation. The ratio of the long diagonal to the short is
about 7: 1. The knoop indenter has included longitudinal angles of 172° 30’ and
transverse angles of 130° (Fig. 2.10). The depth of Indentation is about 1/30 of its
length.
 Micro hardness test
If the Vickers’s indenter is used, the
hardness number is expressed by the
following formula
V.P.N. = 1.8544 X P
d2
Where P = applied load (kg).
d = diagonal of the impression.
The knoop hardness number (Ilk) is
calculated as follows:
HK = 14.229 P
d2
Where P = load, kg
d = length of the long
diagonal.
Micro hardness test is used for testing the hardness of very small parts like watch
gears, wires, springs, tips of cutting tools, micro-structural phases, plated surface,
coatings, thin foils, very brittle and fatigue materials etc
 8) Mohrs hardness test
This test is also called as scratch hardness test or mineralogical test. This test is
based on comparative hardness method and does not give direct readings. This
test is based on the principle that a metal gets scratched by a material which Is
more herd. This test uses a scale in which 10 minerals are arranged in a typical
order. The scale consists of soft mineral at the top having least hardness number
while a hard mineral at the bottom having more hardness number. The lowest
hardness number is of talc while the highest hardness number is of diamond.
Some of the other minerals are intermediate between these two.
In this method1-the metallic specimen is scratched initially with talc. If talc
does not produce any scratch, then next mineral Is. used e.g. If a steel piece gets
scratched by quartz and not by minerals up to feldspar, then its hardness
number on Mohr’s scale is 7. This scratch test is very fast and simple. It is
applied to check the hardness very roughly. It is also useful to segregate mixed
up as per their hardness values
Mohrs hardness test
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