Compressive property

Compressive strength is the capacity of a material or structure to withstand axially directed pushing forces. It provides data (or a plot) of force vs deformation for the conditions of the test method. When the limit of compressive strength is reached, brittle materials are crushed.

Importance:
For some materials, such as concrete, the compressive strength is the most important material property that engineers use when designing and building a structure. Compressive strength is also commonly used to determine whether a concrete mixture meets the requirements of the job specifications.

Specification:
Understand compression strength and modulus of plastics materials used in various engineering applications using ASTM D695, ISO 604. .Compression

test:

Fig: compressive strength test

The specimen is placed between compressive plates parallel to the surface. The specimen is then compressed at a uniform rate. The maximum load is recorded along with stress-strain data. Compressive stress and strain are calculated and plotted as a stress-strain diagram which is used to determine compressive strength and modulus.

Specimen size:
Specimens can either be blocks or cylinders. For ASTM, the typical blocks are 12.7 x 12.7 x 25.4mm ( by by 1 in). and the cylinders are 12.7mm ( in) in diameter and 25.4mm (1 in) long. For ISO, the preferred specimens are 50 x 10 x 4mm for modulus and 10 x 10 x 4mm for strength.

Data:
Compressive strength and modulus are two useful calculations. Compressive strength = maximum compressive load minimum cross-sectional area Compressive modulus = change in stress change in strain