Mechanical Properties

The adaptability of a material to a particular use is determined by its

mechanical properties.
Properties are affected by
Bonding type
Crystal Structure
Imperfections
Processing

Learning Objectives
Define engineering stress and engineering strain.
State Hookes law, and note the conditions under which it is valid.
Given an engineering stressstrain diagram, determine (a) the modulus
of elasticity, (b) the yield strength (0.002 strain offset), and (c) the
tensile strength, and (d) estimate the percent elongation.
Name the two most common hardness-testing techniques; note two
differences between them.
Define the differences between ductile and brittle materials.
State the principles of impact, creep and fatigue testing.
State the principles of the ductile-brittle transition temperature.

Types of Mechanical Testing

Slow application of stress
Allows dislocations to move to equilibrium positions
Tensile testing
Rapid application of stress
Ability of a material to absorb energy as it fails. Does not allow
dislocations to move to equilibrium positions.
Impact testing
Fracture Toughness
How does a material respond to cracks and flaws
Fatigue
What happens when loads are cycled?
High Temperature Loads
Creep

Some Definitions
Tensile stress:
Where F: force, normal to
the cross-sectional area,
A0: original cross-sectional area

F
=
A0

Shear Stress
Fs: force, parallel to the cross-sectional area
A0: the cross-sectional area
unit of stress:
1Pa = 1 Nm-2;
1MPa = 106Pa; 1GPa=109Pa

Force N
= 2
area
m

Fs
=
A0

l l0 l
=
=
l0
l0
Nominal tensile strain (Axial strain)

Engineering Strain

Engineering Shear Strain

For small strain:

Poissons ratio

= tan
z =

l z
l0 z

Nominal lateral strain

(transverse strain)

x =

l x
l0 x

lateral strain x
=
Poissons ratio: =
tensile strain
z

Dilatation (Volume strain)

Under pressure: the volume will change

V
=
V

p
p

p
V-V

p
Elastic Behavior of Materials

Hookes Law (Linear Elasticity)

When strains are small, most of materials are linear elastic.
Youngs modulus

Tensile:

Shear modulus

Shear: = G
Hydrostatic: p =

Bulk modulus

Modulus of Elasticity
Metals

Modulus of Elasticity
Ceramics

Modulus of Elasticity
- Polymers

Polymers

Elastic Modulus
(GPa)

Polyethylene (PE)

0.2-0.7

Polystyrene (PS)

3-3.4

Nylon

2-4

Polyesters

1-5

Rubbers

0.01-0.1

Physical Basis of Youngs Modulus

Review: Inter-atomic forces (attractive and repulsive forces)
Define: stiffness

d 2U
S0 = 2
dx

x = x0

dF
=
dx

x = x0

F=

dU
dx

Unit area

Assume the strain is small,

F S0 ( r r0 )

F
= NS0 ( r r0 )
A0

Where N: number of bonds/unit area, N=1/r02

Q =

Youngs modulus
Stiffness & Youngs Modulus
for different bonds

( r r0 )
r0
E=

Bonding type

S0(Nm-1)

E(GPa)

Ionic(i.e: NaCl)

8-24

32-96

Covalent
(i.e: C-C)

50-180

200-1000

Metallic

15-75

60-300

Hydrogen

2-3

8-12

Van der Waals

0.5-1

2-4

S 0 ( r r0 ) S 0
= = E
r0
r0
r0

S0
=
r0

Material
Metals:
Ceramics:
Polymers:

E (GPa)
60 ~ 400
10 ~ 1000
0.001 ~ 10

Tensile Testing
The sample is pulled slowly
The sample deforms and then fails
The load and the deformation are measured

Standard tensile specimen

 The load and deformation are easily transform into engineering stress () and
engineering strain ()

F
=
A0
A curve stress-strain is obtained

l l0 l
=
=
l0
l0

Parameters Obtained From Stress Strain Curve

z Strength Parameters
Modulus of Elasticity
Yield Strength
Ultimate Tensile Strength
Fracture Strength
Fracture Energy

Modulus of Elasticity
It is a measure of material stiffness
and relates stress to strain in the
linear elastic range.

E =
=

z Ductility Parameters
Percent Elongation
Percent Reduction of
Area
Strain Hardening
Parameter

Yielding and Yield Strength

Proportionality Limit (P): Departure from linearity of
the stress-strain curve
Yielding Point Elastic Limit: the turning point which
separate the elastic and plastic regions onset of plastic
deformation
Yield strength: the stress at the yielding point.
Offset yielding (proof stress): if it is difficult to
determine the yielding point, then draw a parallel line
starting from the 0.2% strain, the cross point between
the parallel line and the curve

Tensile Strength (TS)

The stress increases after yielding until a
maximum is reached. It is also known as the
Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS), or Maximum
Uniform Strength.
Prior to TS, the stress in the specimen is uniformly
distributed. After TS, necking occurs with localization of
the deformation to the necking area, which will rapidly go
to failure.

Fracture Strength
f<<UTS Due to the definition of Engineering
stress and tensile specimen necking.

f =

Pf
Ao

Fracture Energy (Toughness)

Is a measure of the work required to
cause the material to fracture.
Is a function of strength and ductility.
Its magnitude is defined by the area
under the stress strain curve
f

U = d
0

Approximated by:

G=

ys + U TS
2

* f

Elastic Recovery
After a load is released from a stress-strain test, some of the total deformation
is recovered as elastic deformation. During unloading, the curve traces a
nearly identical straight line path from the unloading point parallel to the initial
elastic portion of the curve
The recovered strain is calculated as the strain at unloading minus the strain
after the load is totally released.

Resilience
Resilience is the capacity of a material to absorb energy when it is deformed
elastically and then, upon unloading, to have this energy recovered.
Modulus of resilience Ur

U r = d
0

If it is in a linear elastic region,

1
1 y y
U r = y y = y =
2
2 E 2E

Ductility
Ductility is a measure of the degree of plastic
deformation at fracture
expressed as percent elongation
also expressed as percent area reduction
lO and AO are the original gauge length and
original cross-section area respectively
lf and Af are length and area at fracture
Percentage elongation and percentage area
reduction are UNITLESS
A smaller gauge length will produce a larger overall
percentage elongation due to the contribution from
necking. Therefore, the percentage elongation
should be reported with original gauge length.
Percentage reduction is not affected by sample size,
thus it is a better measure of ductility

% EL = (

l f l0

% AR = (

l0

) * 100

A0 A f
A0

) * 100

Typical mechanical properties for

some metals and alloys

True Stress
True stress is the stress determined by the instantaneous load acting on the
instantaneous cross-sectional area
Ao
P
P Ao
P
=
*
=
*
True stress is related to engineering stress: T =
A
A Ao
Ao
A
Assuming material volume remains constant
+lo
Ao
l

=
=
=
+ 1 = (1 + )
A lo
lo
lo

= A l

P
T =
(1 + ) = (1 + )
Ao

True Strain
The rate of instantaneous increase in the
instantaneous gauge length.

dl
l
= ln
T =

l
l
l o + l
l
l
ln o +

lo
lo lo
T = ln(1 + )

T = ln

T = F/Ai

T = ln(li/lo)

True Stress-Strain Curve

= F/Ao

= (li-lo/lo)

Strain Hardening
Parameter (n)

T = K T

Strain hardening parameter 0<n<1

T
T

d
n =
d

T
T

Instability in Tension
Necking or localized deformation begins at maximum load, where the increase
in stress due to decrease in the cross-sectional area of the specimen
becomes greater than the increase in the load-carrying ability of the metal due
to strain hardening.
This conditions of instability leading to localized deformation is defined by the
condition P = 0.

P =

=
A
T
A

P = T A + A T = 0

L
L

A
A

= d T

From the constancy-of-volume relationship,

V = Ao Lo = AL

T
=T
T

so that at the point of tensile instability

But

T = K T

T
T
n 1
= Kn T = n
T
T

Instability occurs when = n

The necking criterion can be expressed more explicitly if engineering strain is

used.

T L / Lo L

=
=
=
T T L / L LO

1+
T

1
1+

=
(1 + ) = T

Fracture Behavior
Ductile material Significant plastic
deformation and energy absorption
(toughness) before fracture.
Characteristic feature of ductile material necking
Brittle material Little plastic
deformation or energy absorption before
fracture.
Characteristic feature of brittle materials
fracture surface perpendicular to the
stress.

Steel
Before and after fracture

Ductile Fracture (Dislocation Mediated): Extensive plastic deformation.

Necking, formation of small cavities, enlargement of cavities, formation of cupand-cone. Typical fibrous structure with dimples.
Crack grows 90o to applied stress

NeckingCavity Formation Cavity

coalescence to form a crack, Crack
propagation Fracture
45O - maximum shear stress

Scanning Electron Microscopy: Fractographic studies at high resolution.

Spherical dimples correspond to micro-cavities that initiate crack
formation.

Brittle Fracture (Limited Dislocation Mobility): very little

deformation, rapid crack propagation. Direction of crack propagation
perpendicular to applied load. Crack often propagates by cleavage
- breaking of atomic bonds along specific crystallographic
planes (cleavage planes).
Brittle
fracture in
a mild
steel

Intergranular fracture: Crack propagation is along

grain boundaries (grain boundaries are weakened or
embrittled by impurities segregation etc.)

Transgranular fracture: Cracks pass through grains. Fracture surface has

faceted texture because of different orientation of cleavage planes in grains.

Stress-Strain Behavior of Ceramics

3-point Bending tests
Flexural Strength: the stress at fracture under the bending tests. Its also
called Modulus of rupture, fracture strength, or the bending strength

fs =
fs =

3F f L
2bd 2
Ff L

R 3

Torsion Test
Ductile material twist
Brittle material fractures

max =

Tr
I Polar

max = G
max =

Gr
L

TL
I PG

Impact Test
(testing fracture characteristics under high strain rates)
Notched-bar impact tests are used to measure the impact energy (energy
required to fracture a test piece under impact load), also called notch
toughness. It determines the tendency of the material to behave in a brittle
manner.Due to the non-equilibrium impact conditions this test will detect
differences between materials which are not observable in tensile test.
We can compare the absorption energy capacity before fracture of different
materials.Two classes of specimens have been standardized for notchedimpact testing, Charpy (mainly in the US) and Izod (mainly in the UK)

Impact Test Examples

Material

Charpy Impact Strength, (Joules)

Steel

20

Titanium

20

Aluminum

14

Magnesium

Low-Grade Plastic

Charpy v-notch Test

A 10mm square section material
is tested, having a 45o notched,
2mm deep.
Izod

Charpy
The impact toughness is
determined from finding the
difference in potential energy
before and after the hammer has
fractured the material.
Units are J (Joules) when testing
Metals, J/cm2 when testing
polymers (Polymers will stretch,
metals will snap).

h
h

Energy ~ h - h

Ductile-to-brittle transition
As temperature decreases a
ductile material can become brittle
- ductile-to-brittle transition.
FCC metals show high impact
energy values that do not change
appreciably with changes in
temperature.

BCC metals, polymers and ceramic

materials show a transition
temperature, below which the
material behaves in a brittle
manner. The transition temperature
varies over a wide range of
temperatures. For metals and
polymers is between -130 to 93oC.
For ceramics is over 530oC.

In low alloy and plain carbon

steels, the transition
temperature is set to an
impact energy of 20J or to the
temperature corresponding to
50% brittle fracture.

Low temperatures can severely embrittle

steels. The Liberty ships, produced in
great numbers during the WWII were the
first all-welded ships. A significant
number of ships failed by catastrophic
fracture. Fatigue cracks nucleated at the
corners of square hatches and
propagated rapidly by brittle fracture.

1912: Titanic on its maiden voyage from Southampton April 10,

1912. credit: THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE

Charpy Samples Steel Fracture Surfaces

It shows the variation in surface fracture morphology from brittle

to ductility (shear fracture) with increasing testing temperature
(C).

Hardness
Hardness: a measure of a materials resistance to localized plastic
deformation (eg. Small dent or scratch).
1. Scratch hardness
Hardness: Different Techniques 2. Indentation hardness
3. Rebound hardness

Scratch Hardness Early hardness test were based nature minerals

with a scale constructed solely on the ability of one
material to scratch another (Mohs scale German
Friedrich Mohs).
Mohs scale ranges from 1 on the soft end for talc to
10 for diamond.
More accurate quantitative hardness techniques have been developed over the
years in which a small indenter is forced into the surface of the material to be
tested under controlled conditions of load and rate of application.

Mohs Hardness

Mineral

Absolute Hardness

Talc (Mg3Si4O10(OH)2)

Gypsum (CaSO42H2O)

Calcite (CaCO3)

Fluorite (CaF2)

21

Apatite? (Ca5(PO4)3(OH-,Cl-,F-))

48

Orthoclase (KAlSi3O8)

72

Quartz (SiO2)

100

Topaz (Al2SiO4(OH-,F-)2)

200

Corundum (Al2O3)

400

10

Diamond (C)

1500

Indentation Hardness

Resistance to permanent indentation under static or dynamic loads

Examples
Brinell Hardness Test (ASTM E 10) - Commonly used.
Rockwell Hardness Test (ASTM E 18) - Commonly used. Indentor and
loads are smaller than with the Brinell test.
Vickers Hardness Test (ASTM E 92) - Similar to Rockwell. Uses a squarebased diamond pyramid for the indentor.
Knoop (Tukon) Hardness Test - used for very thin and/or very small
specimens.

Rebound Hardness
Energy absorbed under impact loads
Examples
Shore Scleroscope (ASTM E 448) - Measures the rebound of a small
pointed device dropped from a 254mm height.
Schmidt Hammer - Measures rebound of a spring loaded hammer. The test
has been correlated with concrete compressive strength.

Hardness Some Basic Knowledge

The fundamental physics of hardness is not yet clearly understood.
All hardness measures are functions of interatomic forces.
There is no single measure of hardness has been devised that is universally
applicable to all materials.
Hardness is arbitrarily defined.

Brinell Hardness (BHN)

A Load applied to a 10mm diameter ball.
Measure diameter of the indentation to the nearest 0.02 mm under a
microscope.
Compute the Brinell Hardness Number (BHN)
D = ball diameter (mm) D = 10mm
Di = indentation diameter (mm)
F = load (units = kg)
Important BHN Variables
Thickness of Specimen:
Thickness of
specimen (mm)

Minimum Brinell hardness for safe test

500 kg load

1,500 kg load

300 kg load

79

238

476

40

119

238

26

79

159

20

60

119

10

16

48

95

Proximity to edge or other test locations: The distance of the center of the
indentation to the edge or from the center of adjacent indentations 2.5
times the diameter of the indentation.
Applied load:
1500 kg can be used for 48<BHN<300
1000 kg can be used for 32<BHN<200
750 kg can be used for 24<BHN<150
500 kg can be used for 16<BHN<100

Rockwell Hardness (HR)

Widely used in the US
A diamond cone shape indenter is used
for hard metals or hard spherical steel
ball for softer materials.
Different combinations of loads and
indenter (Rockwell scale).

A minor load (10 kg) is applied first

A major load (60, 100, 150 kg) is applied later
Hardness is determined from the difference in
penetration depth
Several scales are used (A, B, C, etc.)
The depth of the indentation is measured by the
machine.
No measurement is made by the operator other
than dial reading of hardness.
A. Depth reached by indenter after preliminary test
force (minor load).
B. Position of indenter under total test force.
C. Final position reached by indenter after elastic
recovery of the material.
D. Position at which measurement is taken.

Vickers Hardness (HV)

Widely used in Europe
A square base diamond pyramid indenter is used for hard materials.
The diagonals of the square indentation are measured.

HV =

1.854 F
D2

Vickers Test
Opposing indenter faces are set at
a 136 degree angle to each other

Knoop Hardness (HK)

Pyramidal diamond shape indenter

HK =

14.2 F
D2

Knoop Test
Long side faces are set at a 172
degree, 30 minute angle to each
other. Short side faces are set at a
130 degree angle to each other

Correlation between Hardness and Tensile Strength

TS (MPa) = 3.45xBHN
TS (psi) = 500xBHN

Note:
No method of measuring
hardness uniquely indicates any
other single mechanical property.
Some hardness tests seem to be
more closely associated with tensile
strength, others with ductility, etc.

Fracture Mechanics
It studies the relationships between:
material properties
stress level
crack producing flaws
crack propagation mechanisms

Basic Concepts
The measured or experimental fracture strengths for most brittle
materials are significantly lower than those predicted by theoretical
calculations based on atomic bond energies.
This discrepancy is explained by the presence of very small,
microscopic flaws or cracks that are inherent to the material.
The flaws act as stress concentrators or stress raisers, amplifying the
stress at a given point.
This localized stress diminishes with distance away from the crack tip.

IDEAL VS REAL MATERIALS

Stress-strain behavior (Room T):
TS engineering << TS perfect
materials

E/10

materials

perfect matl-no flaws

carefully produced glass fiber

E/100

typical ceramic
0.1

typical strengthened metal

typical polymer

Fracture Toughness
Fracture toughness measures the resistance of a material to brittle
fracture when a crack or flaw is present.
It is a measure of the amount of stress required to propagate a
preexisting flaw.
Flaws may appear as cracks, voids, metallurgical inclusions, weld
defects, design discontinuities, or some combination thereof. The
occurrence of flaws is not completely avoidable in the processing,
fabrication, or service of a material/component.
It is common practice to assume that flaws are present and use the
linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) approach to design critical
components.
This approach uses the flaw size and features, component geometry,
loading conditions and the fracture toughness to evaluate the ability
of a component containing a flaw to resist fracture.

Stress-Intensity factor (K)

A parameter called the stress-intensity factor (K) is used to
determine the fracture toughness of most materials.
A Roman numeral subscript indicates the mode of fracture
Mode I fracture is the condition where the crack plane is normal
to the direction of largest tensile loading. This is the most
commonly encountered mode.
The stress intensity factor is a function of loading, crack size,
and structural geometry. The stress intensity factor may be
represented by the following equation:

K I = Y a
KI is the fracture toughness in
is the applied stress in MPa or psi
a is the crack length in meters or inches
Y is the component geometry factor that is different for each specimen, dimensionless.

Critical Stress Intensity Factor or Fracture Toughness

All brittle materials contain a population of small cracks and flaws
that have a variety of sizes, geometries and orientations.
When the magnitude of a tensile stress at the tip of one of these
flaws exceeds the value of this critical stress, the crack will
propagate. As the size of the crack increases, its SIF becomes larger
leading to failure.
Condition for crack propagation:
K Kc
Stress Intensity Factor:
--Depends on load & geometry.

Fracture Toughness or Critical SIF:

--Depends on the material,
temperature, environment &
rate of loading.

49

The value of KIc (Critical SIF) represents the fracture toughness of the
material independent of crack length, geometry or loading system.

KIc is a material property

Specimens of a given ductile
material, having standard
proportions but different
absolute size ( characterized by
thickness ) give rise to different
measured fracture toughness.
Fracture toughness is constant
for thicknesses exceeding some
critical dimension, bo, and is
referred to as the plane strain
fracture toughness, KIc.

Role of Specimen Thickness

KIc : It is a true material

property, independent of size.
As with materials' other
mechanical properties, fracture
toughness is tabulated in the
literature, though not so
extensively as is yield strength
for example.

Plane-Strain Fracture Toughness Testing

When performing a fracture toughness test,
the most common test specimen
configurations are the single edge notch
bend (SENB or three-point bend), and the
compact tension (CT) specimens. It is clear
that an accurate determination of the planestrain fracture toughness requires a
specimen whose thickness exceeds some
critical thickness (B). Testing has shown
that plane-strain conditions generally prevail
when:

Compact tension (CT) specimen

single edge notch

bend (SENB or
three-point bend)

Design Criteria Against Crack Growth

Crack growth condition: K Kc
Y a
Largest, most stressed cracks grow first.
--Result 1: Max flaw size

--Result 2: Design stress

dictates design stress.

dictates max. flaw size.

2

Kc
1

a max <
Ydesign

design <

Kc
Y a max

fracture
no
fracture

amax

fracture

amax

no
fracture

Design Example: Aircraft Wing

Material has Kc = 26 MPa-m0.5
Two designs to consider...

Design B

Design A

-- use same material

-- largest flaw is 4 mm
-- failure stress = ?

-- largest flaw is 9 mm
-- failure stress = 112 MPa

Kc
c =
Y amax

Use...
-- Result:

K I = Y a

112 MPa

(c

9 mm

4 mm

amax A = c amax B

Reducing flaw size pays off.

Answer: ( c )B = 168 MPa

55