ELASTICITY

Elasticity
Elasticity of Composites
Viscoelasticity
Elasticity of Crystals (Elastic Anisotropy)

Elasticity: Theory, Applications and Numerics

Martin H. Sadd
Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford (2005)

Revise modes of deformation, stress, strain and other basics (click here) before starting this chapter etc.

Recoverable

Instantaneous

Elastic
Time dependent

Anelasticity

Deformation
Instantaneous
Plastic
Permanent

Time dependent
Viscoelasticity

Let us start with some observations

When you pull a rubber band and release it, the band regains it original length.

It is much more difficult (requires more load) to extend a metal wire as compared to a
rubber string.
It is difficult to extend a straight metal wire; however, if it is coiled in the form of a spring,
one gets considerable extensions easily.
A rubber string becomes brittle when dipped in liquid nitrogen and breaks, when one tries
to extend the same.
A diver gets lift-off using the elastic energy stored in the diving board. If the diving board
is too compliant, the diver cannot get sufficient lift-off.
A rim of metal is heated to expand the loop and then fitted around a wooden wheel (of say
a bullock cart). On cooling of the rim it fits tightly around the wheel.

Click here to know about all the mechanisms by which materials fail

Elasticity
Elastic deformation is reversible deformation- i.e. when load/forces/constraints are
released the body returns to its original configuration (shape and size).
Elastic deformation can be caused by tension/compression or shear forces.
Usually in metals and ceramics elastic deformation is seen at low strains (less than ~103).
The elastic behaviour of metals and ceramics is usually linear.

Linear

E.g. Al deformed at small strains

Elasticity
Non-linear

E.g. deformation of an elastomer like rubber

Atomic model for elasticity

Let us consider the stretching of bonds (leading to elastic deformation).
Atoms in a solid feel an attractive force at larger atomic separations and feel a repulsive
force (when electron clouds overlap too much) at shorter separations. (At very large
separations there is no force felt).
The energy and the force (which is a gradient of the energy field) display functional
behaviour as below.

dU
F
dr

A B
U n m
r
r
Attractive

nA mB
F n 1 m1
r
r

Repulsive

A,B,m,n constants
m>n

A' B'
F p q
r
r

The plots of these

functions is shown
in the next slide

A B
U n m
r
r

A' B'
F p q
r
r
Repulsive

Force (F)

Potential energy (U)

Repulsive

r0
r

r0
Attractive
r0

Equilibrium separation

Attractive

 Elastic modulus is the slope of the Force-Interatomic spacing curve (F-r curve), at the
equilibrium interatomic separation (r0).
In reality the Elastic modulus is 4th rank tensor (Eijkl) and the curve below captures one
aspect of it.

Force

Near r0 the red line (tangent to the F-r curve at r = r0)

coincides with the blue line (F-r) curve

r0

For displacements around r0 Force-displacement curve is approximately linear

THE LINEAR ELASTIC REGION

Youngs modulus (Y / E)**

Stress

Youngs modulus is proportional to the ve

slope of the F-r curve at r = r0

Compression

Tension
strain

** Youngs modulus is a measure of the stiffness of a material

dF
Y
dr

dF d 2U
Y
2
dr
dr

Stress-strain curve for an elastomer

Due to efficient
filling of space

Stress

Tension

strain

Compression

T > C

T due to uncoiling
of polymer chains
T

Other elastic moduli

We have noted that elastic modulus is a 4th rank tensor (with 81 components in general in
3D). In practice not all these components are independent. E.g. for a cubic crystal there are
only 3 independent constants (in two index condensed notation these are E11, E12, E44). For
an isotropic material the number of independent constants is only 2.

= E.

E Youngs modulus

= G.

G Shear modulus

hydrodynamic = K.volumetric strain

K Bulk modulus

In tensor notation

ij Eijkl kl

t
E
E

G
K
l
2(1 )
3(1 2 )

Bonding and Elastic modulus

Materials with strong bonds have a deep potential energy well with a high
curvature high elastic modulus
Along the period of a periodic table the covalent character of the bond and
its strength increase systematic increase in elastic modulus
Down a period the covalent character of the bonding in Y

On heating the elastic modulus decrease: 0 K M.P, 10-20% in modulus

Along the period

Li

Be

Cdiamond

Cgraphite

Atomic number (Z)

Youngs Modulus (GN / m2)

11.5

289

440

1140

Down the row

Cdiamond

Si

Ge

Sn

Pb

Atomic number (Z)

14

32

50

82

Youngs Modulus (GN / m2)

1140

103

99

52

16

Anisotropy in the Elastic modulus

In a crystal the interatomic distance varies with direction
elastic anisotropy
Elastic anisotropy is especially pronounced in materials with
two kinds of bonds
E.g. in graphite E [1010] = 950 GPa, E [0001] = 8 GPa
Two kinds of ordering along two directions
E.g. Decagonal QC E [100000] E [000001]

Material dependent

Elastic modulus

Property
Geometry dependent
Elastic modulus in design
Stiffness of a material is its ability to resist elastic deformation of
deflection on loading depends on the geometry of the component.
High modulus in conjunction with good ductility should be chosen (good
ductility avoids catastrophic failure in case of accidental overloading)
Covalently bonded materials- e.g. diamond have high E (1140 GPa)
BUT brittle
Ionic solids are also very brittle

Ionic solids

NaCl

Youngs Modulus (GN / m2)

37

MgO Al2O3
310

402

TiC

Silica glass

308

70

 METALS
First transition series good combination of ductility &
modulus (200 GPa)
Second & third transition series even higher modulus, but higher
density
POLYMERS
Polymers can have good plasticity but low modulus
dependent on
the nature of secondary bonds- Van der Walls / hydrogen
presence of bulky side groups
branching in the chains
Unbranched polyethylene E = 0.2 GPa,
Polystyrene with large phenyl side group E = 3 GPa,
3D network polymer phenol formaldehyde E = 3-5 GPa
cross-linking

Increasing the modulus of a material

METALS

By suitably alloying the Youngs modulus can be increased

But E is a structure (microstructure) insensitive property
the increase is fraction added
TiB2 (~ spherical, in equilibrium with matrix) added to Fe to increase E
COMPOSITES
A second phase (reinforcement) can be added to a low E material to E
(particles, fibres, laminates)
The second phase can be brittle and the ductility is provided by the
matrix if reinforcement fractures the crack is stopped by the
matrix

COMPOSITES

Laminate
composite

Aligned
fiber
composite

Particulate
composite

Modulus parallel to the direction of the fiberes

Ec E f V f EmVm
Volume fractions

Under iso-strain conditions

I.e. parallel configuration
m-matrix, f-fibre, c-composite

Composite modulus in isostress and isostrain conditions

Voigt averaging

Ec E f V f EmVm

Under iso-strain conditions [m = f = c]

I.e. ~ resistances in series configuration

V f Vm
1

Ec E f E m

Under iso-stress conditions [m = f = c]

I.e. ~ resistances in parallel configuration
Usually not found in practice

Reuss averaging

Ec

Ef
For a given fiber fraction f, the modulii of
various conceivable composites lie between an
upper bound given by isostrain condition
and a lower bound given by isostress condition

Em
A

f
Volume fraction

Elasticity of Single Crystals and Anisotropy

For small stress, strain is proportional (linearly varies with) strain Hookes law.

The proportionality constants are 4th order (rank) tensors.

Tensor form

Hookes law

ij Cijkl kl

ij Sijkl kl

Number of components of Cijkl (or Sijkl)

in most general case (in practice the number
of components reduces considerably):
2D: 2222 = 16, (i = 1,2)
3D: 3333 = 81 , (i = 1,2,3)

Usage-1

Usage-2

Dimensions

S (or s)

Elastic Compliance constant

Elastic Modulus

(N/m2)1 [stress1]

C (or c)

Elastic Stiffness constant

Elastic Constant (Youngs modulus)

(N/m2) [stress]

What does the existence of these Cijkl components physically mean?

If we apply just one component of stress (say 11), this in general will produce not only 11
but also other components of strain (which other components will depend on symmetry of
the crystal- which we shall consider shortly). A glimpse of this we have already seen (in the
topic on understanding stress and strain) if we pull a cylinder along y-direction, it will contract along the
x-direction 11 exists (apart from elongation in the y-direction 22).
But, this may not be the only other strain produced.
2D

11 C111111 C111212
C1121 21 C1122 22
3D

11 C111111 C111212 C111313

C1121 21 C1122 22 C1133 33
C1131 31 C1132 32 C1133 33

This implies that the body may shear also (12 = 21 exists). This occurs due
to anisotropy in the crystal.
So (in general) a bar: might shear if pulled (in addition to elongating)
may twist if bent (in addition to bending)
may bend if twisted (in addition to twisting).

 We saw that a single stress component 11 may be related to many strains.

Similarly, many stress components may give rise to a single strain (11).

11 S1111 11 S1112 12
2D
S1121 21 S1122 22
There are 4 such equations
(for each component ij)

3D

11

S1111 11 S1112 12 S1113 13

S1121 21 S1122 22 S1123 23
S1131 31 S1132 32 S1133 33

There are 9 such equations

No of independent components of Cijkl and Sijkl

The total number of expected components are: 2D: 2222 = 16, (i = 1,2);
3D: 3333 = 81 , (i = 1,2,3). But, not all of these are independent.
Cijkl = Cijlk (also, Sijkl = Sijlk) Cijkl = Cjikl (also, Sijkl = Sjikl)
only 36 of the 81 components are independent (for even the most general crystal)*.
From energy arguments it can further be seen that: Cijkl = Cklij (also, Sijkl = Sklij)*
of the 36 components only 21 survive (even for the crystal of the lowest symmetry i.e. triclinic crystal).
Given that crystals can have higher symmetry than the triclinic crystal, the number of
independent components of Cijkl (or Sijkl) may be significantly reduced.
All cubic crystals (irrespective of their point group symmetry) have only 3 independent
components of Cijkl (or Sijkl) these are C1111, C1122, C2323.
This is further reduced in the case of isotropic materials to 2 independent constants (C1111,
C1122). Usually, these independent constants are written as E & .
Hence, for second rank tensor properties (like magnetic susceptibility, ij) cubic
crystals are isotropic; but, not for forth rank tensor properties like Elastic
Stiffness.

* The reasoning is postponed for later.

 1011 N/m2
Structure
BCC

DC

NaCl type

C11

C12

C44

Li

0.135 0.114

0.088

8.4

Na

0.074 0.062

0.042

7.2

0.037 0.031

0.019

607

10.20

2.50

4.92

1.3

Si

1.66

0.64

0.80

1.6

Ge

1.30

0.49

0.67

1.7

NaCl

0.485 0.125

0.127

0.7

KCl

0.405 0.066

0.063

0.37

RbCl

0.363 0.062

0.047

0.31

Anisotropy factory (A)

2C44
A
C11 C12

A > 1 <111> direction stiffest

A < 1 <100> direction stiffest