1/21/2019 Toughness - Wikipedia

Toughness
In materials science and metallurgy , toughness is the ability of a material to absorb energy and plastically deform
without fracturing. [1] One definition of material toughness is the amount of energy per unit v olume that a material
can absorb before rupturing. It is also defined as a material's resistance to fracture when stressed.

Toughness requires a balance of strength and ductility . [1]

Contents
Mathematical definition
Toughness tests
Unit of toughness
Toughness and strength
See also
References

Mathematical definition
Toughness can be determined by integrating the stress-strain curv e. [1] It is the energy of mechanical deformation
per unit v olume prior to fracture. The explicit mathematical description is:

where

is strain
is the strain upon failure
is stress
Another definition is the ability to absorb mechanical energy up to the point of failure. The area under the stress-
strain curv e is called toughness.

If the upper limit of integration up to the y ield point is restricted, the energy absorbed per unit v olume is known as
the modulus of resilience. Mathematically , the modulus of resilience can be expressed by the product of the square
of the y ield stress div ided by two times the Y oung's modulus of elasticity . That is,

Yie ld stre ss 2
Modulus of resilience = 2 (Young's modulus)

Toughness tests

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The toughness of a material can be measured using a small specimen of that material. A ty pical testing machine uses
a pendulum to strike a notched specimen of defined cross-section and deform it. The height from which the
pendulum fell, minus the height to which it rose after deforming the specimen, multiplied by the weight of the
pendulum is a measure of the energy absorbed by the specimen as it was deformed during the impact with the
pendulum. The Charpy and Izod notched impact strength tests are ty pical ASTM tests used to determine toughness.

Unit of toughness
Tensile toughness (or, deformation energy, UT ) is measured in units of joule per cubic metre (J·m−3 ) in the SI
sy stem and inch-pound-force per cubic inch (in·lbf·in−3 ) in US customary units.
1.00 N·m.m−3 ≃ 0.000 145 in·lbf·in−3 and 1.00 in·lbf·in−3 ≃ 6.89 kN·m.m−3 .

In the SI sy stem, the unit of tensile toughness can be easily calculated by using area underneath the stress–strain (σ–
ε) curv e, which giv es tensile toughness v alue, as giv en below:[2]

UT = Area underneath the stress–strain (σ–ε) curve = σ × ε

UT [=] Pa × ΔL/L = (N·m−2)·(unitless)
UT [=] N·m·m−3
UT [=] J·m−3

Toughness and strength

Toughness can also be defined with respect to regions of a stress–strain diagram. Toughness is related to the area
under the stress–strain curv e. In order to be tough, a material must be both strong and ductile. For example, brittle
materials (like ceramics) that are strong but with limited ductility are not tough; conv ersely , v ery ductile materials
with low strengths are also not tough. To be tough, a material should withstand both high stresses and high strains.
Generally speaking, strength indicates how much force the material can support, while toughness indicates how
much energy a material can absorb before rupturing.

See also
Fracture toughness
Graph toughness
Hardness
Impact (mechanics)
Resilience
Rubber toughening
Shock (mechanics)
Tablet hardness testing

References
1. "Toughness" (http://www.ndt-ed.org/EducationResources/CommunityCollege/Materials/Mechanical/Toughness.htm),
NDT Education Resource Center (http://www.ndt-ed.org/index_flash.htm), Brian Larson, editor, 2001–2011, The
Collaboration for NDT Education, Iowa State University
2. O.Balkan and H.Demirer (2010). "Polym. Compos". 31: 1285. ISSN 1548-0569 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1548-056
9).

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