NAME

ADETAYO OLUWAKAYODE
MATRIC
060403009
DEPARTMENT
ELECTRICAL/ELECTRONICS
COURSE
CEG 202
GROUP NO
4

TITLE OF EXPERIMENT:
TENSILE STRENGTH ON STEEL RODS
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DATE PERFORMED:
20TH OF SEPTEMBER 2008.

AIM:
(I)

TO DETERMINE THE YOUNGS MODULUS OF

ELASTICITY OF STEEL RODS FROM
TENSILE TEST ON THESE RODS.

(II) TO DETERMINE THE TENSILE STRENGTH

(I.E. THE ULTIMATE TENSILE STRESS)
OF A STEEL ROD.

APPARATUS
AVERY UNIVERSAL TESTING MACHINE
STEEL OR BRASS BEAM
VERNIER CALIPERS
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 FIRM JOINT CLIPPERS

ALUMINIUM RODS

THEORY
On applying load to a material,
deformation occurs. If the material
recovers its original position
immediately after removing the load, the
deformation is said to be elastic. Purely
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elastic deformation in associated with

the stretching of primary bonds in
materials.
The elongation of failure, which is the
permanent engineering strain after
fracture, is an expression of material
ductility. It does not include elastic
strain but does include uniform strain
and the localized necking strain. The
elongation to failure is usually stated
as percent strain over a given gauge
length. A second indication that is
related to the ductility of a material is
the percent reduction of area (A) which
is defined as

RA = Original Cross Sectional Area Minimum

Final Area

Original Cross Sectional Area

= Ao - Amin = decrease in area x 100
Ao

original area
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This deformation process is terminated by

fracture. In a brittle material, this
occurs by the propagation of cracks
initiated at the microscopic flows in the
materials. Cracks propagated by cleavage,
which involves breaking of atomic bonds
along specific crystallographic plane
with the work of fracture spent primarily
on creating a new surface (i.e. surface
energy). On the other hand, however,
ductile materials tend to fail by
nucleation of micro-voids at second phase
particles and the subsequent growth and
coalescence of these micro-voids. Since
plastic deformation consumers significant
amounts of energy in the little form of
creation and motions of dislocation,
ductile tearing is usually associated
with a higher work of fracture.
The area under the engineering stress
strain curve is a measure of the energy
needed to fracture the specimen. It has
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units of work per unit volume of the

gauge length and is sometimes a measure
of materials toughness
W / (AOLO) = d
Actually the metal continues to strainharden, all the way up to the fracture,
so that the stress required to produce
further deformation should also increase.
If the true-stress, based on the actual
cross sectional area of the specimen is
used, it is found that the stress-strain
curve increases continuously up to a
point (fracture) as shown in figure 2. If
the strain measurement is also based on
instantaneous measurements, the curve,
which is obtained, is known as a true
stress, true-strain curve. This is also
known as a flow-curve since it represents
the basic plastic-flow characteristics of
the material. Any point on the flow curve
can be considered the yield stress for a
metal strained in tension by the amount
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shown on the curve. Therefore, if the

load is removed at this point and then
reapplied, the material will behave
elastically throughout the entire range
of reloading.
There is no significant difference in the
engineering and true strains when all
measurement are of small strains
(typically when deformation is still
elastic).For strains of about 1%, the
error in using the engineering strain,
versus the order 10-4.
The yield stress, ultimate tensile stress
and youngs modulus of a material can all
be determined from the stress the
engineering stress strain curve for
that material. The curve shown in the
figure below is totally of metallic
behaviour. At small strain values (the
elastic region) the relationship between
stress and strain is almost linear.
Within this region, the slope of the
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stress-strain curve is defined as the

elastic modulus. Since many metals lack a
sharp yield point, i.e. a sudden
observable transition between the elastic
region and the plastic region, the yield
point often defined as the stress that
gives rise to 2% permanent plastic
strain. By this convention, a line is
drawn parallel to the elastic region of
the material, starting at a strain level
of 0.2% (or 0.002mm). The point at which
this line intersects the curve is called
yield point or the yield stress. The
ultimate tensile strength (stress), in
contrast is found by determining the
maximum stress reached by the material.

PROCEDURE
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The rod was cut to size and centre

punched (very lightly) at 100mm centre
distance in the middle. It was fixed into
the jaws of the universal testing machine
in such that there was access to the two
centre punched marks i.e. there was a
span of 200mm. The firm joint callipers
was then used to once again read the
actual distance (still 200mm) and the
vernier calliper, to read the initial
diameter of the rod.
The avery universal testing machine was
then switched on and 0.1tons of tensile
force was applied to the rod. As the load
was increased for 0.1ton, the distance
between the two marks was read. Also, the
lower yield point, upper yield point,
ultimate stresses were noted. The final
temperature measured and the diameter at
the break point measured with the two
parts carefully fixed together.

RESULT
Final length of the rod
Initial length of the rod
Elongation
Initial diameter of the rod
Final diameter of the rod
Reduction in diameter
Upper yield point (Breaking
point)
Ultimate stress
Lower yield point

Length (mm)
114.0
100.0
14.0
12.0
9.0
- 3.0
5.54 tons
6.62 tons
4.26 tons

REPORT
The equipment to determine the Youngs
modulus of elasticity of steel was done
from the tensile test in the rod. The

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tensile strength (the ultimate stress)

was also determined.
As direct reading was not taken of
extension against load, a crude graph is
drawn using the lower yield point and the
origin.

PRECAUTIONS

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Zero error on the metre scale was avoided

when using the vernier callipers.
Error due to parallax (zero error) of the
metre rule was avoided.
Error due to parallax was avoided when
loading the material in the testing
machine.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

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It has been studied already that whenever

an external force acts on a body, the
body will deform. Obeying Hookes law, if
the force acts upon the material within
elastic limit, the material will regain
its original form (deformation completely
disappears). However, beyond this limit,
it has been found that deformation doesnt
completely disappear.
From the results obtained and graphs
drawn,
The lower yield point is 4.26tons meaning
that up to this point, the material
behaves elastic i.e. regains it original
form (and or shape).
Above this point up to the ultimate
stress point which is 6.62tons, the
material still exhibits some material
elastic properties although it wont
achieve its original shape or form on
removal of load.
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Beyond this point the material becomes

inelastic i.e. shows an appreciate strain
even without increase in load.

REFERENCES

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1)

Strength of Materials by R.S.

Khurmi
2)

Strength of Materials by G.H. Ryder

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