Mechanical Properties of Metals

EG 244 Material Science I

Welcome!

Mr. Enzoh Langi

[email protected]

Office: Dean’s office building – School of Engineering

Mechanical properties of metals
 Mechanical Properties in Design and Manufacturing

• Physical properties: A general method to differentiate materials

- e.g: Density, melting point, optical property (transparency or
opaque), electrical conductivity
• Mechanical properties: Determine a material’s behavior when
subjected to mechanical stresses/ load or forces
- Properties include elastic modulus, ductility, hardness, and
various measures of strength
• Dilemma: mechanical properties desirable to the designer, such
as high strength, usually make manufacturing more difficult
- The manufacturing engineer should appreciate the design
viewpoint
- And the designer should be aware of the manufacturing
viewpoint
 Mechanical properties of metals

• Many materials in service are subjected to forces/loads

• The mechanical behavior → reflect the relationship between
its response or deformation to an applied load or force.
• Key mechanical design properties are stiffness, strength,
hardness, ductility, and toughness.

Materials Engineers →Are concerned with producing and fabricating

materials to meet service requirements as predicted by these stress
analyses.
 Stress-Strain Relationships

• There are two types of stress/ load: static and dynamics

• Static stress is when forces that are applied to material are
constant.
• Static stresses to which materials can be subjected:
- Tensile - tend to stretch the material
- Compressive - tend to squeeze material
- Shear – tend to slide material

• Stress-strain curve - basic relationship that describes

mechanical properties for materials
 Tensile Test

• Most common test for studying

stress-strain relationship, especially
metals
• In the test, a force pulls the material,
elongating it and reducing its diameter
 Tensile Test Specimen

• ASTM (American Society for Testing and

Materials) specifies preparation of test
specimen

Reduced length 60 mm, diameter 12.8 mm

and Gauge length 50 mm

Tensile test: (b) typical test specimen

Tensile Test Setup
 Tensile Test Sequence

Typical progress of a tensile test: (1) beginning of test, no load; (2)

uniform elongation and reduction of cross-sectional area; (3)
continued elongation, maximum load reached; (4) necking begins,
load begins to decrease; and (5) fracture. If pieces are put back
together as in (6), final length can be measured.
 Tensile Test Specimen

• The output of such a tensile test is recorded (usually on a

computer) as load or force versus elongation.
• Load–deformation characteristics are dependent on the
specimen size. For example, it will require twice the load to
produce the same elongation if the cross-sectional area of the
specimen is doubled.
• To minimize these geometrical factors, load and elongation are
normalized to the respective parameters of engineering stress
(nominal stress) and engineering strain.
𝑭
𝝈=
𝑨𝒐

σ (𝑁/𝑚2 ) Engineering stress, 𝐹 (𝑁) instantaneous force load applied

perpendicular to the specimen cross section, 𝐴𝑜 (𝑚2 ) original cross sectional
area before any load is applied
 Engineering Strain

Engineering strain ε defined at any point in the test as

𝑙𝑡 − 𝑙𝑜 ∆𝑙
𝜀= =
𝑙𝑜 𝑙𝑜
𝑙𝑜 original length, 𝑙𝑡 instantaneous length, ∆𝑙 change in length, ε is unit
less, but meters per meter is often used.

Sometimes strain is also expressed as a percentage, in which the

strain value is multiplied by 100.
 Compression Tests

• Applies a load that squeezes the ends of

a cylindrical specimen between two
platens
• As the specimen is compressed, its
height is reduced and its cross-sectional
area is increased.

Compression test: (a) compression

force applied to test piece in (1) and (2)
resulting change in height.
 Compression Test Setup

By convention, a compressive force is taken to be negative, which

yields a negative stress.
 Shear and Torsional tests

For tests performed using a pure shear

force, the shear stress is computed
according to

𝐹
τ=
𝐴𝑜

• The shear strain γ is defined as the

tangent of the strain angle θ
• A shear stress is a function of the applied
torque T, whereas shear strain γ is
related to the angle of twist ϕ
Typical Engineering Stress-Strain Plot

Typical engineering stress-strain plot in a tensile test of a metal.

 Tensile-test Specimen and Machine

A standard tensile-test specimen before and after pulling, showing original and
final gage lengths. (b) A tensile-test sequence showing different stages in the
elongation of the specimen.
 Yield Point in Stress-Strain Curve

• As stress increases, a point in the linear relationship is finally

reached when the material begins to yield
- Yield point Y can be identified by the change in slope at
the upper end of the linear region
- Y = a strength property
- Other names for yield point → yield strength, yield stress,
and elastic limit
 Two Regions of Stress-Strain Curve

The two regions indicate two distinct forms of behavior:

1. Elastic region

2. Plastic region
 Elastic Region in Stress-Strain Curve

• Relationship between stress and strain is linear

• Material returns to its original length when stress is removed
Hooke's Law
σ = 𝐸ε

• where 𝐸 is the modulus of elasticity

• 𝐸 is a measure of the inherent stiffness of a material
• Its value differs for different materials

For compression and torsional

τ = 𝐺γ

Where τ shear stress, 𝑮 shear modulus and 𝜸 shear strain

 Plastic Region in Stress-Strain Curve

• Yield point marks the beginning of plastic deformation

• The stress-strain relationship is no longer guided by Hooke's
Law
• As load is increased beyond Y, elongation proceeds at a much
faster rate than before, causing the slope of the curve to
change dramatically
 Tensile Strength in Stress-Strain Curve

• Elongation is accompanied by a uniform reduction in

cross-sectional area, consistent with maintaining constant
volume
• Finally, the applied load F reaches a maximum value, and
engineering stress at this point is called the tensile strength TS
(a.k.a. ultimate tensile strength)

𝑭𝒎𝒂𝒙
𝑻𝑺 𝑼𝑻𝑺 =
𝑨𝒐
Elastic properties of materials

z 𝐿𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛
𝑃𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 =
𝐴𝑥𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛
y
𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑
ν=−
𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑡 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑

ε𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 ε𝑧 ε𝑧
ν=− =− =−
x ε𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑎𝑙 ε𝑥 ε𝑦

For isotropic materials, shear and elastic moduli are related to each
other and to Poisson’s ratio according to

𝐸 = 2𝐺(1 + ν)
 Ductility in Tensile Test

• Ability of a material to plastically deform without fracture

• Ductility measure = elongation EL

𝑙𝑓 − 𝑙𝑜
𝐸𝐿 =
𝑙𝑜

where 𝐸𝐿 = elongation; 𝑙𝑓 = specimen length at fracture;

and 𝑙𝑜 = original specimen length
𝑙𝑓 is measured as the distance between gage marks after two
pieces of specimen are put back together
 EXAMPLE

A tensile test uses a test specimen that has a gauge length of

50 𝑚𝑚 and an area = 200 𝑚𝑚2 . During the test, the specimen
yields under a load of 98 𝑘𝑁. The corresponding gage length =
50.23 𝑚𝑚. This is the 0.2 % yield point. The maximum load =
168,000 𝑁 is reached at a gauge length = 64.2 𝑚𝑚. Determine:
(a) yield strength Y, (b) percentage elongation (c) modulus of
elasticity 𝐸, and (d) tensile strength TS.
 True stress and strain

• The decline in the stress necessary to continue deformation past the

maximum, point M, seems to indicate that the metal is becoming
weaker.
• This is not at all the case; as a matter of fact, it is increasing in strength.
• Reduction in the cross –sectional area results in reduced load bearing
capacity
 True stress and strain

• It is more meaningful to use a true stress–true strain.

𝑭
𝝈𝑻 =
𝑨𝒕

𝜎𝑇 true stress, 𝐹 applied load and 𝐴𝑡 is the instantaneous

cross-sectional area over which deformation is occurring
(i.e., the neck, past the tensile point)

• It is occasionally more convenient to represent strain as true

strain, defined by
𝒍𝒕
𝜺𝑻 = 𝑰𝒏
𝒍𝒐
 True stress and strain

• If no volume change occurs during deformation - that is, if

𝐴𝑡 𝑙𝑡 = 𝐴𝑜 𝑙𝑜

• True and engineering stress and strain are related according to

σ 𝑇 = σ(1 + ε)

ε 𝑇 = 𝐼𝑛(1 + ε)

Above two equations are valid only to the onset of necking; beyond
this point true stress and strain should be computed from actual load,
cross-sectional area, and gauge length measurements.
 True stress and strain

• For some metals and alloys the region of the true stress–strain
curve from the onset of plastic deformation to the point at
which necking begins may be approximated by

σ 𝑇 = 𝐾𝜀𝑇𝑛

Where 𝑛 and 𝐾 are constants. The parameter 𝑛 is often termed the

strain hardening exponent and has a value less than unity.
True Stress-Strain Curve

True stress-strain curve for the previous engineering stress-strain plot

 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.
• Can also be defined as the resistance of the material
to elastic deformation
• The associated property is the modulus of resilience, 𝑈𝑟 ,
which is the strain energy per unit volume required to stress a
material from an unloaded state up to the point of yielding
• Assuming a linear elastic region

1
𝑈𝑟 = σ𝑦 ε𝑦
2

Where ε𝑦 is the strain at yielding

 Resilience

• SI units: Joules per meter

• Area under the linear stress-strain curve represents resilience
of a material
 Stiffness

• Stiffness is the ability of a material to resist deformation

under stress.
• The modulus of elasticity is the measure of stiffness.
Elasticity

• Elasticity is the property of a material that returns to its

original shape after stress
• e.g. external forces that made it deform or distort are
removed

Plasticity

• Plasticity is the deformation of a material undergoing non-

reversible changes of shape in response to applied forces
Ductility
• Ductility is a measure of how much strain a material can take
before rupturing.
• Ductility is quantified by reading the value of strain at the
fracture point on the stress strain curve
• A material that experiences very little or no plastic
deformation upon fracture is termed brittle.
• The tensile stress–strain behaviors for both ductile and brittle
materials
 Ductility

• Ductility may be expressed quantitatively as either percent

elongation or percent reduction in area

𝑙𝑓 − 𝑙𝑜 𝐴𝑜 − 𝐴𝑓
%𝐸𝐿 = ∗ 100 %𝑅𝐴 = ∗ 100
𝑙0 𝐴0

𝑙𝑓 is the fracture length

𝑙𝑜 is the original length
𝐴𝑜 is the original cross-sectional area
𝐴𝑓 is the cross-sectional area at the point of fracture
 Malleability

• Malleability is the property of a material that can be worked

or hammered or shaped without breaking
Toughness

• Toughness is the ability of a material to absorb energy and

plastically deform without fracturing.
• The toughness of the material decreases when it is heated.
• Toughness is tested using the Charpy impact test
Impact
• A typical impact test consists of placing a notched specimen in
an impact tester and breaking it with a swinging pendulum.
• In the Charpy test, the specimen is supported at both ends.
• In the Izod test, it is supported at one end like a cantilever
beam.
• Materials that have high impact resistance are generally those
that have high strength and high ductility, and hence high
toughness.
 Testing of Brittle Materials

• Hard brittle materials (e.g., ceramics) possess elasticity but

little or no plasticity
• Often tested by a bending test (also called flexure test)

 Specimen of rectangular cross-section is positioned between

two supports, and a load is applied at its center
 Bending test

• Bending of a rectangular cross-section results in both tensile

and compressive stresses in the material: (1) initial loading; (2)
highly stressed and strained specimen; and (3) bent part.
 Bend-test Methods

Two bend-test methods for brittle materials: (a) three-point bending; (b)
four-point bending. The areas on the beams represent the bending-
movement diagrams, described in texts on mechanics of solids. Note the
region of constant maximum bending movement in (b); by contrast, the
maximum bending moment occurs only at the center of the specimen in (a).
Hardness

• It is defined as resistance to permanent indentation

• Good hardness generally means material is resistant to

scratching and wear

• Most tooling used in manufacturing must be hard for scratch

and wear resistance
Hardness Tests

• Commonly used for assessing material properties because they

are quick and convenient
• Variety of testing methods are appropriate due to differences
in hardness among different materials
• Most well-known hardness tests are Brinell and Rockwell
• Other test methods are also available, such as Vickers, Knoop,
Scleroscope, and durometer
Brinell Hardness Test

• Widely used for testing metals and nonmetals of low to

medium hardness
• A hard ball is pressed into specimen surface with a load of 500,
1500, or 3000 kg

Hardness testing methods: (a) Brinell

Brinell Hardness Number

Brinell Hardness Number (BHN) = Load divided into

indentation surface area
2F
HB 
Db (Db  Db2  Di2 )

where 𝐻𝐵 = Brinell Hardness Number (BHN),

𝐹 = indentation load, kg;
𝐷𝑏 = diameter of ball, mm, and
𝐷𝑖 = diameter of indentation, mm
EXAMPLE

In a Brinell hardness test, a 1500 kg load is pressed into a

specimen using a 10 mm diameter hardened steel ball. The
resulting indentation has a diameter of 3.2 mm. Determine
the Brinell hardness number for the metal
Rockwell Hardness Test

• Another widely used test

• A cone shaped indenter is pressed into specimen using a
minor load of 10 kg, thus seating indenter in material
• Then, a major load of 150 kg is applied, causing indenter to
penetrate beyond its initial position
• Additional penetration distance d is converted into a Rockwell
hardness reading by the testing machine
Rockwell Hardness Test

Hardness testing methods: (b) Rockwell: (1) initial minor load

and (2) major load.
Common Rockwell Hardness Scales

Rockwell Hardness Indenter Load Typical Material

Scale Symbol (kg) Tested

A HRA Cone 60 Carbides, ceramic

B HRB 1.6 mm 100 Nonferrous

ball metals

C HRC Cone 150 Ferrous metals,

tool steels
Vickers Hardness Test

• This test, also developed in the early 1920s, uses a pyramid-

shaped indenter made of diamond.
• It is based on the principle that impressions made by this
indenter are geometrically similar regardless of load

1.854 F
HV 
D2
where
𝐹 = applied load (kg)
𝐷 = diagonal of the impression made by the
indenter (mm)
Knoop Hardness Test

• Developed by F. Knoop in 1939 uses a diamond indenter in the

shape of an elongated pyramid, with applied loads ranging
generally from 25 g to 5 kg.
• Because of the light loads that are applied, it is a micro-
hardness test.
• Therefore, it is suitable for very small or very thin specimens
and for brittle materials such as carbides, ceramics, and glass.
𝐹
𝐻𝐾 = 14.2 2
𝐷

where 𝐹 = load (kg)

𝐷 = long diagonal of the indenter (mm)
Hardness-testing Methods and Formulae
Dynamic Properties

Dynamic loadings:
• Sudden impact or loads
• Repeated cycles of loading and unloading
• Changes in the mode of loading, such as tension to
compression
Fatigue

• In many engineering applications, products or components are

subjected to various dynamic stress/ load.
• Cyclic stresses may be caused by fluctuating mechanical load,
such as on gear teeth, or by thermal stresses, such as on a cool
die coming into repeated contact with hot workpiece.
• Under these conditions, the part fails at a stress level below
than at which failure would occur under static loading.
• This phenomenon is known as fatigue failure.
Creep

• Creep is the permanent elongation of a component under a

static load maintained for a period of time.
• It is a phenomenon of metals and of certain nonmetallic
materials, such as thermoplastics and rubber, and it can occur
at any temperature.
Creep test

• The creep test typically consists of subjecting a specimen to a

constant tensile load at a certain temperature and of
measuring the changes in length at various time increments.
• A typical creep curve usually consists of primary, secondary,
and tertiary stages.
• The specimen eventually fails by necking and fracture, called
rupture or creep rupture.
• The creep rate increases with temperature and the applied
load.
Creep test

Typical creep curve

Material Failures

Schematic illustrations of types of failures in materials: (a) necking

and fracture of ductile materials; (b) buckling of ductile materials
under a compressive load; (c) fracture of brittle materials in
compression; (d) cracking on the barreled surface of ductile materials
in compression
Mechanical properties of metals