Experiment 3: Stress-Strain Relationships

Mechanics of Deformable Solids Laboratory

Introduction
This week, teams will be challenged with performing a tensile test while examining the
mathematical relationships between stress and strain. In the second experiment, the
properties and relationships between stress and strain for elastic deformation were
introduced. In this session, concepts and relationships for plastic deformation are
additionally explored.

Elastic Deformation
Formerly, mathematical relationships between stress and strain were introduced that
described material behavior during elastic deformation. This included defining the
Young’s Modulus of Elasticity and Poisson’s Ratio. In lab session 2, stress was defined
as the load applied to an object (P) divided by the object’s original cross sectional area
(A0). This type of stress is known as Engineering Stress

P
 (1)
A0

Engineering Strain () is the deformation of a member per unit length. This can be shown
as the change in length l divided by the original length lo 

l
 (2)
 l0 

After examination, engineering stress and strain are based on the original geometry of the
object. In both (1) and (2), the original cross-sectional area and length is used. By using a
material’s Young’s Modulus of Elasticity to relate engineering stress and strain, we arrive
at a linear, mathematical relationship known as Hooke’s Law

E (3)

This law is analogous to the classic mathematical linear relationship of y=mx+b, where b
is equal to zero. It essentially states that engineering stress is linearly related to
engineering strain; however,  the linear relationship of Hooke’s Law is only valid for a
material’s elastic phase of deformation. Figure 1 depicts the relationship between
engineering stress and strain for an object’s tensile test to failure. The linear relationship
for the initial stages of loading represents the object’s elastic phase of deformation.
 Figure 1. Stress-Strain Diagram for a tensile test to failure

The linear trace or elastic phase of deformation extends to a small hump then proceeds to
become non-linear. The point at which the stress-strain relationship transitions from
being linear to non-linear is known as the Yield Point. The Yield Point is a defined state at
which the material begins to give way (yield) and transition from the elastic to plastic
phase of deformation. To standardize this point among stress-strain curves; a line is
drawn parallel to the elastic region of deformation. This line has the same slope as the
Young’s Modulus (E) and intercepts the strain axis at  =0.002 (0.2%). The intersection
of the drawn line and the stress-strain trace is approximated to be the Yield Point shown
in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Stress-Strain Diagram detailing important points of interest and regions of deformation
Plastic Deformation
As the applied stress increases beyond the Yield Point, the object begins to plastically
deform. During plastic deformation, the cross-sectional area of the object will slightly
decrease as the length of the object increases. The stress-strain relationship in the region
of plastic deformation becomes parabolic and therefore can no longer be modeled using
Hooke’s Law. Instead, the terms True Stress and True Strain are introduced to account
for the change in cross-sectional area during plastic deformation. True Stress ~  is
calculated using the instantaneous area Ai  of the object by assuming that the volume of
the object remains constant Voriginal  Vi  during deformation.

Assuming that, 
Voriginal  Vi

Aolo  Ai li
Thus,


P l P l l l 
    i    o  i o    1   
~ P
(4)

Ai Ao lo Ao  lo lo 

True Strain is made up of two components of strain: True Elastic Strain (  e ) and True
Plastic Strain (  P ). To describe the significance of both, consider a tensile specimen that
is loaded to a phase of plastic deformation and then suddenly the load is removed. In a
stress-strain curve, it would look very similar to what is shown in Figure 3. The work
done by the load as it stretches the specimen must result in an increase in energy
associated with its deformation. This energy is known as strain energy and can be
calculated by integrating the area under the stress-strain curve.
 Figure 3. Distinguishing true plastic strain and true elastic strain

When the specimen is unloaded, the stress returns to zero, but there is a permanent
deformation represented by the True Plastic Strain. By returning to this point, a portion
of the strain energy is recovered and represented by the triangular area under the stress-
strain curve. It has been experimentally proven that the relationship between stress and
strain recovery parallels the linear relationship of stress versus strain during elastic
deformation. Therefore, True Elastic Strain can be found by relating True Stress and
True Elastic Strain by the Young’s Modulus of Elasticity (E). This relationship is shown
in equation (6). After inspection of Figure 3, True Strain can be shown as the sum of
True Elastic Strain and True Plastic Strain simply modeled as equation (7).

~
~e  (6)
E
  e  P (7)

If True Strain is defined as the sum of all instantaneous engineering strains then
integrating the change in length with respect to the original length becomes

l
l l   l  l 
    ln    ln  0
~   ln 1    (5)
l0
l  l0   l0 

As previously mentioned, the stress-strain relationship in the plastic phase of deformation

As the Power law suggests, the object’s stress-strain relationship will increase at a
parabolic rate until the Ultimate Strength is reached. The Ultimate Strength is the
maximum value of stress that a material can withstand before necking occurs. This point
can be experimentally found by finding a location on the stress-strain trace that has a
slope of zero. The Ultimate Strength is shown at the top of the stress-strain plot in Figure
2.

Once the Ultimate Strength of the material has been reached, necking will occur. Necking
occurs when the stress applied exceeds the strength of the material and drastic plastic
deformation ensues. The cross-sectional area will quickly decrease until failure is
reached. An example of the tensile specimen’s physical progression from elastic
deformation to failure is displayed in Figure 4.

Figure 4. The progression of a dog-bone specimen loaded to failure

Experimental Procedure

1) Measure the cross-sectional area and gage length of a tensile specimen. Be sure
to record the material of the tensile specimen.
 2) The instructor will perform a tensile test on a specimen and load the specimen to
failure.

3) The curve generated from this test is a plot of load vs. displacement. The load vs.
displacement data will be uploaded to the course website.

Report Requirements
For the specimen that you tested:

1) Construct and fill the Table below using Microsoft Excel.

Table 1. Stress Strain Parameters

Load Extension Eng. Eng. True Stress True Strain True True
Stress Strain elastic Plastic
Strain Strain
P l P l    1    ~  ln 1      P    e
  e 
A0 l0 E

2) Plot the engineering stress vs. engineering strain diagram (  vs.  ).

3) Plot the true stress vs. true strain diagram (  vs.  ).

4) In words, compare the plots created in 2 and 3. Why do we usually plot stress vs.
strain and not load vs. displacement?

5) Identify the yielding point, the ultimate tensile stress, and the failure point in the
graph created in 2 and describe their locations within the written body of the
report.

6) Create a new plot of only the elastic region of deformation of the engineering
stress vs. engineering strain plot. Add an Excel trendline and determine the
specimen material’s Young’s Modulus of elasticity (E). Determine the percent
error between the experimental Young’s Modulus to the value of the material
given in a textbook.

7) Is there any advantage to plotting the elastic region of the engineering stress-strain
plot rather than the true stress-strain plot?

In order to determine the plastic constants a few more steps are required. Let’s assume
you have the data for the true plastic region in two columns, one with the true stress and
one with the true strain. The points should start at the end at the elastic region and end
before necking.

 Fill the column for true elastic strain, using E and the true stress

 Subtract the true elastic strain from the total strain, in order to obtain the true
 plastic strain. Why is this step required? Make sure you have an answer to this
question before you leave the class.

8) Make a double natural log plot of the true plastic strain and true stress (ln ( ~ ) vs.
ln ( 
˜ p )). Why is this step required? Make sure you have an answer to this
question before you leave the class.

9) Add an Excel trendline and determine the constants K and n.

Note that y  mx  b
ln(~)  n  ln(~P )  ln( K )

The slope of the above graph will give you the value of n and the y intercept will give
you the value of K.