Engineering Materials 1-

Modulus, stiffness and indices in

materials selection

Dr Paul Franklyn
[email protected]
Or find me on Teams (easiest way to connect to me)
Office – Met&Mat 1D27
 2

Lectures 5 and 6
Topics:
Discussion of modulus types and elastic constants as well as
stiffness. Discussion of the role of elastic modulus and design in
applications. Materials selection indices and strategies.

Objectives:
• PART 1 Define elastic constants of materials and stiffness of
structures.

• PART 2 Discuss materials selection using materials indices.

• PART 3 Consider design constraints and multiple objectives.

• PART 4 Effects of shape and shape factor.

 Part 1

Stress – Strain – Elastic Constants

 4

Stress, Strain, Modulus and Stiffness

• Stress and strain are not material properties – they describe a stimulus and
response.

• Stress is applied to a material by loading it.

• Strain – a change of shape – is its response.

• Modulus is a material property for elastic behaviour.

• Stiffness is the resistance to change of shape of a component or structure

that is elastic. It is NOT a material property as it depends on dimensions.

• What are the units of modulus? What are the units of stiffness?

• Modulus values typically in Pa (N/m2) or more typically GPa (109 N/m2).

• Stiffness values in N/m – load over deflection.

Materials: engineering, science, processing and design, 3rd edition Copyright (c)2014 Michael Ashby, Hugh Shercliff, David Cebon
 5

Stiffness
 The resistance of a structure to elastic (recoverable)
deformation

 For uniaxial loading stiffness will have units (N/m)

 Other stiffnesses exist depending on loading, e.g.

torsional stiffness, which is:

Nm/rad or Nm/degrees
 6

Applications

Some applications need high component stiffness, others need

controlled level of flexibility. Need to understand how to achieve
this …
 7

 Structural property – relies on shape of the

component and type of loading as well as material
properties

 E.g. Ruler…
– if a load is applied to the broad face of a ruler, it flexes easily

– But, turn it through 90 °and the same load produces far less
deflection, i.e. the same component is much stiffer

 In designing for elastic deformation, it is necessary to

calculate the forces acting in different directions in the
structure from the applied loads and the resulting
deflections
Hooke’s law
8


 9

Modulus
 Mechanical property which measures resistance of a material to
elastic deformation

 The higher the modulus, the more stress is needed to create the
same amount of strain, i.e.
– Low modulus materials deflect a lot when bent
– High modulus materials deflect very little

 Modulus is related to bonding strength in material

 Modulus also determines natural vibration frequency

Low modulus = low frequency

Modulus is related to bonding 10

strength in material
1. Initial 2. Small load 3. Unload

bonds
stretch

return to
initial
Δl

Force, F
Atomic configurations - before, during, after load (force)
application
 11

Cohesive Energy determines Young’s

modulus
Atoms are held together by
bonds that behave like springs.

Cohesive energy is a measure of

the strength of the bonds.

The local minimum in cohesive or

interatomic energy means ALL
materials have linear force –
displacement curves for very
small displacements. Thus stress-
strain always starts linear.

Materials: engineering, science, processing and design, 3rd edition Copyright (c)2014 Michael Ashby, Hugh Shercliff, David Cebon
 12

Typical elastic modulus

 13
Revision (from Mechanics 1) - Deformation and Moduli Law

Materials: engineering, science, processing and design, 3rd edition Copyright (c)2014 Michael Ashby, Hugh Shercliff, David Cebon
 14

Elastic deformation and elastic constants

• Initial portion of curve is approximately linear and elastic –
material returns to original shape once stress is removed.

• Within the linear elastic region, there are FOUR elastic

constants – all materials properties.

• In tension – Young’s modulus (E) and  = E

• In shear – shear modulus (G) and  = G

• Under hydrostatic pressure – bulk modulus (K) and P = K

• Poisson’s ratio () is negative of the ratio of transverse

strain to axial strain in tension.  = - t/. It’s about 0.3 for
metals and many polymers and maximum 0.5 for rubber.
Materials: engineering, science, processing and design, 3rd edition Copyright (c)2014 Michael Ashby, Hugh Shercliff, David Cebon
 15

Modulus relationships
 Elastic constants can be related.
 Shear modulus has a relationship with Young’s modulus, E,
where v is the possion’s ratio.

 Bulk modulus has a relationship with Young’s modulus, E,

where v is the possion’s ratio.

 It is useful to know that shear modulus is about half Young’s

modulus and bulk modulus is about the same as Young’s
modulus
Bridge bearings 16

Rubber has a high

bulk modulus
but a low
shear modulus.
 17

Poisson’s ratios

 18

Poisson’s ratios
 19

Poisson contraction in a rubber band under tension.

 20

Poisson’s ratio of rubber

• Poisson’s ratio is 0.5 for elastomers (rubber).

• Thin-walled cylinders expand in radius with no length change only if  = 0.5.
• Bicycle tyres can be pumped-up without getting tighter or looser!
 21
Poisson’s ratio of cork is near zero.
 22

Anisotropy
 The properties of most materials – glasses, ceramics, polymers
and metals – do not depend on the direction in which they are
measured across the material. They are isotropic.

 Certain materials are considered anisotropic – meaning their

properties are dependent upon which direction in the material
they are being measured.

 Woods are stiffer along the grain than with it. Fibre-composites
are stronger and stiffer parallel to the direction of the fibres than
perpendicular to them. Engineering materials after
processing may be anisotropic (e.g. severe rolling of metals
or injection-moulding of polymers.)
 23

Stress – free strain

 In certain situations, strain is not caused by stress; however,
stresses can develop if the body suffering the strain is
constrained.

Figure 4.7
 24

Stress, Strain, Modulus and Stiffness

• Stress and strain are not material properties – they describe a stimulus and
response.

• Stress is applied to a material by loading it.

• Strain – a change of shape – is its response.

• Modulus is a material property for elastic behaviour.

• Stiffness is the resistance to change of shape of a component or structure

that is elastic. It is NOT a material property as it depends on dimensions.

• What are the units of modulus? What are the units of stiffness?

• Modulus values typically in Pa (N/m2) or more typically GPa (109 N/m2).

• Stiffness values in N/m – load over deflection.

Materials: engineering, science, processing and design, 3rd edition Copyright (c)2014 Michael Ashby, Hugh Shercliff, David Cebon
 Part 2

Materials Selection
 26

Materials Indices - Objectives

 To understand material indices and how they
can be used to rank materials
 27

Recap on Design process

Market need

Material data needs

Problem statement

Data for material family

(metals, ceramics, polymers..) Concept

Data for material class

Embodiment
(Steel, Al-alloy, Ni-alloy…..)

Detail
Data for single material
(Al-2040, Al-6061, Al-7075…..)

Product specification
 Need – Concept - Embodiment
Need Concepts

Embodiments

Direct pull Levered pull Geared pull Spring-assisted pull

28 ©2021 ANSYS,
Inc.
 Embodiment - detail
Embodiment Detail

How are those

choices made?
29 ©2021 ANSYS,
Inc.
 30

Selection Strategy
 Translation
– Translation of design requirements into a prescription for a
material, identifying the constraints that it must meet and
the objective that is desired.
 Screening
– Screening out of all materials that fail to meet the
constraints.
 Ranking
– Ranking of those that remain by their ability to meet the
objective.

 Documentation
– Documentation of the top-ranked candidates, allowing them
to be explored in depth.
Selection Strategy
31

❑ The designer has an objective: to make it a light as possible,

perhaps (aerospace), or as safe (nuclear-reactor components), or
as cheap.
 32

Translation
“express design requirements as constraints and objectives”

Design requirements

Typical Constraints What essential conditions must it meet ?

▪ Be strong enough
▪ Conduct electricity
▪ Tolerate 250˚C
▪ Be able to be cast

Typical Objectives What measure of performance is to

be maximized or minimized ?
▪ Mass
▪ Volume
▪ Eco-impact
▪ Cost
Screening: “use constraints to eliminate materials that can’t do the job”
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34
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Selection Methodology
Three concepts are used in the selection procedure:

1. ‘Performance indices', which isolate the combination

of material properties that maximize performance;

2. Materials selection charts;

3. Shape factors φ which are used to quantify the

shape of a cross-section of a beam or shaft.
 36

What is a Material Index?

 They are objective measures of performance The

material index
for the design
 Can be:
– A single material property e.g. tensile strength, σts

– A material property group, e.g. modulus/density, E / 

To maximize performance:
▪ First apply all constraints
▪ Then select materials with the biggest or smallest index
 37

Calculating a performance index

 Specified by three things:

– Functional requirements

– Geometric parameters

– Properties of the material

38
39
 40

Simple one-property indices

Design requirement Protective visor for
motorcyclists
Constraints
▪ Transparent - of optical quality
▪ Able to be molded

Objective
▪ As tough as possible – The material index: choose material
maximize fracture toughness K1c with largest K1c

Alternative objective
The material index: choose material
▪ As cheap as possible –
with smallest Cm
minimize material cost Cm
 41

Loading
 The loading on a component can generally be decomposed into
some combination of axial tension or compression, bending, and
torsion.

 Almost always, one mode dominates.

 Indices - Minimising weight
42

Tensile ties
 y 
 
 ρ 

Main spar
Compression
- beam
strut  1/2 
 1/2  E 
E   
   ρ 
 ρ   
 

Undercarriage - bending
and compression
 2 / 3 
E = Young’s modulus  y 
 = Density  ρ 
 
 y = Yield strength
 43
 The performance can be described by an equation with the
general form:

 Where
– p = performance
– F = functional requirements
– G = Geometric requirements
– M = material properties
– f = function of

 Optimising the design can be considered to be

selecting a material and geometry which maximise
(or minimise) p.
 44

 The three groups of parameters (F, G and M) can be

separated:

 The optimum choice of materials now become

independent of design details.
 EXAMPLE - Index for a strong, light tie-rod

Strong tie of length L and minimum mass

Function Tie-rod
F F
Area A L
Constraints ▪ Length L is specified
▪ Must not fail under load F
m = mass
A = area
Equation for constraint on A: L = length
F/A < y  = density
 y = yield strength
Objective Minimize mass m:
m = AL

Performance  ρ   σy 
m=FL   Chose materials M =  
metric  σy  ρ 
  with largest  

45 ©2021 ANSYS,
Inc.
Wing beam example

46
 47

Calculating a performance index

 Specified by three things:

– Functional requirements

– Geometric parameters

– Properties of the material

 48

Simplify the problem

 Can be assumed that it is a beam under
three-point bending.

 Calculate the performance index for a light,

stiff beam with a fixed section shape
Materials Indices - Procedure:
 Identify the objective – quantity to be maximised or
minimised
 Write an equation for the objective
 Use a constraint to eliminate the free variables
 Evaluate the index for which the highest or lowest
value is sought

49
 Index for a stiff, light beam

Stiff beam of length L and minimum mass

Function Beam
F
b Square
b
section,
area
L A = b2
• Length L is specified
Constraints δ
• Must have bending stiffness > S*
m = mass
Equation for constraint on A: A = area

C E I C E A2
L = length
F  = density
S= = =
δ L3 12 L3
S = stiffness (F/δ)
This beam: δ = FL3/CEI
Objective Minimize mass m: C = constant (here, 48)
E = Young’s modulus
m = AL I = second moment of area
(I = b4/12 = A2/12)

1/ 2
Performance  12 L5 S*      1/2 
m=   1/ 2  Chose materials M =  E 
metric  C  E 
 ρ 
 
  with largest  

Details in ‘Wing Beam Example pdf’ on Canvas

50 ©2021 ANSYS,
Inc.
 51

Ranking using charts

Light stiff beam: 1000
1/2 Ceramics
Index M = Eρ

Young’s modulus E, (GPa)

100 Composites
Increasing M
Rearrange:
E = ρ2 M2 Woods
10
Take logs:

Log E = 2 log  + 2 log M Metals

1 2
Polymers
Function Index Slope 0.1

Tie E/ρ 1
Foams Elastomers
Beam E1/2/ρ 2 0.01
100 1000 10,000 100,000
Panel E1/3/ρ 3 Density ρ (kg/m3)
Why method of loading matters?
52

E1/2 = M
ρ
 53

Some examples and where to find

some key ones

 Granta EduPack has a number of performance

indices for different loading conditions
 54

Documentation
 Once we have a small number of candidate materials, we can
explore their properties and details in more depth
 Part 3

Multiple constraints and objectives

 56

Bike Wheel Spoke - example

Lightest spoke to
withstand load?
57
Single objective - multiple 58

constraints
 If our design includes a single objective that can be limited by
multiple functional constraints, these must be evaluated
independently.

 Each functional constraint is used to obtain a separate

performance index using the single objective for the design.

 For example our bike spoke in the example previously had a

requirement to meet a minimum force without failing while
minimising mass. This could have a second constraint of
meeting a minimum deflection too.
 59

Example - Strength vs stiffness

 How do we evaluate this? Analytical method?
 We can evaluate both performance indices.
 We use estimates for force, length and stiffness, and
data of known materials: eg steel, aluminium,
titanium.
 The spoke must meet the requirements on both
performance indices.
 This is not an efficient method unless we have only
a few materials.
 60

Plotting conflicting objectives

 Multiple objectives may lead to confecting situations

 Maximising one objective may lead to a loss on the

second objective…

 Similarly, multiple objectives can be used to obtain multiple

performance and material indices.

 If the objectives are conflicting, materials may align along a

convenient line.

 How much are you prepared to pay for a reduction in

weight?

 How much extra weight are you prepared to carry for a

reduction in cost?
 61

Heavy
M1
Light

Cheap expensive
M2
 62

Heavy

Small cost saving for

large weight increase
M1

The trajectory of this

line indicates the trade
off between cost and
weight
Light

Small weight saving for

large cost increase

Cheap expensive
M2
63
 Part 4

Shape and shape factors

 65

Shape
 Shape can modify the resistance to elastic
deformation through variation in second moment of
area

 Will only affect loading situations where I is involved,

i.e. bending, torsion or buckling, not uniaxial tension

 Efficient shapes use the least material to achieve a

given stiffness – they have high values of second
moment of area.
 66

Stiffness of a structure for bending

 For same cross sectional area under bending the
best shape is approx:

≥ > > > >

 Obviously precise ranking depend on the exact

shape
 67

Stiffness of a structure
Second moment of area, I, values for different beam shapes:

b4 1 3  3b 
I= I = h t1+ 
12 t 6  h
b
1 3  3b 
t

bh 3 I = h t1+ 
h  I= 2t 6  h
12

b
π 4
 ri I= (ri − ro4 )
 r r 4
t ro 4
I=
4 I  r 3t
 68

❑ The effect of section shape on bending stiffness:

1. a tube of the same area (but 2.5 times stiffer) and,
2. a tube with the same stiffness (but 4 times lighter)
 69

Shape Factors
 The effect of shape does not change the basic
dimensional form of I, so the material performance
index does not change.

 To characterise the efficiency we need a metric – a

way of measuring the structural efficiency of a section
shape for a type of loading independent of the
material it is made from
– Shape factor
 70
 The effect of shape can be separated from the effect of scale by
defining the elastic shape factor for bending as ∅𝑒𝐵 :

12𝐼
∅𝑒𝐵 = 2
𝐴
 Defined in this way, ∅𝑒𝐵 , is dimensionless, with a value of 1 for a
solid square section.

 Efficient shapes have larger shape factors:

– Thin walled tubes – 10-30
– I-sections - <60

 Much stiffer in bending for a given cross-sectional area and

hence stiffer for a given mass.
 71

 Only depends on shape not scale

 72

 There is an upper limit to the shape factor for a given

material.

 By maximising the shape factor for one loading mode

and property, this moves the structure closer to a
load in which another failure mode will dominate.
– In this case buckling

 The upper limit of ∅𝑒𝐵 for some typical material are:

– Steel – 60
– Aluminium alloys – 40
– Polymers – 5-10
73
 74

Other considerations
 Not all materials can be made into all shapes
– limitations on what materials can be made into what
shapes

 Practical limits for the thickness of sections

– Limitations on material properties and manufacturing
capabilities
Shaping is also used to make structures lighter; it is a
way to achieve the same stiffness with less materials

Shaping could increase the value of I

by 64X if steel was used in the construction
of a beam with a square cross-section; if wood
was used, the maximum increase would
be 9X
 Optimisation of materials selection

Also possible to combine materials properties to optimise selection.

If we need a component to be lightweight (low density, ) and stiff

(high Young’s modulus, E) we can combine materials properties
1
E 2

E.g. For lightweight, stiff beam then want a high value of



In order to include shape into the selection we use a ‘shape factor’ 

(E ) 
1
2

Hence for a shaped beam we have




 Materials selection for floor support beams

Compare selection of wood planks and steel I beams for a floor:

 Materials selection for floor support beams

Compare selection of wood planks and steel I beams for a floor:

Wood Steel
Young’s Modulus, GPa 15 210
Density, Mgm-3 0.7 7.9
Shape factor 2 20
(E )
1
2

Stiffness index
