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Dr. John Taulo: Malawi University of Science & Technology Department of Engineering

This document discusses factors to consider when selecting materials for machine components, including availability, cost, mechanical properties, and manufacturing considerations. It outlines 4 main factors and provides details on each. It also describes 13 key mechanical properties of metals, such as strength, stiffness, elasticity, plasticity, ductility, and hardness, and how they influence material selection.

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41 views20 pages

Dr. John Taulo: Malawi University of Science & Technology Department of Engineering

This document discusses factors to consider when selecting materials for machine components, including availability, cost, mechanical properties, and manufacturing considerations. It outlines 4 main factors and provides details on each. It also describes 13 key mechanical properties of metals, such as strength, stiffness, elasticity, plasticity, ductility, and hardness, and how they influence material selection.

Uploaded by

Anonymous i9ytPrBlen
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Dr.

John Taulo
Malawi University of Science &
Technology
Department of Engineering
Introduction
 Selection of a proper material for the
machine component is one of the
most important steps in the process
of design
 The best material is one which will
serve the desired purpose at
minimum cost
 It is not always easy to select such
material and the process may
involve the trial and error method
2
Introduction
 The factors which should be
considered while selecting the
material for the machine component
are as follows:

 Availability
 Cost
 Mechanical Properties
 Manufacturing considerations

3
1. Availability
 The material should be readily
available in the market, in large
enough quantities to meet the
requirement

 Cast iron and aluminium alloys are


always available in abundance while
shortage of lead and copper alloys is
a common experience

4
2. Cost
 Cost for every application, there is a limiting
cost beyond which the designer cannot go.

 When the limit is exceeded, the designer


has to consider other alternative materials

 In cost analysis, there are two factors,


namely cost of material and cost of
processing the material into finished goods

 It is likely that the cost of material might be


low, but the processing may involve costly
manufacturing operations 5
3. Mechanical Properties
 Mechanical properties are the most
important technical factor governing the
selection of material

 They include strength under static and


fluctuating loads, elasticity, plasticity,
stiffness, resilience, toughness, ductility,
malleability and hardness.

 Depending upon the conditions and the


functional requirement, different
mechanical properties are considered and
a suitable material is selected. 6
3. Mechanical Properties
 The piston rings should have a hard
surface to resist wear due to rubbing
action with the cylinder surface, and
surface hardness is the selection criteria

 In case of bearing materials, a low


coefficient of friction is desirable while
clutch or brake requires a high coefficient
of friction

7
4. Manufacturing considerations
 In some applications, machinability of
material is an important consideration in
selection.

 Sometimes, an expensive material is more


economical than a low priced one, which
is difficult to machine

 Free cutting steels have excellent


machinability, which is an important factor
in their selection for high strength bolts,
axles and shafts
8
4. Manufacturing considerations
 Where the product is of complex shape,
castability or ability of the molten metal to
flow into intricate passages is the criterion
of material selection.

 In fabricated assemblies of plates and


rods, weldability becomes the governing
factor

 The manufacturing processes, such as


casting, forging, extrusion, welding and
machining govern the selection of
material 9
Mechanical Properties of Metals
 The mechanical properties of the metals
are those which are associated with the
ability of the material to resist mechanical
forces and load

1) Strength: It is the ability of a material to


resist the externally applied forces without
breaking or yielding

 The internal resistance offered by a part to


an externally applied force is called stress.

10
Mechanical Properties of Metals
2). Stiffness: It is the ability of a material to
resist deformation under stress.
 The modulus of elasticity is the measure of
stiffness.

3). Elasticity: it is the property of a material to


regain its original shape after
deformation when the external forces are
removed
 This property is desirable for materials used
in tools and machines
 It may be noted that steel is more elastic
than rubber 11
Mechanical Properties of Metals
4). Plasticity: It is a property of a material
which retains deformation produced
under load permanently.
 This property of material is necessary for
forgings, in stamping images on coins and
in ornamental work.

5). Ductility: it is the property of a material


enabling it to be drawn into wire with the
application of a tensile force
 The ductility is usually measured by the
terms, percentage elongation and
percentage reduction in area. 12
Mechanical Properties of Metals
 The ductile material commonly used in
engineering practice (in order of
diminishing ductility) are mild steel,
copper, aluminium, nickel, zinc, tin and
lead

6) Malleability: it is a special case of ductility


which permits materials to be rolled or
hammered into thin sheets.
 The malleable materials commonly used
in engineering practice (in order of
diminishing malleability) are lead, soft
steel, wrought iron, copper and aluminium13
Mechanical Properties of Metals
7) Brittleness: it is the property of a material
opposite to ductility. It is the property of
breaking of a material with little
permanent distortion.

 Brittle materials when subjected to tensile


loads, it snaps off without giving any
sensible elongation

 Cast iron is a brittle material

14
Mechanical Properties of Metals
8) Toughness: it is the property of a material
to resist fracture due to high impact loads like
hammer blows.

 The toughness of the material decreases


when it is heated
 It is measured by the amount of energy
that a unit volume of the material has
been absorbed after being stressed up to
the point of fracture
 This property is desirable in parts subjected
to shock and impact loads
15
Mechanical Properties of Metals
9) Machinability: it is the property of a
material which refers to relative ease with
which a material can be cut

10) Resilience: it is the property of a material


to absorb energy and to resist shock and
impact loads
 It is measured by the amount of energy
absorbed per unit volume within elastic
limit

 This property is essential for spring materials


16
Mechanical Properties of Metals
11)Creep: when a part is subjected to a
constant stress at high temperature for a
long period of time, it will undergo a slow
and permanent deformation called
creep.

 This property is considered in designing


internal combustion engines, boilers and
turbines

17
Mechanical Properties of Metals
12) Fatigue: when a material is subjected to
repeated stresses, it fails at stresses below the
yield point stresses. Such type of failure of a
material is known as fatigue

 The failure is caused by means of a


progressive crack formation which are
usually fine and microscopic size

 This property is considered in designing


shafts, connecting rods, springs, gears, etc

18
Mechanical Properties of Metals
13)Hardness: it is a very important property of
metals and has a wide variety of
meanings

 It embraces many different properties


such as resistance to wear, scratching,
deformation and machinability etc

 It also means the ability of a metal to cut


another metal
 The hardness is usually expressed in
numbers which are dependent on the
method of making the test 19
Mechanical Properties of Metals
13)Hardness

 The hardness of a metal may be


determined by the following tests:

(a) Brinell hardness test

(b) Rockwell hardness test

(c) Vickers hardness test, and

(d) Shores scleroscope


20

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