Mechanical

Testing
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Is the Material up
to the Task?
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 Mechanical
Testing

Tensile Hardness Impact

Testing Testing Testing

Fracture
Toughness
Testing
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The Tensile Test
A test in which specimens are subjected to an increasing
tensile (pulling) force until they fracture.
In order to be able to compare different materials we can measure the
tensile strength which is the maximum load, before failure, divided by
the cross sectional area.
All solid materials have a tensile strength, that is they will withstand a
certain applied tensile load before they fracture. This applies not just to
metals but to all materials such as paper, plastics, ceramics and textiles.
The test also allows us to measure the elastic modulus (Young’s
Modulus) and the ductility of a material.
In order to do this the test material must be in the form of a suitably sized
and shaped specimen, these normally have a parallel sided centre section
and large end sections which can be held in the test machine.

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The Tensile Test
Before testing the cross-sectional area of the parallel section is measured
and two marks, at a specified distance apart (the gauge length) are made .

Original Specimen

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 The Load - Extension Curve
Initially the extension is
proportional to the load and if the
load is removed the specimen
will contract back to its original
length, this is known as the
elastic region. In this region the
stress divided by the strain will
give the elastic modulus of the
material.
In the second section of the curve
the material starts to plastically
deform (this section is very small
or non-existent in brittle
materials) i.e. it is permanently
stretched and the load increases
as it work hardens. The load eventually reaches a maximum and then rapidly drops off
as the specimen starts to thin down at one point of the test section and eventually breaks.

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 Load v. Extension curve for Mild Steel

25

20

15
Load (kN)

10

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Extension (mm)

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The Tensile Test
After testing the increase in the gauge length is measured along with the
cross-sectional area at the point of failure. The maximum load and the
load at a permanent extension of 0.2% (taken from the graph) are also
noted.
Original Specimen

Tested Specimen

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The Tensile Test (cont.)
From these measurements the following properties of the material can be
calculated;-
Elastic modulus = Stress / Strain (in the initial portion of the curve)
0.2% Proof Stress = Load at 0.2%strain / xsectional area
Tensile stress = Maximum load / original xsectional area (UTS)
Elongation = (Final length of the gauge section – Original Gauge length)
Original Gauge length
Reduction of Area = (Original xsectional area - xsectional area at failure)
Original xsectional area
These last two properties both describe the ductility of the material and are
normally expressed as percentages.

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The Tensile Test (cont.)
Test machines at rated on the
maximum load they can apply and
come in a range of capacities from
500kN (50Ton) machines down to
20kN bench top hand operated
machines.
The load is applied either by a screw
drive system or hydraulically.

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The Wireline Torsion and Wireline Wrap Tests
These are tests to check on the ductility of the wire used for the wireline.

The Torsion Test

In this test an 8 inch length of wire must be capable of being twisted a set number of
turns before breaking, the number of turns varies depending on the diameter of the
wire from a minimum of 32 turns for 0.066” dia. to 18 for 0.125” dia. wire. The final
break must be a clean break at 90°.

Wireline Wrap Test

This is a modified test for stainless steel and special alloy wires, which will be less
ductile.
In this test the wire, having been bent into a loop, is twisted in a tight helix around
itself. To pass the test it must undergo a minimum of 8 turns without failure or any
evidence of cracking or severe stressing.

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Hardness Testing
Hardness is the ability of a material to resist indentation and is
related to the tensile strength of the material.
Very useful as it requires minimal specimen preparation and does
not destroy the specimen being tested.

Three main types of hardness test;-

i) Scratch tests - - - - - - - - - - Mohs Hardness
ii) Indentation tests - - - - - - - Brinell, Vickers, Rockwell
iii) Rebound tests - - - - - - - - Shore.

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Scratch tests
Based on the principal that a harder material will scratch a
softer one (mainly used for minerals).
Mineral Hardness Index
The most common Talc 1
version is Mohs Gypsum 2
Hardness Scale which Calcite 3
Fluorite 4
runs from talc the Apatite 5
softest mineral to Orthoclase feldspar 6
diamond, the hardest. Quartz 7
Topaz 8
Corundum 9
Diamond 10

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Indentation Hardness Tests
These are the main type of tests for measuring the hardness of
metals. There are three common indentation tests;-
i) Brinell Test - uses a 10mm ball as an indenter.
ii) Vickers Test – uses a pyramidal diamond indenter.
iii) Rockwell Test – uses either a conical diamond or a
hardened steel ball.

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The Brinell Test
This test was developed by Dr Johann Brinell, a Swedish engineer, in 1900. It
uses a hardened steel or tungsten carbide, 10mm ball as an indenter and presses
the ball into the specimen surface (normally ground) using a load of 3000kg.
The load is applied, by a lever system, for approximately 15 seconds.

h
d

D > 8h

>3D

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The Brinell Test (cont.)
The diameter of the indentation left in the surface (d), after the load is removed,
is measured and a hardness number (HB) calculated on the following basis;-

Brinell Hardness No. = Applied load in kilogrammes .

Spherical Surface area of impression (mm2)
HB = 2P .
π D (D - √[D2 – d2])
where P = Applied load (kgf)
D = dia. of ball (mm)
d = dia. of impression (mm)
The maximum hardness the test can measure is limited due to distortion of the
test ball (400HB for a steel ball, 600HB for a tungsten carbide ball).

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Vickers Pyramid Test
This test uses a diamond square based
pyramid with an apex angle of 136° as the
indenter. This is far less prone to
distortion and can be used for materials
with hardnesses in excess of 650HB.

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Vickers Test (cont.)
The test applies a load
through a lever system which
is damped by a dashpot so that
the load is applied at a slow
repeatable rate. An individual
Vickers Hardness test takes
about 90 seconds.
The load for the standard
machine can be varied from 1
to 120kg which allows the
machine to measure from soft
lead alloys through to the
hardest cobalt alloys.
The test surface need to be
fine ground.
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Vickers Test (cont.)
The load is applied for a set
time which is controlled by
a clockwork timer.
The indent is then moved
under a microscope and the
diagonal length of the
square impression measured
The Vickers hardness (HV) is calculated in a
using calibrated shutters in
similar way to the Brinell hardness;-
the microscope eyepiece .
Vickers values are HV = Load .
expressed as HV* where Surface area of the impression
the* indicates the load in
HV = 2P sinθ/2 = 1.8544p
kg. The standard load for
d2 d2
the full size machine is where P = load in kgf θ = angle of the pyramid (136°)
30kg (HV30). d = av. of the two diagonals
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Micro Vickers Tester
This test is a miniature version of the
standard test and uses loads in the
range 10g up to 1kg. The indent is
measured using a high power
microscope which may be fitted with
a TV system. The model shown here
has a built in microprocessor which
automatically calculates the hardness.
The standard load for this machine is
300g (HV0.3). The test surface must
be either polished or polished and
etched.

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Rockwell Hardness Tester
There are several different Rockwell scales
depending upon the hardness range of the
material being tested.
A scale – used for mild steels and non-
ferrous alloys, uses a conical
diamond indenter with a load of
60kg.
B scale – uses a 1/16 in dia. hardened steel
ball with a load of 100kg.
C scale – for engineering steels uses a
conical diamond and a load of
150kg.
There are also several low load scales for thin
materials (the Superficial Rockwell Scales).
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 Rockwell Tester (cont.)

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Rockwell Test (cont.)
The main difference between the
Rockwell test and the Brinell and
Vickers tests is that the Rockwell test
measures the depth of the indent
rather than the area.
A minor load of 10kg is applied first
and the measuring dial set to zero.
The main load is then applied for
approximately 5 seconds and then
released (the minor load keeps the
indenter in the indent). The hardness The test surface should be fine ground.
value HRC is then read directly from An individual test takes < 15seconds
the dial. this makes the test ideal for quality
control checks on a production line.

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 Hardness Conversions
Conversions can be made from one hardness scale to another (HB to HV) but
comparisons between Rockwell C and Vickers for hard materials vary for
different materials.

For medium strength materials (up

to 460 HB = 490 HV = 48.5 HRC)
the hardness value can be used to
give an estimate of the tensile
strength of the material. As a
hardness test only results in a
small indent in the surface it is an
ideal test for checking that a heat
treatment has been correctly
carried out on a finished or near
finished component.

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Impact Testing
The impact test examines a material’s ability to withstand a
suddenly applied stress, this is often referred to as the
toughness of the material.
Materials with a high level of toughness usually fail by bending or
being torn apart (a ductile failure) absorbing a lot of energy in the
process, whereas materials with poor toughness snap (a brittle failure)
and absorb relatively little energy when they break.
Ferritic steels change from ductile to brittle failure as the temperature
decreases. The temperature at which this occurs is known as the
Ductile / Brittle Impact Transition Temperature.
The most common method of measuring this is the Charpy Test.

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The Charpy Machine

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The Charpy Test
The test specimen is a rectangular block 75mm long by 10mm square with a
3mm deep notch in the front face. The specimen is placed on the anvil and is
struck by a hammer fitted with has a narrow knife edge which contacts the
specimen immediately behind the notch. The hammer is on a pendulum arm
which is pivoted at the top of the machine frame.
In a test the pendulum is
raised to a preset height and
then released. The amount
of energy absorbed in
breaking the test specimen
is recorded by a pointer on a
calibrated scale.

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The Charpy Test
After testing the fracture surface is normally examined and the proportions of
ductile (appears dull) and brittle (appears shiny) fracture measured.
By testing samples at different temperatures and plotting the corresponding
impact energies against the temperature, the Impact Transition Temperature
can be determined. Alternatively the % brittle failure can be plotted against
temperature and the temperature for 50% brittle failure determined.

All these tests (tensile, hardness and impact) are covered by national and
international standards such as the BS EN standards and the ISO standards.
e.g.
BS.EN.10002 - British Standard for Tensile Testing
BS.EN ISO 6507 - British Standard Version of the ISO standard for the
Vickers Hardness Test.
ASTM E23 - American Standard for the Charpy test.

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