ENGINEERING MATERIALS

CHAPTER TWO

Mechanical Properties of Materials

Why Study The Mechanical Properties of Metals?

It is incumbent on engineers to understand

how the various mechanical properties are
measured and what these properties
represent; they may be called upon to
design structures/components using
predetermined materials such that
unacceptable levels of deformation and/or
failure will not occur.
Many materials, when in service, are
subjected to forces or loads; examples
include the aluminum alloy from which
an airplane wing is constructed and the
steel in an automobile axle. In such
situations it is necessary to know the
characteristics of the material and to
design the member from which it is made
such that any resulting deformation will
not be excessive and fracture will not
occur. The mechanical behavior of a
material reflects the relationship between
its response or deformation to an applied
load or force. A modern Rockwell hardness tester.

Important mechanical properties are : strength, hardness, ductility, and

stiffness.

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 Definitions of Mechanical Properties of materials :

1. Strength: The strength of material is its ability to resist the application of

force without rupture . In service, a material may have to withstand tension,
compression or shear forces . The unit of strength is (N/m2 ).

2. Stress: It is defined as the intensity of the internal distributed forces or

components of forces resisting a change in the form of the body . It is
measured as the force per unit area . There are three types of stresses namely:
tension, compression and shear .

3. Strain: It is a deformation or change produced in material in its dimensions

due to the effect of stress on it . It is a ratio or dimensionless number (has no
unit) . There are three types of strains corresponding to the type of stresses
namely , tensile , compressive , and shearing strain . Strain also known to be
of two categories: elastic strain and plastic strain .

- Elastic strain : It is the change in dimensions of a body when some load

is applied to it . It is a reversible strain, it disappears after removal of stress
or applied load . It is proportional to the applied stress . In this strain , after
the removal of load , same atomic neighbors without any displacement are
retained. Figure (2.1a) shows an elastic strain .

- Plastic strain : It is the deformation or change in dimensions of a body

which remain in it after the release of load .It is a result of the permanent
displacement of the atoms inside the material. Figure (2.1b) shows the
elastic and plastic strain .

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Figure(2.1) : Schematic stress–strain diagram showing linear

elastic deformation for loading and unloading cycles.(a) and elastic & plastic region (b).

4. Elasticity : The elasticity of a metal is its power of returning to its original

shape after deformation by force .

5. Plasticity : It is the property of the material enabling it to retain the

deformation produced by load permanently . Plasticity is necessary for
forging, and metals may be rendered plastic by heating them .

6. Modulus of elasticity : It is the ratio of the stress applied and strain

produced within the elastic limit of the material .It is the criterion of
the stiffness of material .

Y =

Where : Y = Modulus of elasticity . (young modulus).

= Elastic stress.
= Elastic strain.

Values of the modulus of elasticity for ceramic materials are about the

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same as for metals; for polymers they are lower .These differences are a
direct consequence of the different types of atomic bonding in the three
materials types.
Furthermore, with increasing temperature, the modulus of elasticity diminishes,
as is shown for several metals in Figure (2.2)

Figure(2.2): Modulus of elasticity verses temperature for different materials

7. Stiffness : It is the property of material enabling it to resist deformation under

stresses .

8. Toughness : It is the ability of material to resist fracture due to high impact

loads like hammer blows .
There are several variables that have a profound influence on the toughness
of a material. These variables are:
- Strain rate (rate of loading)
- Temperature
- Notch effect
The area under the curve of stress- strain curve represents the toughness of
material shown in figure (2.3).

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Figure(2.3): toughness for different type of steel

9. Ductility : It is the property of a material enabling it to draw into

wire with application of a tensile force . a ductile material must be
both strong and plastic as shown in figure (2.4). Another expression ,
It is a measure of the degree of plastic deformation that has been
sustained at fracture.

Figure(2.4):Schematic representations of tensile stress–strain behavior for brittle and

ductile materials loaded to fracture.

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Ductility may be expressed quantitatively as either percent elongation or percent

reduction in area. The percent elongation %EL is the percentage of plastic strain
at fracture, or

Where : lf is the fracture length and l0 is the original gauge length , and Percent
reduction in area %RA is defined as :

Where : where A0 is the original cross-sectional area and Af is the cross-sectional

area at the point of fracture.

10. Brittleness: It is the property of breaking of a material without

much permanent distortion. It is the property apposite to plasticity or
ductility . See figure (2.4).

11. Hardness : The hardness of metal is a measure of its ability to

withstand scratching , wear and abrasion indentation by harder
bodies .

 Engineering testing of materials :

1. Tensile Test :
One of the most common mechanical stress–strain tests is performed in
tension. As will be seen, the tension test can be used to ascertain several
mechanical properties of materials that are important in design. A
specimen is deformed, usually to fracture, with a gradually increasing
tensile load that is applied unaxially along the long axis of a specimen. A
standard tensile specimen is shown in Figure (2.5).
Normally, the cross section is circular, but rectangular specimens are also

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used. This ―dog bone‖ specimen configuration was chosen so that, during
testing, deformation is confined to the narrow center region (which has a
uniform cross section along its length), and, also, to reduce the likelihood
of fracture at the ends of the specimen.
The standard diameter is approximately 12.8 mm (0.5 in.), whereas the
reduced section length should be at least four times this diameter; 60 mm
is common. Gauge length is used in ductility computations, as discussed in
number 9, the standard value is 50 mm (2.0 in.). The specimen is mounted
by its ends into the holding grips of the testing apparatus (Figure 2.6). The
tensile testing machine is designed to elongate the specimen at a constant
rate, and to continuously and simultaneously measure the instantaneous
applied load (with a load cell) and the resulting elongations (using an
extensometer). A stress–strain test typically takes several minutes to
perform and is destructive; that is, the test specimen is permanently
deformed and usually fractured.

Figure(2.5): A standard tensile specimen .

Figure(2.6): Tensile test machine

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Critical factors (load and elongation ) are normalized to the respective parameters
of (engineering stress) and (engineering strain) . Engineering stress is defined by
the relationship:

Where : F : is the instantaneous load applied perpendicular to the specimen cross

section, in units of newtons (N) or pounds force ,
and A0 : is the original cross sectional area before any load is applied ( m2 or
in.2). The units of engineering stress are mega pascals, MPa (SI) (where
1 MPa = N/m2), and pounds force per square inch, psi

Engineering strain is defined according to :

Where : l0 :is the original length before any load is applied,

And li : is the instantaneous length.
Engineering strain is unit less (m/m) .
Sometimes strain is also expressed as a percentage, in which the strain value is
multiplied by 100.

Stress–Strain Behavior:

From figure(2.7) , we can see the following :

1. The part (OA) : This part is a straight line . For most metals that are
stressed in tension and at relatively low levels, stress and strain are
proportional to each other through the relationship

This is known as Hooke’s law, and the constant of proportionality E

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(GPa or psi) is the modulus of elasticity, or Young’s modulus

Figure (2.7) : Stress- strain curve for mild steel

For most typical metals the magnitude of this modulus ranges between
45 GPa ,for magnesium, and 407 GPa ,for tungsten. Modulus of
elasticity values for several metals at room temperature are presented in
Table 6.1.

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2. Point (B): Represent elastic limit which is defined that is a maximum stress
that metal can be loaded without plastic deformation .

3. Point (C) : Yield point : It is applied stress to occur plastic

deformation (strain) without increasing in applied load . Most
structures are designed to ensure that only elastic deformation will
result when a stress is applied. A structure or component that has
plastically deformed, or experienced a permanent change in shape,
may not be capable of functioning as intended.
It is therefore desirable to know the stress level at which plastic
deformation begins, or where the phenomenon of yielding occurs.
For metals that experience this gradual elastic–plastic transition, the
point of yielding may be determined as the initial departure from
linearity of the stress–strain curve; this is sometimes called the
proportional limit, as indicated by point P in Figure (2.8a). In such
cases the position of this point may not be determined precisely. As a
consequence, a convention has been established wherein a straight
line is constructed parallel to the elastic portion of the stress–strain
curve at some specified strain offset, usually 0.002.
The stress corresponding to the intersection of this line and the
stress–strain curve as it bends over in the plastic region is defined as
the yield strength. This is demonstrated in Figure (2.8a).

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Some steels and other materials exhibit the tensile stress–strain

behavior as shown in Figure 2.8b. The elastic–plastic transition is
very well defined and occurs abruptly in what is termed a yield point
phenomenon.
The magnitude of the yield strength for a metal is a measure of its
resistance to plastic deformation. Yield strengths may range from 35
MPa (5000 psi) for a low strength aluminum to over 1400 MPa
(200,000 psi) for high-strength steels.

Figure(2.8) : (a). yielding strength determined using .002 strain offset method , (b).yield
point phenomenon for some steels

4. Point(E) : Maximum strength (ultimate strength) : After yielding, the stress

necessary to continue , plastic deformation in metals increases to a
maximum .

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Max. strength =

5. Point (F) : Fracture point : At this maximum stress, a small

constriction or neck begins to form at some points, and all
subsequent deformation is confined at this neck . This phenomenon
is termed ―necking,‖ and fracture ultimately occurs at the neck. The
fracture strength corresponds to the stress at fracture. Fifure(2.9)
represents stages of stress –strain curve

Figure(2.9): Typical
engineering stress–
strain behavior to
fracture, point F.
The tensile strength
TS is indicated at
point M. The circular
insets represent the
geometry of the
deformed specimen
at various points
along the curve.

True Stress and Strain:

Sometimes it is more meaningful to use a true stress–true strain scheme.
True stress: Is defined as the load (F )divided by the instantaneous cross-
sectional area (Ai ) over which deformation is occurring (i.e., the neck,
past the tensile point).

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Furthermore, it is occasionally more convenient to represent strain as true strain

Defined by :

If no volume change occurs during deformation—that is, if

true and engineering stress and strain are related according to:

Conversion of
engineering stress to true stress

Conversion of
engineering strain to true strain

A schematic comparison of engineering and true stress–strain behaviors is made in

Figure (2.10). It is worth noting that the true stress necessary to sustain increasing
strain continues to rise past the tensile point M .

Figure(2.10): True and Engineering stress-strain

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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 :

True stress-true
strain relationship
in plastic region of
deformation (to
point of necking)

In this expression, K and n are constants; these values will vary from alloy
to alloy, and will also depend on the condition of the material (i.e.,
whether it has been plastically deformed, heat treated, etc.). The parameter
n is often termed the strain hardening exponent and has a value less than
unity. Values of n and K for several alloys are contained in Table 6.4.

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