While n is the slope (m) and the K value indicates the value of the true stress at the true

strain equal to unity as illustrated in figure 6. High value of the strain-hardening exponent indicates an ability of a metal to be readily plastically deformed under applied stresses. This is also corresponding with a large area under the stress-strain curve up to the maximum load. This power law expression has been modified variably according to materials of interest especially for steels and stainless steels. Figure 6: Slope of log true stress- log true strain curve up to the ultimate tensile strength indicating the work hardening exponent (n value) [3] 1.2.8 Modulus of Resilence, UR Apart from tensile parameters mentioned previously, analysis of the area under the stressstrain curve can give informative material behavior and properties. By considering the area under the stress-strain curve in the elastic region (triangular area) as illustrated in figure 7, this area represents the stored elastic energy or resilence. The latter is the ability of the materials to store elastic energy which is measured as a modulus of resilence, UR, as follows E Uo Roo22 12 = = @(13) Laboratory 3: Tensile testing Mechanical metallurgy laboratory 431303 12 T. Udomphol The significance of this parameter is considered by looking at the application of mechanical springs which requires high yield stress and low Young's modulus. For example, high carbon spring steel has the modulus of resilence of 2250 kPa while that of medium carbon steel is only 232 kPa. 1.2.9 Tensile toughness, UT Tensile toughness, UT, can be considered as the area under the entire stress-strain curve which indicates the ability of the material to absorb energy in the plastic region. In other words, tensile toughness is the ability of the material to withstand the external applied forces without experiencing failure. Engineering applications that requires high tensile toughness is for example gear, chains and crane hooks, etc. The tensile toughness can be estimated from an expression as follows f ou T u f U or 2 + @(14) Fig 7: Area under the stress-strain curve of high carbon spring steel and structural steel [2]. 1.3 Fracture characteristics of the tested specimens Metals with good ductility normally exhibit a so-called cup and cone fracture characteristic observed on either halves of a broken specimen as illustrated in figure 8. Necking starts when the stress-strain curve has passed the maximum point where plastic deformation is no longer uniform. Across the necking area within the specimen gauge length (normally located in the middle),

microvoids are formed, enlarged and then merged to each other as the load is increased. This creates a crack having a plane perpendicular to the applied tensile stress. Just before the specimen breaks, the Laboratory 3: Tensile testing Mechanical metallurgy laboratory 431303 13 T. Udomphol shear plane of approximately 45o to the tensile axis is formed along the peripheral of the specimen. This shear plane then joins with the former crack to generate the cup and cone fracture as demonstrated in figure 8. The rough or fibrous fracture surfaces appear in grey by naked eyes. Under SEM, copious amounts of microvoids are observed as depicted in figure 9. This type of fracture surface signifies high energy absorption during the fracture process due to large amount of plastic deformation taking place, also indicating good tensile ductility. Metals such as aluminium and copper normally exhibit ductile fracture behavior due to a high number of slip systems available for plastic deformation. For brittle metals or metals that failed at relatively low temperatures, the fracture surfaces usually appear bright and consist of flat areas of brittle facets when examined under SEM as illustrated in figure 10. In some cases, clusters of these brittle facets are visible when the grain size of the metal is sufficiently large. The energy absorption is quite small in this case which indicates relatively low tensile ductility due to limited amount of plastic deformation prior to failure. Figure 8: Cup and cone fracture [4] Laboratory