CHE3166: HANDOUT 4

Mechanical Properties and Testing

(Hardness, Impact, Creep and Fatigue)
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Materials response to:
Excessive Loading: Tensile Test
Localized Loading: Hardness Test
Sudden Intense Loading: Impact Test
Loading at High Temperatures: Creep Test
Cyclic Loading: Fatigue Test

Localized Loading: Hardness / Hardness Test

Hardness: Resistance to
localized plastic deformation
penetration of the surface
Hardness Tests are quick and simple
Hardness Test Data are used for:
rough but quick comparison of strength
of materials
characterization of wear resistance
quick examination of heat treatment
quick testing for materials quality control

Hardness / Hardness Test

Hardness Test
Brinell Hardness Test:
10mm sphere of steel or tungsten carbide

Vickers Micro-hardness Test: Diamond pyramid

P is the applied load

Correlation between
Hardness and Tensile Strength
TS (MPa) = 3.45 x HB

TS (psi) = 500 x HB

Response to Sudden Loading: Impact

Increase in Loading
Rate results in:
- increase in sy and TS
- decreases %EL

Why?
A rapid loading gives less time for dislocations to
move past obstacles: thus hardens the material

So, The response to sudden loading is also a

measure of:
Lack of Ductility and
Toughness

Impact Resistance: Toughness

Energy to break a unit volume of material:

Energy is absorbed for movement of dislocation

Engineering
tensile
stress, s

Low toughness: ceramics

High toughness: metals
Very low toughness:
unreinforced polymers

Engineering tensile strain,

The lesser the energy absorbed the poorer the toughness

Impact Tests
Impact test conditions are chosen to represent
severe conditions for fracture:
1. Deformation at a relatively low temperature: less
opportunity for movement of dislocations
2. Very rapid deformation: less opportunity for
movement of dislocations
3. Presence of a notch: existing crack initiation site
Two Standard Testing Methods:
Charpy (common)
Izod (for non-metallic)

Heavy pendulum:
starting at height
h, swings through
its arc
strikes and
breaks the
specimen
reaches a final
elevation, h'
h' is a measure
of the ability of
the material to
withstand the
impact (energy
absorbed)

Ductile-Brittle Transition (DBT) Temperature

Impact Energy vs DBT Temperature

DBT Temp for Steel: Role of Carbon

Creep
Deformation of materials at elevated temperatures
plastic deformation,
time-dependent,
for metallic materials creep temperature > 0.4 Tm
(Tm = melting point on absolute temp. scale, K),
life limiting factor for several critical high
temperature components

Examples of in-service creep:

steam generators in thermal power plants
turbine rotors in jet engines

Assessment of Creep
Measurement of
deformation or
strain as a
function of time
at:
Constant
temperature
and

Constant load
or stress

Constant Load Creep Behaviour

Instantaneous Deformation
On loading, instantaneous elastic deformation

Constant Load Creep: Primary Region

Primary or Transient Creep Region
Continuously decreasing:
creep strain with time
creep/strain rate with time, the slope decreases with time
Indicates creep resistance: Strain Hardening

Constant Load Creep: Secondary Region

Secondary or Steady-state Creep region:
Creep or strain rate is constant with time
the plot takes almost a linear shape
the region of longest duration
for practical applications, the regions should be as long
as possible
The constancy of creep
rate is attributed to the
balance between
Strain hardening
Recovery (a softening
process)

Constant Load Creep: Secondary Region

Strain Hardening:
ductile material becoming harder when plastically
deformed as a result of extensive generation of
dislocations and straining in the crystalline structure.
Also, called work hardening (cold working)
Recovery:

stored strain energy is removed by virtue of dislocation

motion and enhanced atomic diffusion at elevated
temperatures, resulting in annihilation (vanishing off)
of dislocations and improved ductility

Constant Load Creep: Tertiary Region

Tertiary Creep region / Creep Rupture:
Rapid acceleration of creep rate, leading to failure/rupture
Rupture results from microstructural changes:
grain boundary separation
internal cracks, cavity cracks, leading to decrease in the
effective load-bearing area
For practical applications,
the onset of tertiary creep
should be delayed as long
as possible

Creep Parameters and

Design of High Temperature Components
For long-life components (e.g., steam generators):
Steady-state creep rate (e/t) is the design parameter

The creep tests need not last to failure

For short-life components (e.g., rocket motor nozzle):
Time to rupture (creep-rupture life) is the design parameter
Creep rupture tests required
Design data for creep is commonly represented as
log stress
vs
log Steady-state Creep Rate (e/t) or
log Rupture Time

Creep Data Extrapolation

For long-life components, generating actual creep
data under actual conditions (temperature/stress)
would require impractically long-term tests
Solution:
Short-term accelerated tests at higher
temperatures and comparable stresses
At different temperatures, determine LarsenMiller parameter
T (C + log tr): Larsen Miller Parameter
(T: temp. in K, C: constant (~20), tr: rupture
time in hours)
Extrapolation of the data

Creep Data Extrapolation

Larson-Miller
Parameter
vs
log stress

Cyclic Loading
Fluctuations in:
Temperature (inside and outside)
Loading
Pressure

Examples of Cyclic Loading

Hip implant:
Cyclic loading
during
walking

Fatigue
Damage or failure caused due to dynamic and
fluctuating stress
(e.g., bridges, aircraft and machine components)
Failure may occur at a stress level considerably
lower than the tensile or yield strength
Failures normally occur after a lengthy period of
repeated stress or strain cycling

90% of metallic components fail due to fatigue

Failures are sudden

S-N Curve: Fatigue Parameters

Fatigue Strength: Maximum stress at which no fatigue

failure occurs for a given number of cycles (say, 107)
Fatigue Life: Number of cycles to cause fatigue failure at a
given stress level

S-N Curve: Fatigue Parameters

Fatigue Limit: Stress below which no fatigue failure occurs