DEPARTMENT OF MINING AND MATERIALS ENGINEERING

LABORATORY MANUAL

Materials Science and Engineering

MIME 260

Winter 2011

LABORATORY COORDINATOR and INSTRUCTOR: Dr Florence PARAY

florence.paray@mcgill.ca

Materials Science and Engineering MIME 260

ORGANIZATION OF THE LABORATORY PROGRAM

Laboratory sessions
A total of three laboratory sessions constitutes the experimental work involved with the course
requirements. Students with time conflicts for the laboratory sessions or absent are required to
contact the laboratory coordinator Dr. Florence Paray (florence.paray@mcgill.ca) as the lab
sessions are compulsory. It is the students responsibility; a student absent for a laboratory
session will get automatically a zero for the corresponding report unless the absence justification
has been approved.

Laboratory Groups
The class has been divided into nine laboratory groups. A class list of the groups is included in
this manual. Make sure that your name is on the list. Please identify your group and refer to the
schedule table included in this document.

Laboratory safety
Do not forget that each time you are assigned a new task; an Experiment Hazard Analysis
should be done by you and your instructor. In an EHA, each step of the laboratory session is
examined to identify potential hazards and to determine the safest way to do the experiment.
Did you know that PPE, or Personal Protective Equipment, is equipment worn to minimize
exposure to specific occupational hazards? In the Department of Mining and Materials
Engineering, protective clothing such as lab coats is required for all laboratories sessions.
Students are asked to bring their own lab coat to all laboratories sessions. Additional
Personal Protective Equipment will be provided if required to perform the experiment. Moreover,
it should never be forgotten that PPE is useful but is not substitute for good laboratory practices!

Laboratory reports
Bring this manual with you to all experiments.

Read carefully the following instructions.

REPORT WRITING GUIDELINES

1. The individual laboratory report must be hand in at the beginning of the Wednesday lecture
following the lab. IMPORTANT

No lab report will be corrected if hand in after the Wed. Lecture.

Corrected labs will be given at the end of the following lab.
2. The report must comprise of the following section headings (the maximum marks given for
each section are given in parentheses after each section heading):
(i) Introduction (5); (ii) Theory (5); (iii) Method (10); (iv) Results (10); Discussion (10);
Conclusions (5).
Omission of any of these headings will lead to loss of all the marks corresponding to the
missing section(s).
3. The (i) Introduction, (ii) Theory and (iii) Method sections must be presented to the
demonstrator at the beginning of the laboratory session and included in the final report. If
these sections are not presented at this time, 10 marks will be deducted. IMPORTANT
4. The following are general guidelines; see specific experiment for detailed guidelines.
(i)
(ii)
(iii)

(iv)

Introduction: Up to half a page explaining the industrial importance of the

experiment.
Theory: Maximum of one page. This section must describe expected results of
experiment, and reasons for these expectations.
Method: Written in 2 parts. The first part (General Method), which you submit
at the beginning of the lab session, is a prcis of the lab manual. The second part
(Additional Details), which you write during the session, includes any details that
do not appear in the lab manual ( the lab details change from group to group).
Results: Present tables, calculations, photographs in this section, and describe in
words exactly what these data reveal. For example, in the following graph:
3

X1

X2

Y doesnt only increase with X; its effect diminishes above X1, and plateaus at X2.
(v)
(vi)

Discussion: Compare your results to the theory. Give reasons for any
discrepancies. Include any other comments that may have arisen during the lab.
Conclusions: Point form summary of your results.

Your report should be concise and short with a maximum of 5 pages excluding
figures and tables.
Provide data, sample calculations ,figures and tables at the end of the report. These should be
numbered and include captions. Refer to, describe and/or discuss all of the items you include
here in the body of the report.

TO NOTE
McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore all students must understand the
meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the
Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures (see www.mcgill.ca/students/srr/honest/ )
for more information).

In accord with McGill Universitys Charter of Students Rights, students in this course have the
right to submit in English or in French any written work that is to be graded.
In the event of extraordinary circumstances beyond the Universitys control, the content and/or
evaluation scheme in this course is subject to change.

Materials Science and Engineering - MIME 260

Tutorial and Laboratory Schedule Winter 2011

Group
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

13
Jan
2
3

20
Jan

27
Jan

3
Feb
T1

1
2
3

10
Feb
3*
1
2*
3
1*

17
Feb
T2

24
Feb

3
March

17
24
March March
1

31
March
T3

2
break

3
1*
2

Midterm

1
2
3
3*

10
March

2*
3
1*
1

3
1
2

The lab reports are due at the beginning of the class on the following Wednesday.
*Three experiments: 1, 2, 3 at 2:35 pm or at 4 pm if it is noted as 1*, 2* and 3*
1- Cold and Hot Rolling of Pure Aluminum :
2- Mechanical Properties of Materials :
3- Measurement of Elastic Modulus :

Hope Tan
Huseyin Aydin
Dr. Florence Paray

WONG 0250
WONG 0250
WONG 3230

Laboratory coordinator and instructor : Dr Florence Paray, M.H. Wong room 2M070, florence.paray@mcgill.ca
Three tutorials (T1, T2 and T3) : Mandana Bornapour. Location: ENGTR1090, 2:35 pm

MIME 260 Materials Science And Engineering

LABORATORY GROUPS (Winter 2011- as January 12, 2011 )

Group 1

Group 6

Abouzakhm, Patrick
Ahmed, Manzir
Altman, Bryan
Banville, Alexandre
Basilio, Vance R.
Batory-Bernardin, William J.
Bichri, Noha

Monette, Maxime
Monnoo, Yousuf S.
Moradi, Habibullah
Nguyen, Vinh-Hieu (Vinh)
Opris, Bogdan G.
Porter, Daniel J.
Haseeb, Muhammad T. (Taimor)

Group 2

Group 7

Black, Christopher J.
Chaudhari, Zeeshan
Chevarie, Alexander (Alex)
Chiha, Joseph
Chung, Steven
Collins, Eric
Coviensky, Adam

Riedel, John
Roy, Martin M.
Sagaria, Michael
Schachner, Adam J.
Shah, Syed I. (Baz)
Shalish, Elia
Shine, Julien J.

Group 3

Group 8

Crochet, Julien D.
El-Bitar, Elham
Falcicchio, Mark J.
Fernando, Mary T.
Garneau-Halliday, Philippe
Gatti, Fabio
Ghanem, Joe

Shirazi, Javid
Shyamprasad, Chaya
Skalli, Sara
Speal, Nicholas (Nick)
Sulehri, Ghufran R.
Tager, Mark S.
Taibi, Angelo
Rufo, Joseph A. (Joey)

Group 4

Group 9

Godon, Marie-France (Marie)

Gunasekera, Senuri S. (Samadhi)
Hong, Yun Seok
Hughes, Marissa (Stella)
Johnson, David M.
Kor, Mert
Kost-Stephenson, Daniel P.
Urkun, Deniz

Turcotte, Justin M. (Justin)

Ward, Bonnie
Yoo, Myung-Jae (David)
Zawad, Imtiaz Alam
Zwanenburg, Philip
Kiryakov, Nikola
Houle, Nicola

Group 5
Kraml, Alexander M.
Lalande, Genevive
Loj, Alexander
MacLean, Andrew
Mansuri, Adam H.
Marks, James
Mergler, Lane H.
Shamash, Orry

If you do not find your name Please contact the laboratory coordinator Dr. Florence
Paray as soon as possible . Room 2M070 , Wong Building . florence.paray@mcgill.ca

EXPERIMENT 1
COLD AND HOT ROLLING OF PURE ALUMINUM
(i) Introduction
Explain why aluminum is so widely used in the manufacture of components/products. Name
some components/products which illustrate the reasons you have given. Why is rolling an
important industrial metal forming operation? Why is hot rolling employed as opposed to cold
rolling, and vice versa? Name some components/products made out of rolled aluminum.
(ii) Background
Rolling increases the strength of metals by increasing the number of crystallographic defects (i.e.
defects in atomic packing); this is known as work hardening. Rolling at high temperatures
decreases the degree of work hardening, for any given rolling reduction, by reducing the number
of defects formed. Explain the micromechanisms which produce these three effects. Draw a
schematic diagram (of hardness vs. reduction) indicating the expected effect of hot and cold
rolling reductions on hardness. Justify your prediction. Draw a schematic diagram indicating the
effect of temperature on the hardness of a cold rolled metal, explaining this expected behavior.
In this laboratory, 500oC has been chosen as the hot rolling temperature. This temperature will
differ for different metals. Give reasons why this is so.
(iii)Method
General Method
a) Hardness measurement of initial ingot
Measure the Rockwell H hardness of the unrolled ingot. (Look up the Rockwell hardness test,
and briefly describe it in this section. Explain what the H stands for). Take at least three
readings to obtain an average hardness and note both the average and the range of these values.
Note the results in the appropriate locations in the templates.

b) Hot rolling
Two ingots of commercial purity aluminum (99.5%) 1 inch thick which have been heated to
about 500oC in a soaking furnace, will be rolled and then water-cooled. One of the ingots will be
reduced in thickness to 0.7 of an inch, and the other to 0.5 inch. Precisely measure the final
thickness and calculate the reduction (%R), and measure the hardness (three measurements for
each). Note values in their appropriate locations in the hot rolling template.
c) Cold rolling
Cold roll a third ingot 1 inch thick by the following nominal amounts: 5%, 15%, 30% and
50%. After each reduction, measure the exact thickness of the ingot and calculate the exact
reduction. Following this measurement, measure the hardness (three measurements). Note all
the results in the appropriate places in the cold rolling template.

Additional Details
Record any changes in procedure, or procedures not fully described (e.g. handling of the
specimen for hot rolling, problems with any shape changes, hardness testing procedure).
(iv)Results
Include the two templates in this section. Present your cold rolled hardness data in the form of a
hardness vs. percent reduction graph. Superimpose the results of the hot rolling on this graph.
Make sure to distinguish between the two curves. Describe in words exactly what the numerical
values are indicating in terms of trends.
(v)Discussion
Compare your results with your expectations described in the theory section. Explain any
discrepancies, large and small. Describe and explain the surface and shape changes you
observed. Comment on the advantages and disadvantages of the Rockwell hardness
measurement technique.
(vi)Conclusions
Point form summary of your results, and explanations for the observed behavior.

COLD ROLLING

Pass

Thickness %
(inch.)
reduction

Actual
Actual %
thickness (inch.) reduction

RH
Reading

0.95

0.85

15

0.7

30

0.5

50

Average

HOT ROLLING

Ingot

Thickness %
(inch.)
reduction

Actual thickness Actual %

(inch.)
reduction

RH
Reading

0.7

30

0.5

50

Average

EXPERIMENT 2
THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS
(i) Introduction
Explain why knowledge of mechanical properties is important. Give examples showing that
component function often depends on one or two mechanical properties (e.g. for a chair to
function, i.e. to support a load, it must have a high stiffness and a high yield strength).
(ii) Background
You are going to look at mechanical properties generated by tensile testing. Draw a schematic
diagram of engineering stress vs. strain for a metal undergoing uniaxial tensile testing. Identify
all the mechanical properties that can be obtained from this graph. You will be generating a load
vs. extension graph in your experiments. Draw a schematic diagram of this curve. Show (i.e.
present equations) how to calculate the yield strength (MPa), UTS (MPa), elastic modulus
(GPa) and elongation to fracture (%) from the load vs. extension curve (as opposed to the
stress/strain curve). Illustrate the expected effect of alloying and cold rolling on the stress/strain
curve by superimposing the expected curves on your schematic stress/strain diagram. Briefly
explain why alloying and cold rolling have the effects that you have illustrated. You will be
examining annealed copper; annealed brass (Cu alloyed with zinc); cold rolled brass. Find
literature values for the yield strength (in MPa), UTS (in MPa), elastic modulus (in MPa) and
elongation to fracture (in %) for these metals.
(iii) Method
General Method
You will obtain load-extension curves of the following metals: annealed copper; annealed brass
(Cu alloyed with zinc); cold rolled brass. Prior to testing; measure the cross-section of the
specimens using the micrometer; establish the gauge length by drawing, with a pencil, two
parallel lines, separated by about 25 mm, in the gauge region. (for the annealed specimens,
clean up the oxide films a little using abrasive paper). Make sure these lines are strong and clear,
because surface changes during deformation can often make these lines difficult to observe.
Accurately measure the gauge length that you have drawn. Note that the gauge length does not
have to be any particular length (e.g. it could be 2 mm), but you must know the exact value of the
gauge length (e.g. your gauge length could be 25.6 mm).
Explain, in this section, why there is no minimum gauge length, but that there is a maximum
possible gauge length. Why is it advisable that the gauge length that you choose be the
maximum one?
With the help of the instructor, set up the specimen and perform the test. Note any changes that
occur in the specimen (including the surface), and the fracture surface characteristics. Fractures
will be examined by eye and possibly with binocular microscope.
Additional Details
Record any changes in procedure, or procedures not fully described (e.g. tensile machine
operation )
10

(iv)Results
Describe and compare the load extension curve shapes for each material. Convert these data to
stress and strain and define the regions on the stress-strain curves. Describe any changes to the
specimen that occurred during the test. Calculate the yield strength (in MPa), UTS (in MPa),
elastic modulus (in GPa) and elongation to fracture (in %). Tabulate your results.
(v)Discussion
Compare your results with your expectations (shape of curves, effect of alloying and cold rolling)
described in the theory section. Explain any discrepancies, large and small. Compare your
values with the literature values. Explain any discrepancies, large and small.
(vi)Conclusions
Point form summary of your results, and explanations for the observed behaviour.

11

EXPERIMENT 3
MEASUREMENT OF ELASTIC MODULUS (YOUNG'S MODULUS)
(i) Introduction
The elastic modulus (E) defines the load required to elastically deform a component. Name a
component/product which depends mainly on a high elastic modulus and name one that depends
mainly on a low elastic modulus.
(ii) Background
You will be measuring the elastic moduli for steel, aluminum, brass and plexiglass
(polymethylmethacrylate). Obtain the literature values for these materials (citing the source of
your data) and briefly explain why they differ.
The elastic modulus essentially is a factor which relates elastic stress and strain. Therefore, one
obvious method to measure E is to measure the effect of load on elastic deformation. In this
experiment, a cantilever beam will be loaded. E is determined from:
d

4 L3F
Et 4

where L is the length of the cantilever, F is the applied force, t is the side length of the (square)
cross-section of the cantilever, and d is the deflection. In this equation, what are the expressions
for stress and strain (in terms of F,l and t and d)?
You will be also using a method based on measuring the natural resonant frequency of a material.
What is the resonant frequency, and why is it a function of modulus?
(iii) Method
General Method
Cantilever Beam Method
length
deflection
Thicknes
s
load
Figure 1.

(1)

Schematic illustration of the experimental set-up for measuring the elastic

modulus by the cantilever method.

With the help of the demonstrator, set up the cathetometer (i.e. traveling microscope) and
focus the cross-hair on the scratch engraved on the end of the brass cantilever provided.
(With weighing pan attached). Make a 'zero' reading.
12

(2)

(3)
(4)

(5)

Increase the applied force, F, by adding masses in 1 kg increments to the hanger and then
measuring the deflection each time. Load the pan gently, avoid jiggling or excessive
movement in the vicinity of the apparatus. Maximum weight to be used is 4 kg for steel
and brass and 3 kg for aluminum and plexiglass. (Precaution: In matching the cross-hair to
the scratch on the cantilever after each load increase, always turn the micrometer in the
same direction in order to avoid backlash.)
Remove all the loads and check the zero reading in order to ensure no movement of the
apparatus has occurred during the experiment.
Plot d against F in order to obtain the slope (=4L3/Et4) of the best-fit straight line which
should result from your measurements. Determine E for each material and compare against
your book value(s).
Repeat the experiment for the other materials provided.

Resonant Frequency Method

Length (L)

a
a = 0.244 L

Figure 2.

(1)

(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)

Schematic illustration of the experimental set-up for measuring the elastic

modulus by the resonant frequency method.

With the help of the instructor, measure the elastic modulus of the four smaller samples of
the same material, using the GRINDO-SONIC device. This device measures the natural
frequency of the material after an applied vibration.
Measure the dimensions (l, h, and w) and the mass of each bar.
Place the bar on the foam pads at the appropriate position.
Touch the detector, (with the white spot facing up) against the side of the bar, equidistant
from the top and bottom, about 2 cm inward from a foam support.
Tap the bar on the center point of the top face in an elastic manner with the small hammer
provided.
Note the value of the resonant frequency (R) on the readout.
Repeat the process several times to get a consistent reading.
Calculate the elastic modulus using the following formula:

L4 f 2
t4

where is the density, t is the thickness and width of the (square) cross-section and f is the
frequency defined by

2 x106
R

13

Repeat for the other materials.

Additional Details
Record any changes in procedure, or procedures not fully described.
(iv)Results
Record in this section the results generated. Present your cantilever beam results graphically, as
described, and then tabulate E values. Describe in words what the graphs show. Tabulate all
your results from the resonant frequency test. Describe, in words, any differences in E values due
to differences in technique.
(v)Discussion
Compare your results those stated in the theory section. Explain any discrepancies, large and
small. Explain any differences seen between the values generated by the 2 techniques. Which, if
any, technique, appears to give the more accurate values?
(vi)Conclusions
Point form summary of your results, and explanations for the observed behaviour.

14

Cantilever Beam Method

Dimensions
Length (mm)
Thickness (mm)

Steel

Brass

Deflection (mm)
1 kg
2 kg
3 kg
4 kg
Final position

Steel

Brass

Aluminum

Aluminum

Plexiglass

Plexiglass

Resonant Frequency Method

Data
Length (mm)
Thickness (mm)
Width (mm)
Mass (g)

Steel

Brass

Aluminum

Plexiglass

Data
Average value for
R (s)
Minimum value
for R (s)
Maximum value
for R (s)

Steel

Brass (1)

Brass (2)

Brass (3)

Data
Average value for
R (s)
Minimum value
for R (s)
Maximum value
for R (s)

Aluminum

Plexiglass (1)

Plexiglass (2)

Plexiglass(3)

15