Eng 45 Lab 2

Mechanical Properties of Materials

Christian Larreynaga
February 2, 2015
Section 2A
TA: Harsh Maheshwari

Abstract
In the previous lab, Atomic Bonding, it was discovered that different materials
contain different properties, density, hardness, and conductivity. In this lab more
properties of these same materials will be experimented on. The tensile test will be
performed and from the data the Youngs Modulus, Yield Strength, Tensile Strength,
Ductility, and Toughness, will be determined for the 6 different materials.

Introduction
Many questions arise for engineers who have to design various products and
buildings. Specifically, engineers are expected to choose the ideal material that will be
strong and durable for the job. This lab consists of tensile testing for various materials,
and from the tensile test various information about the material can be determined. The
tensile test is performed by a machine that clamps the material specimen vertically in
place. During the test run, the machine exerts a vertical force extending the specimen
until the material can no longer withhold the force and ultimately breaks. The data that
results from this procedure is in terms of load and elongation. The load is the amount of
force exerted on the specimen, usually in kilo-Newton, and the elongation is the
measurement of the extension on the specimen, usually in millimeters. Engineers
primary focus is the Stress vs. Strain curve that is derived from the load vs. elongation
curve. The stress vs. strain curve is very similar to the load vs. elongation curve, but the
primary difference is that the stress vs. strain curve is normalized to the specific geometry
of the specimen. The stress vs. strain curve provides engineers with information about
the strength and durability of different materials. The stress/strain relation for different
materials varies. Stronger more durable materials can experience more force/stress with
little elongation/strain, on the contrary weaker materials experience more
strain/elongation with relatively the same amount of force.
The data within stress vs. strain curve provides 5 different mechanical properties
of the different specimens: Youngs Modulus, Yield Strength, Tensile Strength, Ductility,
and Toughness. The Youngs Modulus of the material is what represents the stiffness of
the material and its resistance to any deformation. Typically metals would have much
higher Youngs Modulus then polymers since metals resist deformation much more
effectively. Every material has an elastic range to them, the range where the material

returns back to its original shape once the force stops acting on it, and this range then
transitions to what is known as the plastic deformation range, where once released, the
material will not snap back into its original shape. The point on the curve where this
transition happens is known as the Yield Strength. The maximum stress that the material
withstands is known as the ultimate tensile strength also known as Tensile strength. Each
material breaks at a different point in time, and what is used to classify this breakage/
failure is known as Ductility. The Ductility is the relationship with the elongation of the
material and the point at which failure occurs. Materials that stretch very far before
breakage are known to have high ductility, while a material that breaks with little to no
stretching is known to have low ductility. The term that would classify the combination of
the different properties is known as the Toughness. The toughness is the area under the
stress vs strain curve and the area of the curve is larger when the material withstands a lot
of stress, and has a large amount of elongation.
The purpose of this experiment is to be able to analyze the data provided by a
tensile test. The tensile test provides a lot of information about the mechanical properties
of materials, and this information is significant for those who design and manufacture
objects in life. Before conducting this experiment it is believed that the metals will have
the highest toughness, specifically steel.

Procedure
In this experiment six different sample materials will be experimented on. The six
materials are Aluminum, Copper, Steel, Polyethylene, PVC, and Nylon. The six materials
will undergo the hardness testing under the Rockwell hardness machine. After the
measurements are taken the tensile test will be performed on each of the samples.
Before conducting any part of the experiment the dimensions of each sample has
to be taken. Using a digital ruler the width, length, and thickness of the neck region of the
sample need to be measured.
The first part of this experiment is to determine the hardness of the six samples
using the Rockwell hardness machine. To begin, the sample will be placed on the
machine and then adjusted until the machine is set passed the number 290. Once that
number is reached the start button will be pressed and the data will be recorded. The
process will be repeated three times in order to receive an average value of the results.

The next part of the experiment consists of performing the tensile test. The tensile
test is performed on the special machine for the tensile samples but will be controlled
through the computer. Once logged in to the computer the rate at which the load will be
applied will need to be selected. For metals the rate chosen will be 2.54mm per minute,
and for polymers the rate will be 25.4mm per minute. The tensile will be placed in the
clamps of the machine, it is very important that the sample is completely vertical and that
there is little to now angles, since this can cause shear or torsion. Shear and torsion is not
wanted because it causes errors in the data. Once everything is set up the experiment is
allowed to be performed, and the computer will automatically record the data. The
computer displays the data in terms of load and elongation, as stated before. To determine
the five mechanical properties, Youngs Modulus, yield strength, tensile strength,
Ductility, and toughness, the load vs. elongation curve needs to be converted into a stress
versus strain curve. The stress is calculated using equation 1, to calculate stress the load
quantity, provided by the computer, and the cross-sectional area, determined by the
dimension measurements, are needed.
=

load P
=
area A

(1)

To determine the strain the change in length and the original length are needed as in eq.2.
The computer provides the change in length, while the original length/gauge length was
measured at the beginning.
=

extension
l
=
guage length l 0

(2)

stress at fracture
( Youn
g s Modulus )

ductility =strain at fracture

'

(3)

The stress versus strain curve has a linear portion in the graph and the slope of
this linear portion represents the youngs modulus. Once the slope is found there needs to
be another line drawn with the same slope but offset to the right by 2%. The point where
this line intersects the stress vs. Strain curve represents the yield strength of the material.
The maximum value of stress that each material receives is the ultimate tensile strength
or better known as the tensile strength. The ductility is calculated using equation 3, all of

the data needed is provided by the computer. Lastly, the area under the stress vs. strain
curve represents the toughness of the material.

Results
Table 1
Specimen

Length(mm

Thicknes

Width

(mm)

HRE1

HRE2

HRE3

HRE
ave

(mm)
Aluminum
Copper
Steel
PVC
PE
Nylon

Table 2
Specimen
Aluminum
Copper
Steel
PVC
PE
Nylon

Youngs

Yield

Tensile

Modulus

Strength

Strength

Ductility

Toughness