Material Properties

and
Testing Methods

Physical Properties
Density
Melting Point
Heat Coefficient, etc

Mechanical Properties

Strength
Ductility
Hardness
Fatigue
Impact
Creep, etc

Chemical Properties
Corrosion

Technology/Technical Properties

Castability
Formability
Machinability
Weldability
Hardenability

Physical
Properties at
Room
Temperature

Thermal conductivity: rate at which heat flows within and through a material

Physical Properties in Descending Order

Metals have high thermal conductivity

Ceramics, plastics and wood have poor thermal conductivity

Specific Strength and Stiffness

Specific strength (tensile strength/density) and specific stiffness (elastic modulus/density)

for various materials at room temperature.

Density: mass per unit volume

weight

weight savings

Very important particularly for aircraft and aerospace, automotive components

Mechanical Properties

Strength
Ductility
H d
Hardness
Fatigue
Impact
Creep, etc

Testing Methods - Mechanical Properties

Tensile or Compression
Hardness
Fatigue
Bending
Impact
C
Creep,
etc
t

Testing Standards

ASTM - American Society for Testing and Materials

DIN Deutsche Industrie Norm
JIS Japan Industrial Standard
BS British Standard

Why dog bone-shaped?

Samples

plate/sheet

cylindrical

plastic

necking
fracture

elastic

For practical engineering

design, yield strength is very
important ! Why

???

(a) A standard tensile-test specimen before and after pulling, showing original and final gage
lengths. (b) A tensile-test sequence showing different stages in the elongation of the specimen

Tension Test Stress-strain Curve

0.2%
A typical stress-strain curve obtained from a tension test, showing various features

Aluminium

Steels

Ductile Fracture
Necking, cup and cone
type fracture

dimples

Brittle Fracture
Little or no extensions,
flat and no necking !

Ao

y or YS

Af

Lo

Lo
Fracture

calculate

or

max

or UTS

Lf

Lf
y = Yield stress (MPa)
u = Ultimate stress (MPa)
e = elongation (% or mm)
q = area reduction (% or mm)
E = modulus of elasticity or Youngs modulus

y =
u =

Fy

Ao = w x t

Ao

Ao =

Fmax
Ao

fracture
fract re =

Ffracture
Ao

e =

Lf - Lo

q =

Ao - Af

Lo
Ao

x 100%

x 100%

(for plate/sheet)

d2

(for round)

Where: = 3.14

Hookes Law
To determine Modulus of Elasticity
or Youngs Modulus

E=

P
Ao
l lo
Engineering Strain, e
lo
Engineering Stess,

Modulus of Elasticity, E

P
A
l
True strain, = ln
lo
True stress, =

Mechanical Properties of Materials

Relative Mechanical Properties of Materials

Summary
Tensile Test:
Strength
Ductility
Stiffness
St
Strong: y and
d u
Ductile: e, q
Stiff: E

Where:
y = Yield stress (MPa)
u = Ultimate stress (MPa)
e = elongation (% or mm)
q = area reduction (% or mm)
E = modulus of elasticity or Youngs modulus

Hardness Test

One of the oldest mechanical testing method

Widely used as Quality Control e.g. if heat treat properly
Cheap and rapid
Some are non-destructive

C
Common
M
Methods
th d

Brinell
Rockwell (A, B and C)
Vickers and Micro-Vickers
Knoop
Shore Durometer

Hardness-testing Methods and Formulas

Comparison of hardness tests on various materials

Microvickers 1g 1kg

Rockwell C (Rc)

500kg load: for non ferrous

Brinell: steel ball and tungsten carbide ball
large impression
3000kg load: for steels & cast irons
not for very hard materials (steel ball: 450HBmax; tungsten ball: 600HBmax)
Vickers and Micro-Vickers: square diamond pyramid (angle 136o)
designed to overcome limitation of Brinell
suitable for hard materials
very small indentation (good and bad !)
needs sample preparation
Rockwell (A, B and C):

very quick and fit into production line

Knoop: mainly for thin layers/coatings

Shore Durometer: mainly for plastics and polymers

Manufacturing, Engineering & Technology, Fifth Edition, by Serope Kalpakjian and Steven R. Schmid.
ISBN 0-13-148965-8. 2006 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved.

Hardness
Scale
Conversions
of Various
Materials
Correlation between Hardness
and Tensile Strength

max (MPa) = 3.45 x HB

max (psi) = 500 x HB

Guidelines only !

Impact Test
To determine brittleness
(normally on steels - BCC)
under certain conditions
Material behave in more brittle
manner under sudden
load/impact

10

Brittle

Ductile

Temperature Transition in Metals

Schematic illustration of transition temperature in metals.

More brittle less energy

More ductile more energy
More carbon more brittle

11

Fatigue
Definition: failure in materials under repeated or cyclic stresses

Fatigue crack starts at some point of stress concentration (flaw, keyway etc)
Cyclical stresses cause propagation marks called beach marks
The crack slowly propagates until at some point the remaining material is
unable to sustain the load and the component breaks abruptly

12

Keyway
fatigue progression marks: beach marks

Fatigue-Fracture Surface
fatigue progression marks: beach marks
Crack initiation

Crack initiation

Fatigue Tests

13

S-N diagram
S = Stress
N = Number of cycles

Endurance limit: ~ 50%

1047 steels

u = 525 MPa
y = 290 MPa

S-N Curves

Typical S-N curves for two metals. Note that, unlike steel, aluminum does not have
an endurance limit. (b) S-N curves for common polymers

14

Five stages in Fatigue Failure:

1. Cyclic load prior to crack initiation
2. Initiation of one or more cracks
3. Crack propagation
4. Propagation until the remaining part
becomes too weak to carry load

da/dN diagram

5. Sudden failure

Fatigue-Fracture Surface

Striations

Typical fatigue-fracture surface on metals,

showing beach marks. Mag. left, 500x;
right, 1000x.

5000x

Factors that influence fatigue strength

Grain size: Coarse-grained metals have a lower fatigue strength than finegrained metals
Component shape where there is stress concentration such as abrupt
changes of section, sharp corners, keyways and sharp undercuts
Surface imperfections such as rough machining lines
Residual stresses after manufacturing processes (machining, grinding, etc).
In some components, e.g. vehicle springs, shot-peening improves fatigue
strength
Corrosion such as pitted surface may penetrates below the surface.
High temperatures: Most metals have a low fatigue strength at high temp

15

Creep Test

Constant load
High temperature

Creep Curve

16

Effect of Stress (load)

Effect of Temperature

17

Three-Point Bending (TPB)

18