ME 215 ENG.

MATERIALS I
CHAPTER 4
PROPERTIES IN BENDING AND SHEAR

 Machine and structural parts, are often subjected

to shear and bending stresses other than tensile
and compressive stresses,.
It is highly desirable to test such parts under the
conditions which simulate the actual service
loading.
Furthermore, the preparation and adequate
tension testing of tension specimens might be
difficult; therefore, simpler shear and bending
tests are often employed.

 However, static bending and shear

properties of materials are not of the same
universal interest as the static tension and
compression properties.
This may largely be due to the fact that the
properties in shear and bending might be
determined directly, or at least,some
insight may be gained to these properties
from tensile data (eg. Ssy=~0.5Sy)

BENDING OF MATERIALS
Many structures and machines have
members to resist bending loads.
When a member is subjected to bending
loads, we say that it acts as a beam

WHAT IS BENDING
In bending, both tensile and compressive stress are induced
over a cross section of the beam. Bending tests are then less
severe than tensile tests, but more severe than compressive
tests
in actual fact, a bending test does not provide extra
information on the mechanical behaviour of a material unless
bending produces special failure.
Its value lies in as a direct means of evaluating behaviour of
beams under load, or as simple means to determine the
strength and ductility
Common materials used in bending tests are :
Cast ron (CI)
Concrete
Wood
Some plastics
etc

Types of Bending TESTS

Bending tests can be carried out in 3 types:
1) by applying a concentrated load at the span centre (Fig. 4.1a), which is
called 3-point bending. This method is used most often on account of its
simplicity. This is the most popular type of bending test due to its simplicity.
(used mainly for Brittle materials)
2) by applying two loads P/2 at equal distances from supports (Fig. 4.1b), ;
which is called 4-point bending, or pure-bending test because of the
constant bending moment between the inner load points, Although not as
common as the 3-point one this bending test characteristicise the
properties of materials better (used mainly for Brittle materials)
3) By folding the material (Fig. 4.1c), used especially if the bending required
is much larger than the capacity of the other bending test (used mainly for
ductile materials)
Though 3-point bending is the most popular type of Standard bending test,
pure (or 4-point) bending test characterises the properties of the material
(being tested) better.

Fig. 4.1 Bending fixtures, (a) 3-point bending, (b) 4-point bending, and (c) folding
test according to DIN 4100 and DIN 50121 (MFL)

Two main parameters/criteria in bending tests

are the determination of :
1. Bending strength with a crack type
failure on the tension side of (brittle and
sometimes ductile type of) materials
2. Ductility of the materials with the
level/degree of bending (mainly for ductile
materials)

 Bending tests are intended for the brittle

materials when the scope of the test is to
determine the strength of the material.
As far as the bending strength is concerned,
various defnitions are used concurrently and the
bending strength of a material is defined by a
number of different titles such as:

Flexural strength
Cross-breaking strength
Modulus of rupture
Transverse strength
Coefficient of bending strength

Flexural strength: Flexural strength is also known as

modulus of rupture, bending strength, or fracture
strength.
Flexural strength is measured in terms of stress, and thus
is expressed in pascals (Pa) in the SI system.
The value represents the highest stress experienced within
the material at its moment/instant of rupture.
In a bending test, the highest stress is reached on the
surface of the sample. For a rectangular sample under a
load in a 3 point bending setup the max stress will be:

 During a bending test to determine the bending

or flexural strength of a material, the beam
under bending must be so proportioned that it
will not fail due to other types of failure such as :
Shear and
Lateral deflection

before it reaches its limit of bending strength.

Therefore a bending strength test requires a
geometry with l/h ratio larger than 10
For a bending strength
test: L/h >10
For a shear failure test:
L/h<6

Bending tests cannot be employed for ductile materials to

determine flexural strength since the specimens cannot
be bent fully without rupture.
As in compression tests, it becomes impossible to
determine the ultimate strength of ductile materials.
For ductile materials there is no bending strength as for
brittle materials since there is no clear rupture, but the level
of the max load can be determined to cause a certain
amount of plastic deformation regarded as failure of the
beam.
Usually folding test is used for measuring ductility of ductile
materials

STIFFNESS:
The resistance to deformation in
bending in the elastic range is called
"stiffness in bending".
A measure of this property is the
"modulus of elasticity in bending", as
determined by the load-deflection
relation and the deflection equaton.
Since the deflection of a beam is a
property of both material & the
geometry of the specimen it can only
be used for comparison of
geometrically identical specimens
tested under identical conditions.

Under 3-point bending, for a rectangular crossection

beam :

Elastic modulus in bend, Eb=

F= Value of load selected from the straight part of the curve
D= deflection corresponding to the load F
L=distance between outer supports
b= width of specimen
h=thickness of specimen

COLD BEND TEST:

Cold bend Test is used for ductile
materials to determine the
degreee of ductility by noting the
angle of (theta) at which craks
starts on tension side.
If no cracks occur for a rather
large angles of then the folding
test is used to further bend the
specimen. Such materials are
regarded as rather ductile
materials

(D/h)

Bend test

SPECIAL BEND TESTS

There are some special tests for different
applications like :
Notched bar test
Weld test
Hot bending test
Quench-bend test

1.Nothced Bar Test :

is used to determine the resistance of material to
shock and shows its ability to withstand stress
concentration.
Notched-bar Impact Tests are methods for evaluating
the relative toughness of engineering materials.
They measure the energy absorbed by the high strain
rate fracture of a standard notched specimen, and can
be used as an economical quality control method to
assess the notch sensitivity and impact toughness of
engineering materials.

 We have seen that, in tension test, the resistance to

shock of a material may be evaluated from its "toughness
lndex number".
Similarly, the work done in bending the test piece (shown
in Fig. 4.5) through about a right angle could also be
employed as toughness lndex number of the material.
The work done is the product of the force applied by the
nose and the distance through which it moves

Notch sensitivitiy: The extent to which the sensitivity of a

material to fracture is increased by the presence of a surface
defect, such as a notch, a crack, or a scratch.
Low notch sensitivity is usually associated with ductile materials,
and high notch sensitivity is usually associated with brittle
materials.

2.Weld Test:
is similiar to 3- point bending test and used especially
to determine the ductility of the weld section of
specimens via the bend angle theta.
Specimen is bent up to 40 degrees in a 3-point
bending test and then put onto folding test and bent
until cracks occur on the tensile surface. The final
angle of bending is a representation of the ductility of
the weld section.

Ductility in cold bend test of welding sometimes

(and usually) is determined by THE FIBERSTRAIN measurement on the tension side of the
material.
Original length Lo and final length Lf, on the
tension side, are used to calculate the ductility
R=100* (Lf-Lo)/Lo

3.Hot bend Test

Materials are used in operations like
cold and hot forming/working. Therefore
a special type of bend test called hotbend test is sometimes performed with
specimens heated to RED-HOT
temperature to determine the suitability
of material to hot working.
For plain carbon steels discontiuos
yieldind occurs in the temperature
region of 230 and 370 degree and this
temp.region is known as the blue brittle
region because steel heated to this
temp region shows a decreased tensile
ductility and increased notch sensitivity
as in case of brittle materials

 Hot-bend test is also employed to welded

joints to test for blue brittlenesss.
Hot bend test of welded joints is important
if the weld seam is going to be subjected
to forming operations such as flanging,
angle bending, and alike.

4.Quench Bend Test

This test is sometimes used in connection with plates
used for boilers.
The specimen is heated to 650 centigrate degrees and is
held at this temperature about half an hour.
It is then quenched in warm water around 28 centigrate
and subjected to bend test.
The purpose of this test is to detect traces of nitrogen
present in metal which is indicated by fracture

 This where bending properties of materials

end.
Lets have a look at some videos
And then have a look at the shear
properties of materials