Summary

This experiment was designed to investigate the behavior of a number of common engineering materials that were subjected to tensile loading. The materials that were tested were Carbon Steel, Aluminum Alloy, High Conductivity Copper, Brass, Coconut Fibre, Sisal Fibre, Plastic Fibre, Plywood, Teak and White Pine. The following properties were determined: Youngs Modulus, yield stress, yield point Ultimate Tensile Stress (UTS) percentage elongation at the facture and the percentage reduction in the cross-section area. This Tensile Testing experiment is important for determining a materials properties, limits and its potential application in a wide range of industries. If a material is to be used in an engineering structure it will be subjected to various loads and it is important to know that the material is strong enough to withstand the loads that it will experience during its service life.

Description of Apparatus

Hounsfield Tensometer(see instruction booklet) Hounsfield Extensometer (see instruction booklet) Percentage Elongation Gauge (see instruction booklets) Specimen: 0.1 Carbon Steel (Long and Short) Aluminium Alloy H.D.14 annealed at 360oc(short) High conductivity Copper (short) 70/30 Brass (short) Coconut Fibre (short) Sisal fibre Plastic fibre Plywood (short) Teak (short) White Pine (short)

Procedure

(i)Test of Fracture 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) The sample was placed in the Hounsfield Exstensometer Load was uniformly increased until sample ruptured Readings for load and extension were recorded on a graph by the extensometer Broken sample was placed in the elongation gauge Elongation was measure and recorded.

(ii)Elastic Test 1) the long copper specimen was inserted into the machine chucks and to the extensometer was attached to the specimen. 2) The dail was zeroed 3) The load was increased in increments of 1000 with a maximum well below the yield point of the sample 4) At each incremental increase the extension was recorded. 5) A graph of stress-strain was plotted.

Theory
Test of Fracture

The Hounsfield extensometer was used to apply a tensile load until the specimens fractured. During the test the loads and their corresponding elongations for each material were recorded and a Load vs Elongation graph was plotted for each material. A stress- percentage elongation graph can be constructed from the load vs Elongation graph by making the required calculation. The relevant formulae are: = P/Ao Percentage Elongation = (l/lo)*100 - Stress - Strain l Elongation lo Initial Length/gauge length P Load Ao Original Cross-Sectional Area Yield point is the stress level at which plastic deformation starts. Below this level the material is said to be elastic which means that the material will return to the gauge length if the loading seizes.

Beyond yielding, continuous increase of the tensile loading leads to an increase in the stress required to permanently deform the specimen At this stage the specimen is strain hardened. The material is said to be in its plastic region, where deformation is permanent. If the load is continuously applied, the stress-strain curve will reach the maximum point, which is the Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS). At this point, the specimen can withstand the highest stress before necking takes place where the load will continuously fall off until fracturing occurs.

Relevant Formulae: UTS = Pmax/Ao UTS Ultimate Tensile Strength Test Within The Elastic Limit In this experiment the Hounsfield Extensometer meter was used to apply incremental forces to the copper, In order to get more accurate values for necessary calculations. The Elastic region is the part of the stress strain curves that extends to the yield point. Deformation in this region is recoverable. In order to calculate the stress in this region Hookes Law will have to be applied: = E = l/lo E = / Stress E Modulus of Elasticity or Youngs Modulus Strain

In the elastic region the stress-strain graph is plotted a as a straight line which means that stress is linearly related to strain. Therefore the linearity constant or the gradient of the stress-strain graph is defined as E The Modulus of Elasticity/Youngs Modulus. The Youngs Modulus of a material describes speaks to its resistance deformation. A material with a higher modulus is stiffer and has better resistance to deformation.

Results

Observations
Recorded Data Fracture Test

Metals Gauge Length 25.25 mm Cross Section Area 20 mm^2 Test Speed 10mm/min

Material Carbon Steel High Conductivity Copper 70/30 Brass Aluminum allow

Reduction Area (%) Elongation (mm) 55 37 72 19 15 14 50 28

Woods Gauge Length 80 mm Test Speed 10mm/min

Material Plywood Teak White Pine Length(mm) 14.95 13.35 13 Width(mm) 9.75 10.3 8.1 6

Fibres
Gauge Length 80 mm Test Speed 10mm/min

Material Sisal Fibre Coconut Fibre Plastic Fibre

Diameter(mm) 0.225 0.320 0.230

Recorded Data Elastic Test

Material : Copper Gauge Length 90mm Cross-Sectional Area 20mm^2
Load (N) 1000 2000 3000 4000 Elongation(mm) 0.196 0.34 0.468 0.603

Calculated Data

Fracture Test Graphs

Metals
600 500 400

Stress (N/mm2)

Steel 300 200 100 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 Copper Aluminum Brass

Percentage Elongation (%)

Material Carbon Steel High Conductivity Copper 70/30 Brass Aluminum allow

Ultimate tensile Strength Yield Stress 409.375 6812.5 325 319.375 500.625 400 326.25 221.875

Steel
450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 Steel

Brass
600 500 400 300 Brass 200 100 0 0 5 10 15 20

Copper
350 300 250

Stress(N/mm2)

200 Series1 150 100 50 0 0 5 10 15 20

Percentage Elongation(%)

350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 0 5

Aluminum

Series1

10

15

20

25

30

10

6000 5000 4000

Fibres

Stress(N/mm2 )

Plastic 3000 2000 1000 0 0 -1000 100 200 300 400 Sisal Coconut

Percentage Elongation(%)

Material Plastic Fibre Sisal Fibre Coconut Fibre

Ultimate Tensile Stress Yield Stress 5655.434813 5655.434813 2640.450763 2288.390661 1460.80323 1305.398631

11

3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 0 2 4 6

Sisal

Sisal

10

12

14

Coconut
1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 -200 0 10 20 30 40 50 Coconut

12

Plastic
6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 0 -1000 100 200 300 400 Plastic

13

WOODS
80 70 60

Stress (N/mm2 )

50 40 30 20 10 0 0 -10 5 10 15 20 25 Teak Plywood White Pine

Precentage Elongation (%)

Materials Teak White Pine Plywood

Ultimate Tenisle Stress Yield Stress 72.06065947 45.89850922 22.31718898 9.021842355 21.95352028 20.58142526

14

80 70 60

Teak

Stress(N/mm2)

50 40 30 20 10 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 Teak

Percentage Elongation(%)

White Pine
25 20 15 10 5 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 White Pine

15

Plywood
25 20 15 10 Plywood 5 0 0 -5 1 2 3 4

16

Elastic Test

Stress VS Strain - Copper

250 200 150 100 50 0 0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 Stress VS Strain - Copper

Strain

E = / = (153-100.5)/(0.0052-0.00378) = 36971.83 N/mm2

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Discussion:

The Stress-Percentage Elongation graph shows that the Steel sample experienced more plastic deformation that the copper, brass and aluminum sample, and this is reflected by the higher Percentage Elongation. The steel sample also displayed a higher Toughness and durability than the other metal samples, which is represented by the larger area beneath the stress percentage elongation graph. As shown in the graph the Steel a showed a gradual transition from strain hardening to failure which is the property called necking. Necking is a property of ductile material. Steel exhibits more ductile properties. It has large strains and stress before it fails. Thus making steel the material of choice for structural members. Though Brass as shown by the graphs can reach strengths greater than steel, it does not absorb nearly as much energy before it fails, making it a less suitable material for structures. The copper sample has a very small strain hardening section and almost immediately begins to exhibit a decrease in strength after yielding, which is evident by the fairly steady decline in the plastic section. This shows that the copper is not as ductile as steel, but, holds a certain level of ductility. Brass has the highest yield point and Ultimate Tensile Stress of all the metals tested, but also has the smallest elastic section. This signifies that if brass is loaded pass its yield point; it would likely fail before steel and aluminum. When comparing Aluminum and copper it is shown that aluminum will yield earlier than copper but will strain harden to strength comparable with coppers Ultimate Tensile Stress. This speaks to the materials toughness, durability and ductility. The plastic fiber is able to withstand very high stresses before yielding, and then the strength falls off rapidly before fracturing. In comparison with plastic, the coconut and sisal fibers withstand low stresses before yielding. The sisal and coconut are brittle materials and as such have no plastic region because they fail after yielding. Making both materials not very suitable for construction. Sisal would be more effectively used as agricultural twine because of its ability to stretch and it durability. Of the three wood samples tested Teak is by far the strongest. It is one of the hardest, strongest and most durable of all natural woods. It exhibits some ductile properties though its not considered ductile. It has high yield stresses, high
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Ultimate Tensile stresses relative to the plywood and white pine and is also shown to strain harden before fracturing teak ideal for bearing loads though not as ideal as any of metals. An effective use for teak would be building wooden huts of furniture. However teak is one of the most expensive natural woods which may influence its uses. White pine is a soft and weak wood that breaks soon after yielding making it more or less a brittle material. White Pine can be a good choice for flooring. Plywood which is a slightly weaker material than white pine fails shortly after yielding making an un-suitable material for construction. More fitting uses of plywood are shelving, framing, and formwork. The Hounsfield tensometer has an advantage over other tensile machines as it gives data at incremental values allowing more decisive values to be recorded, thus making calculations more accurate. Youngs modulus calculated using the data from the Tensometer was found to be 36.97183 KN/mm2, while Youngs Modulus calculated from the data obtained from the Extensometer was calculated to be 7.9 KN/mm2 both of which differs significantly from the known value of 117 KN//mm2 . The tensometer is much more accurate than the extensometer though not accurate. Factors that could have altered the values during the test are human error and machine error.

Conclusion
In conclusion a lot of the engineering properties of common materials can determined from examining how the stresses and strains of the material differ under loading. The conclusion can be drawn that steel is the ideal metal for bearing loads, plastic is ideal for rope fibers because of its ability to stretch and teak is ideal structural timber.

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Appendix

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The University of The West Indies CVNG-1005 Science of Material Experiment 1 Tensile Testing of Different Material

Instructor: Dr Mwasha

Table of Contents

Summary1 Description of Apparatus..2 Procedure.3 Theory.4 Results.6 (a) Observations...6 (b) Calculated Results8 Discussion.18 Conclusion...19 Appendix*.20