MODULE III

A.MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF ENGINEERING MATERIALS

1. Introduction
Often materials are subject to forces (loads) when they are used. Mechanical
engineers calculate those forces and material scientists how materials deform
(elongate, compress, twist) or break as a function of applied load, time, temperature,
and other conditions.
Materials scientists learn about these mechanical properties by testing materials.
Results from the tests depend on the size and shape of material to be tested
(specimen), how it is held, and the way of performing the test. That is why we use
common procedures, or standards, which are published by the ASTM.
2. Concepts of Stress and Strain
To compare specimens of different sizes, the load is calculated per unit area, also
called normalization to the area. Force divided by area is called stress. In tension and
compression tests, the relevant area is that perpendicular to the force. In shear or
torsion tests, the area is perpendicular to the axis of rotation.
= F/A0 tensile or compressive stress
= F/A0 shear stress
The unit is the Megapascal = 106 Newtons/m2.
There is a change in dimensions, or deformation elongation, L as a result of a
tensile or compressive stress. To enable comparison with specimens of different
length, the elongation is also normalized, this time to the length L. This is called
strain, .
= L/L
The change in dimensions is the reason we use A0 to indicate the initial area since it
changes during deformation. One could divide force by the actual area, this is called
true stress (see Sec. 6.7).
For torsional or shear stresses, the deformation is the angle of twist, Fig. 6.1) and
the shear strain is given by:
= tg
3. StressStrain Behavior
Elastic deformation. When the stress is removed, the material returns to the
dimension it had before the load was applied. Valid for small strains (except the case
of rubbers).

Deformation is reversible, non permanent

Plastic deformation. When the stress is removed, the material does not return to its
previous dimension but there is a permanent, irreversible deformation.
In tensile tests, if the deformation is elastic, the stress-strain relationship is called
Hooke's law:
= E
That is, E is the slope of the stress-strain curve. E is Young's modulus or modulus of
elasticity. In some cases, the relationship is not linear so that E can be defined
alternatively as the local slope:
E = d/d
Shear stresses produce strains according to:
= G
where G is the shear modulus.
Elastic moduli measure the stiffness of the material. They are related to the second
derivative of the interatomic potential, or the first derivative of the force vs.
internuclear distance (Fig. 6.6). By examining these curves we can tell which
material has a higher modulus. Due to thermal vibrations the elastic modulus
decreases with temperature. E is large for ceramics (stronger ionic bond) and small
for polymers (weak covalent bond). Since the interatomic distances depend on
direction in the crystal, E depends on direction (i.e., it is anisotropic) for single
crystals. For randomly oriented policrystals, E is isotropic.
4. Anelasticity
Here the behavior is elastic but not the stress-strain curve is not immediately
reversible. It takes a while for the strain to return to zero. The effect is normally
small for metals but can be significant for polymers.
5. Elastic Properties of Materials
Materials subject to tension shrink laterally. Those subject to compression, bulge.
The ratio of lateral and axial strains is called the Poisson's ratio .
= lateral/ axial
The elastic modulus, shear modulus and Poisson's ratio are related by E = 2G(1+)
6. Tensile Properties
Yield point. If the stress is too large, the strain deviates from being proportional to
the stress. The point at which this happens is the yield point because there the
material yields, deforming permanently (plastically).

Yield stress. Hooke's law is not valid beyond the yield point. The stress at the yield
point is called yield stress, and is an important measure of the mechanical properties
of materials. In practice, the yield stress is chosen as that causing a permanent strain
of 0.002 (strain offset, Fig. 6.9.)
The yield stress measures the resistance to plastic deformation.
The reason for plastic deformation, in normal materials, is not that the atomic bond is
stretched beyond repair, but the motion of dislocations, which involves breaking and
reforming bonds.
Plastic deformation is caused by the motion of dislocations.
Tensile strength. When stress continues in the plastic regime, the stress-strain passes
through a maximum, called the tensile strength (TS) , and then falls as the material
starts to develop a neck and it finally breaks at the fracture point (Fig. 6.10).
Note that it is called strength, not stress, but the units are the same, MPa.
For structural applications, the yield stress is usually a more important property
than the tensile strength, since once the it is passed, the structure has deformed
beyond acceptable limits.
Ductility. The ability to deform before braking. It is the opposite of brittleness.
Ductility can be given either as percent maximum elongation max or maximum area
reduction.
%EL = max x 100 %
%AR = (A0 - Af)/A0
These are measured after fracture (repositioning the two pieces back together).
Resilience. Capacity to absorb energy elastically. The energy per unit volume is the
area under the strain-stress curve in the elastic region.
Toughness. Ability to absorb energy up to fracture. The energy per unit volume is the
total area under the strain-stress curve. It is measured by an impact test (Ch. 8).
7. True Stress and Strain
When one applies a constant tensile force the material will break after reaching the
tensile strength. The material starts necking (the transverse area decreases) but the
stress cannot increase beyond TS. The ratio of the force to the initial area, what we
normally do, is called the engineering stress. If the ratio is to the actual area (that
changes with stress) one obtains the true stress.
8. Elastic Recovery During Plastic Deformation
If a material is taken beyond the yield point (it is deformed plastically) and the stress

is then released, the material ends up with a permanent strain. If the stress is
reapplied, the material again responds elastically at the beginning up to a new yield
point that is higher than the original yield point (strain hardening, Ch. 7.10). The
amount of elastic strain that it will take before reaching the yield point is called
elastic strain recovery (Fig. 6. 16).
9. Compressive, Shear, and Torsional Deformation
Compressive and shear stresses give similar behavior to tensile stresses, but in the
case of compressive stresses there is no maximum in the curve, since no necking
occurs.
10.Hardness
Hardness is the resistance to plastic deformation (e.g., a local dent or scratch). Thus,
it is a measure of plastic deformation, as is the tensile strength, so they are well
correlated. Historically, it was measured on an empirically scale, determined by the
ability of a material to scratch another, diamond being the hardest and talc the softer.
Now we use standard tests, where a ball, or point is pressed into a material and the
size of the dent is measured. There are a few different hardness tests: Rockwell,
Brinell, Vickers, etc. They are popular because they are easy and non-destructive
(except for the small dent).
11.Variability of Material Properties
Tests do not produce exactly the same result because of variations in the test
equipment, procedures, operator bias, specimen fabrication, etc. But, even if all those
parameters are controlled within strict limits, a variation remains in the materials, due
to uncontrolled variations during fabrication, non homogenous composition and
structure, etc. The measured mechanical properties will show scatter, which is often
distributed in a Gaussian curve (bell-shaped), that is characterized by the mean value
and the standard deviation (width).
12.Design/Safety Factors
To take into account variability of properties, designers use, instead of an average
value of, say, the tensile strength, the probability that the yield strength is above the
minimum value tolerable. This leads to the use of a safety factor N > 1 (typ. 1.2 - 4).
Thus, a working value for the tensile strength would be W = TS / N.
B.MECHANISMS OF PLASTIC DEFORMATION
While some materials are elastic in nature up point of fracture, many engineering materials like metals
and thermo-plastic polymers can undergo substantial permanent deformation. This characteristic
property of materials makes it feasible to shape them. However, it imposes some limitations on the
engineering usefulness of such materials. Permanent deformation is due to process of shear where
particles change their neighbors. During this process inter-atomic or inter-molecular forces and
structure plays important roles, although the former are much less significant than they are in elastic
behavior. Permanent deformation is broadly two type s plastic deformation and viscous flow.
Plastic deformation involves the relative sliding of atomic planes in organized manner in crystalline
solids, while the viscous flow involves the switching of neighbors with much more freedom that does not
exist in crystalline solids. It is well known that dislocations can move under applied external stresses.
Cumulative movement of dislocations leads to the gross plastic deformation. At microscopic level,

dislocation motion involves rupture and reformation of inter-atomic bonds. The necessity of dislocation
motion for ease of plastic deformation is well explained by the discrepancy between theoretical strength
and real strength of solids, as explaine d in chapter-3. It has been concluded that one-dimen sional
crystal defects dislocations plays an important role in plastic deformation of crystalline so lids. Their
importance in plastic deformation is relevant to their characteristic nature of motion in specific
directions (slip-directions) on specific planes (slip-planes), where edge dislocation move by slip and
climb while screw dislocation can be moved by slip and cross-slip. The onset of plastic deformation
involves start of motion of existing dislocations in real crystal, while in perfect crystal it can be
attributed to generati on of dislocations and subsequently their motion. During the motion, dislocations
will tend to interact among themselves. Dislocation interaction is very complex as number of dislocations
moving on number of slip planes in various directions.
When they are in the same plane, they repel each other if they have the same sign, and annihilate if they
have opposite signs (leaving behind a perfect crystal). In general, when dislocations are close and their
strain fields add to a larger value, they repel, because being close increases the potential energy (it
takes energy to strain a region of the material). When unlike dislocations are on closely spaced
neighboring slip planes, complete annihilation cannot occur. In this situation, they combine to form a
row of vacancies or an interstitial atom. An important consequence interaction of dislocations that are
not on parallel planes is that they intersect each other or inhibit each others motion. Intersection of two
dislocations results in a sharp break in the dislocation line. These breaks can be of two kinds:
(a)A jog is break in dislocation line moving it out of slip plane.
(b)A kink is break in dislocation line that remains in slip plane. Other hindrances to dislocation motion
include interstitial and substitutional atoms, foreign particles, grain boundaries, external grain surface,
and change in structure due to phase change. Important practical consequen ces of hindrance of
dislocation motion are that dislocations are still mova ble but at higher stresses (or forces), and in most
instances that leads to genera tion of more dislocations. Disloc ations can spawn from existing
dislocations, and from defects, grain boundaries and surface irregularities. Thus, the number of
dislocations increases dramatical ly during plastic deformation. As further motion of dislocations
requires increase of stress, material can be said to be strengthened i.e. materials can be strengthened
by controlling the motion of dislocation.
Mechanisms of plastic deformation in metals
Plastic deformation, as explained in earlier section, involves motion of dislocations. There are two
prominent mechanisms of plastic deformation, namely slip and twinning.
SLIP
It is the prominent mechanism of plastic deformation in metals. It involves sliding of blocks of crystal
over one other along definite crystallographic planes, called slip planes. In physical words it is analogous
to a deck of cards when it is pushed from one end. Slip occurs when shear stress applied exceeds a
critical value. During slip each atom usually moves same integral number of atomic distances along the
slip plane producing a step, but the orientation of the crystal remains the same. Steps observable under
microscope as straight lines are called slip lines. Slip occurs most readily in specific directions (slip
directions) on certain crystallographic planes. This is due to limitations imposed by the fact that single
crystal remains homogeneous after deformation. Generally slip plane is the plane of greatest atomic
density, and the slip direction is the close packed direction within the slip plane. It turns out that the
planes of the highest atomic density are the most widely spaced planes, while the close packed
directions have the smallest translation distance. Feasible combination of a slip plane together with a
slip direction is considered as a slip system.
n a single crystal, plastic deformation is accomplished by the process called slip, and sometimes by
twinning. The extent of slip depends on many factors including external load and the corresponding
value of shear stress produced by it, the geometry of crystal structure, and the orientation of active slip
planes with the direction of shearing stresses generated. Schmid first recognized that single crystals at
different orientations but of same material require different stresses to produce slip. The dependence of
various factors has been summarized using a parameter critical resolved shear stress,
where P

external load applied, A

cross-sectional area over which the load applied,

between slip direction and tensile axis,

angle

angle between normal to the slip plane and the tensile axis

and m Schmid factor.

Shear stress is maximum for the condition where = = 45 . If either of the angles are equal to 90 ,
resolved shear stress will be zero, and thus no slip occurs. If the conditions are such that either of the
angles is close to 90 , crystal will tend to fracture rather than slip. Single crystal metals and alloys are
used mainly for research purpose and only in a few cases of engineering applications. Almost all
engineering all oys are polycrystalline. Gros s plastic deformation of a polycrystalline specimen

corresponds to the comparable distortion of the individual grains by means of slip. Although some grains
may be oriented favorably for slip, yielding cannot occur unless the unfavorably or iented neighboring
grains can also slip. Thus in a polycrystalline aggregate, individual grains provide a mutual geometrical
constraint on one other, and this precludes plastic deformation at low applied stresses. That is to initiate
plastic deformation, polycrystalline metals require higher stresses than for equivalent single crystals,
where stress depends on orientation of the crystal. Much of this increase is attributed to geometrical
reasons.

Slip in polycrystalline material involves generation, movement and (re-)arrangement of dislocations.

Because of dislocation motion on different planes in various directions, they may interact as well. This
interaction can cause dislocation immobile or mobile at higher stresses. During deformation, mechanical
integrity and coherency are maintained along the grain boundaries; that is, the grain boundariesare
constrained, to some degree, in the shape it may assume by its neighboring grains. Once the yielding
has occurred, continued plastic deformation is possible only if enough slip systems are simultaneously
operative so as to accommodate grain shape changes while maintaining grain boundary integrity.
According to von Mises criterion, a minimum offive independent slip systems must be operative for a
polycrystalline solid to exhibit ductility and maintain grain boundary integrity. This arises from the fact
that an arbitrary deformation is specified by the six components of strain tensor, but because of
requirement of constant volume, there are only independent strain components. Crystalswhich do not
possess five independent slip systems are never ductile in polycrystalline form, although small plastic
elongation may be noticeable because of twinning ora favorable preferred orientation.
TWIINING
The second important mechanism of plastic deformation is twinning. It results when a portion of crystal
takes up an orientation that isrelated to the orientation of the rest of the untwined lattice in a definite,
symmetrical way. The twinned portion of the crystal is a mirror image of the parent crystal. The plane of
symmetry is called twinning plane. Each atom in the twinned region moves by a homogeneous shear a
distance proportional to its distance from the twin plane. The lattice strains involved in twinning are
small, usually in order of fraction of inter-atomic distance, thus resulting in very small gross plastic
deformation. The important role of twinning in plastic deformation is that it causes changes in plane
orientation so that further slip can occur. If the surface is polished, the twin would be still visible after
etching because it possesses a different orientation from the untwined region. This is in contrast with
slip, where slip lines can be removed by polishing the specimen. Twinning also occurs in a
definitedirection on a specific plane for each crystal structure. However, it is not known if there exists
resolved shear stress for twinning. Twinning generally occurs when slip is restricted, because the stress
necessary for twinning is usually higher than that for slip. Thus, some HCP metals with limited number
of slip systems may preferably twin. Also, BCC metals twin at low temperatures because slip is difficult.
Of course, twinning and slip may occur sequentially or even concurrently in some cases

A fracture is the separation of an object or material into two or more pieces under the action of
stress. The fracture of a solid usually occurs due to the development of certain displacement
discontinuity surfaces within the solid. If a displacement develops perpendicular to the surface of
displacement, it is called a normal tensile crack or simply a crack; if a displacement develops
tangentially to the surface of displacement, it is called a shear crack, slip band, or dislocation.[1]
Fracture strength or breaking strength is the stress when a specimen fails or fractures.
The word fracture is often applied to bones of living creatures (that is, a bone fracture), or to
crystals or crystalline materials, such as gemstones or metal. Sometimes, in crystalline materials,
individual crystals fracture without the body actually separating into two or more pieces. Depending
on the substance which is fractured, a fracture reduces strength (most substances) or inhibits
transmission of light (optical crystals). A detailed understanding of how fracture occurs in materials
may be assisted by the study of fracture mechanics.
In brittle fracture, no apparent plastic deformation takes place before fracture. In brittle crystalline
materials, fracture can occur by cleavage as the result of tensile stress acting normal to
crystallographic planes with low bonding (cleavage planes). In amorphous solids, by contrast, the

lack of a crystalline structure results in a conchoidal fracture, with cracks proceeding normal to the
applied tension.
The theoretical strength of a crystalline material is (roughly)

where: is the Young's modulus of the material,

is the surface energy, and
is the equilibrium distance between atomic centers.
On the other hand, a crack introduces a stress concentration modeled by
(For sharp cracks)
where: is the loading stress,
is half the length of the crack, and
is the radius of curvature at the crack tip.
Putting these two equations together, we get

Looking closely, we can see that sharp cracks (small ) and large defects (large ) both lower the
fracture strength of the material.
Recently, scientists have discovered supersonic fracture, the phenomenon of crack motion faster
than the speed of sound in a material.[4] This phenomenon was recently also verified by experiment
of fracture in rubber-like materials.

In ductile fracture, extensive plastic deformation (necking) takes place before fracture. The terms
rupture or ductile rupture describe the ultimate failure of tough ductile materials loaded in tension.
Rather than cracking, the material "pulls apart," generally leaving a rough surface. In this case there
is slow propagation and an absorption of a large amount energy before fracture.[citation needed]

Schematic representation of the steps in ductile fracture (in pure tension)

Many ductile metals, especially materials with high purity, can sustain very large deformation of
50100% or more strain before fracture under favorable loading condition and environmental
condition. The strain at which the fracture happens is controlled by the purity of the materials. At
room temperature, pure iron can undergo deformation up to 100% strain before breaking, while cast
iron or high-carbon steels can barely sustain 3% of strain.[citation needed]
Because ductile rupture involves a high degree of plastic deformation, the fracture behavior of a
propagating crack as modelled above changes fundamentally. Some of the energy from stress
concentrations at the crack tips is dissipated by plastic deformation before the crack actually
propagates.
The basic steps are: void formation, void coalescence (also known as crack formation), crack
propagation, and failure, often resulting in a cup-and-cone shaped failure surface.

In materials science, fatigue is the weakening of a material caused by repeatedly applied loads. It is
the progressive and localised structural damage that occurs when a material is subjected to cyclic
loading. The nominal maximum stress values that cause such damage may be much less than the
strength of the material typically quoted as the ultimate tensile stress limit, or the yield stress limit.
Fatigue occurs when a material is subjected to repeated loading and unloading. If the loads are
above a certain threshold, microscopic cracks will begin to form at the stress concentrators such as
the surface, persistent slip bands (PSBs), and grain interfaces.[1] Eventually a crack will reach a
critical size, the crack will propagate suddenly, and the structure will fracture. The shape of the
structure will significantly affect the fatigue life; square holes or sharp corners will lead to elevated
local stresses where fatigue cracks can initiate. Round holes and smooth transitions or fillets will
therefore increase the fatigue strength of the structure.

Failures occurring under conditions of dynamic or alternating

loading are called fatigue failures, presumably because it
isgenerally observed that these failures occur only after a
considerable period of service. Fatigue failure usually occurs
at stresses well below those required for yielding, or in some
cases abovethe yield strength but below the tensile strength of
the material. These failures are dangerous because they occur
without any warning. Typical machine components subjected
to fatigue are automobile crank-shaft, bridges, aircraft landi
ng gear, etc. Fatigue failures occur in both metallic and nonmetallic materials, and are responsible for a large number
fraction of identifiable service failures of metals. A typical
fatigue-fracture surface looks like the one shown in

figure-8.7. The fatigue crack nucleates at the

stressconcentration. Generally, the fatigue fracture surface is
perpendicular to the direction of an applied stress. A fatigue
failure can be recognized from the appearance of the fracture
surface,which shows a smooth and polished surface that
corresponds to the slow growth of crack, when the crack faces
smoothen out by constant rubbing against each other and a
rough/granular region corresponds to the stage of fast growth,
after critical conditions is attained where member has failed in
a ductile manner when cross section was no longer able to
carry the applied load. The region of a fracture surface that
formed during the crack propagation step may be results in
characteristic pattern of concentric rings spread over the
smooth region of the fracture surface, known as beach marks
or striations,radiating outward from the point of initiation of
the failure, as shown in figure-8.7. Beach marks (also known
as clamshell pattern) are macroscopic dimensions and may be
observed with the unaided eye. These markings are found for
components that experienced interruptions during the crack
propagation stage. Each beach mark band represents a period
of time over which crack growth occurred. On the other hand
fatigue striations are microscopic in size and subject to
observation with the electron microscope (either TEM or
SEM). The relatively widely spaced striations are caused by
variations in the stress amplitude during the life of the
component. On a much finer level, a large number of striations
may be sometimes being seen. The width of each striation
here is equal to the distance by which the crack grows
during one cycle. Any point with stress concentration such as
sharp corner or notch or metallurgical inclusion can act as poi
nt of initiation of fatigue crack.
well known and observed number of times that shear modulus of a material increases
with decreasing temperature, and this has a corresponding effect on the flow-stress,
since the stress associated with a dislocation is always proportional to the shear modulus.
Thus /E can be expected to be constant with varying temperature. However, this ratio
decreases with increase in temperature. Since,the dislocation-density contribution of the
flow stress is effectively constant, it was concluded that there must be a second basic
component of flow stress that is temperature-dependent i.e.
is athermal component of flow stress. The fact that the flow stress contains a component
that responds to thermal activation implies that plastic deformation can occur while both
the temperature and the stress are maintained constant. Deformation that occurs under
these conditions which is time-dependent is known as creep. Creep deformation (constant
stress) is possible at all temperatures above absolute zero. However, it is extremely
sensitive to temperature. Hence, creep in usually considered important at elevated temp

eratures (temperatures greater than 0.4

Creep behavior of a material is studied using creep test. In creep test, the tensile
specimen is subjected to a constant load or stress at a constant temperature. Most creep
tests are conducted at constant load in analogous to engineering application, whereas
creep tests at constant stress are necessary for understanding of mechanism of creep.
During the creep test, strain (change in length) is measured as a function of elapsed time.
Creep test data is presented as a plot between time and strain known as creep curve.
As shown in the above figure, upon loading the specimen, there is an instantaneous
deformation (0) that is mostly elastic. Actual creep curve follows this elastideformation.
Based on the variation of creep rate with time, creep curve is considered to be consists of
three portions, each of which has its own distinctive strain-time feature. After initial rapid
elongation, 0, the creep rate decreases continuously with time, and is known as
primaryor transient creep. Primary creep is followed by secondary or steadystate or
viscous creep,
which is characterized by constant
creep rate. This stage of creep
is often the longest duration of the three m
odes. Finally, a third stage of creep known as,
tertiary creep
occurs that is characterized by increas
e in creep rate
It is suggested that during primary creep, mate
rial strain hardens thus increases its creep
resistance. Constant creep rate during seconda
ry creep is believed to be due to balance
between the competing processes of strain hardening and recovery. The average value of
creep rate during the secondary
creep is called the minimum
creep rate. Third stage creep
occurs in constant load tests
at high stresses at high temper
atures. This stage is greatly
delayed in constant stress tests. Tertiary cr
eep is believed to occur because of either
reduction in cross-sectional area
due to necking or internal void formation. Third stage is
often associated with metallurgical changes su
ch as coarsening of precipitate particles,
recrystallization, or diffusional change
s in the phases that are present.
For metallic materials most creep tests are c
onducted in uni-axial tensile mode. However,
uni-axial compression tests are us
ed for brittle materials to avoid stress amplification and
corresponding crack propagation.
For most materials creep pr
operties are independent of
loading direction.
The minimum creep rate is the most importa
nt design parameter derived from the creep
curve. It is the engineering design parameter
that is considered for
long-life applications,

e.g. nuclear power plant components. On th

e other hand, for short-life components (e.g.
turbine blades, rocket motor nozzles), time to rupture or rupture lifetime is the dominant
factor in design. It is found fr
om test conducted to the point
of failure, and
the test is
known as
stress-rupture test
. This is basically similar to a creep test except that the test is
always carried out at higher loads. In a creep
test total strain is often less than 0.5%,
while in stress-rupture
test it is around 50%