MATS 322 Mechanics of Materials Spring 2016

Name:

Midterm II
April 25th, 2016

You MAY use one 3 by 5 index card with notes on both sides.

You MAY use a CALCULATOR.

You MAY NOT have a cell phone or other communication device out during this exam.

Problem Your Score Possible

Points
1. Multiple choice 21

2. Precipitation strengthening 20

3. Mechanical properties of steel 20

4. Fracture 19

5. Fatigue 20

Total
MATS 322 Midterm II Spring 2016
1. Multiple Choice (21 points total)
READ ALL OPTIONS. Check the box next to the BEST answer. Three points for each question.

a) The goal of precipitation strengthening is to strengthen an alloy by forming precipitates that are:
large and confined to grain boundaries small and confined to grain boundaries
small and distributed throughout the grains very large
b) In transgranular fracture, cracks propagate:
A. through grains A. and C.
B. along grain boundaries B. and C.
C. preferentially along certain crystallographic planes (cleavage planes)
c) The maximum elastic stress concentration for a circular hole in an infinite plate under uniform,
uniaxial tension:
decreases as the radius of the hole decreases
increases as the radius of the hole decreases
is the same for all holes of any radius
d) Ductile-to-brittle transition temperatures are observed to occur in
A. pure FCC metals A. and B.
B. steels and other iron alloys A, B, and C.
C. ceramics
e) Consider steel with one type of microstructure spheroidite, for example. Increasing the phase
fraction of Fe3C will tend to:
A. increase tensile strength A. and B.
B. increase ductility A. and C.
C. decrease ductility
f) The Griffith criterion for the critical stress for crack propagation:
depends on the crack surface area (described by the crack length)
is based on a thermodynamic analysis of brittle fracture
depends on the materials modulus of elasticity
all of the above
g) The final fracture of material that fails due to fatigue:
A. always occurs slowly because the crack grows only a small amount each loading cycle
B. may be sudden and very rapid
C. results in a fracture surface with beachmarks
B. and C.

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MATS 322 Midterm II Spring 2016
2. Precipitation strengthening (20 points total)

Use the partial Cu-Be phase diagram to answer (a)

and (b)

a) Over what compositional range can you

produce Cu-rich alloys precipitation hardened
with beryllium? Give your answer in at% Be.
(3 pts)

b) Given a Cu-Be alloy with 5 at% Be, three steps are needed to make a precipitation hardened alloy.
Fill in the white cells of the table with the appropriate name, temperatures, and phases. (9 pts)

Step Temperature range Time Phase(s) present at the

end of the step
Step 1: (2 pts) (1 pt)
Solution heat
treatment On the order of an hour

Step 2: (1 pt) Seconds to minutes (1 pt)

Quenching from the solution
treatment temperature to
the quench temperature

Step 3: (2 pts) (1 pt)

Precipitation
heat treatment Minutes to weeks
also called (1 pt):

c) Why is the solution heat treatment step needed? (3 pts)

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MATS 322 Midterm II Spring 2016
Question 2 precipitation strengthening, continued:

d) Use the graphs below for a 2014 aluminum alloy.

Given: a 2014 aluminum alloy that has been solution treated and quenched.
Write the temperature and duration of a precipitation heat treatment that will clearly achieve a
minimum tensile strength of 500 MPa while maintaining a ductility of at least 20 % EL. (5 pts)

Note: The times are given

in log scales. Make a
reasonable estimate of the
time.

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MATS 322 Midterm II Spring 2016
3. Strengthening mechanism in steel (20 points total)
The two micrographs below show steel alloys with two different microstructures, both consisting of a
ferrite matrix with rounded cementite particles. Note the difference in length scale.

(a) What are the two microstructures called? Write the names above the micrographs. (4 pts)

Sample I: _______________________ Sample II:___________________________

(b) Which pictured steel will have a higher tensile strength? Why? Assume the two alloys have the same
chemistry and the same phase fraction of cementite. (7 pts)

(d) Name two other possible steel microstructures. (4 pts)

(d) Rank the four microstructures you named in parts a and c in terms of relative ductility. Assume
the chemistry is the same in each. (5 pts)

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MATS 322 Midterm II Spring 2016
4. Fracture (19 points total)
A large plate of an aluminum alloy 3 cm thick is subject to uniform loading as shown. The plate has an
internal crack 0.60 cm long that goes through its thickness. The crack has root radii of 0.010 mm. The
fracture toughness, KIc, of this alloy is 28 MPa-m1/2. Assume: Y = 1 and plane strain conditions.

(a) What is the minimum applied load at which fracture will occur? (7 pts)

(b) There is an application for similar aluminum plates as in part (a) (but with no internal crack) that
requires loading up 400 MPa. Determine the minimum length of an edge crack, oriented to the
applied load as in (a), that will lead to fracture. Assume Y = 1.1. (7 pts)

(c) Use the micrograph to answer the questions. (5 pts)

How are the features on the fracture surface formed?

(a short phase is enough)

This surface is typical of what type of fracture?

DUCTILE BRITTLE (circle one)

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MATS 322 Midterm II Spring 2016
5. Fatigue (20 pts)
(a) A fatigue test was conducted with a mean stress of 50 MPa and a stress amplitude of 250 MPa.
Determine the minimum stress (min), maximum stress (max), and the stress ratio (R). (6 pts)

(b) Refer to the S/N plot to the right to answer the

following questions. (6 pts)
What is the fatigue limit of 1045 steel?

What is the fatigue limit of 2014-T6 aluminum?

(c) Refer to the micrograph to the right of the fracture surface

of an aluminum alloy that failed by fatigue to answer the
following. (4 pts)

What are the parallel bands on this fracture surface called?

How long does it take to form one of these bands?

(d) Why is there so much scatter in the data used to generate S/N plots? (4 pts)