MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF

MATERIALS

Elastic limit
Yield Strength
Ultimate Tensile Strength
Stress strain curve for brittle material
Flexural strength
Ductility
Malleability
Resilience
Hardness
Toughness
Stiffness
Strength

STRESS STRAIN CURVE FOR

DUCTILE MATERIAL
DUCTILE MATERIAL

ELASTIC LIMIT

The elastic limit is the highest stress at which all deformation strains are fully recoverable.
For most materials and applications this can be considered the practical limit to the maximum
stress a component can withstand and still function as designed.
Beyond the elastic limit permanent strains are likely to deform the material to the point where its
function is impaired.
Elastic limit is maximum stress or force per unit area within a solid material that can arise before
the onset of permanent deformation.
When stresses up to the elastic limit are removed, the material resumes its original size and
shape.
Stresses beyond the elastic limit cause a material to yield or flow. For such materials the elastic
limit marks the end of elastic behavior and the beginning of plastic behavior
For most brittle materials, stresses beyond the elastic limit result in fracture with almost no
plastic deformation.

YIELD STRENGTH

A yield strength or yield point of a material is defined in engineering and materials science as
the stress at which a material begins to deform plastically.
Prior to the yield point the material will deform elastically and will return to its original shape when
the applied stress is removed.
Once the yield point is passed, some fraction of the deformation will be permanent and nonreversible.
Somewhere between the proportional limit and the ultimate strength of the material is the yield
strength.

ULTIMATE TENSILE STRENGTH

Ultimate tensile strength (UTS), is often shortened to tensile strength (TS) or ultimate strength.
It is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before failing
or breaking.
Some materials will break sharply, without plastic deformation, in what is called a brittle failure.
Others, which are more ductile, including most metals, will experience some plastic deformation
and possibly necking before fracture.
The UTS is usually found by performing a tensile test and recording the engineering
stress versus strain.
The highest point of the stress-strain curve (see point E on the engineering stress/strain diagrams
below) is the UTS.
It is an intensive property; therefore its value does not depend on the size of the test specimen.

FRACTURE STRENGTH

Fracture strength, also known as breaking strength, is the stress at which a specimen fails via
fracture.
This is usually determined for a given specimen by a tensile test, which charts the stress-strain
curve (see image). The final recorded point is the fracture strength.
Ductile materials have a fracture strength lower than the ultimate tensile strength (UTS), whereas
in brittle materials the fracture strength is equivalent to the UTS.
If a ductile material reaches its ultimate tensile strength in a load-controlled situation, it will
continue to deform, with no additional load application, until it ruptures.
If the stress-strain curve is plotted in terms of true stress and true strain, the curve will always slope
upwards and never reverse, as true stress is corrected for the decrease in cross-sectional area.
The true stress on the material at the time of rupture is known as the breaking strength. This is the
maximum stress on the true stress-strain curve, given on curve shown below.

STRESS - STRAIN CURVE FOR

BRITTLE MATERIAL

Amaterialisbrittleif, when subjected to stress, it breaks

without significant deformation.
In brittle material, there is no specific yield point, so we can
not predict the actual behaviour of material.
For these types of materials, yield strength is taken by
drawing a line (parallel to the slope at origin )at 0.2% offset
on the strain axis.

FLEXURAL STRENGTH / MODULUS

OF RUPTURE

It is a mechanical property for brittle material.

It is defined as the ability of a material to resist deformation under bending load.
If an object is subjected to flexural stress, it will undergo both tension and compression
behaviour (compression in upper section & tension in lower section ).
Flexural strength of a material will depend on either its tensile strength or compression
strength, whichever is lesser.

DUCTILITY

Ductility is the property of a material due to which it can be drawn into

wires under tensile stress.
Gold and silver are ranked as the most ductile metals. Other examples are
copper , platinum and tungsten.
Ductility is directly proportional to the toughness. Higher the ductility ,
higher the toughness.

DUCTILE TO BRITTLE TRANSITION

TEMPERATURE (DBTT)

Many materials experience a shift from ductile to brittle behaviour if the temperature is
lowered below a certain point. It is commonly known as the ductile-to-brittle-transition
temperature .
or
It is defined as the temperature at which the material absorbs 15 ft*lb of impact energy during
fracture.
The temperature at which this shift occurs varies from material to material. Metals such as
aluminum, gold, silver, and copper have an FCC (face-centred cubic) crystal lattice structure,
and do not experience a sharp shift from ductile to brittle behaviour. Other metals, such as
iron, many steels, chromium, and tungsten, have a BCC (body-centred cubic) crystal structure
and experience a sharp shift in ductility.

MALLEABILITY

Malleability is the property of a material, usually metals , due to which it can be converted into
thin sheets under compressive stress. Example gold, copper , aluminum etc.
Malleable metals usually bend and twist in various shapes.
Differences in malleability amongst metals are due to variances in their crystal structures.
Compression stress forces atoms to roll over each other into new positions without breaking
their metallic bond. When a large amount of stress is put on a malleable metal, the atoms roll
over each other, permanently staying in their new position.

RESILIENCE

Resilience is the ability of a material to absorb energy when it is deformed elastically, and
release that energy upon unloading.
Resilience (Ur) is measured in a unit of joule per cubic metre (Jm3) in the SI system.
It can be calculated by integrating the stress-strain curve from zero to the elastic limit.
In uniaxial tension,

Proof resilience is defined as the maximum energy that can be absorbed within the elastic
limit, without creating a permanent distortion.
The modulus of resilience is defined as the maximum energy that can be absorbed per unit
volume without creating a permanent distortion.
Modulus of Resilience = (Yield strength)2 / 2 Modulus of elasticity.

HARDNESS

Hardness is the property of a material that enables it to resist plastic deformation, penetration ,
indentation and scratching.
Hardness is important from an engineering standpoint because resistance to wear by either
friction or erosion by steam, oil, and water generally increases with hardness .
Hardness is a measure of how resistant solid matter is to various kinds of permanent shape
change when a compressive force is applied.
Hardness is dependent on ductility, elastic stiffness, plasticity, strain, strength, toughness,
visco-elasticity, and viscosity.
There are three main types of hardness measurements:
Scratch hardness: Scratch hardness is the measure of how resistant a sample is to fracture or
permanent plastic deformation due to friction from a sharp object.
Indentation hardness: Indentation hardness measures the resistance of a sample to material
deformation due to a constant compression load from a sharp object.
Rebound hardness: Rebound hardness, also known as dynamic hardness, measures the height
of the "bounce" of a diamond-tipped hammer dropped from a fixed height onto a material.
This type of hardness is related to elasticity.

TOUGHNESS

Toughness describes a material's resistance to fracture. It is often expressed in terms of the

amount of energy a material can absorb before fracture.

Tough materials can absorb a considerable amount of energy before fracture while brittle
materials absorb very little.

Either strong materials such as glass or very ductile materials such as taffy can absorb large
amounts of energy before failure.

Toughness is not a single property but rather a combination of strength and ductility.

Materials with high yield strength and high ductility have high toughness.

The toughness of a material can be related to the total area under its stress-strain curve.

The most common test for toughness is the Charpy impact test.

In many materials the toughness is temperature dependent.

Generally materials are more brittle at lower temperatures and more ductile at higher
temperatures.

The temperature at which the transition takes place is known as the DBTT, or ductile to brittle
transition temperature.

STIFFNESS

Stiffness is the rigidity of an object the extent to which it resists deformation in response to
an applied force. The complementary concept is flexibility : the more flexible an object is, the
less stiff it is.

The stiffness, k, of a body is a measure of the resistance offered by an elastic body to

deformation.

For an elastic body with a single degree of freedom (for example, stretching or compression of a
rod), the stiffness is defined as :

K=F/L
F is the force applied on the body.
is the displacement produced by the force along the same degree of freedom.

STRENGTH

A measure of the maximum load that can be placed on a material before it permanently deforms
or breaks. Engineers often use this as yield stress, y, as a measure of a material's strength.

The ability to withstand the stress of physical forces. Cable and wire systems, for example,
must be designed in consideration of the amount of twisting and bending they can tolerate and
the amount of weight or longitudinal stress a cable or wire can support (tensile strength)
without suffering deformation or breaking.

STIFFNESS V/S STRENGTH

Stiffness and strength are two of the most commonly confused terms in the bicycling world,
and many people use them interchangeably. But these are two different things, and building
the best-performing frame requires knowing the difference.

Strength:
A measure of the maximum load that can be placed on a material before it permanently
deforms or breaks. Engineers often use this as yield stress, y, as a measure of a material's
strength.

Stiffness:
A measure of the amount of deflection that a load causes in a material. Engineers use a value
called Young's modulus, E, for stiffness.

It is easy to see why these two terms would be confused. Something that is 'flimsy' might
break when a small load is placed on it it has low strength and it might also deflect a
large amount with the same load it has low stiffness.
But these two terms aren't interchangeable.

A piece of rubber surgical tubing has very low stiffness because it deflects a lot under load,
but it is relatively strong. A piece of glass filament is the opposite it deflects very little
under load but might not carry a huge load before it breaks.

Thank You