STIFFNESS OF MATERIALS

What happens when we load a material ?

Elastic deformation is recovered on unloading
- RETURNS TO ORIGINAL SHAPE
Wing flex on landing Boeing 787
Takoma Narrows Bridge, Pugent Sound Washington
68 km/hr winds on 7 November 1940
 Definition of Stress

• When a force, F, is applied to a material it creates

a state of stress.
F
F
Definition of stress: σ 
A

Area A

N
 
6
Units: 2
Pascal Pa , commonly MPa = 10 Pa
F m
Different stress states
 Stress = Force/Area

Tensile Stress Shear Stress

s = F/A t = F/A
Common states of stress
Definition of Strain

Strain (e) = dL/L

 Hooke’s LAW

Unload
Hooke’s Law:
Elastic STRESS (s) is
proportional to elastic
STRAIN (e).
STRESS

s
The constant of
e proportionality, ie. the
slope of the stress strain
Load
curve, is the modulus of
elasticity (E) :
0
STRAIN E = s/e or s = E e
Units for E is Pa, usually GPa
• What happens inside the material when it is
elastically deformed ?
 Elastic Deformation

Elastic deformation is the

stretching of atomic bonds,
ie. moving the atoms
slightly from their
equilibrium positions.
Interatomic Forces and Energies

Equilibrium separation – r0
 Bond Stiffness

• Interatomic bond stiffness: S = dF/dr

• Assume a regular
arrangement of atoms in
space.

• Springs connecting the

atoms, representing the
bonds.
 Definition of Elastic Modulus
• Force dF acting on area r02
Stress: s = (dF/r02)
• If the force causes the interatomic
distance to change by dr then:
Strain: e = (dr/r0)
• According to Hooke’s law: E  s/e
• Substituting for s and e gives:
E = (dF/r02)(r0/dr) = (dF/dr)(1/r0)
• But (dF/dr) = S – the bond stiffness
So: E = S/r0
 Summary

• Hooke’s Law: s = E e

• Elastic Modulus : E = S/r0

The elastic modulus of a construction is

related to the stiffness of the bonds (bonding
strength) and the interatomic distance…
Change temperature
Modulus of Selected Materials
 Fibre Composites

s s
UPPER limit LOWER limit
for modulus for modulus

STRAIN equal STRESS equal

in fibres (dark) in fibres (dark)
& matrix (light) & matrix (light)
s s
 Fibre Composites
Stress parallel to fibres : Same strain
in fibres as in matrix

Elastic modulus of composite Ec s

simply found by the rule of mixtures: fibre
e
Ec = EmVm+ EfVf = EmVm+ Ef(1-Vm) matrix

Em - elastic modulus of matrix

Ef - elastic modulus of fibre
Vm- volume fraction matrix
Vf - volume fraction fibres s
By definition (volume conservation):
Vm + Vf = 1
 Elastic Modulus of a Composite
100

90 Ef

80
Elastic Modulus

70

60
Stress ALONG fibres
Ec = EmVm+ Ef(1-Vm)
50

40
Stress ACROSS fibres
30
Ec = 1/{Vf/Ef + (1-Vf)/Em)}
20

10
Em
0
0 0.5 1
Volume fraction of fibres (Vf)
The sintered microstructure
 Stiffness

140
Youngs Modulus (GPa)

120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4
Reinforcement Volume Fraction
 Cantilever beam

• For a beam of length l, width w and thickness t, the deflection

d resulting from a force F is given by
d=Fl3/3EI
• Where I is the second moment of area and is equal to (wt3/12)
in this example.
The stiffness of a design can be increased by:
* Changing the design (changing I and F)
* Selecting a material with higher E