CHAPTER ONE

Introduction to Strength of
Materials
 Introduction
• Strength of a material: is defined as the maximum
Load carrying capacity of the member without
breaking (rupture).
• Strength of a material, whatever its nature, is
defined largely by the internal stresses or
intensities of force, in the material.
• Knowledge of these stresses is essential to the
safe design of various structural members,
machine or any type of structure.
 Mechanical properties of materials
• Every material has its own individual property. It
can be ductile, flexible or brittle, isotropic or
orthotropic.
• It deforms under the influence of a temperature
change (shrinkage).
• It may plastically deform at a certain stress (load)
and break at another.
• To ensure a safe design, these specific material
properties have to be taken into account. The
essential information is collected by conducting
different tests in a material testing laboratory.
 Some of the material properties are as follows:-
A. Tensile Strength:- This is the ability of a material to withstand
stretching loads without breaking.
• The applied load P is trying to stretch the rod.
Therefore, the rod is said to be in tension, so the
material from which the rod is made needs to have
sufficient tensile strength to resist the pull of the
load.
B. Compressive strength: - This the ability of a material to withstand
compressive (squeezing) loads without being crushed or broken.

This component needs to be made from

material with adequate compressive
strength to resist the load P
C) Shear strength: -This is the ability of a material to withstand
offset loads, or transverse cutting (shearing actions)

Because the loads are not exactly in line, they are said to be off-set
and, therefore, the load on the rivet is called a shearing load, i.e.
the rivet is said to be in shear.
• The same effect can be caused by loads pushing on the ends of
the two metal bars joined by the rivet.
D. Toughness (impact resistance):- This is the ability of a material to
withstand shatter. If a material shatters, it is brittle such as Glass
Where as Rubbers and most plastic materials do not shatter,
therefore, they are tough.
• If the spread of surface cracks does not
occur or only occurs to small extent, the
material is said to be tough.

E. Rigidity (stiffness):- This is the measure of the ability not to

deflect under an applied load.
• E.g. Under a light load cast iron deflects less than steel since cast
iron is more rigid. But steel is much stronger than cast iron. Thus a
material which is rigid is not necessarily strong.
F. Brittleness: - Materials that fail in tension at relatively low
values of strain (deformation per unit length) are classified as
brittle materials.
G. Elasticity: - The ability of a material to deform under load and
return to its original shape and size when the load is removed
• Plasticity:-This property is the exact opposite to elasticity.
under load beyond elastic limit the material will not return
to its original shape and size when the load is
removed(material deforms permanently). Ductility is
particular cases of the property of plasticity
• Hardness: -This is defined as the ability of a material to
withstand scratching (abrasion) or indentation by another
hard body. It is an indication of the wear resistance of the
material.

The figure shows a hardened steel

ball being pressed first in to a hard
material and then in to a soft
material by the same load.

• The ball only makes a small indentation in the hard

material, but it makes a very much deeper indentation in
the softer material. Hardness is often tested in this manner.
Chapter Two
Stress and Strain
 Stress
• stresses are expressed as the ratio of the applied
force divided by the resisting area

Denoted by 𝜎 = 𝐹 𝐴

• Stress is the lead to accurately describe and predict

the elastic deformation of a body.
 Units: Usually N/m2 (Pa), N/mm2, MN/m2, GN/m2
or N/cm2
 Note: 1 N/mm2 = 1 MPa
• Normal Stresses can be either tensile or compressive.
• If the force is going to pull the material, the stress
is said to be tensile stress and compressive stress
develops when the material is being compressed by
two opposing forces.
 Shear Stress
• Forces parallel to the area resisting the force cause
shearing stress. Shearing stress is also known as
tangential stress.

𝑉 𝜏 = 𝑠𝑕𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠
• 𝜏 = where V=shear force and
𝐴
A=area parallel to the shear force
 Bearing Stress
• Bearing stress is the contact pressure between the
separate bodies.
• It differs from compressive stress, as it is an
internal stress caused by compressive forces.
𝐹𝑏
𝜎𝑏 = where 𝜎𝑏 = 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠
𝐴𝑏
𝐹𝑏 = 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒
𝐴𝑏 = 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎
 Allowable Stresses and Factor of Safety
• In reality the exact type of load acting on a structure, the dimensions of
the member, the character of the material making up the member, etc.
cannot be exactly determined.
• Due to the above reasons we can't exactly determine the load resisting
capacity of the member and the exact load acting on it.
• To account for these uncertainties the maximum permissible stresses
and the working load are determined from a consideration of the factor
of safety.
𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝜎𝑢
• Factor of safety with respect to ultimate stress 𝑛 = =
𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝜎𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤
𝑦𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝜎𝑦
• Factor of safety with respect to yield stress 𝑛 = =
𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝜎𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤
• The factor of safety is normally much greater with respect to the
ultimate stress than with respect to the yield stress.
 strain
• strain is the ratio of the change in length caused by
the applied force, to the original length.
𝛿
𝜀 = where 𝜀 = 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛
𝐿 𝛿 = 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝐿 = 𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡𝑕

ε is dimensionless
A positive sign applies to elongation, a negative sign
to contraction.
 Stress-Strain Diagram
• Suppose that a metal specimen be placed in tension-
compression testing machine. As the axial load is gradually
increased in increments, the total elongation over the gage
length is measured at each increment of the load and this is
continued until failure of the specimen takes place.
Knowing the original cross-sectional area and length of the
specimen, the normal stress ζ and the strain ε can be
obtained. The graph of these quantities with the stress ζ
along the y-axis and the strain ε along the x-axis is called
the stress-strain diagram.
• The stress-strain diagram differs in form for various
materials.
 Hooke’s Law; Modulus of Elasticity
• When a material behaves elastically and also
exhibits a linear relationship between stress and
strain, it is said to be linearly elastic.
• The linear relationship between stress and strain for
a bar in simple tension or compression is expressed
by the equation 𝜎 = 𝐸 ∗ 𝜀
where ζ is the axial stress, ε is the axial strain,
and E is a constant of proportionality known as the
modulus of elasticity for the material.
The modulus of elasticity is the slope of the stress-strain diagram in the
linearly elastic region.
Since strain is dimensionless, the units of E are the same as the units of
stress.
 Modulus of elasticity

• Also: Volumetric strain, is proportional to hydrostatic

stress, within the elastic range i.e. : called bulk modulus
• In the linear portion of the stress-strain diagram, the tress is
proportional to strain and is given by 𝜎 = 𝐸 ∗ 𝜀 …….eqn.(1)
𝐹
from normal stress equation 𝜎=
𝐴
……..eqn.(2)
𝛿 𝐸𝛿
And strain is given by 𝜀 = ⇔𝜎= … . 𝑒𝑞𝑛(3)
𝐿 𝐿
• Equating eqn(2)and eqn(3) we get
𝐹 𝐸𝛿 𝐹𝐿 𝜎𝐿
𝐴
=
𝐿
⇒ 𝛿 = 𝐴𝐸
= 𝐸
………………………eqn(4)
To use this formula,
 the load must be axial,
 the bar must have a uniform cross-sectional area, and
 the stress must not exceed the proportional limit.
• If however, the cross-sectional area is not uniform, the axial
deformation can be determined by considering a differential length
and applying integration. 𝐿
𝐹 𝑑𝑥
𝛿=
𝐸 0 𝐴
For a rod of unit mass ρ suspended
vertically from one end, the total
elongation due to its own weight is
𝜌𝑔𝐿2 𝑀𝑔𝐿 𝑚
𝛿= = 𝑤𝑕𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑔 = 9.81 2
2𝐸 2𝐴𝐸 𝑠
 Thermal Stress
• Temperature changes cause the body to expand or
contract. The amount δT, is given by

• where α is the coefficient of thermal expansion in m/m°C,

L is the length in meter, and
𝑇𝑖 and 𝑇𝑓 are the initial and final temperatures, in °C.
For steel, α = 11.25 × 10−6 / °C.
If temperature deformation is permitted to occur freely, no
load or stress will be induced in the structure. In some cases
where temperature deformation is not permitted, an internal
stress is created. The internal stress created is termed as
thermal stress.
• For a homogeneous rod mounted between unyielding
supports as shown, the thermal stress is computed as:

• deformation due to temperature changes;

• deformation due to equivalent axial stress;

• where σ is the thermal stress in MPa and E is the

modulus of elasticity of the rod in MPa.
• If the wall yields a distance of x as shown, the
following calculations will be made:

• where ζ represents the thermal stress.

• Take note that as the temperature rises above the
normal, the rod will be in compression, and if the
temperature drops below the normal, the rod is in
tension.
 Poisson's ratio
• The ratio of the lateral strain ε′ to the axial strain ε
is known as Poisson's ratio and is denoted by the
Greek letter v (nu); thus

• For a bar in tension, the axial strain is positive and the lateral strain
is negative (because the width of the bar decreases). For
compression we have the opposite situation, with the bar becoming
shorter (negative axial strain) and wider (positive lateral strain).
Therefore, for ordinary materials Poisson's ratio always has a
positive value.
• The moduli of elasticity in tension and shear are related by the
following equation:
• Poisson's ratio for ordinary materials is between
zero and one-half