The Stress – Strain Diagram Explaining Stress-Strain Graph

Once the stress and strain data from the test are known, then the results can be plotted to produce a From the curve in Figure 1, we can identify four different regions: Elastic region, yielding, strain hardening,
curve called the stress-strain diagram. necking.

What is Stress? Elastic Region

The nominal or engineering stress (!) is determined by dividing the applied load P by the sample’s original Modulus of Elasticity (E):
cross-sectional area A0. This calculation assumes that the stress is constant over the cross section and The modulus of elasticity (Young’s modulus) E is a material property, that describes its stiffness and can
throughout the gage length. be calculated by finding the slope of the linear portion of the stress-strain diagram.

# Proportional Limit:
!=
$! Where the stress-strain curve starts to become non-linear, this is known as the proportional limit.
2
σ: stress (Pa or N/m )
P: applied load (N) Elastic Limit:
A0: cross sectional area of sample (m2) Elastic limit is the maximum stress that a material can withstand before the permanent deformation.
When the load acting on the material is completely removed and the material returns to its original
What is Strain? position, that point is known as the material's elastic limit.
The nominal or engineering strain (%) is found directly from the strain gage reading, or by dividing the
change in the sample’s gage length, ∆L, by the sample’s original gage length L0. Yielding
Yield Point:
∆L The yield stress or yield point of a material is defined as the stress at which a material begins to deform
ε=
L! plastically. Some materials (such as the steel) will have a well-defined yield point that can be easily
ε: strain identified. Other materials will not have a discernable yield point, and other methods must be employed
∆L: change in the sample’s gage length (m) to estimate the yield stress. One common method is the offset method, where a straight line is drawn
L! : original length of the sample (m) parallel to the elastic slope and offset an arbitrary amount, most commonly for engineering metals, 0.2%
(0.002).
When these values of stress and strain plotted, where the vertical axis is the stress and the horizontal axis
is the strain, the resulting curve is called a stress-strain diagram. A typical example of this curve is shown Strain Hardening
in Figure 1. Ultimate stress:
The ultimate stress is the maximum stress that a material can withstand under an applied force. After this
point, the material will break.

Necking
Fracture or breaking point:
The fracture point is the point of strain where the material physically separates (failure).

Ductility (Percent Elongation) (%EL):

Ductility is a measure of how much deformation or strain a material can withstand before breaking. The
most common measure of ductility is the percentage of change in length of a tensile sample after
breaking. This is generally reported as % El or percent elongation.

L" − L!
% EL = x 100
L!

L0: the original length

Lf: fracture length
Figure 1: Conventional stress–strain diagram (Hibbeler, 10 th edition)

1 2
Modulus of Resilience:
The modulus of resilience is the amount of strain energy per unit volume that a material can absorb
without permanent deformation resulting. The modulus of resilience is calculated as the area under the
stress-strain curve up to the elastic limit.

σ%$
U# =
2E

!& : yield stress

E: Modulus of elasticity

Figure 2: Modulus of resilience ur (Hibbeler, 10 th edition).

Modulus of Toughness:
The modulus of toughness is the amount of strain energy per unit volume (i.e. strain energy density) that
a material can absorb just before it fractures. The modulus of toughness is calculated as the area under
the stress-strain curve up to the fracture point.

!& + !'
4 = 6 %7
2

!& : yield stress

!' : ultimate stress
%E: ductility

Figure 3: Modulus of toughness ut (Hibbeler, 10 th edition).