AIN SHAMS UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

Sophomore Mechanical Eng. Program

Name ‫عمر محمد حامد محمد‬

ID 2001961
BN 97
Submitted to: Prof. Adel B. El-Shabasy

Yield phenomena
Introduction:
When certain materials such as mild steel are deformed in tension, it
is found that the stress-strain curve is not smooth, but shows marked
irregularities, with negative slopes occurring at or near the initial
yield on the curve. The actual shape of the stress-strain curve is de-
pendent, to some extent, on the type and characteristics of the tensile
testing machine used; nevertheless one may include all cases where
Sa/S€ is negative as examples of yield point effects deserving attention.
Again using mild steel as an example, the progress of deformation
may be divided into three stages, as shown in Fig. 1.1. The normal
elastic extension AB is terminated at a stress level known as the upper
yield stress au. Deformation then proceeds at a decreased stress level
known as the lower yield stress aL, but the deformation at this stage is
not homogeneous: the specimen is divided into regions, known as
Luders bands, where the strain has the value
€L shown in Fig. 1.1, and other regions which are not yet deformed
with zero strain. These bands are also known as Hartmann lines, after
Hartmann (1896) or as 'stretcher strains'.
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As will be seen, there are numerous variants of this stress-strain

curve, dependent on material, temperature, grain size and other
metallurgical variables; nevertheless, these general principles may
apply. The technological importance of yield points is great; in
pressed mild steel components for example, the Luders bands may lead to
markings resulting from the inhomogeneous deformation-
these are commonly known as stretcher strains.

Types of yield point effects:

The yield points observed with these hard machines are found to
take many different forms of instability, dependent on material and testing
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temperature, and some of these are illustrated inFig.1.3.(a)-(d).

They should of course be compared with the comments on Fig. 1.1
which is typical of mild steel at room temperature.
Figure 1.3(a) represents the stress-strain curve of single crystals of
certain ionic crystals. In this case, the specimen is lithium fluoride
containing only a small number of free dislocations. It will be seen
later that this is a necessary (but not a sufficient) condition that yield
points should exist. The yield point here is a short region of negative
slope on the stress-strain curve, before the yield stress rises again.
This type of curve is also noted in materials subjected to radiation
damage by high energy particles where the dislocations become pinned
by the point defects generated in bombardment. Similar results are found in the
hexagonal metals, such as zinc single crystals containing nitrogen, or in zirconium
under certain conditions of grain size. In these cases a true Luders extension may
not exist.
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Figure 1.3(b) is another single crystal stress-strain curve; this shows a curve from
copper at very low temperatures. Here there is no
upper yield point, but after a certain amount of normal slip, yield
points appear. In certain single crystals, this is accompanied by the

FIGURE 1.3(b). Stress-strain curves for a single crystal of copper at 4·2 K

growth in density of slip band traces which usually commence at one

end of the gauge length, and spread in a parallel easy-glide mode
along the gauge length.
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Sophomore Mechanical Eng. Program

The upper yield point:

Since the yield point effects in mild steel have been known for over a century,
and are, moreover, of considerable technological importance, it is not surprising
that theories until recently arose from work on the ferrous field.
The upper yield point is associated with small amounts of interstitial or
substitutional impurities.
The solute atoms (C or N) in low carbon steel, lock the dislocations, _ raise the
initial yield stress.
The breakaway stress required to pull a dislocation line away from a line of
solute atoms is

Where A is 4Gba3ε , a is atomic radius ro is the distance from the

dislocation core to the line of solute atoms ~ 0.2 nm.
When the dislocation is pulled free from the solute atoms, slip can occur at lower
stress. → the lower yield point.
The magnitude of the yield-point effect depends on interaction energy,
concentration of solute atoms.
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Note: Upper yield point is promoted by using elastically rigid machine, careful
axial alignment of specimen (free from stress concentrations, high strain rate,
low temperature.)
Figure 1.3(c) shows a series of successive yield points obtained in mild steel at
elevated temperatures, at about 200°C, and should be compared with Fig. 1.1 for
a room temperature test. The multiple yield points seen here as deformation
begins are the result of interrupted motion of the Luders band along the
specimen. The movement

FIGURE 1.3(c). Stress-strain curves for polycrystalline mild steel at

elevated temperature

of dislocations near the band front becomes locked - a phenomenon known as

strain ageing (Section 1.7) - and as a result the stress has to rise to release the
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band front again. The ductility is thereby reduced - a phenomenon known as blue
brittleness - a result of simultaneous straining and ageing.

Stretcher strains:
Strain ageing should be eliminated in deep drawing steel since it leads to surface
marking or stretcher strains. To solve the problem, the amount of C and N should
be lowered by adding elements such as Al, V, Ti, B to form carbides or nitrides.

Relation of stretcher strain in stress-strain curve

Stretcher strain in low-carbon steel

The lower yield point:

The lower yield point can be described as either the growth stress of the Luders
band (as in the case of mild steel) or as the stress below 30 Yield Point
Phenomena in Metals and Alloys which the band ceases to grow. The distinction
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is not trivial and is in fact necessary to discuss cases of serrated yielding (Fig.
1.3(c)), whereas will be seen in the following chapters, the band is moving in a
jerky manner. A further distinction is probably also needed for the case of single
crystals, where the Luders band is simply the progressive spread of parallel slip
from one end of the gauge length to the other. In this case, there is often only a
minimum in the curve (seeFig. 1.3(a)), although in some cases extensive Luders
strains are obtained (Chapters 6 and 7). Hahn (1962) refers to the former as
'continuous' yielding, and in cases where an extensive Luders strain is present as
'discontinuous' yielding. It is felt here it is better to draw no clear distinction
between the two cases. Hereafter in this section it is assumed that specimen
conditions are such that only a single band with a unique front is propagating
along the specimen.
The Luders strain:
The Luders strain (EL) is simply the strain experienced by the deformed region of
the test piece, and can readily be determined from the stress-strain curve of the
material, for the point D (Fig. 1.1) is always clearly marked, often by a slight drop
in load, and the rate of strain hardening immediately afterwards is rapid. The
Luders strain is a function of grain size, and this feature is particularly marked in
the case of mild steel (Fig. 1.12). A similar relation appears to hold in niobium,
and in aluminium-magnesium alloys. While the grain size is fine, however, the
bands appear sharp as shown in Plate 1.4(a) and deformation virtually proceeds
grain by grain along the specimen (Morrison and Glenn, 1968); with coarse
grain sizes the sharp front to the bands may be lost, leading to the so called
'diffuse' Luders bands illustrated in Plate 1.4(b) (Hall, 1950,1951a). These diffuse
bands are common in aluminium alloys, presumably because of the larger grain
sizes; because of the smaller Luders strains, they are more difficult to observe
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optically. The strain rate at the band front is markedly reduced, and the full
Luders strain is only developed at a distance of several tens of grain diameters
behind the Luders front (Carrington and McLean, 1965). In most commonly
produced grades of mild steel, however, grain refining gives an added yield
strength, and sharp Luders bands are commonly observed. Observation and
recording of the Luders band pattern is relatively easy using critical macro-
illumination, as described by Boxall and Hundy (1955). Liss (1957) has suggested
light copper plating as a means of improving their visibility. Strain-sensitive
etchants, such as Fry's reagent (45 g cupric chloride in 180 cm 3 HCl and 100 cm 3
Yield Point Phenomena and their Theoretical Background 31 water) are also
helpful in the case of complex Luders band patterns around notches, or in bend
tests (Plate 1.5). (It only works well on high-nitrogen steels according to Fell
(1937).) However, the transition from sharp to diffuse band propagation can only
be followed with difficulty by normal metallographic practice, using, for example,
slip line counts, and diffuse bands themselves are rendered more readily visible
by the Moire fringe technique of Theocaris and Koroneos (1963), or by other
optical techniques, e.g. Hall (1950). The use
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FIGURE 1.12. Variation of Luders strain with grain size in low carbon mild
steel
of special lacquers such as Stresscoat, which chip or peel away from the deformed regions, is
only of limited use with the higher values of £L, i.e. with sharp Luders bands.