Marks:

/100

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
NATIONAL DEFENCE UNIVERSITY OF MALAYSIA

EMM 2303

TENSILE TEST

SOLID LABORATORY

NAME HP
GROUP / SECTION
1. HP
2. HP
GROUP MEMBERS 3. HP
4. HP
5. HP
DR MOHD ZAID OTHMAN, LT KOL ASSOC PROF DR
LECTURER
KHAIRUL HASNI BIN KAMARUDIN, DR TAN KEAN SHENG
LAB DEMONSTRATOR EN. NOR MUHAMMAD AZMAN SUJANI
DATE OF EXPERIMENT
DATE OF SUBMISSION
PENALTIES

REPORT RECIEPT (tear here)

NAME:
MATRIC NO.:
TITLE:
DATE OF SUBMISSION:
TIME OF SUBMISSION:
STUDENT’S SIGNATURE:
APPROVED BY:

1
 STRENGTH OF MATERIALS I (EMM 2303)

LAB REPORT ASSESSMENT

Name
Group
Lecturer Name
Title
Marks /100

ASSESSMENT COMPONENTS

CO Criteria Weightage Evaluation Scale Score

(%) Below Expectation Unsatisfactory Satisfactory Outstanding (Mark x
Weightage)
Experimental 20 Inaccurate or Experiment was Minor mistakes Accurate or
Procedure and unacceptable carried out with but acceptable acceptable
report layout experimental unsatisfactory experimental experimental
procedure. Report is quality. Report is procedure. procedure. Report
poorly written with poorly written with Report was is well prepared
major mistakes. few mistakes and prepared with with good quality.
omitted sections. minor mistakes.

Mark: 0 Mark: 1 Mark: 2 Mark: 3

Experiment 30 Inaccurate or Results were Minor mistakes Accurate or
Implementation unacceptable results, unsatisfactory. but acceptable acceptable results
(Results, calculation and Results were results, calculation and
calculations, analysis method. presented poorly calculation and analysis method.
graphs and Graphs and raw data with few mistakes. analysis Graphs are well
analysis) are poorly presented method. Graphs presented.
with major mistakes. are not well
presented.
Mark: 0
Mark: 1 Mark: 2 Mark: 3
Discussion 40 Unacceptable Inadequate Adequate Well written and
CO4
(Analysis and discussion. No discussion. Merely discussion with complete technical
interpretation of interpretation, analysis stating the trend of some discussion with
data, and nor synthesis of gathered data supporting good supporting
synthesis of information. without good evidence evidence (theory).
information to supporting (theory). Relationship,
provide valid evidence (theory). trends etc.are
conclusions) described. Relate
the findings to
existing
engineering theory.

Mark: 0 Mark: 1 Mark: 2 Mark: 3

Conclusion 10 No conclusion given. Weak conclusion Conclusion Well supported
(Able to reach (not related to partially related conclusion based
substantiated objective). to objective and on findings.
conclusions using supported by Conclusions are
first principles of results/findings. related to
mathematics and objectives.
engineering
sciences) Mark: 0 Mark: 1 Mark: 2 Mark: 3
TOTAL SCORE
TOTAL NORMALISED SCORE (TOTAL SCORE ÷ 3)
Penalties* (-) More than 1 week Late submission Timely submission
late. (< 3 days) (next week
Monday)
Mark: 0 Marks (-50%) Marks(- 0)
* Report must be submitted within 7 working days. (Final day before 1300)

Lecturer’s comment

__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

2
1.0 TTTLE: TENSILE TEST

2.0 OBJECTIVES:

To conduct tensile test on individual steel and aluminium bars to obtain the following
mechanical properties:
a. Young’s Modulus
b. Yield strength
c. Ultimate tensile strength
d. Failure strength and strain,
e. Ductility of the material based on the concept of:
(i) Percentage of extension
(ii) Percentage of reduction in the cross sectional area

3.0 INTRODUCTION
Uniaxial tensile test is known as a basic and universal engineering test to determine material
parameters such as modulus of elasticity, yield strength, ultimate strength, yield strength,
percentage of elongation, and percentage of area of reduction. These parameters which
obtained from the standard tensile test are useful for the selection of engineering materials in
engineering design process. The tensile test is performed by applying axial load at a specific
extension rate to a standard tensile specimen with known dimensions (gauge length and
cross sectional area perpendicular to the load direction) till failure occurs. The applied
tensile load and extension are recorded during the test. The corresponding stress and strain
will then be calculated and the stress-strain curve is plotted as well. A range of universal
standards established by professional organizations are available such as American Society
of Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard, British Standard, JIS standard and DIN standard.
Each of the standards contains code of practice suitable for different materials, dimensions
and fabrication history. For instance, ASTM E8 is a standard test method for tensile testing
of metallic materials and ASTM B557 is a standard test method of tensile testing of wrought
and cast aluminium and magnesium alloy products.

A standard specimen can be prepared either in a round or a square section along the gauge
length as shown in Figures 1 (a) and (b), respectively, depending on the test methods or
machine used. Both ends of the specimens should have sufficient length and a surface
condition such that they are firmly gripped during testing.

Figure 1: Specimen of (a) round and (b) rectangular cross section.

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In general, the initial gauge length Lo is standardized, but varies with the diameter (Do) or the
cross-sectional area (Ao) of the specimen. This is because if the gauge length is too long, the
percentage of elongation might be underestimated. Heat treatments could be applied on to the
specimen prior to machining to produce the final specimen readily for testing. This has been
done to prevent surface oxide scales that might act as stress concentration which might
subsequently affect the final tensile properties due to premature failure. There might be some
exceptions, for examples, surface hardening or surface coating on the materials. These
processes should be employed after specimen machining in order to obtain the tensile
properties results which include the actual specimen surface conditions.

4.0 BACKGROUND THEORY

If a tensile load P is applied on a steel bar with length, L and cross section area, A, produced
an extension of δL, then the normal stress and strain can be obtain from the following:
𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝑃𝑃
𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠, 𝜎𝜎 = 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠
= 𝐴𝐴
(1)

𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 𝛿𝛿𝛿𝛿
𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 = 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙 ℎ
= 𝐿𝐿
(2)

A bar subjected to tensile loading will extend in the direction of the applied load (axial
direction) and will contract (shrink) on the side. The stress calculated from dividing the force
over the original cross sectional area is known as the nominal stress or engineering stress. On
the other hand the real stress can be obtained by dividing the force with the actual cross
sectional area measured at that particular loading. The required outcome from this experiment
is the nominal stress. When the graph of load against extension is plotted from the acquired
data, specific points on the graph such as the yield points, ultimate tensile strength point,
failure point, etc must be identified. The mechanical properties of the material can then be
determined as follows:

a) Modulus of elasticity, E

The modulus of elasticity is obtained from the slope of the stress against strain graph for the
ductility scale and express in the form of:
𝜎𝜎
𝐸𝐸 = 𝜀𝜀
(3)

b) Yield stress, σy

load on the upper yield point Pyu

(i) upper yield stress, σyu = area of cross section
= (4)
A

load on the lower yield point Pyl

(ii) lower yield stress, σyl = area of cross section
= (5)
A

c) Ultimate tensile strength, σu

load on the ultimate (highest)point Pu

σu = area of cross section
= (6)
A

d) Failure stress, σb

4
 load on the failure point Pu
σb = area of cross section
= (7)
A

e) Material ductility

(i) Based on the % of extension:

length of parallel line after failure-length of original parallel line

% extension = �
length of original parallel line
� 𝑋𝑋 100 (8)

(ii) Based on the % of the decrease in area of cross section:

area of original cross section-area of cross section after failure

% decrease in area = �
area of original cross section
� 𝑋𝑋 100 (9)

5.0 APPARATUS
The apparatus used is INSTRON 5960 Dual Column Universal Testing Machine, with
personal computer data acquisition system.

6.0 EXPERIMENT PROCEDURES

1. The specimens provided are made of steel and aluminium. Measure and record the
key dimensions (diameter and gauge length) of the individual specimens.
2. Fit the specimen on to the universal Testing Machine (UTM) and attach the
extensometer on it.
3. Setup the data acquisition program on the computer and start the test.
4. Remove the specimen when the test ended. Save the data.
5. Repeat for the different specimen.

7.0 RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

Process the data using spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel and construct the stress-
strain curves. Describe the stress and strain curve in detail.
Determine and indicate on the stress-strain curve the Young's modulus, yield strength,
ultimate tensile strength, fracture strain, fracture stress, percentage of elongation,

5
percentage of area of reduction of each specimen. Tabulate these material properties in a
table.

8.0 DISCUSSIONS
Give comments on the overall experimental process and the results.
Describe and explain discrepancies/deviations in results compared to theoretical values.
How could the results be improved?

9.0 CONCLUSION
What can you conclude from the experiments conducted?

REFERENCES
1. N. Dowling, Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Prentice Hall, 1993.
2. Donald R. Askeland , Pradeep P. Fulay, Wendelin J. Wright , The Science and Engineering
of Materials 6th Edition, PWS Publishing Company.2008