Assignment

TME205/03
MATERIAL SCIENCE

Evidence of plagiarism or collusion will be taken seriously and the University regulations will
be applied fully. You are advised to be familiar with the University’s definitions of plagiarism
and collusion.
Instructions:
1. This is an individual assignment. No duplication of work will be tolerated. Any
plagiarism or collusion may result in disciplinary action in addition to marks deduction
to all involved.
2. CA 2 covers topics from Unit 2 and Unit 3.
3. Submit your CA 2 file through the Online Assignment Submission (OAS)
system.
4. The total marks for CA 2 is 100 % and it contributes 30 % towards your total grade.
Marks will be awarded for correct, logical, well explained and clear answers.
5. Answer all questions in English.

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Question 1 – Lab practical #1 (25%)
CLO2 Measure and evaluate the strength of materials, the applications and issues in
engineering design (C5, PLO3)

Instruction: The students need to work in a group of four or five persons for
this question. All the group members are allowed to share the
hardness test result but they have to answer questions and
submit reports individually.

You are required to perform the Rockwell hardness test and generate the hardness
report for four sample materials:
• Mild steel
• Stainless steel
• Aluminium
• Brass.

Mild steel and stainless steel are tested by using a diamond indenter to obtain HRC
value. Aluminium and brass are tested by using a ball indenter to obtain HRB value.
The indentation needs to be carried out about 5-10 times for each specimen to get a
meaningful result representing the material’s hardness. The actual number of
indentations depends on the size of the specimen.

a. Explain the principle of the Rockwell hardness test and how the hardness
number can be obtained from the depth of indentation. [10 marks]
b. Describe the steps required for each indentation. [5 marks]
c. Record all the measurement results in Table 1. [5 marks]
d. Convert the HRB values into equivalent HRC values based on the hardness
conversion table to have a meaningful comparison among the hardness of the
four materials. Fill in the values in Table 1. The hardness conversion table used
needs to be attached with the answers. [5 marks]

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Table 1

Material Readings (HRB or HRC) HRB HRC

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Average) (Average)

Mild steel

Stainless
steel

Brass

Aluminium

Question 2 – Lab practical #2 (25%)

CLO2 Measure and evaluate the strength of materials, the applications and issues in
engineering design (C5, PLO3)

Lab Instruction:
The students need to work in a group of four or five persons for this question.
All the group members are allowed to share the roughness test result but they
have to answer questions and submit reports individually.

You are required to perform the Mitutoyo roughness test and generate the
roughness report for four sample materials: mild steel, stainless steel, aluminium and
brass. These parts shall measure with Ra* value in µm. The measurement needs to
be carried out about 5-10 times for each specimen to get a meaningful result that
represents the roughness of the material. The actual value depends on the
measurement obtained.

*Ra is the average of a set of individual measurements of surface peaks and valleys
of a surface in a given length.

L = evaluation length
ZN = the profile height

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a. Explain the principle of the Mitutoyo roughness test and how the roughness result
can be obtained from the surface with a diagram. [10 marks]
b. Record all the measurement results in Table 2. [5 marks]

Table 2
Readings Ra µm Ra
Material
1 2 3 4 5 (Average)

Mild steel

Stainless steel

Brass

Aluminium

c. Based on your data, state the correlation between surface hardness and
roughness. Explain your answer (you can use a scatter plot to support your
explanation). [10 marks]

Question 3 – Online Lab with video demonstration (50%)

CLO2 Measure and evaluate the strength of materials, the applications and issues in
engineering design (C5, PLO3)

Lab Instruction:
The students need to work in a group of two or three persons for this question.
All the group members are required to do a presentation during the online lab
session.

The objectives of this experiment are:

1. To compare the tensile strength between aluminium and ductile cast iron.

2. To ascertain the tensile modulus of elasticity of aluminium and ductile cast iron.

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a. Describe experiment procedures to meet the given objectives. Your experiment
details must include suitable diagrams, laboratory precautions and safety
procedures. [15 marks]
Table 3
Material Dimension (mm) Gauge length (mm)
Aluminium Diameter = 12.8 50.800
Ductile cast iron Cross section = 4.8 x 15.9 75.000

Table 4
Aluminium Ductile cast iron
Load Length Load Length
(N) Stress (mm) Strain (N) Stress (mm) Strain

(MPa) (MPa)
0 50.800 0 75.000

7,330 50.851 4,740 75.025

15,100 50.902 9,140 75.050

23,100 50.952 12,920 75.075

30,400 51.003 16,540 75.113

34,400 51.054 18,300 75.150

38,400 51.308 20,170 75.225

41,300 51.816 22,900 75.375

44,800 52.832 25,070 75.525

46,200 53.848 26,800 75.750

47,300 54.864 28,640 76.500

47,500 55.880 30,240 78.000

46,100 56.896 31,100 79.500

44,800 57.658 31,280 81.000

42,600 58.420 30,820 82.500

36,400 59.182 29,180 84.000

Fracture 27,190 85.500

24,140 87.000

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 18,970 88.725

Fracture

b. Calculate each specimen's engineering stress and strain and record the result in
Table 4. Plot the engineering stress and engineering strain for each specimen.
[15 marks]
c. Calculate the strength at a strain offset of 0.002, the tensile strength, and the
tensile modulus for each sample. [10 marks]
d. Present and describe your results for (b) & (c). [5 marks]
e. Compare the experimental tensile modulus with the theoretical values. [5 marks]

END OF QUESTIONS