Course Code: MTT-218 Course Name: Mechanical Behavior& Testing of Materials

Pre-requisite course: Introduction to Engineering Materials

Syllabus
Imperfections in crystal structures – point, line and surface imperfections. Dislocations – Properties and sources of
dislocations, dislocation reactions and interactions. Elastic and plastic deformation: Mechanisms of plastic
deformation in single crystals and polycrystalline materials; superplasticity. Strengthening mechanisms in solids.
Recovery, recrystallization and grain growth. Tensile testing – Engineering stress-strain curve, tensile properties,
true stress – strain curve, factors affecting tensile properties, tensile testing machines. Hardness Testing – Various
hardness tests, advantages and limitations of various hardness tests, Microhardness testing. Impact testing – Various
impact tests and their relative merits and demerits. Ductile - brittle transition behaviour and its significance.
Fatigue Testing – S-N curves, mechanisms of fatigue in metals, factors affecting fatigue properties. Creep Testing –
Typical creep curve, Mechanisms of creep deformation in metals, factors affecting creep behaviour.
Books:
1. G.E. Dieter, Mechanical Metallurgy, McGraw Hill Int. Co.
2. R.W. Hertzberg, Deformation and Fracture Mechanics of Engineering Materials,
3. T.H. Courtney, Mechanical Behaviour of Materials,
4. Robert E. Reed-Hill, Physical Metallurgy Principles,
5. A.V.K. Suryanarayana, Testing of Metallic Materials, PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.
 Mechanical Testings – A General Introduction
• Material properties are determined using a wide variety of mechanical tests.
• All mechanical tests may be reduced to one of two general descriptions:
• either a controlled load (or combination of loads) is imposed and the resulting displacements
are measured,
• controlled displacement (or combination of displacements) is imposed and the load(s)
developed in response to the imposed displacement state is measured.
• Which type of test to use, and under what conditions, depends on the Objective of
the test.
• Question arises “Can the component survive the design load plus some additional
load increment (as a margin of safety) without failing?”
• This experimental process often falls under the category of product testing
• “How does this material compare to other materials evaluated in the same
fashion?”
• It is desirable to use well-defined, simple, standardized specimen shapes and
simple loading conditions (e.g., along a single axis of the test specimen). This is the
mode generally used for material testing
 ultimate objective
of both
test types (product
or material) is to
avoid failure of an
engineering
component in
service.

(a) Cellular phone product testing by bending (photo copyright Nokia 2011). (b) Tensile testing for
fundamental material properties using a standardized tensile specimen. (Courtesy of Richard Vinci.). (c)
Bend testing using a standardized fracture specimen (photo courtesy of Brett Leister, Lehigh University).
• There are three basic categories of mechanical response to an applied load:
(i) elasticity
(ii) plasticity, and
(iii) fracture.

• Elasticity is defined by a fully-recoverable response; that is, a component is

loaded and unloaded without any permanent change to its shape or integrity –
Desirable response of structural components in service.
• Plasticity and fracture both involve permanent shape changes under load, but
are clearly distinct from one another.
• Plasticity is shape change without cracking
• fracture involves the creation or propagation of a crack that separates a portion
of the component from the remainder.
Schematic illustration of a rectangular tensile specimen before and during or after loading. A cylindrical
specimen with a circular cross section is also common.
• Raw load and displacement information may be sufficient for certain
product tests
• Evaluations of material properties must use size-independent parameters:
stress and strain.
• These essential terms may be defined in two generally accepted forms.
The first definitions, used extensively in engineering practice, are
• .

• . =
• Where, lf = final gage length
l0 = initial gage length
AVERAGE STRESS AND STRAIN

• Consider a uniform cylindrical bar which is subjected to an axial load

• Assume Two gauge marks are put on the surface of the bar in unstrained state and L0 is
the gage length
• A load P is applied to one end of the bar
• The gage length undergoes a slight increase in length and decrease in diameter.
• The distance between the gage marks increases by an amount δ
∆
• Average linear strain is
• The external load P is balanced by the internal resisting force
• Where, is the stress normal to the cutting plane and A is the cross-
sectional area of the bar.
• The equilibrium equation is
• If the stress is distributed normally over the area A, i.e., if is constant,
or, =
• In general, the stress will not be uniform over the area A. Hence, average
stress has to be considered.
• The inherent anisotropy between grains in a polycrystalline metal rules out
the possibility of complete uniformity of stress over a body of macroscopic
size.
TENSILE DEFORMATION OF DUCTILE METAL
• The initial linear portion of the curve OA is the elastic
region within which Hooke's law is obeyed. P
• Point A is the elastic limit, defined as the greatest stress that
the metal can withstand without experiencing a permanent
strain when the load is removed.
• The proportional limit is the stress at which the stress-
strain curve deviates from linearity.
• The slope of the stress-strain curve in this region is the
modulus of elasticity.
• The determination of the elastic limit is quite tedious, not at all routine, and dependent
on the sensitivity of the strain-measuring instrument. For these reasons it is often
replaced by the proportional limit, point A’.
• For engineering purposes the limit of usable elastic behavior is described by the yield
strength, point B.
• The yield strength is defined as the stress which will produce a small amount of
permanent deformation, generally equal to a strain of 0.002.
• Plastic deformation begins when the elastic limit is exceeded.
• As the plastic deformation of the specimen increases, the metal becomes
stronger. This is known as strain hardening - the load required to extend the
specimen increases with further straining.
• Eventually the load reaches a maximum value. The maximum load divided
by the original area of the specimen is the ultimate tensile strength.
• For a ductile metal the diameter of the specimen begins to decrease rapidly
beyond maximum load, so that the load required to continue deformation
drops off until the specimen fractures.
• Alternatively, stress and strain may be defined as
• = true stress =

• = true strain =

• However, when the limit of pure elastic deformation is reached and plastic
deformation begins, it is safe to assume that most of the subsequent
deformation is a constant-volume process such that
= =constant

Why does the volume of a specimen increase during a tensile test in the elastic region, but the volume
remain constant in the plastic region (ductile case)?

Elastic and plastic deformation have different mechanisms of . Elastic deformation is the increased spacing between
atoms of the crystal lattice. Plastic deformation is the movement of dislocations through the metal.
• For example, if a 25-mm(l-in.)-long sample were to be plastically deformed
uniformly in length by 2.5mm owing to a tensile load P, the real or true stress
would have to be higher than that computed by the engineering stress
formulation.

• Since =1.1,
• > Engineering Stress.
• In fact, for common engineering materials the true stress in tension is always
larger than the engineering stress.
• Although the engineering stress is more convenient in many ways, the material
is actually responding to the true stress level.
• It is important to use the true stress when describing fundamental material
behavior.
• The relationship between true and engineering stresses is shown to be

This expression is accurate once sufficient plastic deformation takes place so that the constant volume assumption is
valid (approximately at a strain equal to twice the strain at yielding).
• Assumption that the same ΔA is occurring everywhere along the gage section
during deformation.
• After the maximum engineering stress (the tensile strength) for a typical
metal has been reached, one location along the gage section will reduce
in cross-sectional area more quickly than the rest of the specimen.
• This phenomenon is known as necking; after it occurs the necked region
rapidly reduces in size until failure occurs.
• After the unstable necking process has begun, actual measurements of
the cross-sectional area must be made to determine the true stress.
• True and engineering strains may be related by
𝜀 = 𝑙𝑛 𝜀 +1
• The need to define true strain - stems from the fact that the actual strain at any
given time depends on the instantaneous gage length li.
• A fixed Δl displacement will result in a decreasing amount of incremental strain,
since the gage length at any given time, li, will increase with each additional Δl
increment.
• Strain imposed on a rod (for instance) by considering the total change in length
of the rod as having taken place in either one step or any number of discrete
steps.
• On the basis of engineering strain, two deformation strains would be

• On the other hand a summation of true strains does lead to the correct result
ADVANTAGES OF USING TRUE STRAIN
• Consider a uniform cylinder which is extended to twice its original length.
• The linear strain is then e = (2La - La)/La = 1.0, or a strain of 100 percent.
• To achieve the same amount of negative linear strain in compression, the
• cylinder would have to be squeezed to zero thickness.
• However, intuitively we
• should expect that the strain produced in compressing a cylinder to half its
original length would be the same as, although opposite in sign to, the strain
produced by extending the cylinder to twice its length.
• If true strain is used, equivalence is obtained for the two cases.
• For extension to twice the original length, e = In (2La/ La) = In 2. For
compression to half the original length e = In[(La/2)/Lal = In ~ = -ln2.
 STRESS–STRAIN CURVES FOR UNIAXIAL LOADING
• Full spectrum of material response to loading under tension.
• Tensile test curves for the different categories of materials have
characteristic shapes having different essential features and the typical
behavior for each class.

Schematic depictions of typical engineering stress–strain tensile curves for (a) ceramic and glass
materials, (b–d) metals, (e–h) polymers. Not to scale.
• Figure a-d, The initial response of each of the materials depicted here is
linear-elastic in nature; that is, the stress and the strain are linearly
proportional to one another in the early part of each curve.
• If the displacement (or the strain) is reversed at any time while in the
elastic regime, the unloading curve should exactly trace over the original
loading curve; the values of stress and strain reach zero at the same
moment, indicating that the strain has been fully recovered.
• There are two ways in which the elastic limit can be exceeded: immediate
fracture, or plastic deformation followed eventually by fracture.
• Tensile curves typical of polymers are also depicted in Fig. e-h.
• There are four distinct curves shown: (e) brittle, ( f ) plastic but with limited
ductility, (g) plastic with significant ductility and strengthening, and (h)
elastic (but nonlinear) to large strains.
Uniaxial Linear Elastic Response
• Over 300 years ago Robert Hooke reported in his classic paper “Of Spring” the following
observations:
• Take a wire string of 20 or 30 or 40 feet long and fasten the upper part to a nail, and to the
other end fasten a scale to receive the weights. Then with a pair of compasses [measure]
the distance [from] the bottom of the scale [to] the ground or floor beneath. Then put
weights into the scale and measure the several stretchings of the said string and set them
down. Then compare the several stretchings of the string and you will find that they will
always bear the same proportions one to the other that the weights do that made them.
• Observation may be described mathematically as F=kx
• Where, F = applied force, x = associated displacement. k = proportionality factor often
referred to as the spring constant
• When the force acts on a cross-sectional area A and the displacement x related to some
reference gage length l, it may be rewritten as – HOOKE’S LAW
ELASTIC PROPERTIES OF ENGINEERING MATERIALS
 • the large property variations -differences in
the strength of the interatomic forces
between adjacent atoms or ions.
• let us consider how the potential energy E
between two adjacent particles changes with
their distance of separation x
• The equilibrium distance of particle separation Dependence of elastic stiffness on interatomic
x0, corresponds to minimumin potential spacing: (a) Potential energy versus interatomic
energy. spacing; (b) Force versus interatomic spacing; (

• dF/dx is analogous to the Young’s modulus

quantity, E.
−𝛼 𝛽
𝜖= + Where, corresponds to energy of attraction and corresponds to that
𝑥 𝑥
of repulsion and n>m
At x0 F = dƐ/dx = 0
dF/dx (i.e., d2Ɛ/dx2 ) describes the stiffness or relative resistance to separation of the two
atoms or ions
A simple analysis of bonding forces shows that the elastic stiffness is proportional to
 DUCTILE VS. BRITTLE BEHAVIOR
• A completely brittle material would fracture almost
at the elastic limit while a brittle metal, such as
white cast iron, shows some slight measure of
plasticity before fracture
• Adequate ductility is an important engineering
consideration, because it allows the material to
redistribute localized stresses
• For brittle materials, localized stresses continue to
build up when there is no local yielding. Finally, a
crack forms at one or more points of stress
concentration, and it spreads rapidly over the (a) Stress-strain curve for completely
section. brittle material (ideal behavior); (b) stress-
• yield stress and tensile strength are practically strain curve for brittle metal with slight amount
identical - Even if no stress concentrations are of ductility.
present in a brittle material, fracture will still occur
suddenly
** brittleness is not an absolute property of a metal. A metal such as tungsten, which is brittle at room temperature, is
ductile at an elevated temperature. A metal which is brittle in tension may be ductile under hydrostatic compression.
a metal which is ductile in tension at room temperature can become brittle in the presence of notches, low temperature,
high rates of loading, or embrittling agents such as hydrogen.
TYPES OF STRESSES
• There are two kinds of external forces which may act on a body: surface forces and
body forces.
• Forces distributed over the surface of the body, such as hydrostatic pressure or the
pressure exerted by one body on another, are called surface forces.
• Forces distributed over the volume of a body, such as gravitational forces, magnetic
forces, or inertia forces (for a body in motion), are called body forces.
• The two most common types of body forces encountered in engineering practice are
centrifugal forces due to high-speed rotation and forces due to temperature
differential over the body (thermal stress).

• A stress which is inclined at some arbitrary angle to the area over which it acts.
• The total stress can be resolved into two components - a normal stress (σ
perpendicular to ΔA, and a shearing stress (or shear stress) τ.
• The force P makes an angle Ɵ with the normal z to the plane of
the area A.
• The plane containing the normal and P intersects the plane A
along a dashed line that makes an angle ɸ with the y axis.
• The normal stress is given by
• The shear stress in the plane acts along the line OC and has the
magnitude
• This shear stress may be further resolved into components
parallel to the x and y directions lying the plane.
𝑃
𝜏= sin 𝜃 sin ∅
𝐴
𝑃
𝜏= sin 𝜃 cos ∅
𝐴
 SHEAR STRAIN
• Elastic deformation – Change in length of a linear element in the
body and Change in the initial angle
• The angular change in a right angle is known as shear strain.
• The shear strain γ, is expressed as the ratio a/h
• a/h tangent of the angle through which the element has been
rotated.

**shear strains are often expressed as angles of rotation

DESCRIPTION OF STRESS AT A POINT
• Stresses acting normal to the faces of the elemental
cube are identified by the subscript which also
identifies the direction in which the stress acts; that is
σx is the normal stress acting in the x direction normal
stress acting on the plane perpendicular to the x
direction.
• Two subscripts are needed for describing shearing
stresses.
• The first subscript indicates the plane in which the
stress acts and the second the direction in which the
stress acts.
• A shear stress is positive if it points in the
positive direction on the positive face of a
unit cube.
• A shear stress is negative if it points in the
negative direction of a positive face of a
unit cube and vice versa.
• All of the shear stresses in Fig. a are positive
shear stresses regardless of the type of
normal stresses that are present
• The shearing stresses shown in Fig. b are all
negative stresses.
STATE OF STRESS IN TWO DIMENSIONS (PLANE STRESS)
• When one of the dimensions of the body is small
relative to the others - A two-dimensional state of
stress is approached.
• In a thin plate loaded in the plane of the plate
there will be no stress acting perpendicular to the
surface of the plate.
• The stress system will consist of two normal
stresses σx and σy and a shear stress τxy
• A stress condition in which the stresses are zero
in one of the primary directions is called plane
stress.
• state of stress at point 0 in the plate stress
components at 0 for any orientation of the axes
through the point
• consider an oblique plane normal to the plane of
the paper at an angle () between the x axis and
the outward normal to the oblique plane
SUMMARY OF DIFFERENT STRAINS
 POISSON’S RATIO
• If one dimension of the material changed, other dimensions of the
material need to be changed to keep the volume constant.
• This lateral/transverse strain is related to the applied longitudinal
strain by empirical means, and the ratio of transverse strain to
longitudinal strain is known as Poisson’s ratio (ν).
• Transverse strain can be expected to be opposite in nature to
longitudinal strain, and both longitudinal and transverse strains are
linear strains.
• For most metals the values of ν are close to 0.33, for polymers it is
between 0.4 – 0.5, and for ionic solids it is around 0.2.
• Analogous to the relation between normal stress and linear strain defined
earlier, shear stress (τ) and shear strain (γ) in elastic range are related as
follows:
•
• where G is known as Shear modulus of the material. It is also known as
modulus of elasticity in shear. It is related with Young’s modulus, E, through
Poisson’s ratio, ν, as
•
• Similarly, the Bulk modulus or volumetric modulus of elasticity K, of a
material is defined as the ratio of hydrostatic or mean stress (σm) to the
volumetric strain (Δ). The relation between E and K is given by
•
∆

• Let σx, σy and σz are linear stresses and εx, εy and εz are corresponding strains
in X-, Y- and Z- directions, then
•
• An engineering material is usually subjected to stresses in multiple
directions than in just one direction. If a cubic element of a material is
subjected to normal stresses σx, σy, and σz, strains in corresponding
directions are given by

and

And, ( )
MATERIALS WITHOUT LINEAR ELASTIC
PORTION
• tangent modulus or secant modulus is
used in design calculations.
• The tangent modulus is taken as the
slope of stress-strain curve at some
specified level.
• Secant module represents the slope of
secant drawn from the origin to some
given point of the σ-ε curve
Tangent and Secant moduli for non-linear stress-strain relation.