TITLE:

HEAT TREATMENT OF METALS – TENSILE TEST.

INTRODUCTION:
Uniaxial tensile test is known as a basic and universal engineering test to achieve material
parameters such as ultimate strength, yield strength, % elongation, % reduction in area and
Young’s modulus. These important parameters obtained from the standard tensile testing are
useful for the selection of engineering materials for any applications required.
The tensile testing is carried out by applying longitudinal or axial load at a specific extension rate
to a standard tensile specimen with known dimensions (gage length and cross sectional area
perpendicular to the load direction) till failure. The applied tensile load and extension are
recorded during the test for the calculation of stress and strain.
THEORY:
Tensile properties often are measured during development of new materials and processes, so
that different materials and processes can be compared. Finally, tensile properties often are used
to predict the behavior of a material under forms of loading other than uniaxial tension.
The strength of a material often is the primary concern. The strength of interest may be measured
in terms of either the stress necessary to cause appreciable plastic deformation or the maximum
stress that the material can withstand. These measures of strength are used, with appropriate
caution (in the form of safety factors), in engineering design.
Also of interest is the material’s ductility, which is a measure of how much it can be deformed
before it fractures. Rarely is ductility incorporated directly in design; rather, it is included in
material specifications to ensure quality and toughness. Low ductility in a tensile test often is
accompanied by low resistance to fracture under other forms of loading. Elastic properties also
may be of interest, but special techniques must be used to measure these properties during tensile
testing, and more accurate measurements can be made by ultrasonic techniques.
It is important to note too that this test is destructive and is used to determine yield strength
(point at which plastic deformation occurs under stress).

Tensile strength (σUTS or SU) is indicated by the maxima of a stress-strain curve and, in general,
indicates when necking will occur. As it is an intensive property, its value does not depend on
the size of the test specimen. It is, however, dependent on the preparation of the specimen and
the temperature of the test environment and material.

Here are three definitions of tensile strength:

Yield strength
The stress at which material strain changes from elastic deformation to plastic
deformation, causing it to deform permanently.
Ultimate strength
 The maximum stress a material can withstand when subjected to tension, compression or
shearing. It is the maximum stress on the stress-strain curve.
Breaking strength
The stress coordinate on the stress-strain curve at the point of rupture.

Metals including steel have a linear stress-strain relationship up to the yield point, as shown in
the figure. In some steels the stress falls after the yield point. This is due to the interaction of
carbon atoms and dislocations in the stressed steel. Cold worked and alloy steels do not show
this effect. For most metals yield point is not sharply defined. Below the yield strength all
deformation is recoverable, and the material will return to its initial shape when the load is
removed. This recoverable deformation is known as elastic deformation. For stresses above the
yield point the deformation is not recoverable, and the material will not return to its initial shape.
This unrecoverable deformation is known as plastic deformation. For many applications plastic
deformation is unacceptable, and the yield strength is used as the design limitation.

After the yield point, steel and many other ductile metals will undergo a period of strain
hardening, in which the stress increases again with increasing strain up to the ultimate strength.
If the material is unloaded at this point, the stress-strain curve will be parallel to the original
elastic portion of the curve, between the origin and the yield point. If it is then re-loaded it will
follow the unloading curve up again to the previous load, which has become the new yield
strength, and will then continue following the original plastic curve.

After a metal has been loaded to its yield strength it begins to "neck" as the cross-sectional area
of the specimen decreases due to plastic flow. When necking becomes substantial, it may cause a
reversal of the engineering stress-strain curve, where decreasing stress correlates to increasing
strain because of geometric effects. This is because the engineering stress and engineering strain
are calculated assuming the original cross-sectional area before necking. If the graph is plotted in
terms of true stress and true strain the curve will always slope upwards and never reverse, as
true stress is corrected for the decrease in cross-sectional area. Necking is not observed for
materials loaded in compression. The peak stress on the engineering stress-strain curve is known
as the ultimate strength. After a period of necking, the material will rupture and the stored elastic
energy is released as noise and heat. The stress on the material at the time of rupture is known as
the breaking strength.

Ductile metals do not have a well defined yield point. The yield strength is typically defined by
the "0.2% offset strain". The yield strength at 0.2% offset is determined by finding the
intersection of the stress-strain curve with a line parallel to the initial slope of the curve and
which intercepts the abscissa at 0.2%. A stress-strain curve typical of aluminium along with the
0.2% offset line is shown in the figure below.

The following are the equations relevant for the calculation:

(i) Stress: This is load applied per unit area
𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒
𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝜎 =
𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 − 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎
(ii) Strain: the change of length per unit length.
 𝑙𝑓 − 𝑙0 ∆𝑙
𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝜀 = =
𝑙0 𝑙0
(iii) Young’s Modulus of elasticity: This is the ratio of stress to the linear strain.
𝜎
𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔’𝑠 𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑢𝑠 𝐸 =
𝜀
(iv)
𝑙𝑓 − 𝑙0
𝐷𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 %𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = [ ] × 100%
𝑙0
𝐴0 − 𝐴𝑓
% 𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 = [ ] × 100%
𝐴0

EQUIPMENT AND PROCEDURE:

Using the universal testing machine (UTM), different steel specimens (TH 410, 0.1% carbon, as
drawn. TH 4035, 0.4% carbon, normalized at 860◦C) are to be tested, lest for this lab, specimen
TH 4015, 0f 0.1% carbon, normalized at 900◦C, is of interest.
Upon measuring the original length and diameter, fit specimen into grips of the test machine and
attach strain-measuring device and begin load application with initial load of 0 KN, adding 0.5
KN till fracture, thus recorded load versus elongation data. After fracture of the specimen,
measured final gage length and diameter from the neck of specimen.
All necessary data was collected in the table below.

DATA AND GRAPHICAL ANALYSIS:

RESULTS FROM CALCULATIONS:
 Initial gage length = 83mm
 Initial diameter = 25mm
 Final gage length = 111.28mm
 Necking diameter = 6.41mm

1. Initial area (S1) of specimen

S1 = π(d12/4)
=π(252/4)
=490.8738521
=490.87mm2

2. Area at fracture
S2 = π(d22/4)
=π(6.412/4)
=32.27051828
=32.27mm2
3. %el =[(lf-lo)/lo]*100
=[(111.28 – 83)/83]*100
=34.07%

4. %ra = [(Ao – Af)/Ao]*100

=[(490.8738521 – 32.27051828)/490.8738521]*100
=93.43%

RESULTS TAKEN FROM THE GRAPH:

1. Young’s modulus
A(x1,y1) and B(x2,y2)
Slope = change in stress/ change in strain
=
 2. The ultimate strength is a point on the engineering stress-strain curve with the maximum value of
stress which is shown on the graph as 32.6
3. Yield stress (point of failure) is shown as 17.6

DISCUSSION:
From the experiment, results clearly show that the Young’s modulus of mild steel is at least
equal to the actual Young’s modulus. This shows that the specimen is pure steel and some errors
were avoided during the experiment.
Non the less, apart from human error in data analysis, the zero error of the machine, and parallax
error when reading the values too to be taken note of as they hindered accuracy. It can also be
seen that the water cooled specimen is the most brittle, since the yield tensile strength was the
same as the ultimate tensile strength. This was so because it was difficult to distinguish the limit
of elastic deformation and the point of material failure.
From the theory and the experiments that have be taken before it was expected that the most
ductile specimen with the smallest Young’s modulus value should have been the furnace cooled.
This would have agreed with the results in the previous lab as it was discovered to be the softest
material. This inconsistence in the results must have been caused by some experimental errors.

CONCLUSION:
The results of the experiment show that specimen TH 4015 undergoes ductile fracture because
there was a reduction in area at the fractured point and the fracture appeared cup and cone, which
concludes that mild steel is a ductile material, also in order to obtain better results, the
experiment should be done carefully and use well calibrated instruments to avoid errors.

REFERENCES:
1. Callister, Jr, W.D. Material Science and Engineering: an introduction, 5th edition, 2000.
2. Kabyemera, I.; Kolasa, A and Bisanda, E.T.N. Laboratory Practical in Materials
Technology.