CHEM181: CHEMISTRY FOR ENGINEERS – LABORATORY

Experiment No. 10
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS:
THE STRESS – STRAIN CURVE OF A DOOR SPRING

Objectives: 1. Measure tensile stress and strain of materials

2. Create the stress - strain diagram of materials
3. Determine Young’s modulus of materials

Apparatus: meter stick

set of weights
micrometer

Materials: different sizes of door springs

Theory:
Engineering stress, , is defined as the force, F, exerted on a material perpendicular to
its cross – sectional area, .
Strain, , is the change in length divided by the original length of a material, L0.
Engineering strain is defined as fully recoverable strain resulting from an applied stress.
The strain is elastic if it develops instantaneously and remains as long as the stress is
applied.
A stress – strain curve is used to characterize the mechanical behavior of the material
being tested. It is most often plotted using engineering stress and strain measures due to
the ease of measuring reference length and cross – sectional area. Stress – strain curves
can help engineers determine the constitutive relationship between stress and strain for
a particular material. The constitutive relationship can help determine the stress exerted
on a material given strain and vice-versa. This relationship is quite complex and can be
affected by many factors including temperature.
The elasticity of the material is its ability to return to its original shape upon the removal
of an applied force. The Young’s modulus, , of the material is the slope of the elastic
region of its stress – strain diagram. The stress – strain line is not necessarily linear, thus
the slope of the tangent at a particular stress – strain point is used as the value of Young’s
modulus.
Many materials, such as elastomers, have large elastic deformations. Examples of
elastomers include natural rubber and silicone.
Procedure:
1. Attach one end of the door spring to a hook on the wall and take the initial length.
2. Place the meter stick beside the door spring.
3. Slowly add 500 grams of weight on the spring. Measure the new length of the door
spring.
4. Continue adding set of weights in 500 grams and 1 kg increments until it reaches a
maximum of 5 kilograms.
5. Measure the new length of the door spring every addition of a set of weights.
6. Repeat 1 to 5 for every door spring (of different length and thickness) used.
7. Compute for the stress and strain of each spring sample.
8. Plot the stress-strain graph of the springs.
9. Solve the Young modulus (slope of the curve) to determine the elastic region of the
material.
 CHEM181: CHEMISTRY FOR ENGINEERS – LABORATORY

Experiment No. 10
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS:
THE STRESS – STRAIN CURVE OF A DOOR SPRING

GROUP NO. ___

NAME: DATE:

COURSE, YEAR & SECTION: INSTRUCTOR:

Tabulated results:
Table 1: Initial thickness and length of door spring.

Door spring 1 Door spring 2 Door spring 3

Inside radius (mm)

Outside radius (mm)

Table 2: Elongated lengths of door spring 1

Total mass
Young's
Set of weights (Weights plus Length Stress Strain
Modulus
holder)
0g
500 g
1000 g
1500 g
2000 g
3000 g
4000 g
5000 g
Table 3: Elongated lengths of door spring 2
Total mass
Young's
Set of weights (Weights plus Length Stress Strain
Modulus
holder)
0g
500 g
1000 g
1500 g
2000 g
3000 g
4000 g
5000 g

Table 4: Elongated lengths of door spring 3

Total mass
Young's
Set of weights (Weights plus Length Stress Strain
Modulus
holder)
0g
500 g
1000 g
1500 g
2000 g
3000 g
4000 g
5000 g

Formulas:
Engineering stress ()
F
 =
A
where: F = mg, N
m = mass load, kg
g = acceleration due to gravity; 9.81 /s2
A = cross -sectional area, m2
 (
A =  R2 − r 2 )
kg  m / s 2 kg
1 =1 = 1Pa
2
m m  s2

Engineering strain ()

L L f − L 0
= =
L0 L0

where: Lf = new length/final length, m

L0 = original length, m
 = unitless
Young Modulus ()
y
= (from the stress-strain curve)
x
Calculations: Show complete solutions.
Graph: stress versus strain
STRESS

STRAIN

Questions:
1. What makes a spring elastic?

2. Does the elasticity of springs change with different loads? Explain.