UNIVERSITY OF MALAWI

THE POLYTECHNIC

FACULTY OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT

DEPARTMENT OF LAND ECONOMY AND PHYSICAL PLANNING

PROGRAM: QUANTITY SURVEYING

PROGRAM CODE: BQS-2

SUBMITTED TO: MR A DZIWE

SUBMITTED BY: SONILE JERE

REG NUMBER: BQS/19/SS/005

COURSE: CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS AND METHODS II

ASSIGNMENT TITLE: TESTING METHODS OF IRON

COURSE CODE: BQS-CMM-222

DUE DATE: 8 JULY 2021

 Table of contents

CONTENT

1. INTRODUCTION 1
1.1. TENSILE TEST

1.2. HARDNESS TEST

1.3. BEND TEST

1.4. IMPACT TEST

1.5 COMPRESSION TEST

REFERENCES
1 . INTRODUCTION

Iron is commonly used for products in construction however before iron can be used the mechanical
properties of the of the metal have to be tested (Kultermann and Spence 2016). The mechanical tests
that assess the metal for stiffness, hardness and toughness these tests according to Momlouk and
Zaniewski 2017 are;

-Tensile test

-Hardness tests

-Bend test

-Impact test

1.1 Tensile test

To conduct the tensile test, a cylindrical specimen with a known diameter is clasped between clamps
of the test machine (Askeland and Wright 2014). The specimen is then gradually elongated at a
constant speed and the force which the specimen resists when being elongated and pulled apart is
recorded (Higgins 2010)

1.2 Hardness test

The main principle of this test is to assess the how metal reacts to penetration also known as
indentation (Kultemann & Spence 2016).
In the Brinell hardness test a penetrator is forced into the surface, the dent that the penetrator
leaves is usually measured to check for the hardness of the material calculated by the following
formula according to Momlouk and Zaniewski 2017:
Brinells hardness test = Test Force F (unit in kilo pounds)
Surface area of indentation A (unit in square millimeters)
1.3 Bend test
This test is carried out to assess the ductility of steel and capability of steel to withstand
cracking during bending since reinforcing steel is bent into different shapes (Momlouk aand
Zaniewski 2017) . During this test the steel specimen is bent to a predetermined angle and
radius of the curvature in the specimen in situations where the specimen does not crack the
number and the size of the cracks that are found after bending as the benchmark for failure in
the specimen (Hosford 2010)
1.4 Impact test
In the Charpy V Notch Impact Test the toughness of the iron is measured by assessing the
amount of energy needed to break the V shaped notched iron specimen (Momlouk and
Zaniewski 2017). The specimen is firstly placed into the test machine with the assistance of
tongs that put the specimen in place. The test machine has a striking arm that is thrusted to hit
the specimen (Callister and Rethwisch 2014). Upon striking the specimen, the striking arm
absorbs kinetic energy and the height between the striking arm and the surface reduces. The
results of this test are calculated compromising of the height between the striking arm and the

1
surface and the amount of energy the striking head gains after breaking the specimen
(Momlouk and Zaniewski 2017)
1.5 Compression test

This test is commonly used to test for the compression of cast iron since this metal is mainly used to
resist compression forces than tensile forces (Higgins & Bolton 2021). Higgins and Bolton 2021
further explain that during this test a cylindrical block whose length is twice its diameter is
compressed till the block breaks the results of this test are recorded.

2
REFERENCES

Askeland, D, R & Wright, W, J 2014, The science and engineering of materials, 7th edn, Cengage
Learning, Boston, USA.

Callister, W, D & Rethwisch, D, G 2014, Materials science and engineering; An introduction, John
Wiley and Sons, Hoboken, USA.

Higgins, R, A & Williams, B 2021, Materials for engineers and technicians, 7th edn, Routlegde, New
York, USA.

Higgins, R, A 2010, Materials for engineers and technicians ,5th edn, Elsevier, Oxford, UK.

Hosford, W, F 2010, Mechanical behaviour of materials, 2nd ed, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, UK.

Kultermann, E, & Spence, W, P 2016, Construction materials methods and techniques:

building for a sustainable future, Cengage learning, Alexandria, United States.

Momlouk, S, M, & Zaniewski, J,P 2017, Materials for civil and construction engineers 4th
ed, Pearson Education, New Jersey, USA.