Tensile testing and stress –

strain plots

Presented by Tim Hilditch

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 Tensile Testing

If we want to know how a material behaves until a mechanical force, then we should
apply a force and measure how the material deforms - load versus extension curve

- This depends on the material AND the geometry of the specimen

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Engineering stress and strain

To make our load versus extension curve into something that depends only on
the material (and not on geometry), we convert to stress and strain

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What happens to the material?
Local shape
change occurs
- non-reversible
Uniform shape change
occurs, but is non-
reversible (plastic)

Material
fractures

Uniform shape
change occurs,
but is reversible
(elastic)

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 Important mechanical properties

Strain (or work)

hardening Tensile strength

Yield strength

Ductility is the percent elongation

or reduction in area at fracture

Percent elongation – the

percentage of plastic strain at
Slope is the Elastic fracture
(Young’s) modulus

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But this stress-strain curve is a bit misleading

Stress is force divided by area:

• The area is constantly decreasing,

but we have used the original area
to calculate stress

Similar problem with strain and

the length constantly changing

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 True Stress & Strain

Because the geometry of the test specimen is constantly changing, we need to use
something other that “Engineering” or “Tensile” stress and strain to show what the
material actually feels

True stress True strain

σT = F Ai εT = ln( i  o )

σT = σ(1 + ε )
εT = ln(1 + ε )
We often ignore the corrected curve – it just reminds us that the true
Deakin University CRICOS Provider Code: 00113B stress-strain curve only works properly until the tensile strength
Different regions of the stress-strain curve

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From Hibbeler, Mechanics of Materials, chapter 3
True or Engineering stress/strain?

So should you use:

Engineering (or tensile) stress and strain

Or

True stress and strain?

• Engineering or true depends on how you are going to use it

• Material property data sheets typically use engineering
• Analytical and numerical simulations generally use true
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Shapes of stress strain curves

What are these curves telling us about the materials?

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Ceramics

How would ceramics or concrete perform in a tensile test ?

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Mechanical properties
For many structural design applications – the main two considerations are Elastic
Modulus and Yield Strength

However – many failure mechanisms depend on other parts of the tensile curve

E- elastic modulus

σy – yield strength

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What you should do now

• Read over the different mechanical properties you can get from a tensile test; paying
attention to what is physically happening to the material as you do it

• Practice calculating back and forth between load/extension, engineering stress/strain

and true stress-strain

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