CVE 202: Strength of Materials

LOADING TESTS OF DUCTILE AND BRITTLE MATERIALS

Materials can be classified as either being ductile or brittle, depending on the stress-strain
characteristics.
Ductile materials
Any material that can be subjected to large strain before it ruptures is called a ductile
material. Mild steel is a typical example. Engineers often choose ductile materials for design
because these materials are capable of absorbing shock or energy; and if they become
overloaded, they will usually exhibit large deformation before failing. One way to specify the
ductility of a material is to report its percent elongation or percent reduction in areas at the
time of fracture. The percent elongation is the specimen’s fracture strain expressed as
percent. Thus if the specimen’s original length is Lo and its length at fracture is Lf, then
percent elongation
𝐿𝑓−𝐿𝑜
= 𝑥 100 %
𝐿𝑜

The percentage reduction in area is another way to specify ductility. It is defined as follows:
𝐴𝑜 − 𝐴𝑓
𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 = 𝑥 100 %
𝐴𝑜
Where Ao = Specimen original cross-sectional area
Af = Area of fracture
Other materials that exhibit ductile stress-strain characteristics are brass, molybdenum and
Zinc.
Brittle materials
Materials that exhibit little or no yielding before fracture are referred to as brittle materials.
Cast iron and concrete are examples of brittle materials. Compared with their behaviour in
tension, brittle materials exhibit a much higher resistance to axial compression.
In many brittle materials such as rock, concrete, cast iron or soil, tensile strength is negligible
compared to the compressive strength for many engineering applications.

ELASTIC CONSTANTS AND RELATIONSHIPS AMONG THEM

For most engineering materials, a relationship exists between stress and strain. For each
increment in stress, there is a closely proportional increase in strain, provided that a certain
limit of stress is not exceeded. If the induced stress exceeds this limiting value, the
corresponding strain will no longer be proportional to the stress. This limiting value is called
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 CVE 202: Strength of Materials

the proportional limit and may be concisely defined as that value of stress up to which strain
is proportional to stress.

Figure 1: Stress-strain diagram

The values of stress and strain can be plotted on a stress-strain diagram as shown in Figure
1. The ratio of stress to strain, which is also the slope of the line drawn from the origin and
joining the plotted points is constant.
Mathematically,
𝜎𝐴 𝜎𝐵
= = Constant
𝜖𝐴 𝜖𝐵

The Constant is known as the modulus of elasticity or Young’s modulus. The modulus of
elasticity for members in tension or compression is generally represented by the expression
𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝜎
𝐸 = 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 = (Hooke’s law)
𝜖

Physically, the modulus of elasticity is a measure of the stiffness of a material in its response
to an applied load and represents a definite property of that material. Material stiffness may
be defined as the property that enables a material to withstand high stress without great
strain.
As with axially loaded bodies in tension and compression, the shear stress is proportional to
the shear strain, as long as the proportional limit in shear has not been exceeded. This
constant of proportionality is known as the modulus of elasticity in shear or the modulus of
rigidity. It is denoted by G and expressed as
𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝜎𝑠
𝐺= =
𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝜖𝑠
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 CVE 202: Strength of Materials

The expressions for stress, strain and modulus of elasticity, E may now be combined to
develop convenient expression, to determine directly the total deformation δ for a member.
Substitute for stress and strain in the definition (expression) of modulus of elasticity,
𝜎 𝑃/𝐴 𝑃𝐿
𝐸= = = 𝐴𝛿
𝜖 𝛿/𝐿

Where δ = the total axial deformation (in mm)

P = the total applied external axial load (N)
L = the length of the member (in mm)
A = the cross-sectional area of the member (m2, mm2)
E = the modulus of elasticity (Pa, MPa)

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