Stress- pressure or tension exerted on a material object.

 Direct or normal stress (σ)

It has been noted above that external force applied to a body in equilibrium
is reacted by internal forces set up within the material. If, therefore, a bar is
subjected to a uniform tension or compression, i.e. a direct force, which is
uniformly or equally applied across the cross section, then the internal forces set
up are also distributed uniformly and the bar is said to be subjected to a uniform
direct or normal stress, the stress being defined as load P

A Stress r may thus be compressive or tensile depending on the nature of

the load and will be measured in units of newtons per square meter (N/m2) or
multiples of this.
 Shear stress
Consider a block or portion of material as shown in Fig. 1.12a subjected to a
set of equal and opposite forces Q. (Such a system could be realized in a bicycle
brake block when contacted with the wheel.) There is then a tendency for one
layer of the material to slide over another to produce the form of failure shown in
Fig. 1.12b. If this failure is restricted, then a shear stress is set up, defined as
follows:

A This shear stress will always be tangential to the area on which it acts;
direct stresses, however, are always normal to the area on which they act.
  Allowable working stress-factor of safety
The most suitable strength or stiffness criterion for any structural element
or component is normally some maximum stress or deformation which must not
be exceeded. In the ease of stresses the value is generally known as the maximum
allowable working stress. Because of uncertainties of loading conditions, design
procedures, production methods, etc., designers generally introduce a factor of
safety into their designs, defined as follows:

However, in view of the fact that plastic deformations are seldom accepted
this definition is sometimes modified to

In the absence of any information as to which definition has been used for
any quoted value of safety factor the former definition must be assumed. In this
case a factor of safety of 3 implies that the design is capable of carrying three
times the maximum stress to which it is expected the structure will be subjected
in any normal loading condition. There is seldom any realistic basis for the
selection of a particular safety factor and values vary significantly from one
branch of engineering to another. Values are normally selected on the basis of a
consideration of the social, human safety and economic consequences of failure.
Typical values range from 2.5 (for relatively low consequence, static load eases) to
10 (for shock load and high safety risk applications}.
Temperature stresses When the temperature of a component is increased
or decreased the material respectively expands or contracts. If this expansion or
contraction is not resisted in any way then the processes take place free of stress.
If, however, the changes in dimensions are restricted then stresses termed
temperature stresses will be set up within the material. Consider a bar of material
with a linear coefficient of expansion α. Let the original length of the bar be L and
let the temperature increase be t. If the bar is free to expand the change in length
would be given by
 and the new length

If this extension were totally prevented, then a compressive stress would

be set up equal to that produced when a bar of length L (1 + αt) is compressed
through a distance of Lαt. In this case the bar experiences a compressive strain

In most eases αt is very small compared with unity so that

But

 Direct strain (ε)

If a bar is subjected to a direct load, and hence a stress, the bar will change
in length. If the bar has an original length L and changes in length by an amount
δL, the strain produced is defined as follows:

Strain is thus a measure of the deformation of the material and is non-

dimensional, i.e. it has no units; it is simply a ratio of two quantities with the same
unit
 Since, in practice, the extensions of materials under load are very small, it is
often convenient to measure the strains in the form of strain x 10-6, i.e.
microstrain, when the symbol used becomes με.

Material Failure
Failure theory is the science of predicting the conditions under which solid
materials fail under the action of external loads. The failure of a material is usually
classified into brittle failure (fracture) or ductile failure (yield). Depending on the
conditions (such as temperature, state of stress, loading rate) most materials can
fail in a brittle or ductile manner or both. However, for most practical situations, a
material may be classified as either brittle or ductile. Though failure theory has
been in development for over 200 years, its level of acceptability is yet to reach
that of continuum mechanics.
The usual causes of mechanical failure in the component or system are:
• Misuse or abuse
• Assembly errors
• Manufacturing defects
• Improper or inadequate maintenance
• Design errors or design deficiencies
• Improper material or poor selection of materials
• Improper heat treatments
• Unforeseen operating conditions
• Inadequate quality assurance
• Inadequate environmental protection/control
• Casting discontinuities
 The design of a component or structure often asks to minimize the
possibility of failure. The failure of metals is a complex subject which can only be
dealt with fracture or other relevant phenomenon. Therefore, it is important to
understand the different types of mechanical failure i.e. fracture, fatigue, creep,
corrosion, wear etc.
The general types of mechanical failure include:
• Failure by fracture due to static overload, the fracture being either brittle
or ductile.
• Buckling in columns due to compressive overloading.
• Yield under static loading which then leads to misalignment or
overloading on other components.
• Failure due to impact loading or thermal shock.
• Failure by fatigue fracture.
• Creep failure due to low strain rate at high temperature.
• Failure due to the combined effects of stress and corrosion.
• Failure due to excessive wear.
o Failure Due to Fracture
Fracture is described in various ways depending on the behavior of material
under stress upon the mechanism of fracture or even its appearance. The fracture
can be classified either as ductile or brittle depending upon whether or not plastic
deformation of the material before any catastrophic failure.
o Ductile Fracture
Ductile fracture is characterized by tearing of metal and significant plastic
deformation. The ductile fracture may have a gray, fibrous appearance. Ductile
fractures are associated with overload of the structure or large discontinuities.
This type of fracture occurs due to error in design, incorrect selection of materials,
improper manufacturing technique and/or handling.
 o Brittle Fracture
Brittle fracture is characterized by rapid crack propagation with low energy
release and without significant plastic deformation. Brittle metals experience little
or no plastic deformation prior to fracture. The fracture may have a bright
granular appearance. The fractures are generally of the flat type and chevron
patterns may be present. Materials imperfection, sharp corner or notches in the
component, fatigue crack etc.
Factors Affecting the Fracture of a Material
The main factors those affect the fracture of a material are:
• Stress concentration
In order to break a small piece of material, one way is to make a small
notch in the surface of the material and then apply a force. The presence of a
notch, or any sudden change in section of a piece of material, can vary
significantly change the stress at which fracture occurs. The notch or sudden
change in section produces what are called stress concentrations. They disturb
the normal stress distribution and produce local co-generations of stress.
• Speed of loading
A sudden blow to the material may lead to fracture where the same stress
applied more slowly would not. With a very high rate of application of stress there
may be insufficient time for plastic deformation of a material to occur under
normal conditions, a ductile material will behave in a brittle manner.
• Temperature
Many metals which are ductile at high temperatures are brittle at low
temperatures. For example, steel may behave as a ductile material above, say, 0 C
but below that temperature it becomes brittle. The ductile–brittle transition
temperature is thus of importance in determining how a material will behave in
service.
• Thermal shock
When hot water is poured into a cold glass it causes the glass to crack
which is known as thermal shock. The layer of glass in contact with the hot water
tends to expand but is restrained by the colder outer layers of the glass, these
layers not heating up quickly because of the poor thermal conductivity of glass.
The result is the setting up of stresses which can be sufficiently high to cause
failure of the brittle glass.