Engineering Material and Their Properties Unit-I: R. B. Prasad Assistant Professor

UNIT-I
Engineering Material and

their properties
R. B. Prasad
Assistant Professor
CLASSIFICATION OF ENGINEERING
MATERIALS
Ferrous Materials
Cast iron:
• It is an alloy of iron, carbon and silicon and it is hard
and brittle.
• Carbon content may be within 1.7% to 3% and carbon
may be present as free carbon or iron carbide Fe3C.
• In general the types of cast iron are
(a) grey cast iron
(b) white cast iron
(c) malleable cast iron
(d) spheroidal or nodular cast iron
(e) austenitic cast iron
(f) abrasion resistant cast iron.
Cast iron
• Grey cast iron: Carbon here is mainly in the form of graphite.
This type of cast iron is inexpensive and has high compressive
strength. Graphite is an excellent solid lubricant and this makes it
easily machinable but brittle. Some examples of this type of
cast iron are FG20, FG35 or FG35Si15.
• White cast iron: In these cast irons carbon is present in the form of
iron carbide (Fe3C) which is hard and brittle. The presence of
iron carbide increases hardness and makes it difficult to
machine. Consequently these cast irons are abrasion resistant.
• Malleable cast iron: These are white cast irons rendered
malleable by annealing. These are tougher than grey cast iron
and they can be twisted or bent without fracture. They have
excellent machining properties and are inexpensive. Malleable
cast iron are used for making parts where forging is expensive
such as hubs for wagon wheels, brake supports.
Cast iron
• Spheroidal or nodular graphite cast iron: In these cast irons graphite is present in
the form of spheres or nodules. They have high tensile strength and good
elongation properties.
• Austenitic cast iron: Depending on the form of graphite present these cast
iron can be classified broadly under two headings:
– Austenitic flake graphite iron; and
– Austenitic spheroidal or nodular graphite iron
• These are alloy cast irons and they contain small percentages of silicon,
manganese, sulphur, phosphorus etc. They may be produced by adding
alloying elements viz. nickel, chromium, molybdenum, copper and manganese
in sufficient quantities. These elements give more strength and improved
properties. They are used for making automobile parts such as cylinders,
pistons, piston rings, brakedrums etc.
• Abrasion resistant cast iron: These are alloy cast iron and the alloying
elements render abrasion resistance.
• Wrought iron: This is a very pure iron where the iron content is of the
order of 99.5%. It is produced by re-melting pig iron and some small
amount of silicon, sulphur, or phosphorus may be present. It is tough,
malleable and ductile and can easily be forged or welded. It cannot however
take sudden shock. Chains, crane hooks, railway couplings and such other
components may be madeof this iron.
Steel
• This is by far the most important engineering
material and there is an enormous variety of
steel to meet the wide variety of engineering
requirements.
• Steel is basically an alloy of iron and carbon
in which the carbon content can be less than
1.7% and carbon is present in the form of iron
carbide to impart hardness and strength.
• Two main categories of steel are
(a) Plain carbon steel
(b) Alloy steel
Steel
• Plain carbon steel- The properties of plain carbon steel
depend mainly on the carbon percentages and other
alloying elements are not usually present in more than
0.5 to 1% such as 0.5% Si or 1% Mn etc.
• The plain carbon steel further may be classified in the
following categories:
– Dead mild steel-upto 0.15% C
– Low carbon steel or mild steel-0.15 to 0.46% C
– Medium carbon steel-0.45 to 0.8% C.
– High carbon steel-0.8 to 1.5% C
Usually in these steels in general higher carbon percentage
indicates higher strength.
Steel
Alloy steel- these are steels in which elements other than carbon are
added in sufficient quantities to impart desired properties, such
as wear resistance, corrosion resistance, electric or magnetic
properties.
• Chief alloying elements added are
• nickel for strength and toughness,
• chromium for hardness and strength,
• tungsten for hardness at elevated temperature,
• vanadium for tensile strength,
• manganese for high strength in hot rolled and heat treated
condition,
• silicon for high elastic limit,
• cobalt for hardness and
• molybdenum for extra tensile strength.
Non-Ferrous Metals
Non-Ferrous Metals: Metals containing elements other than iron as
their chief constituents are usually referred to as on-ferrous
metals.
Aluminium- This is the white metal produced from Alumina. In its
pure state it is weak and soft but addition of small amounts
of Cu, Mn, Si and Magnesium makes it hard and strong. It is
also corrosion resistant, low weight and non-toxic.
Duralumin- This is an alloy of 4% Cu, 0.5% Mn, 0.5% Mg and
aluminium. It is widely used in automobile and aircraft
components.
Y-alloy- This is an alloy of 4% Cu, 1.5% Mn, 2% Ni, 6% Si, Mg,
Fe and the rest is Al. It gives large strength at high temperature.
It is used for aircraft engine parts such as cylinder heads, piston etc.
Non-Ferrous Metals
• Magnalium- This is an aluminium alloy with 2 to 10 %
magnesium. It also contains 1.75% Cu. Due to its light weight
and good strength it is used for aircraft and automobile
components.
• Copper alloys: Copper is one of the most widely used non-
ferrous metals in industry. It is soft, malleable and ductile and
is a good conductor of heat and electricity. The following two
important copper alloys are widely used in practice.
• Brass (Cu-Zn alloy):It is fundamentally a binary alloy with Zn
upto 50% . As Zn percentage increases, ductility increases upto
~37% of Zn beyond which the ductility falls. Small amount of
other elements viz. lead or tin imparts other properties to
brass. Lead gives good machining quality and tin imparts
strength. Brass is highly corrosion resistant, easily machinable and
therefore a good bearing material.
Non-Metals
Non-Metals: Non-metallic materials are also used in engineering
practice due to principally their low cost, flexibility and resistance
to heat and electricity. Though there are many suitable non-
metals, the following are important few from design point of view:
• Timber- This is a relatively low cost material and a bad
conductor of heat and electricity.
• It has also good elastic and frictional properties and is widely
used in foundry patterns and as water lubricated bearings.
• Leather- This is widely used in engineering for its flexibility
and wear resistance. It is widely used for belt drives, washers and
such other applications.
• Rubber- It has high bulk modulus and is used for drive
elements, sealing, vibration isolation and similar applications.
Plastics
Plastics: These are synthetic materials which can

be moulded into desired shapes under
pressure with or without application of heat.
• These are now extensively used in various
industrial applications for their corrosion
resistance, dimensional stability and relatively
low cost.
• There are two main types of plastics:
(a) Thermosetting plastics
(b) Thermoplastics
Plastics
• Thermosetting plastics : Thermosetting plastics are formed
under heat and pressure. It initially softens and with increasing
heat and pressure, polymerisation takes place. This results in
hardening of the material. These plastics cannot be deformed
or remoulded again under heat and pressure. Some examples
of thermosetting plastics are phenol formaldehyde
(Bakelite),phenol-furfural (Durite), epoxy resins, phenolic resins etc.
• Thermoplastics: Thermoplastics do not become hard with the
application of heat and pressure and no chemical change takes
place. They remain soft at elevated temperatures until they are
hardened by cooling. These canbe re-melted and remouldedby
application of heat and pressure. Some examples of
thermoplastics are cellulose nitrate (celluloid), polythene,
polyvinyl acetate, polyvinyl chloride ( PVC) etc.
Mechanical Properties of Common
Engineering Materials
• Elasticity :This is the property of a material to regain its original
shape after deformation when the external forces are removed. All
materials are plastic to some extent but the degree varies, for
example, both mild steel and rubber are elastic materials but steel is
more elastic than rubber.
• Plasticity :This is associated with the permanent deformation of
material when the stress level exceeds the yield point. Under plastic
conditions materials ideally deform without any increase in stress. A
typical stress-strain diagram for an elastic perfectly plastic material is
shown in the figure. A typical example of plastic flow is the indentation
test where a spherical ball is pressed in a semi-infinite body.
• Hardness: Property of the material that enables it to resist
permanent deformation, penetration, indentation etc.
• Size of indentations by various types of indenters are the
measure of hardness e.g. Brinnel hardness test, Rockwell
hardness test, Vickers hardness (diamond pyramid) test. These
tests give hardness numbers which are related to yield pressure
(MPa).
• Ductility: This is the property of the material that enables it to
be drawn out or elongated to an appreciable extent before
rupture occurs.
• The percentage elongation or percentage reduction in area
before rupture of a test specimen is the measure of ductility.
• Normally if percentage elongation exceeds 15% the material is
ductile and if it is less than 5% the material is brittle. Lead,
copper, aluminium, mild steel are typical ductile materials.
• Malleability : It is a special case of ductility where
it can be rolled into thin sheets but it is not
necessary to be so strong. Lead, soft steel,
wrought iron, copper and aluminium are some
materials in order of diminishing malleability.
• Brittleness: This is opposite to ductility. Brittle
materials show little deformation before fracture
and failure occur suddenly without any warning.
• Normally if the elongation is less than 5% the
material is considered to be brittle. e.g. cast iron,
glass, ceramics are typical brittle materials.
• Resilience This is the property of the material
that enables it to resist shock and impact by
storing energy. The measure of resilience is the
strain energy absorbed per unit volume.
• For a rod of length L subjected to tensile
load P, a linear load-deflection plot is shown
in figure
• Toughness: This is the property which enables a
material to be twisted, bent or stretched under impact
load or high stress before rupture. It may be
considered to be the ability of
• the material to absorb energy in the plastic zone. The
measure of toughness is the amount of energy absorbed
after being stressed up to the point of fracture.
• Creep : When a member is subjected to a constant
load over a long period of time it undergoes a slow
permanent deformation and this is termed as “creep”.
This is dependent on temperature. Usually at elevated
temperatures creep is high.
B.I.S DESIGNATIONS OF THE PLAIN
CARBON STEEL
Plain carbon steel is designated according to
BIS as follows:
1. The first one or two digits indicate the
100 times of the average percentage
content of carbon.
2. Followed by letter “C”
3. Followed by digits indicates 10 times the
average percentage content of Manganese
“Mn”.
B.I.S DESIGNATIONS OF ALLOY
STEEL
Alloy carbon steel is designated according to BIS as follows:
1. The first one or two digits indicate the 100 times of
the average percentage content of carbon.
2. Followed by the chemical symbol of chief alloying element.
3. Followed by the rounded off the average percentage
content of alloying element as per international standards.
4. Followed by the chemical symbol of alloying elements
followed by their average percentage content rounded
off as per international standards in the descending
order.
5. If the average percentage content of any alloying element
is less than 1%, it should be written with the digits up to
two decimal places and underlined.
B.I.S DESIGNATIONS OF ALLOY
STEEL
(i) 45C8 = Plain carbon steel having average %age of
carbon of0.45% and 0.8%Mn.
(ii) Fe250 = Grey cast iron having minimum tensile
strength of250 N/mm2
(iii) XT30Ni4Cr2V65 = High speed tool steel having
Average %age content of “C” =0.30%;
Average %age content of “Ni” =4.0%;
Average %age content of “Cr” =2.0%;
Average %age content of “V” =0.65%;
(iv) 37Mn2 = Alloy Steel having
Average %age content of “C” =0.37%;
Average %age content of “Mn” =2.0%;
BASIC CRITERION FOR SELECTION OF
MATERIAL
• The basic criterions considered by a designer
for the selection of a material for a particular
application are:
• Availability of material;
• Cost of material;
• Manufacturing Considerations;
• Material Properties.

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UNIT-I

Engineering Material and

Plastics: These are synthetic materials which can

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