APSC 278 Engineering Materials

5. Plastic properties and

Tensile testing II

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What information about a material can be obtained
from a tensile test?

(What’s the fuss about tensile tests?)

2
Learning objectives

• Solve problems related to elastic and plastic deformation

of materials from tensile test data
• Describe differences between engineering versus true
stress and strain
• Apply design/safety factors to solve problems related to
material properties and selection
• Perform calculations and graphical interpretations from
the work hardening equation
• Explain the advantages and limitations of hardness
testing

3
Stress-Strain Curve: Our roadmap

Data from the tensile

test (stress-strain
curve) can be used to
determine many
elastic and plastic
material properties.

What are these

material properties?

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Stress-Strain Curve: Our roadmap
What can material
properties can be
determined from
data obtained from
a tensile test?

Elastic properties
• Young’s modulus
• Modulus of resilience
• Poisson’s ratio

Plastic properties
• Yield strength
• Ultimate tensile strength
• Ductility
• Toughness
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 (MR) Tensile test: Example problem

A tensile stress is to be applied along the long axis of a cylindrical brass

rod that has a diameter of 10 mm. Determine the magnitude of the
load required to produce a 2.5 × 10−3 mm change in diameter if the
deformation is entirely elastic. Assume that the material is isotropic.

What material properties do you still need to answer this question?

Select all that apply
A. Poisson’s ratio
B. Yield strength
C. Young’s modulus
D. Equilibrium interatomic distance
E. None of the above; sufficient info is given

Take Poisson’s Ratio 0.34; Young’s modulus 97 GPa

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 (MC) Tensile test: Example problem

A tensile stress is to be applied along the long axis of a cylindrical brass

rod that has a diameter of 10 mm. Determine the magnitude of the
load required to produce a 2.5 × 10−3 mm change in diameter if the
deformation is entirely elastic. Assume that the material is isotropic.

The magnitude of load is:

1. 2.3 kN
2. 5600 N
3. 2.3 MN
4. 5600 kN
5. 2.3 GN

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Tensile test: Example problem
A tensile stress is to be applied along the long axis of a cylindrical brass rod that has a
diameter of 10 mm. Determine the magnitude of the load required to produce a 2.5 × 10−3
mm change in diameter if the deformation is entirely elastic.

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Converting tensile test data to an engineering
stress-strain curve
*When defining
engineering
stress and strain,
Engineering True Ao and Lo are the
original cross-
sectional area

F F and original

Stress s eng = s true = length of the

sample (prior to
Ao A tensile testing)

Li
DL dL
Strain e Eng =
Lo
etrue = ò L
L0

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Engineering vs. True Stress-Strain Curves
*When
defining true
Engineering True stress and
strain, A and L
are the
instantaneous
F F cross-sectional
Stress s eng = s true = area and
Ao A instantaneous
length of the
sample
Li
DL dL
Strain e Eng =
Lo
etrue = ò L li
dl l
L0 eT = ò l
= ln( i )
lo
l0

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True stress and strain

• True stress: load divided by the instantaneous cross-sectional area

True stress at necking is therefore not a maximum
• True strain: natural logarithm of ratio of instantaneous gauge length
to original gauge length
“Corrected” stresses take
into account adjustments
made upon necking, and are
lower than that of the
“true” curve due to the
complex stress state in the
neck (ie. axial stress is only
one component of many
others in the neck)
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 Relating true and engineering quantities
• Engineering stress is less than true stress, and engineering strain is
greater than true strain; this makes engineering quantities
conservative estimates
• Plastic deformation is a constant volume process:
(Note: you will not need
Assumption of constant volume to know the derivation
(constant density)
DL for these relationships)
e Eng =
Lo Valid until the onset of necking
(necking involves complex stress
states within specimen):

li
dl l
eT = ò l
= ln( i )
lo
l0

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Work hardening

• Work hardening is the increase in true stress required to

deform a material beyond its elastic limit
• The true stress can be approximated up to the point of
necking by the following work hardening equation :

σT is true stress
εT is true strain
K is the strength coefficient
n is the work hardening exponent
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Work hardening

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Safety factors in design and materials selection

• There are uncertainties related to applied loads (service conditions) and

variabilities in measured mechanical properties
• Design approach must be implemented to protect against unanticipated
failure
• A factor of safety N is a non-zero positive number that is used to calculate a
working stress, based on a yield stress:

𝜎𝑦
𝜎𝑤 =
𝑁
where σw is the working stress

• Note that this is used for non-critical applications, and not for critical
applications such as aircraft and bridge components
• Selection of N is important (too conservative, and this could lead to
increased material cost)

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 Safety factor in design
Consider a thin-walled cylindrical tube having a radius of 50 mm and wall
thickness 2 mm that is to be used to transport pressurized gas. If inside
and outside tube pressures are 20 and 0.5 atm (2.027 and 0.057 MPa),
respectively, which of the metals and alloys listed below can be used to
produce a tube with the lowest cost? Use a safety factor of 4.

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Safety factor in design: Example Problem
Consider a thin-walled cylindrical tube having a radius of 50 mm and wall thickness 2
mm that is to be used to transport pressurized gas. If inside and outside tube pressures
are 20 and 0.5 atm (2.027 and 0.057 MPa), respectively, which of the metals and alloys
listed below can be used to produce a tube with the lowest cost?

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 (MC) Safety factor in design
Consider a thin-walled cylindrical tube having a radius of 50 mm and wall
thickness 2 mm that is to be used to transport pressurized gas. If inside
and outside tube pressures are 20 and 0.5 atm (2.027 and 0.057 MPa),
respectively, which of the metals and alloys listed below can be used to
produce a tube with the lowest cost? Use a safety factor of 4.

A. Steel
B. Aluminum
C. Copper
D. Brass
E. Titanium

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Hardness testing
• Hardness: a material’s resistance to localized
plastic deformation
• Hardness is an important material property,
but cannot be determined from a tensile test
• However, hardness can be used to estimate
yield stress and ultimate tensile stress
• Testing is simple, inexpensive and “non-
destructive” (not really…)
• Many standards used:
• Rockwell
• Brinell
• Hardness values are relative values, not
absolute
• Exercise care when comparing values from
different techniques; they are not directly
comparable
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Comparing hardness tests

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Comparing hardness tests

21
Materials for elastic hinges

What are the design criteria for

elastic hinges on bottle caps, in
terms of stiffness (Young’s modulus)
and yield strength?

A. High stiffness and high yield strength

B. Low stiffness and high yield strength
C. High stiffness and low yield strength
D. Low stiffness and low yield strength

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Materials for elastic hinges
• The most suitable
material is one for
which the following
parameter is
maximized:

𝜎𝑦
𝑀=
𝐸

• Polyethylene,
polypropylene and
nylon are common
choices; elastomers
are often too flexible
for the cap or box itself
(if manufactured as
one-piece via injection
moulding)
Yield strength σy (MPa)
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Learning objectives

• Solve problems related to elastic and plastic deformation

of materials from tensile test data
• Describe differences between engineering versus true
stress and strain
• Apply design/safety factors to solve problems related to
material properties and selection
• Perform calculations and graphical interpretations from
the work hardening equation
• Explain the advantages and limitations of hardness
testing

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