Mechanical Properties

Ductility: A metals ability to be drawn, stretched,

or formed without breaking.

Elasticity: The deformation of the metal is

temporary and will return to its original
shape.

Hardness: A materials ability to resist

penetration, indentation, or scratching.

Shear strength: A materials ability to resist shear stress

which tries to cause the internal
structures of the material to slide
against its self.

Tensile strength: A materials ability to resist forces

that attempt to pull it apart or stretch
it.

Toughness: The amount of energy a material can

absorb before it breaks.

Yield Strength: The point on the stress-strain curve

where there is a sudden increase in
strain, but no increase in stress. It is at
this point that a metal is about to
permanently deform

Material Testing Page 1 LC Engineering

 The Tensile Test
The tensile strength of a material is the stress required
to cause fracture of a test piece in tension.

MACHINE SETUP
A test piece of known cross sectional area (csa) is
gripped between the jaws of a testing machine and is
subjected to an increased tensile force (KN) by suitable
Increments.

TESTING
When the test piece is beginning to stretch rapidly at
the start it is in the elasticity region. At this point the
extension is proportional to the force applied. In the
elasticity region if the force is removed the test piece
will return to is original length. Hooks Law

Stress Strain

Stress = A constant (E)

Strain

E is known as Youngs Modulus of Elasticity for the

material.

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When the piece reaches the point that it wont return to
its original length it is at its elastic limit (or limit of
proportionality) at point A.

With increased load the piece now has larger extension

this is the plastic region.

The material suddenly gives that it suffers a sudden

extension with very little increase in force. This is called
the yield point (Y).

As the force is increased further the material stretches

rapidly, first uniformly along its length and the locally to
form a neck. This necking occurs just after the Max
force has been reached at M and since the cross-
section decreases rapidly at the neck, the force at B
required to break the test piece is much less than the
Max load at M.

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Thus if the stress were calculated on this decreasing
diameter the resulting Stress / Strain graph would
follow the path to B1.

TENSILE STRENGTH = MAX. FORCE

(Engineering stress) ORIGINIAL CSA

PROOF STRESS
Force / Extension diagrams for heat treated steels and
most alloys do not show a well defined Yield Point (Y).
This makes it impossible to assess the yield stress of
such an alloy. In this case we use a value known as
Proof Stress.

Thus the 0.1% Proof Stress is that which will produce a

permanent extension of 0.1% in the gauge length of the
test piece.

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 A distance OA,
equal to 0.1% of
the Gauge length
is marked along
the Horizontal
axis.
A line is drawn
from A parallel
to the straight
portion of the
graph. Where
the line
intersects the
graph (B) is the
proof force.

0.1% Proof Stress = Proof Force

Original CSA

% Elongation = Increase in gauge length x 100

Original gauge length

CALCULATIONS
Example 1

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Define: Stress and strain.

Stress: The amount of load or force carried by a unit

area.

Stress = Load or Force

CSA

Strain: The amount a test-piece stretches.

Strain = Extension
Original length

A bar is 2m long 15mm wide and 8mm deep and is

pulled with a force of 360 KN.
After testing its length was found to be 2.05m
1.Calculate the stress and strain.
2.Calculate Youngs Modulus of Elasticity.

Stress = Force = 360 = 3KN/mm2

CSA 120

Strain = Extension = 2.05 2.00 = 0.03m

Original length 2.00

Youngs Modulus = Stress = 3 = 100KN/mm2

Strain 0.03

Example 2

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 The following results were obtained from a tensile test
on a material of diameter 10mm and gauge length
50mm.
10 11 13 15 17 19 19 19 18
Load (KN) 25 50 75
0 0 0 0 5 0 8 5 0
Extension 0.1 0. 0.3 0.4 0.5 1. 2. 4.
6 8 11 14
(mm) 5 2 5 2 2 1 2 2

Plot the Load / Extension graph and determine the

following:

1) Tensile strength = Tensile Force = 198 =

2.52KN/mm 2

CSA 3.14 x (5)2

2) 0.1% Proof Stress = Proof Force = 99 =

1.26KN/mm2
CSA 3.14 x (5)2

3) Stress = Load = 75 = 0.955KN/mm2

CSA 3.14 x (5)2

4) Strain = Extension = 0.35 = 0.01mm

Orig. Length 50

5) Youngs of Elasticity = stress = 0.955 =

95.50KN/mm2
Strain 0.01

Material Testing Page 7 LC Engineering

Material Testing Page 8 LC Engineering
 Hardness Testing
Hardness is measured by measuring a materials
resistance to scratching or Indentation.

BRINELL TEST:
1.A hard steel ball is forced into the surface of the
test piece by a suitable load.
2.The diameter of the impression left by the ball is
measured and it is converted into a Brinell hardness
number.
3.The test piece must be at least eight times thicker
than the depth impression require. This is to
prevent the table of the testing machine absorbing
some of the force from the load.
4.The size of the steel ball must be matched to the
material being tested: Otherwise, a small ball could
easily be forced through a soft material, or a large
ball may not make any impression on a hard
material.
5.The scale for a Brinell Hardness test ranges from
112 to 500.

VICKERS TEST:
1.A diamond indenter is forced into the surface of the
material to be tested. The diamond has a point
angle of 1360.
2.The diagonal length of the square impression is
measured with a special microscope. This reading
can be converted into Vickers Pyramid Hardness
number.
3.The test piece must also be at least eight times
thicker than the depth of impression required.
4.All indentations by the diamond indenter will be
geometrically similar so it is not necessary to match
the size of the indenter to the material being
tested.

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 5.The impression left by the diamond is smaller than
that of the steel ball: For this reason, smoother
surface finish is required on the component when
the Vickers test is used. The smaller indentation left
by the Vickers test makes this test suitable for
testing finished components.
6.The diamond indenter deforms less under pressure
than a steel ball, making the Vickers test more
suitable for testing hard materials.
7.The Vickers Pyramid Hardness scale ranges from
114 to 545.

ROCKWELL TEST:
The indenter used is a cone shape and gives a direct
reading, which means the indentation does not have to
be measured as it gives a digital reading. It is generally
used for hard materials.

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HARDNESS TESTING MACHINE

Most machines used are fully automatic and can carry

out various tests.

IMPACT TESTING (TOUGHNESS TESTS)

A materials ability to withstand mechanical shock.

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 IZOD CHARPY

ENERGY USED 167 Joules 300 Joules

Towards Away from
NOTCH
pendulum Pendulum
One End, Both Ends,
HELD
Vertically Horizontally

Non-Destructive Testing
Non-destructive testing is used for testing for surface
flaws such as cracks. Its also used for testing flaws
which are internal or below the surface.
During non-destructive testing the test does not
damage the material or specimens being tested.

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INSPECTION
Macro: Inspection of a piece with the naked-eye or
magnify-glass.
Micro: Inspection of a piece with a microscope.

PENETRANT TESTING
For the detection of surface flaws. Coloured dye is
carried by a penetrant which allowed to soak into a
material under test. The oil and chalk method is the
oldest form of this type of NDT.

Nowadays, the penetrants used are fluorescent when

viewed under ultraviolet (UV) light.

key points
Cracks
Uv light

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 Fluorescent Penetrant
Sanding.

BELOW THE SURFACE FLAW DETECTION

THERMAL TESTS
Tests have been developed which are based on the high
thermal conductivity of metals. Any flaw present will
affect the heat transfer in the metal being tested and is
shown up by the use of heat-sensitive coating.
Key points
Test piece heated
Heat flows until reaches defect.
Powder plastic.
Example match.

MAGNETIC METHODS OF TESTING

In Ferro-magnetic materials, cracks and cavities cause
distortion in magnetic fields set up in components
under test.

Magnetic particle method:

Flaws show up best when cracks or flaw is at right
angles to the magnetic field. Magnetic particles may be
used dry, or in a liquid suspension. The component that
is been tested is magnetised. The magnetic field will
distort where a flaw is present.

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Eddy current testing:
This type of testing is widely used for non-ferrous
metals, mainly for bars of uniform section. An induction
coil, fed with an alternating current (AC) is used to set
up eddy currents in the metal under test. There is a
magnetic field around the coil. The currents produce a
magnetic field in the component. The magnetic field in
the test-piece and the magnetic field around the coil
oppose one another. The current flow changes if a flaw
is present and displayed on the screen of the
oscilloscope.

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ULTRASONIC TESTING
Ultrasonic testing involves using a quartz crystal to
generate high frequency sound vibrations beyond the
range of the human ear. A probe containing a quartz
crystal is passed over the material to be tested: The
probe sends out high frequency vibrations which are
reflected back by the lower surface of the material. If
the material has internal defects, some vibrations will
reflect back faster to the probe and they will show up
on the cathode ray tube. Ultrasonic testing is ideal for
testing thick components such as casting and forgings.

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X-RAY TESTING
An X-ray tube emits rays of radiation which pass
through the component, forming an image (called
radiographs) on a photographic film placed behind it. If
a defect is present in the component, less radiation will
be absorbed by the defect resulting in a darker image
on the photographic film. X-ray testing is used for the
detection of internal defects.

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