Tensile properties of materials

Brittle

Stress

Stiff

Ductile with yield point

Tough

Strain D638 ASTM

http://www.matweb.com/measurements/tensilestrength.htm

Strength of metals: The ideal strength of metals can be calculated from

the interatomic forces. The maximum in the force between two adjoining atoms is reached when the two atoms are separated by a distance 1.25 ro, where ro is the distance between the atoms at rest. If a force (or stress) can separate the atoms by a distance greater than 1.25 ro, fracture is bound to occur. Based on these calculations the ratio of strength/modulus for materials is close to 1/15. In practice, for metals the ratio is close to 10-5 which means the actual strength of metals is far below the idea strength.

Why metals show much lower strength than the ideal values and how can we strengthen metals?
Metals in general show strain hardening effect i.e. the stress needed to produce further strain in the plastic region increases. (Tensile strength = ultimate tensile strength) For metals, strength is also related to the rate of strain due to strain rate hardening effect
For metals, hardness can be related to the yield strength of the materials by a simple relation: Hardness (H) = 3 x yield strength (y)

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Strength of ceramics
Ceramics are generally very strong and hard compared with those of metals and polymers. Why?

Ceramics exhibit fracture without any noticeable plastic deformation

The ionic and covalent bonds are extremely strong and it is very difficult for a defect such as dislocation to pass through these bonds. In contrast, for metals, dislocations can pass easily through a crystal as the atoms are held together by electrostatic forces in a cloud of free electrons. Thus, for ceramics, the lattice resistance to plastic deformation is extremely high. A well manufactured ceramic shows strength which is very close to the theoretical values. Ceramics show fracture strength in the order of 5 Fracture GPa. Because of this very high strength the most x common way of measuring the strength of ceramics is by indentation with a diamond indenter. Stress Ceramics are excellent materials for light weight and high strength application provided fracture toughness is not a big issue. They can withstand high temperature, chemical and abrasive environments and they are light weight.

Strain

Strength of polymers
Many applications of polymers require strength as an important parameter (some stiffness can be compromised). e.g. interior components of an automobile, casing of appliances, plastic chairs etc. Most of the polymers show low strength at ambient temperature. Thermoplastics are, in general, weaker than thermosets. Below the glass transition temperature, Tg, polymers behave as brittle solid while above Tg they are ductile or plastic. Above Tg creep is a very dominant feature of the materials response under constant stress. Under different temperature and loading conditions polymer can fail by brittle failure, cold drawing, crazing, shear banding and viscous flow.

Also read, Page 248-252, Engineering Materials 2 by Ashby

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Under different loading rate (strain rate) and temperature polymers behave differently in their strength, modulus and deformation characteristics.

Ref: Figure 23.13, Engineering Materials 2 by Ashby

Molecular alignment in polymers

Molecules align in the direction of stress. Hence the strength of the polymer is now decided mainly by the covalent bond strength and less by the secondary bonds.

Examples? Nylon and aramid fiber Polyesters Rayon Acrylic

Ref: Figure 23.10, Engineering Materials 2 by Ashby

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An example of demanding requirements for polymers Car airbag and deployment materials
Must be ductile at -40 oC Strength and constant modulus at +80 oC; Low (<-40 oC) T , easily moldable, light weight and cheap g material PVC, polyurethane etc.

Air bag cushion material must be strong and able to withstand higher temperature without loss of mechanical strength or melting. Mechanical properties must not change over a 15 year period.

Nylon 6,6

High strength

From a survey of the chart on left hand side it may appear that ceramics could be used for high strength applications. However, in practice ceramics are least preferred as high strength material due to their brittle behaviour. The other preferred material for high strength are metals and composites.

Low strength

How do we select high strength material?

Ref: Fig 8.12 from textbook

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Materials for a spherical pressure vessel

Failure by yielding

Therefore, in order to minimize the weight while keeping high strength, the term /y should be low.

Ref: Table 12.2 from textbook

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Al alloys Ti alloys
10 000 ( y / = 50 kJ/kg) 1000
Ceramics Cermets

Mg-alloys

CFRP GFRP-uniply

W-alloys

Steels
Nialloys

Moalloys

Strength, y (MPa)

100

10

Cements & alloys concretes

1 Polymer foams Elastomers

Engineering

Engineering polymers
3 10 30

0.1 0.1 0.3 1

Density,

(Mg/m3)

Graph not to scale; Based on Ashbys chart; Ref. Page 421, Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, 2nd ed.

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