Poisson Ratio

Whats Poisson ratio?

Poisson's ratio, named after Simon Poisson, is the negative ratio of transverse to
axial strain. When a material is compressed in one direction, it usually tends to
expand in the other two directions perpendicular to the direction of compression.
This phenomenon is called the Poisson effect. Poisson's ratio \nu (nu) is a measure
of this effect. The Poisson ratio is the fraction (or percent) of expansion divided by
the fraction (or percent) of compression, for small values of these changes.
Conversely, if the material is stretched rather than compressed, it usually tends to
contract in the directions transverse to the direction of stretching. This is a common
observation when a rubber band is stretched, when it becomes noticeably thinner.
Again, the Poisson ratio will be the ratio of relative contraction to relative expansion,
and will have the same value as above. In certain rare cases, a material will actually
shrink in the transverse direction when compressed (or expand when stretched)
which will yield a negative value of the Poisson ratio.

Range of poison ratio values

The Poisson's ratio of a stable, isotropic, linear elastic material cannot be less than
1.0 nor greater than 0.5 due to the requirement that Young's modulus, the shear
modulus and bulk modulus have positive values.[1] Most materials have Poisson's
ratio values ranging between 0.0 and 0.5. A perfectly incompressible material
deformed elastically at small strains would have a Poisson's ratio of exactly 0.5.
Most steels and rigid polymers when used within their design limits (before yield)
exhibit values of about 0.3, increasing to 0.5 for post-yield deformation (Seismic
Performance of Steel-Encased Concrete Piles by RJT Park)[clarification needed]
(which occurs largely at constant volume.) Rubber has a Poisson ratio of nearly 0.5.
Cork's Poisson ratio is close to 0: showing very little lateral expansion when
compressed. Some materials, mostly polymer foams, have a negative Poisson's
ratio; if these auxetic materials are stretched in one direction, they become thicker
in perpendicular direction. Some anisotropic materials have one or more Poisson
ratios above 0.5 in some directions.

Mathematical representation
Assuming that the material is stretched or compressed along the axial direction
(the x axis in the below diagram):

where
is the resulting Poisson's ratio,
is transverse strain (negative for axial tension (stretching), positive for axial
compression)

is axial strain (positive for axial tension, negative for axial compression).

Isotropic and anisotropic materials

Isotropic materials
In a single crystal, the physical and mechanical properties often differ with
orientation. It can be seen from looking at our models of crystalline structure that
atoms should be able to slip over one another or distort in relation to one another
easier in some directions than others. When the properties of a material vary with
different crystallographic orientations, the material is said to be anisotropic.

Anisotropic materials
Alternately, when the properties of a material are the same in all directions, the
material is said to be isotropic.

Elastic moduli
Youngs modulus
Young's modulus, also known as the tensile modulus or elastic modulus, is a
measure of the stiffness of an elastic material and is a quantity used to characterize
materials. It is defined as the ratio of the stress (force per unit area) along an axis to
the strain (ratio of deformation over initial length) along that axis in the range of
stress in which Hooke's law holds.
Young's modulus, E, can be calculated by dividing the tensile stress by
the extensional strain in the elastic (initial, linear) portion of the stressstrain curve:

where
E is the Young's modulus (modulus of elasticity)
F is the force exerted on an object under tension;
A0 is the original cross-sectional area through which the force is applied;
L is the amount by which the length of the object changes;
L0 is the original length of the object.
Young's modulus is the most common elastic modulus, sometimes called the
modulus of elasticity, but there are other elastic moduli such as the bulk modulus
and the shear modulus.

Bulk modulus
The bulk modulus (K or B) of a substance measures the substance's resistance to
uniform compression. It is defined as the ratio of the infinitesimal pressure increase
to the resulting relative decrease of the volume.

The bulk modulus

can be formally defined by the equation

where
is pressure,
is volume, and
with respect to volume. Equivalently

denotes the derivative of pressure

where is density and dP/d denotes the derivative of pressure with respect to
density. The inverse of the bulk modulus gives a substance's compressibility.

Shear modulus:
In materials science, shear modulus or modulus of rigidity, denoted by G, or
sometimes S or , is defined as the ratio of shear stress to the shear strain

where
= shear stress;
is the force which acts
is the area on which the force acts
in engineering,

= shear strain. Elsewhere,

is the transverse displacement

is the initial length
Shear modulus' derived SI unit is the pascal (Pa), although it is usually expressed
in gigapascals (GPa) or in thousands of pounds per square inch (ksi). Its dimensional
form is M1L1T2.
The shear modulus is always positive.

Difference between these moduli

Other moduli describe the material's response (strain) to other kinds of stress: the
shear modulus describes the response to shear, and Young's modulus describes the
response to linear stress. For a fluid, only the bulk modulus is meaningful. For an
anisotropic solid such as wood or paper, these three moduli do not contain enough
information to describe its behavior, and one must use the full generalized Hooke's
law.

Behavior during stretching is best expressed by youngs modulus

Behavior during compression is best expressed by bulk modulus

Behavior during shearing is best expressed by shear modulus

Linear vs nonlinear behavior and Hookes law

The Young's modulus represents the factor of proportionality in Hooke's law, which
relates the stress and the strain. However, Hooke's law is only valid under the
assumption of an elastic and linear response.

When is a real material said to be linear?

Any real material will eventually fail and break when stretched over a very large
distance or with a very large force; however all solid materials exhibit Hookean
behavior for small enough strains or stresses. If the range over which Hooke's law is
valid is large enough compared to the typical stress that one expects to apply to the
material, the material is said to be linear. Otherwise (if the typical stress one would
apply is outside the linear range) the material is said to be non-linear.
This means that linearity and non-linearity is not an internal property of substance
in strict sense because it is our application that finally decides if a material is linear
or not. A certain material could be linear for one application but not for another.
Steel, carbon fiber and glass among others are usually considered linear materials,
while other materials such as rubber and soils are non-linear. However, this is not an
absolute classification: if very small stresses or strains are applied to a non-linear
material, the response will be linear, but if very high stress or strain is applied to a
linear material, the linear theory will not be enough. For example, as the linear
theory implies reversibility, it would be absurd to use the linear theory to describe
the failure of a steel bridge under a high load; although steel is a linear material for
most applications, it is not in such a case of catastrophic failure.

Ultimate tensile strength

Ultimate tensile strength (UTS), often shortened to tensile strength (TS) or ultimate
strength, is the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched
or pulled before failing or breaking. Tensile strength is not the same as compressive
strength and the values can be quite different.
Some materials will break sharply, without plastic deformation, in what is called a
brittle failure. Others, which are more ductile, including most metals, will experience
some plastic deformation and possibly necking before fracture.
It is generally expressed in MPa.

Yield strength or yield point

Yield strength or yield point of a material is defined as the stress at which a material
begins to deform plastically. Prior to the yield point the material will deform
elastically and will return to its original shape when the applied stress is removed.
Once the yield point is passed, some fraction of the deformation will be permanent
and non-reversible.
It is generally expressed in MPa.

Elastic vs plastic behavior

Elastic behavior is the behavior of a material when it is obeying Hookes law.

Plastic behavior is when the material does not follow Hookes law.

Same material can be elastic in initial stage and plastic in the later one. For
example when a tensile force stretches a metal, metal follows Hookes law up to a
certain value of stress and it is said to be elastic in that range of stress. When
tensile force is increased further, metal enters plastic region and ceases to follow
Hookes law anymore i.e. its stress does not vary directly with strain, thus a metal
normally exhibits both elastic and plastic behavior.

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