MECH 221 LAB #1 Tensile Testing of Metals Page 1

LABORATORY #1
TENSILE TESTING OF METALS

PURPOSE
The laboratory is designed to familiarize students with the uniaxial tensile test for metals and to
determine experimental values for several important engineering parameters.

BACKGROUND
A wealth of basic design information for a material can be found from an engineering tensile test.
During this test, the elongation of a specimen is measured while a continually increasing tensile
force is applied. In order to generalize the findings to objects of a different scale than the
specimen, the force and elongation measurements are converted to stress and strain
respectively. These results are then represented on an engineering stress-strain curve as shown
in Figure 1.

Ultimate Stress

u
f
Engineering Stress ()

y Fracture

Yielding

Elastic Region Plastic Region

Engineering Strain ()

Figure 1. A Typical Engineering Stress-Strain Curve

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ENGINEERING STRESS AND STRAIN

The engineering stress, , is defined as the tensile force, F, divided by the initial cross-sectional
area of the specimen, Ao,

F
s = (1)
Ao
As the load increases, the specimen elongates and the cross-sectional area decreases. It is
sometimes useful to define stress in terms of this smaller, instantaneous cross-sectional area, A;
this is referred to as true stress, T,

Fu
su = (2)
A
The engineering strain, , is defined as the ratio of the change of length in the specimen, L, to
the initial length, Lo,

DL L - Lo
e= = (3)
Lo Lo
where L is the instantaneous length of the specimen. By using stress and strain, it is possible to
quantify the engineering quantities in a way that does not depend on the scale of the object in
question. For example, a 2 cm diameter cable that is placed in tension can handle four times the
load of a 1 cm diameter cable of the same material, but the maximum stress will be the same in
both cases (refer to (1) to convince yourself of this). Likewise, if the larger cable is a perfectly
scaled version of the small one, it will be twice as long; if the same stress is applied to both
cables, the long one will stretch twice as far but the engineering strain will be the same (see (3)).

THE STRESS-STRAIN CURVE

Referring to Figure 1, the engineering strain is typically plotted on the abscissa (x-axis) of a
stress-strain curve while the engineering stress is plotted on the ordinate (y-axis). With no
tensile load (that is, zero stress) the strain is also zero. For moderate loads, there is a near-
linear increase in strain for an increase in stress. The corresponding deformation in the material
specimen is called elastic since if the load is removed the specimen will return to its original, un-
deformed shape. The slope of the curve in the elastic region is an important quantity known as
the Youngs Modulus or Elastic Modulus and it is given the symbol E,

s
E= (4)
e
As the load is further increased, eventually the stress reaches what is known as the yield stress,
y, at which point the material ceases to behave elastically. Any further increase in stress causes
a permanent, plastic deformation. If the load is removed after plastic deformation has occurred,
the specimen will not return to its original shape. The modulus of resilience measures the ability
of a material to absorb energy without plastically deforming. Mathematically, the modulus of
resilience is defined by the area under the elastic region of the stress-strain curve.

After the onset of yielding, additional stress causes uniform plastic deformation throughout the
specimen and the length (strain) increases and the cross-sectional area decreases. Referring to
(2), the smaller area experiences larger and larger stress in order to support the load and the
material is said to strain harden. Initially the strain hardening compensates for the decrease in

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area and the engineering stress continues to rise with increasing strain. The maximum stress
which the specimen can handle is referred to as the ultimate tensile stress, u. Eventually, at a
weak point in the specimen, the increased load capacity arising from strain hardening is
insufficient to offset the decreased cross-sectional area. Thereafter, plastic deformation is
concentrated in this region and the specimen experiences what is known as necking. At this point
the stress state in the sample changes from uni-axial to triaxially and the deformation becomes
concentrated in the neck.. As shown in Figure 1, the ability for the specimen to support a load
diminishes due to the local decrease in area and, eventually, the specimen fails by fracturing into
two pieces. The (engineering) stress at which this occurs is known as the fracture stress, f.

FRACTURE
The manner in which a material fails is of great importance in engineering. Failure of a brittle
material is characterized by very little plastic deformation while the failure of a ductile material
demonstrates large amounts of plastic deformation (see Figure 2). Necking in a ductile material
is more pronounced and the fracture surfaces tend to take a characteristic cup and cone shape,
as shown in Figure 3.

Brittle Material
Engineering Stress ()

Ductile Material

Engineering Strain ()

Figure 2. Brittle and Ductile Stress-Strain Curves

Source: Callister, W. D., Materials Science and Engineering, John Wiley & Sons, New York,1994

Figure 3. (a) Ductile cup and cone fracture, (b) brittle fracture

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Ductility can be thought of as the ability of a material to withstand plastic deformation without
fracturing. Percent elongation,

L f - Lo
(5)
Lo
and percent reduction in area

Ao - A f
(6)
Ao
are both indicators of ductility. The subscript f above indicates that the measurements are taken
after fracture meaning that the two pieces of the specimen must be reassembled. As necking
locally distorts a portion of the specimen, it is important that a reference length, also called
gauge length, be specified when expressing the percent elongation. The toughness of the
material measures how much energy the material can absorb prior to failure. In contrast to the
resilience defined on page 2, toughness is mathematically defined as the total area under the
stress strain curve, up to fracture.

PROCEDURE
1. Teaching assistants will guide the class in deforming non-standard, 20 mm gauge length,
brass (65%Cu-35%Zn) and steel (0.18%C) specimens to failure using Instron
tensometers.

2. Record results on the tables found at the end of the lab write-up and be prepared to
compare and discuss your results in your report.

3. Teaching assistants will guide the class in loading steel and brass beams as cantilevers.

4. Record deflection values, applied forces, and beam dimensions on the Answer Sheet.

CALCULATIONS
Brass yields homogeneously; there is no well-defined yield point. Steel yields inhomogeneously; it
has a clear yield point. In this lab we determine the yield point for brass as the intersection of a
line parallel to the linear (elastic) region of the force-elongation curve, starting from 0.005 strain,
or 0.1 mm elongation (0.005 x 20 mm gauge length), with the curve. For steel, it is more
obvious. This is illustrated in the diagrams below.

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Fy
Fy

DLy
Offset DLu
DLy DLp

Offset method for determining the yield Determination of yield point for steel
point for brass. and determination of other elongations.

Note that the offset elongation is not equal to the

yield elongation. In this lab, we use 0.005 strain
as the offset. (From this and the gauge length,
calculate the offset elongation.) Initially the force-
elongation plots will curve up gradually as slack
between the samples and the grips is taken up.
To compensate for this, you will need to draw a
straight line along the linear portion of the curves,
back towards the x-axis as shown at right.

0 point of
elongation

REPORT REQUIREMENTS AND QUESTIONS

Prepare your lab report according to the instructions on the Mech 2 Info page on Connect. You
will work with a partner (maximum one group of three in your lab section) in preparing your
report. Each lab report must be the work of the two (three) students who submit it.

1. Complete the required computations in the Answer Sheet. (You may insert the Answer
Sheet directly into your lab report in an appendix as part of your results, or you may
enter the information directly into the results section of your report body.)

2. Calculate the Modulus of Resilience (y2/E) for both steel (E=205 GPa) and brass
(E=101 GPa). What is the significance of modulus of resilience values? (Note the units
J/m3; in calculating modulus values both y and E should be in Pa.)

3. Calculate the toughness (J/m3) for both the steel and brass assuming the area under the
stress-strain curve is given by

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DL p (s y + s u )
Area =
2 Lo
Compare the toughness to the Modulus of Resilience.

4. If Ao and Ai are the initial and instantaneous areas, calculate the true strain t at the
ultimate and fracture loads for steel and brass using the expression
A
e t = ln o
Ai
5. Calculate the engineering strain at the necking point (ultimate load) for both brass and
steel using the relationship t = ln(1+e)

6. Lp has two components; one occurs up to the onset of necking and the other is the
subsequent deformation within the neck. Based on the results for the 20 mm gauge-
length steel specimen used in the lab, predict the total % elongation for a 40 mm
gauge-length specimen. Compare values and explain why total % elongation varies with
gauge length?

7. Compare the values obtained for the elastic modulus from both the tensile and cantilever
beam tests to the expected values given in question 1. Why are the values obtained from
the tensile test so low?

8. Discuss the observed differences in the yield behaviour of steel and brass in terms of
heterogeneous and homogeneous yielding.

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LABORATORY #1: TENSILE TESTING ANSWER SHEET

This answer sheet is provided for your convenience. You may submit this directly as
part of your lab report or you may re-enter the data in your report. This is NOT your
full lab report.

TENSILE TEST (Data)

BRASS STEEL

Initial Diameter, Do (mm)

Final Diameter, Du (mm)

Neck Diameter, Df (mm)

Initial Area, Ao (mm2)

Final Area, Au (mm2)

Neck Area, Af (mm2)

Initial Length, Lo (mm) 20 20

Final Length, Lf (mm)

Yield Load, Fy (N)

Ultimate Load, Fu (N)

Fracture Load, Ff (N)

Elongation at yield DLy (mm)

Total Plastic Elongation DLp (mm)

Uniform Plastic Elong. DLu (mm)

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TENSILE TEST (CALCULATIONS )

BRASS STEEL

Fy
Yield Stress : sy = (MPa)
A0
Fu
Ultimate Tensile Stress (engineering) su = (MPa)
A0
Fu
Ultimate Tensile Stress (true) s tu = (MPa)
Au
Ff
Fracture Stress (in neck) s f = (MPa)
Af
A0 - Af
% Reduction of Area x100 (%)
A0
Lf - L0
Total % Elongation (measured) x100 (%)
L0
DLp
Total % Elongation (from chart) x100 (%)
L0
sy
Elastic Modulus E= (GPa)
ey

CANTILEVER BEAM MEASUREMENTS

BRASS STEEL

Beam Length, L (mm)

Beam Width, a (mm) 6.3 6.3

Beam Depth, b (mm) 6.3 6.3

Force, F (1 lb weight) (N) 6.67 6.67

Deflection, d (mm)

4 FL3
Elastic Modulus E= (GPa)
dab 3

L is the length of beam between the end of the mount and the end of the weight.
E = FL3/3dI; I = ab3/12.

University of British Columbia MECH 2 Lab Manual