Ultimate tensile strength

Ultimate tensile strength (UTS), often shortened to tensile strength (TS), ultimate
strength, or Ftu within equations[1][2][3] is the capacity of a material or structure to
withstand loads tending to elongate, as opposed to compressive strength, which
withstands loads tending to reduce size. In other words, tensile strength resists
tension (being pulled apart), whereas compressive strength resists compression
(being pushed together). Ultimate tensile strength is measured by the maximum
stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled before breaking.
In the study of strength of materials, tensile strength, compressive strength, and
shear strength can be analyzed independently.

Some materials break very sharply, without plastic deformation, in what is called a
brittle failure. Others, which are more ductile, including most metals, experience
some plastic deformation and possiblynecking before fracture.

The UTS is usually found by performing a tensile test and recording the engineering
stress versus strain. The highest point of the stress–strain curve (see point 1 on the
Two vises apply tension to a
engineering stress–strain diagrams below) is the UTS. It is an intensive property; specimen by pulling at it, stretching
therefore its value does not depend on the size of the test specimen. However, it is the specimen until it fractures. The
dependent on other factors, such as the preparation of the specimen, the presence or maximum stress it withstands before
otherwise of surface defects, and the temperature of the test environment and fracturing is its ultimate tensile
strength.
material.

Tensile strengths are rarely used in the design of ductile members, but they are
important in brittle members. They are tabulated for common materials such as alloys, composite materials, ceramics, plastics, and
wood.

Tensile strength can be defined for liquids as well as solids under certain conditions. For example, when a tree[4] draws water from its
roots to its upper leaves by transpiration, the column of water is pulled upwards from the top by the cohesion of the water in the
xylem, and this force is transmitted down the column by its tensile strength. Air pressure, osmotic pressure, and capillary tension also
plays a small part in a tree's ability to draw up water, but this alone would only be sufficient to push the column of water to a height
of less than ten metres, and trees can grow much higher than that (over 100 m).

Tensile strength is defined as a stress, which is measured as force per unit area. For some non-homogeneous materials (or for
assembled components) it can be reported just as a force or as a force per unit width. In the International System of Units (SI), the
unit is the pascal (Pa) (or a multiple thereof, often megapascals (MPa), using the SI prefix mega); or, equivalently to pascals,newtons
per square metre (N/m²). AUnited States customary unitis pounds per square inch (lb/in² or psi), or kilo-pounds per square inch (ksi,
or sometimes kpsi), which is equal to 1000 psi; kilo-pounds per square inch are commonly used in one country (US), when
measuring tensile strengths.

Contents
Concept
Ductile materials
Testing
Typical tensile strengths
 See also
References
Further reading

Concept

Ductile materials

figure 1: "Engineering" stress–strain

(σ–ε) curve typical of aluminum
1. Ultimate strength
2. Yield strength
3. Proportional limit stress
figure 2: "Engineering" (red) and "true" (blue)
4. Fracture
stress–strain curve typical of structural steel.
5. Offset strain (typically 0.2%)
1: Ultimate strength
2: Yield strength (yield point)
Many materials can display linear elastic behavior, defined by a linear 3: Rupture
stress–strain relationship, as shown in figure 1 up to point 3. The 4: Strain hardening region
elastic behavior of materials often extends into a non-linear region,
5: Necking region
represented in figure 1 by point 2 (the "yield point"), up to which
A: Apparent stress (F/A0)
deformations are completely recoverable upon removal of the load;
B: Actual stress (F/A)
that is, a specimen loaded elastically in tension will elongate, but will
return to its original shape and size when unloaded. Beyond this elastic
region, for ductile materials, such as steel, deformations areplastic. A plastically deformed specimen does not completely return to its
original size and shape when unloaded. For many applications, plastic deformation is unacceptable, and is used as the design
limitation.

After the yield point, ductile metals undergo a period of strain hardening, in which the stress increases again with increasing strain,
and they begin to neck, as the cross-sectional area of the specimen decreases due to plastic flow. In a sufficiently ductile material,
when necking becomes substantial, it causes a reversal of the engineering stress–strain curve (curve A, figure 2); this is because the
engineering stress is calculated assuming the original cross-sectional area before necking. The reversal point is the maximum stress
on the engineering stress–strain curve, and the engineering stress coordinate of this point is the ultimate tensile strength, given by
point 1.

The UTS is not used in the design of ductile static members because design practices dictate the use of the yield stress. It is, however,
[5]
used for quality control, because of the ease of testing. It is also used to roughly determine material types for unknown samples.

The UTS is a common engineering parameter to design members made of brittle material because such materials have no yield
point.[5]
Testing
Typically, the testing involves taking a small sample with a fixed cross-sectional
area, and then pulling it with a tensometer at a constant strain (change in gauge
length divided by initial gauge length) rate until the sample breaks.

When testing some metals, indentation hardness correlates linearly with tensile
strength. This important relation permits economically important nondestructive
testing of bulk metal deliveries with lightweight, even portable equipment, such as
hand-held Rockwell hardness testers.[6] This practical correlation helps quality
assurance in metalworking industries to extend well beyond the laboratory and
universal testing machines.

While most metal forms, such as sheet, bar, tube, and wire, can exhibit the test UTS,
fibers, such as carbon fibers, being only 2/10,000th of an inch in diameter, must be
made into composites to create useful real-world forms. As the datasheet on T1000G
below indicates, while the UTS of the fiber is very high at 6,370 MPa, the UTS of a
Round bar specimen after tensile
.[7]
derived composite is 3,040 MPa – less than half the strength of the fiber
stress testing

Typical tensile strengths

 Typical tensile strengths of some materials
Ultimate tensile
Yield strength Density
Material strength
(MPa) (g/cm³)
(MPa)
Steel, structural ASTMA36 steel 250 400–550 7.8
Steel, 1090 mild 247 841 7.58
Chromium-vanadium steelAISI 6150 620 940 7.8
Human skin 15 20 2

Steel, 2800 Maraging steel[8] 2617 2693 8.00

Steel, AerMet 340[9] 2160 2430 7.86

Steel, Sandvik Sanicro 36Mo logging cable precision

1758 2070 8.00
wire[10]
Steel, AISI 4130, water quenched 855 °C (1570 °F),
951 1110 7.85
480 °C (900 °F) temper[11]

Steel, API 5L X65[12] 448 531 7.8

Steel, high strength alloy ASTMA514 690 760 7.8

Acrylic, clear cast sheet (PMMA)[13] 72 87[14] 1.16

High-density polyethylene(HDPE) 26–33 37 0.85

Polypropylene 12–43 19.7–80 0.91
Steel, stainless AISI 302 – cold-rolled 520 860 8.19
Cast iron 4.5% C, ASTM A-48 130 200
"Liquidmetal" alloy 1723 550–1600 6.1

Beryllium[15] 99.9% Be 345 448 1.84

Aluminium alloy[16] 2014-T6 414 483 2.8

Polyester resin (unreinforced)[17] 55 55

Polyester and chopped strand mat laminate 30% E-

100 100
glass[17]

S-Glass epoxy composite[7] 2358 2358

Aluminium alloy 6061-T6 241 300 2.7

Copper 99.9% Cu 70 220 8.92
Cupronickel 10% Ni, 1.6% Fe, 1% Mn, balance Cu 130 350 8.94
Brass 200 + 500 8.73
Tungsten 941 1510 19.25

Glass 33[18] 2.53

1500 for
laminates,
E-Glass N/A 2.57
3450 for fibers
alone
S-Glass N/A 4710 2.48

Basalt fiber[19] N/A 4840 2.7

Marble N/A 15 2.6

Concrete N/A 2–5 2.7
Carbon fiber N/A 1600 for 1.75
laminates,
4137 for fibers
alone

Carbon fiber (Toray T1000G)[20] (the strongest man- 6370 fibre alone 1.80
made fibres)

Human hair 140–160 200–250[21]

Bamboo 350–500 0.4
Spider silk (see note below) 1000 1.3

Spider silk, Darwin's bark spider[22] 1652

Silkworm silk 500 1.3

Aramid (Kevlar or Twaron) 3620 3757 1.44

UHMWPE[23] 24 52 0.97

UHMWPE fibers[24][25] (Dyneema or Spectra) 2300–3500 0.97

Vectran 2850–3340

Polybenzoxazole (Zylon)[26] 2700 5800 1.56

Wood, pine (parallel to grain) 40

Bone (limb) 104–121 130 1.6
Nylon, molded, type 6/6 450 750 1.15

Nylon fiber, drawn[27] 900[28] 1.13

Epoxy adhesive – 12–30[29] –

Rubber – 16
Boron N/A 3100 2.46
Silicon, monocrystalline (m-Si) N/A 7000 2.33

Ultra-pure silica glass fiber-optic strands[30] 4100

400 at 25 °C, 275 at 500 °C,

Sapphire (Al2O3) 1900 3.9–4.1
345 at 1000 °C

Boron nitride nanotube N/A 33000 2.62[31]

Diamond 1600 2800 3.5

Graphene N/A 130000[32] 1.0

First carbon nanotube ropes ? 3600 1.3

Colossal carbon tube N/A 7000 0.116
0.037–
Carbon nanotube (see note below) N/A 11000–63000
1.34

Carbon nanotube composites N/A 1200[33] N/A

High-strength carbon nanotube film N/A 9600[34] N/A

Iron (pure mono-crystal) 3 7.874

4900
Limpet Patella vulgata teeth (Goethite)
3000–6500[35]

^a Many of the values depend on manufacturing process and purity or composition.

^b Multiwalled carbon nanotubes have the highest tensile strength of any material yet
measured, with labs producing them at a tensile strength of 63 GPa,[36] still well below their
 theoretical limit of 300 GPa. The first nanotube ropes (20 mm in length) whose tensile
strength was published (in 2000) had a strength of 3.6 GPa.[37] The density depends on the
manufacturing method, and the lowest value is 0.037 or 0.55 (solid).[38]
^c The strength of spider silk is highly variable. It depends on many factors including kind of
silk (Every spider can produce several for sundry purposes.), species, age of silk,
temperature, humidity, swiftness at which stress is applied during testing, length stress is
applied, and way the silk is gathered (forced silking or natural spinning).[39] The value shown
in the table, 1000 MPa, is roughly representative of the results from a few studies involving
several different species of spider however specific results varied greatly.[40]
^d Human hair strength varies by ethnicity and chemical treatments.

Typical properties for annealed elements[41]

Young's Offset or Ultimate
Element modulus yield strength strength
(GPa) (MPa) (MPa)
silicon 107 5000–9000
tungsten 411 550 550–620
iron 211 80–100 350
titanium 120 100–225 246–370
copper 130 117 210
tantalum 186 180 200
tin 47 9–14 15–200
zinc alloy 85–105 200–400 200–400
nickel 170 140–350 140–195
silver 83 170
gold 79 100
aluminium 70 15–20 40–50
lead 16 12

See also
Flexural strength
Strength of materials
Tensile structure
Toughness
Failure
Tension (physics)
Young's modulus

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Further reading
Giancoli, Douglas, Physics for Scientists & Engineers Third Edition(2000). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.
Köhler T, Vollrath F (1995). "Thread biomechanics in the two orb-weaving spidersAraneus diadematus (Araneae,
Araneidae) and Uloboris walckenaerius(Araneae, Uloboridae)".Journal of Experimental Zoology. 271: 1–17.
doi:10.1002/jez.1402710102.
T Follett, Life without metals
Min-Feng Y, Lourie O, Dyer MJ, Moloni K, Kelly TF , Ruoff RS (2000). "Strength and Breaking Mechanism of
Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes Under T ensile Load". Science. 287 (5453): 637–640. Bibcode:2000Sci...287..637Y.
doi:10.1126/science.287.5453.637. PMID 10649994.
George E. Dieter, Mechanical Metallurgy (1988). McGraw-Hill, UK

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