University Of Basrah

College Of Engineering
Chemical Engineering Department
Engineering Materials Properties Laboratory

Tension Test

Name: ‫المهدي عبد الكريم مهدي‬

Number: 11
Group: A1

Date of experiment: 29/03/2016

Number of experiment: 3
Aim of Experiment:

 To determine the load/elongation curve for the mild steel

specimen provided.
 To learn how to extract important material properties from
these curve such as engineering stress, strain, yield stress,
percentage of elongation…etc.

Theory:

In order to compare and select materials for various

applications, one must have access to the important properties
of that material i.e. material constant. One of the most often
used tests performed to determine a number of important
mechanical properties of material is tensile test. This test is
conducted to specimens that have uniform horizontal cross
section in the Universal Testing Machine that can show the load
applied for any elongation that is obtained from the gauge
length Based on the load and displacement obtained from the
experiment, we can get:

𝐹 𝑁
(a) Engineering tensile stress, σ = ( )
𝐴𝑜 𝑚2
𝐿1 – 𝐿𝑜
(b) Strain, 𝜀 =
𝐿𝑜
𝑌𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑁
(c) Yield stress, 𝑌 = ( )
𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑚2
𝑀𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑁
(d) Ultimate tensile stress,𝑇 = ( )
𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑚2
𝐿1 – 𝐿𝑜
(e) Elongation percentage, %𝐸𝐿 = ( ) × 100 (%)
𝐿𝑜
∆σ
(f) Modules of elasticity 𝐸=
∆𝜀

Where:
F = Load (N)
Ao= Initial horizontal cross- sectional area, (mm²)
A1= Final horizontal cross- sectional area, (mm²)
Lo= Initial gauge length, (mm)
L1= Final gauge length, (mm)
Yield load and maximum load can be obtained from the load-
displacement curve

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 Figure 1: Standard tensile specimens and the instrument

Yield load and maximum load can be obtained from the load-
displacement curve produced from each experiment is

1- Mild Steel
Fy= Yield load, (N)
Fm= Maximum load, (N)
Fp= Load at break, (N)

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2- For aluminum alloys or specimen that does not have certain
yield load, it can be obtained with “offset strain 0.2 % method” and
known as ‘pruf stress’.
Fm= Maximum load (N)
Fp= Load at break (N)
F0.2%= pruf stress

Procedure:

1. Place the specimen on the instrument and calibration the

gauge.
2. Rotate the device lever and record read load every 2 mm.
3. Repeat step 2 until fracture happened.
4. Repeat steps (1-3) for another specimen.

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 Calculation:

1- Wrought aluminium

From equations (a) & (b)

Stress Strain Stress Strain Stress Strain Stress Strain

(Mpa) (Mpa) (Mpa) (Mpa)
29.992 0.008 227.442 0.096 257.434 0.184 232.441 0.272
74.981 0.016 232.441 0.104 259.934 0.192 219.944 0.28
113.971 0.024 234.940 0.112 259.934 0.2 - -
134.966 0.032 242.438 0.12 258.934 0.208 - -
153.961 0.04 244.938 0.128 258.934 0.216 - -
164.958 0.048 249.936 0.136 258.934 0.224 - -
181.954 0.056 249.936 0.144 257.434 0.232 - -
194.950 0.064 254.935 0.152 254.935 0.24 - -
203.948 0.072 255.435 0.16 254.435 0.248 - -
214.945 0.08 255.935 0.168 249.936 0.256 - -
219.944 0.088 255.935 0.176 242.438 0.264 - -

Stress vs Strain for wrought Aluminum

300

250

200
Strain (Mpa)

150

100

50

0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
Stress

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 From the curve 𝑌 = 153 𝑀𝑝𝑎

𝑀𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 520∗9.81

𝑇= = 3.14 = 259.934 𝑀𝑝𝑎
𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 ( 4 ) 0.0052

𝐿1 – 𝐿𝑜 7
%𝐸𝐿 = ( ) ∗ 100% = = 28%
𝐿𝑜 25

∆σ 79.98 − 29.99
𝐸= = = 5623.57 𝑀𝑝𝑎
∆𝜀 0.016 − 0.008

2- Normal aluminium
From equations (a) & (b)

Stress Strain Stress Strain

(Mpa) (Mpa)
99.975 0.016 229.941 0.128
134.966 0.032 234.940 0.144
167.457 0.048 237.439 0.16
189.952 0.064 239.939 0.176
204.948 0.08 239.94 0.192
217.445 0.096 240.94 0.208
224.943 0.112 235.94 0.224
From the curve 𝑌 = 123 𝑀𝑝𝑎
Stress vs Strain for Normal Aluminum
300

250

200
Strain (Mpa)

150

100

50

0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25
Stress

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 𝑀𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 482∗9.81
𝑇= = 3.14 = 240.938 𝑀𝑝𝑎
𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 ( 4 ) 0.0052

𝐿1 – 𝐿𝑜 5.6
%𝐸𝐿 = ( ) ∗ 100% = = 22%
𝐿𝑜 25

∆σ 134.97 − 99.97
𝐸= = = 2186.943 𝑀𝑝𝑎
∆𝜀 0.032 − 0.016

Discussion:

1- What is the importance of tensile strength?

Tensile strength specifies the point when a material goes from

elastic to plastic deformation. Once a material is in plastic
deformation, it can never recover its original shape. However,
this can happen in either tension or compression. For example
when take a class on statics structures, you'll find that basic
structures like bridge trusses have elements that are under both
tension and compression.

2- Factors affecting tensile results:

I. Specimen length:
 Breaking strength is the “load to break” at the “weakest”
point of a specimen of a specified length.
 Adjusting gauge length, the test result may be changed
(so, standardization of gauge length is important).

II. Rate of loading and time to break:

 Most textile materials show an increase in breaking
strength with increasing rate of extension together with a
decrease in extension.
 Due to visco-elastic nature of textile material, they require
certain time to respond to the applied stress.
 Different types of textiles (fibres/yarns/fabrics) respond
differently depending on the structure.

III. Capacity of machine:

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  If a very weak specimen is tested in a machine with very
high capacity, the time to break will be short, so optimistic
result will be produced.
 Also the break of the specimen should not be at the
extreme of the instrument capacity (1mg in 1ton capacity
equipment).

IV. Effect of humidity and temperature:

 Behaviour of textile material changes with the relative
humidity of the atmosphere.
 So standard humidity and temperature is recommended.
 Temperature, although have not much effect, but at very
high temperature fibre may be degraded.
 Also at very low temperature fibres may be brittle.

V. Clamping problem:
 Jaw slip cause Too low clamping pressure
 Jaw damage cause too high clamping pressure

3- Results

Wrought aluminium is more ductile compared to normal

aluminium. The difference in property of wrought aluminium is
because it can absorb more energy compare to normal
aluminium. Wrought aluminium has larger area under the curve
thus it shows that it can absorb more energy. Furthermore, the
higher value of elongation percentage (ε) for wrought aluminium
compare to normal aluminium suggests that wrought aluminium
is more elastic than normal aluminium.

References
1. http://engin.swarthmore.edu/~akrikor1/e6%20labs/e6lab2.pdf
2. http://www.shc-creo.co.jp/EigoNet/LabRep.html
3. https://www.scribd.com/doc/18004147/Tensile-Test
4. http://aeronauticallecture.blogspot.com/2014/01/stress-strain-
diagram.html?view=snapshot
5. http://nptel.ac.in/courses/116102029/41