Mechanics of Materials

Lesson 1: Introduction to Engineering Materials

Characteristics of a Material
• Performance: Materials must perform in a manner consistent with
their design application.
• The following lists are some possible performance characteristics of a
material:
• Strength
• Ductility
• Hardness
• Conductivity (Heat, Electricity)
• Reactivity (deteriorative)
• Optical
• Magnetic
Classification of
Materials
Classification of Materials
•Metals and alloys:
• Metals and alloys include steels, aluminium, magnesium, zinc, cast
iron, titanium, copper, and nickel.
• An alloy is a metal that contains additions of one or more metals
or non-metals.
• In general, metals have good electrical and thermal conductivity.
• Metals and alloys have relatively high strength, high stiffness,
ductility or formability, and shock resistance.
• They are particularly, useful for structural or load-bearing
applications.
Classification of Materials
•Ceramic materials:
• Ceramic materials are usually ionic or covalently-bonded materials.
• Poor toughness in these materials.
• Additionally, because these materials tend to be porous, the pores
and other microscopic imperfections act as stress concentrators,
decreasing the toughness further, and reducing the tensile
strength.
• These materials do show plastic deformation.
• It can be characterized as insulators, temperature resistant, hard
and brittle.
• Beach and rocks are examples of naturally occurring ceramics.
Classification of Materials
•Polymer materials:
• Polymers are typically organic materials.
• A polymer is a large molecule built up by repetition of small,
simple chemical units.
• They are produced using a process known as polymerization.
• Polymeric materials include rubber (elastomers) and many types
of adhesives.
• Polymers typically are good electrical and thermal insulators
although there are exceptions such as the semiconducting
polymers.
• Although they have lower strength, polymers have a very good
strength-to-weight ratio.
• They are typically not suitable for use at high temperatures.
Classification of Materials
•Two Types of Polymers:
• In thermoplastic polymers, there are weak bonds between
adjacent chains; these can be broken by heating, so that the
material can be softened and remoulded.
• In thermosetting polymers, the network of strong (covalent) bonds
is formed during initial curing; the material cannot be remoulded.
It can be characterized by their low densities with possible high
flexibility.
Classification of Materials
•Composite material:
• A composite is a structural material that consists of two or more
physically distinct phases whose combination produces aggregate
properties that are different from those of its constituents.
• At present, the knowledge has advanced to a level that materials
can be tailored to exhibit certain, required properties.
• At the same time, the fact that these materials are composed of
various, sometimes very different constituents, make their
mechanical behaviour complex.
• This observation holds with respect to the deformation behaviour,
but especially with respect to the failure behaviour, where
complicated and unconventional failure modes have been
observed.
• The main idea in developing composites is to blend the properties
of different materials.
Mechanical Properties of Materials
• The mechanical behaviour of materials is described by their
mechanical properties, which are measured with idealized, simple
tests.
• These tests are designed to represent different types of loading
conditions.
• Some instrument performs the push, pull, twist, or indent that may
be necessary to measure the property.
• Similarly, mechanical properties determine the usability of a material
in a mechanical application, an application that requires the material
to sustain a force, resist deformation, or perform some structural
task.
• There are different types of forces or stresses that are encountered in
dealing with mechanical properties of materials.
• Tension causes elongation in the direction of the applied force,
whereas compression causes shortening.
• A shear stress arises when the applied force acts in a direction parallel
to the area of interest.
Mechanical Properties of Materials
Tensile Test: Use of the Stress-Strain Diagram
• Information concerning the strength, young’s modulus, and ductility of a
material can be obtained from such a tensile test.
• When a tensile test is conducted, the data recorded includes load or force as
a function of change in length (ΔL) shown in Table.
• These data are then subsequently converted into stress and strain to further
extract properties of materials (e.g., young’s modulus, yield strength, etc.)
Engineering Stress and Strain
• Engineering or nominal stress is determined by dividing the applied load F by
the specimen’s original (i.e. initial) cross-sectional area.
• Engineering or nominal strain is found directly from the strain gauge reading,
or by dividing the change in specimen’s gauge length, ΔL (i.e. δ), by the
specimen’s original (i.e. initial) gauge length l0.
• Yield Strength: As we apply stress to a material, the material initially exhibits
elastic deformation.
• The strain that develops is completely recovered when the applied stress is
removed.
• As we continue to increase the applied stress, the material eventually
“yields” to the applied stress and exhibits both elastic and plastic
deformation.
• The critical stress value needed to initiate plastic deformation is defined as
the elastic limit of the material.
Engineering Stress and Strain
Engineering Stress and Strain
•

Stress, σ
σu
Rupture

σy
σ σ
E

1
Strain, ε
Stress-strain Diagram: Ductile Materials
Stress-strain Diagram: Brittle Materials
Fatigue
Hooke’s Law: Modulus of Elasticity
Elastic vs Plastic Behaviour
Elastic Deformation

Elastic means reversible!

Plastic Deformation

Plastic means permanent!

Plastic Deformation Properties
• Stress and strain are not proportional
• The deformation is not reversible
• Deformation occurs by breaking and rearrangement of atomic bonds (in
crystalline materials primarily by motion of dislocations.
Engineering Stress and Strain
• Typical tensile test machine
Engineering Stress and Strain
• Tensile Strength: Stress obtained at the highest applied force is the tensile
strength, which is the max stress on engineering stress-strain curve.
• This value is also commonly known as the ultimate tensile strength.
• In many ductile materials, deformation does not remain uniform.
• At some point, one region deforms more than others and a large local
decrease in the cross-sectional area occurs, called a “neck”.
Stress-strain Diagram: Ductile Materials
Poisson Ratio
• When a sample is under tension loading, it gets longer and thinner. i.e.
contraction in the width and breath
• Poisson ratio defines how much strain occurs in the lateral directions (x & y)
when strained in the Z-direction.
Example 1.1
• Heating causes metals to expand. A hot liquid is put through a copper pipe
10.00 m long. This causes the length to increase to 10.17 m. What is the
longitudinal strain?
Example 1.2
•
Deformations Under Axial Loading
Example 1.3
A = 580mm2 A = 190mm2
Example 1.3
True Stress & True Strain
• Surface area changes when sample stretched.
• True stress = load divided by actual area, in contrast to the engineering
stress.
Ductility
• Plastic tensile strain at failure:

• Another ductility measure:

Hardness
• Resistance to permanently indenting the surface.
• Large hardness means:
• Resistance to plastic deformation or cracking in compression.
• Better wear properties.
Hardness
Fatigue
• Fatigue: the weakening or breakdown of
a material subject to cyclic stress.
• Example of cyclic stress:
• Fluctuation in loads
• High temperature
• Swelling
• Chemical environment

• Applied stress:
• Tension – compression
• Flexural (bending)
• Torsional (twisting)
Recall

• For structural
applications, the yield
stress is usually a more
important property than
the tensile strength,
since once it is passed,
the structure has
deformed beyond
acceptable limits.