Lecture 5

Beyond elasticity: plasticity,

yielding and ductility
Jayant Jain
Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Mechanics,
IIT Delhi, Hauz Khas, 110016
08/08/2013
By the end of this lecture, you should have an understanding of:

- The operation of a tensile test

- The typical form of a tensile curve

- The differences in the tensile behaviour of a range of different
materials

- How the tensile curve can be used to calculate a range of
mechanical properties
Lecture objectives
What are the common testing methods we often utilize to
asses the mechanical property of materials?

As you may notice that the choice of testing method depends
on the type of material.


Strength depends on materials class and on mode of loading

Composites that contain fibers, including natural composites
such as wood, are a little weaker upto 30% in compression
than tension because fibers buckle
Introduction
There are standard test methods for measuring the mechanical
properties of materials (e.g. tensile test, compression test)
4
Tension test
Standard test samples: cylindrical and sheet samples
Measure the sample dimensions
Tension test
Load cell
Extensometer
Sample
Crosshead
Grips
F vs. Elongation

Engineering stress vs. Engineering strain

Test output
Determination of the Yield Stress
Offset criterion can be used when yield point is not obvious
Offset Yield Criterion
Yielding behavior of Steels
Many metals, particularly low C steel show
a localised, heterogeneous type of transition
from elastic to plastic deformation which
produces a yield point in the stress stain
curve
The upper yield point is associated with
small amounts of interstitial
or substitutional impurities.

The solute atoms (C or N) in low carbon
steel, lock the dislocations, raise the
initial yield stress
When the dislocation is pulled free
from the solute atoms, slip can occur at
lower stress. the lower yield point
Total elastic energy a material
can absorb
Resilience
Resilience =

=
E 2
2
o
Consider the following sequence of deformations:
L
0

2L
0

L
0

e
12
= 1
e
23
=
e
13
= 0
1
2
3
E[e
12
+ e
23
] =
It is clear that from stage 1 3 there is no strain
But the decomposition of the process into 1 2 & 2 3 gives a net strain of
Clearly there is a problem with the use (definition) of Engineering strain
Hence, a quantity known as True Strain is preferred (along with True Stress)
Problem with engineering strain (e)!!
Same sequence of deformations considered before:
L
0

2L
0

L
0

c
12
= Ln(2)
c
23
= Ln(2)
c
13
= 0
1
2
3
E[c
12
+ c
23
] = 0
With true strain things turn out the way they should!
True strain
Strain in steps can be added to reach to final actual strain
e) ( + = 1 ln
e) s( + = 1 o
In engineering stress since we are dividing by a constant number A
0
(and there is a local
reduction in area around the neck)
Engineering and true values are related by the equations as below.
At low strains (in the uniaxial tension test) either of the values work fine.
As we shall see that during the tension test localized plastic deformation occurs after some
strain (called necking). This leads to inhomogeneity in the stress across the length of the
sample and under such circumstances true stress should be used.
i
A
P
= o
0
ln
0
L
L
L
dL
L
L
= =
}
c
0
ln 1 1 ln(1+e)
L
L
c
| |
= + =
|
\ .
0
0 0 0
1 1 (1 )
i i
i
A L L P
s s s e
A A L L
o
| | | |
= = = + = +
| |
\ . \ .
0
0 0 i i
0
From volume constancy A L =A L
i
i
A L
A L
=
Valid till
necking starts
Comparison between Engineering and
True quantities
Strength of material: Yield strength, tensile strength
Ductility of material: Uniform elongation, total elongation, ductility
Significant points on stress strain curve
Stress strain curve of high
toughness and low toughness
material
Toughness of Material
It is the combination of both strength and ductility is required for high toughness value
Shape of Engineering Stress strain curve
Two competing factors: Geometric factor and work hardening
Decrease in cross section area
Both factors balances
Strain Hardening is also called work hardening
The material becomes harder with plastic deformation
(on tensile loading the present case)
We will see later that strain hardening is usually caused
by multiplication of dislocations.
Stress strain curves
How does the true stress strain curve differs from an engineering stress strain curve??
Note that necking point is not obvious in the true stress strain curve
Necking
Derive the necking expression
and plot it.
Materials: engineering, science, processing and design, 2nd edition Copyright (c)2010 Michael Ashby, Hugh Shercliff, David Cebon
Yield strength
y
is defined by
a 0.2% offset from the linear
elastic region

When strained beyond
y
, most
metals work harden, causing the
rising part of the curve

Maximum stress is defined as the
tensile strength
ts
Stress-Strain Curve: Metal
In the o-c plot the plastic stress and strain are usually expressed by the expression given
below. Where, n is the strain hardening exponent and K is the strength coefficient.
,
n
plastic plastic
T
K
c
o c
(
=

Usually expressed as (for o
plastic
)
K strength coefficient
n strain / work hardening coefficient
Cu and brass (n ~ 0.5) can be given large plastic strain more
easily as compared to steels with n ~ 0.15
Material n K (MPa)
Annealed Cu 0.54 320
Annealed Brass (70/30) 0.49 900
Annealed 0.5% C steel 0.26 530
0.6% carbon steel
Quenched and Tempered (540C)
0.10 1570
Power law expression: Metal
Hollomon relationship