UNIVERSITY OF NEW ORLEANS

ENCE 2311, SECTION 602

MECHANICS OF MATERIALS LAB
SPRING 2013

LAB REPORT NO. 3

Torsion Test

Lab Conducted: 02/05/2013

Report submitted: 02/19/2013

Submitted by:

_______________________________________
Johan Dreher

OBJECTIVES:
To determine and draw the torsion vs. angle of twist and shear stress vs. shear strain diagrams
for steel and aluminum specimens tested; to calculate the shear modulus for the steel and
aluminum specimens.
EQUIPMENT USED:

Steel and aluminum specimens

Tinius Olsen Torsion Tester
Micrometer
Rule

THEORY:
Torque is a moment that tends a member to twist about its longitudinal axis. It is defined as
force times distance, consequently torque is measured in lbin. In design of machinery and
some structures, it is often necessary to transmit torque from one plane to another. The
simplest and most common device that accomplishes this function is called a shaft. Shafts are
rods commonly used to transmit torsion. Such devices must be analyzed to determine the
stresses and deformations caused by the applied torque.
In the torsion test a specimen is twisted in a torsion tester machine. For any angular
deformation, the machine will provide the necessary torque to accomplish that deformation.
Thus, during the test are taken several angular deformations () with the respective torque (T)
data points in order to obtain a torsion vs. angular twist diagram. The figure below shows the
meaning of these two parameters. It is important to mention that the angle of twist () must be
measured in radians for calculations purposes.

When a member is submitted to a torque, it suffers a torsional

shear stress ( ), measured in psi, which is defined by the
following formula:

Where is any radial distance measured from the center of the

rod measured in inches. In our analysis we will always consider
as the radius of the cross sectional area of the rod, denoted
by C. In the other hand, the parameter J is known as the polar
moment of inertia, defined by the formula:

In the particular case of a circular section:

The torsional shear strain is also shown in the figure and it is denoted by the symbol
. The torsional shear strain is dimensionless and is given by the following formula:
The parameter L represents the length of the specimen and it is measured in inches.
The Hookes Law is also applicable for shear stresses, therefore the shear stress and shear
strain can be related by the relationship:

G is a parameter known as the shear modulus of elasticity, measured in psi. Similar to the
normal modulus of elasticity, within the elastic range the slope of the
represents the value of the constant G.

diagram

One can algebraically manipulate the given equations and compute the angle of twist as the
following useful manner:

PROCEDURE:
In the following lines is the detailed the torsion test procedure. It is exactly the same for the
steel and aluminum specimens.

Measure the diameter of the specimen three times in three different sections. The
average of those measures will be used for the calculations.
Fix the specimen in the torsion tester machine.
Calibrate the machine to have accurate measures.
Begin to twist the specimen. The instructor read the torque value correspondent to
every angular twist. The lab technician rotated the specimen by hand until the angular
twist reached 90 degrees.
Twist by machine the specimen until it fails.
Proceed to do the calculations and draw the torsion vs. angle of twist and shear stress
vs. shear strain diagrams for steel and aluminum.

DATA AND RESULTS

Steel
Line
(degrees)
1
0
2
1
3
2
4
3
5
4
6
5
7
6
8
8
9
10
10
12
11
15
12
20
13
30
14
45
15
60
16
90
17
120
18
180
19
270
20
360
21
450
22
540
23
630
24
720
25
900
26
1080
27
1260
28
1400

(radians)
0
0.01745329
0.03490659
0.05235988
0.06981317
0.08726646
0.10471976
0.13962634
0.17453293
0.20943951
0.26179939
0.34906585
0.52359878
0.78539816
1.04719755
1.57079633
2.0943951
3.14159265
4.71238898
6.28318531
7.85398163
9.42477796
10.9955743
12.5663706
15.7079633
18.8495559
21.9911486
24.4346095

T
(inlb)
0
250
510
690
880
1090
1240
1610
2140
2760
2890
2930
2980
3030
3200
3580
3890
4320
4750
5040
5240
5390
5520
5630
5800
5930
6040
6130

(in/in)

(psi)

0
0.00089568
0.00179135
0.00268703
0.00358271
0.00447839
0.00537406
0.00716542
0.00895677
0.01074813
0.01343516
0.01791354
0.02687031
0.04030547
0.05374063
0.08061094
0.10748125
0.16122188
0.24183282
0.32244376
0.40305471
0.48366565
0.56427659
0.64488753
0.80610941
0.96733129
1.12855318
1.25394797

0
3011.6202
6143.70522
8312.07176
10600.9031
13130.6641
14937.6362
19394.8341
25779.469
33248.2871
34814.3296
35296.1888
35898.5128
36500.8369
38548.7386
43126.4013
46860.8104
52040.7971
57220.7839
60714.2633
63123.5595
64930.5316
66496.5741
67821.687
69869.5887
71435.6313
72760.7441
73844.9274

d1 (in)
d2 (in)
d3 (in)
d average
(in)
(in)
L (in)
J (in^4)

0.7517
0.7513
0.7486
0.75053333
0.37526667
7.3125
0.03115156

Aluminum
Line
(degrees)
1
0
2
1
3
2
4
3
5
4
6
5
7
6
8
8
9
10
10
12
11
15
12
20
13
30
14
45
15
60
16
90
17
120
18
155

(radians)
0
0.01745329
0.03490659
0.05235988
0.06981317
0.08726646
0.10471976
0.13962634
0.17453293
0.20943951
0.26179939
0.34906585
0.52359878
0.78539816
1.04719755
1.57079633
2.0943951
2.70526034

T
(inlb)
0
180
330
490
660
830
970
1260
1560
1860
2240
3070
3690
3860
3960
4110
4220
4260

(in/in)

(psi)

0
0.00122922
0.00245845
0.00368767
0.00491689
0.00614612
0.00737534
0.00983379
0.01229223
0.01475068
0.01843835
0.02458447
0.0368767
0.05531505
0.0737534
0.11063009
0.14750679
0.1905296

0
1782.90508
3268.6593
4853.46382
6537.31861
8221.1734
9607.87735
12480.3355
15451.844
18423.3524
22187.2632
30408.4366
36549.554
38233.4088
39223.9117
40709.6659
41799.219
42195.4201

d1 (in)
d2 (in)
d3 (in)
d average
(in)
(in)
L (in)
J (in^4)

0.8014
0.8011
0.8009
0.80113333
0.40056667
5.6875
0.04044074

7000

STEEL

6000

5000

T (lbin)

4000

3000

2000

1000

200

400

600

800

(degree)

1000

1200

1400

STEEL
80000

70000

60000

(psi)

50000

40000

30000

20000

10000

0
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

(in/in)

0.8

1.2

1.4

4500

ALUMINUM

4000

3500

3000

T (lbin)

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

20

40

60

80

(degree)

100

120

140

160

45000

ALUMINUM

40000

35000

30000

(psi)

25000

20000

15000

10000

5000

0
0

0.05

0.1

0.15

(in/in)

0.2

0.25

DISCUSION AND CONCLUSIONS