Title: Torsion

Objectives:
1) To determine the shearing modulus of elasticity (rigidity) of aluminium and compare
them with their actual value.
2) To determine the shear stress at the limit of proportionality.
Introduction:
Torsion is the twisting action in a member caused by two opposing moments along
the longitudinal axis of a member as shown below.

However, in our case of the experiment, the rod was fixed at one end, while the other
end is connected to a hand operated crank. A torsion test measures the strength of any
material against maximum bending forces. It is an extremely common test used in material
mechanics to measure how much bend a certain material can withstand before cracking or
breaking. This applied bend pressure is referred to as torque. Torque is the force exerted by
the rod in the opposite direction proportional to the angle twisted, which has the unit of N m.
There are three broad categories under which a torsion test can take place: failure
testing, proof testing and operational testing. The experiment carried out was failure testing,
which involves twisting the material until it breaks.
Shear stress, is defined as the component of stress coplanar with a material cross
section. Pure shear stress is related to pure shear strain, by the following equation:

Where, is shear strain.
is shear stress.
G is the modulus of rigidity or shear modulus.

Modulus of rigidity is defined as the ratio of shear stress to the displacement per unit
sample length (shear strain). In simple words, it is the ratio of .

The expression for maximum shear stress can be expressed as:

Also known as the torsion formula, which shows that the maximum shear stress is
proportional to the applied torque, T and inversely proportional to the polar moment of inertia
I
p
.
The Polar Moment of Inertia is a geometric property of a cross section. Physically, it
is a measure of how difficult it is to turn a cross-section about an axis perpendicular to it (the
inherent rotational stiffness of the cross-section). For a circle of radius r and diameter d, the
polar moment of inertia is:


The angle of twist of a bar of linearly elastic material can now be related to the applied torque,
T, which can be expressed by:

In which has a unit of radians per unit length, This equation show tat the rate of twist is
directly proportional to the torque T and inversely proportional to the product GI
p
, known as
torsional rigidity of the bar. Torsional rigidity is the ratio of the torque applied about the
centroidal axis of a bar at one end of the bar to the resulting torsional angle, when the other
end is held fixed.
Therefore, for a bar in pure torsion, the total angle of twist , equal to the rate of twist
times the length of the bar (that is ) is expressed as the following, where is
measured in radians.



Apparatus and materials:
1. 30Nm Torsion Testing Machine LS-2218
2. Torsiometer
3. 30mm steel ruler
4. Micrometer
5. Aluminium rod
6. Brass rod
Experimental procedure:
1. The overall length and the diameter of the test section of the specimen were measured
before the start of the experiment.
2. A dimensioned drawing of the specimen was drawn.
3. A line was drawn down the length of the section of the specimen with a fine marker
pen. This was done to serve as a visual to the degree of twist being put on the
specimen during loading.
4. The specimen was mounted firmly in the Torsion Testing Machine. The specimen
was twist with an increment angle of 10, then the reading from digital torsiometer
was recorded.
5. When the elastic limit has passed, the test was continued to destruction.
6. The steps from 1 to 5 was repeated using a brass rod.
7. A graph of applied torque T against the angle of twist was plotted for the
leastic region, non-elastic region and the complete destruction of specimen.
8. The slope of the graph (only in the elastic range) was used to determine the value of
the modulus of rigidity.
9. The torque was determined and shear stress at the limit of the proportionality was
computed.
Reference:
Modulus of Rigidity.(n.d). Retrieve on March 13, 2013.
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/modulus-rigidity-d_946.html

Polar Moment of Inertia. (n.d). Retrieve on March 13, 2013. From http://www.ah-
engr.com/som/animations/polar_moment.html


Shear stress.(2011). Retrieve on March 13, 2013. From
http://www.codecogs.com/reference/engineering/materials/shear_stress.php