ME 105

Mechanical Engineering Lab

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ME 105 Mechanical Engineering Laboratory

Spring Quarter 2010

Experiment #1: Tensile Test

Problem statement: Using a bench-top tensile testing machine, determine the Youngs
modulus, yield stress, ultimate tensile stress, ductility, and toughness of aluminum, brass and
steel.
Pre-Lab Reading
Review relevant material on elastic and plastic deformation and fracture from your text books
and notes from ME15 (Strength of Materials) and Materials 101 (Introduction to the Structures
and Properties of Materials).
Pre-Lab Work
1. Exercise: The following data were obtained for a 0.2% C plain-carbon steel
Stress (MPa): 0
Strain (%):
0
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)

207 379 414 469 496 510 517 524 517 503 476 448 386 352
0.1 0.2 0.5 1.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10. 12. 14. 16. 18. 19. (fracture)

Plot the engineering stress-strain curve.

Determine the ultimate tensile strength of the alloy.
Determine the percent elongation at fracture.
Calculate the elastic modulus of the alloy.
Determine the 0.2% yield stress of the alloy.
Make a good estimate of the toughness of the alloy.

2. Prepare and submit an outline that includes:

Calibrations to perform
Data sets to collect
Possible sources of experimental uncertainty and a plan for quantifying these errors
Brief description of the work plan
Any equations or physical parameters that may be needed during the laboratory session
(See general lab guidelines for a more detailed description & print out grading sheet from website).

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Introduction
The determination of stress-strain relationships is of fundamental importance to understanding
material behavior. In this experiment, a tensile testing machine will be used to apply a known
stress and to measure the resulting strain for a series of metal samples.

Methods:
Equipment and materials

Bench-top tensile test machine

Note: Load Cell has been pre-calibrated to within 1% error and the calibration
information is written on a label attached to the device.
Extensometer
Micrometer and calipers
Computer with Lab-View-based data acquisition system
Metal samples: annealed steel, unannealed steel, brass, aluminum

This experiment uses the tensile test machine shown in Figure 1. The machine consists of a
heavy test frame with one fixed beam and one crosshead, which is moved by a hydraulic press at
the base of the frame. The specimen is mounted between two grips (attached to the fixed beam
and crosshead, respectively). A load cell is affixed to the crosshead in order to measure the
tensile force on the specimen. The movement of the crosshead relative to the fixed beam
generates strain within the specimen. To avoid complications of the elastic compliance of the test
frame, an extensometer is mounted directly to the sample to measure changes in specimen
length. Data is acquired using LabView-based software routines and a standard desktop
computer with a data acquisition card.

Figure 1. Tensile test machine.

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In order to probe yield stress, plastic deformation, and fracture, large forces must be
applied. Therefore, the grip area of the specimen must be large enough to transmit the force
without significant deformation or slipping. Consequently, most specimens have enlarged-area
grip regions, separated by a narrower section called the gauge region. Although in principle
many material properties are geometry-independent, in practice there can be weak dependencies
on specimen size and shape. Consequently, the American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM)
has developed standard geometries and test methods that enable quantitative comparisons
between different data sets. It is therefore important that the specimen geometry be stated within
the technical report.

Background
The yield stress, ultimate tensile stress, Youngs modulus, ductility and toughness of a material
can all be determined from the engineering stress-strain curve. Engineering stress is the force per
unit original cross-sectional area of the specimen F / Ao . Engineering strain is the
elongation per unit original length of the specimen L / Lo . By contrast, the true stress and
strain are determined from the instantaneous dimensions during the test, a significantly more
difficult measurement.
When a load is applied to a solid, deformation results (Figure 2). If the removal of the
load restores the original shape, the deformation is elastic. In the limit of small loads, the stress
is linearly proportional to the strain :
(1)
E
where the constant of proportionality E is the Young's modulus. For the purposes of this
experiment, it is reasonable to consider only axial stresses and strains.
If permanent deformation occurs, it is called plastic. In crystalline materials, the onset of
plastic deformation typically occurs when the stress is sufficient to initiate the motion of
dislocations. The stress necessary to produce permanent deformation is the yield strength or yield
stress of the material. Some materials exhibit a sharp transition, whereas others show a slow
change in slope at the end of the elastic range. In the latter case, the yield stress is conventionally
defined as the stress necessary to produce a plastic strain of 0.2%. The 0.2% yield stress can be
obtained by drawing a line parallel to the initial loading line (with slope given by E) and with an
x-intercept of 0.2%. The intersection of this line with the stress-strain curve gives the 0.2% yield
stress.

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In ductile materials, the elongation to fracture is relatively large as compared with brittle
materials. Plastic deformation of ductile materials can require progressively higher stresses due
to the creation and interaction of multiple dislocations. This process is called work-hardening.
Uniform elongation of the gauge region occurs when the hardening rate is faster than the
decrease in cross sectional area:
d / dA / A .

(2)

If the hardening rate is too low, necking develops. At this transition, the stress reaches a
maximum called the ultimate tensile strength, after which the tensile deformation is
inhomogeneous. The elongation to failure, which is the permanent engineering strain after
fracture, is a measure of material ductility.
A second indicator of ductility of a material is the reduction of area (RA) of the
specimen, which is defined as:
original cross sectional area - minimum final area
original cross sectional area
A Amin decrease in area
0

100
original area
A0
RA

At large strains, the deformation process is terminated by fracture. In a brittle material

this occurs by the propagation of cracks initiated at the microscopic flaws in the material. Cracks
propagate by cleavage, which involves breaking of atomic bonds along specific crystallographic
planes, with the work of fracture spent primarily on creating a new surface. On the other hand,
ductile materials tend to fail due to the nucleation, growth and coalescence of micro-voids. Since
plastic deformation consumes significant amounts of energy due to the creation and motion of
dislocations, ductile tearing is usually associated with a higher work of fracture. The area under
the engineering stress-strain curve is a measure of the energy needed to fracture the specimen. It
has units of work/unit volume of the gauge length and is a measure of a material's toughness.

Toughness = W /( Ao Lo ) d
0

(3)

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Figure 2. Characteristics of a typical engineering stress-strain curve

Experimental Procedure
Week 1:
Calibration:
The extensometer consists of two parallel copper blades, each of which has strain gauges
attached. These must be calibrated using micrometer stands. Determine an accurate method
to record the output of the extensometer as the blades are pulled apart by the micrometer. Return
the blades to the initial micrometer setting to check for any hysteresis.
Data Collection:
Test at least one sample of each of the four materials provided.
Before each test, scribe lines at either end of the samples gauge section. Using calipers, measure
the initial gauge length and cross-sectional area of the test samples. Use this information to
determine the ductility of the samples.
Follow the operation instructions for the tensile test machine to load and test each specimen (this
will be provided in the lab). Be careful to avoid placing any part of your body at a pinch point.
Record both load and displacement versus time using LabVIEW (VI will be provided in lab)
so you can obtain stress versus strain for the test. After each test, note the nature of the plastic
deformation in each material (i.e. necking, brittle fracture, extensive plastic flow). Estimate the
values for the final gauge length by placing two halves of each broken sample together and
measuring the distance between scribe lines. Estimate the minimum area at the fracture
point (this may be difficult).

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Week 2:
If any problems were discovered during the preparation of your rough draft, make adjustments in
the procedure and repeat calibrations and/or measurements as needed.
It is difficult to estimate measurement uncertainty using data collected from single samples. The
uncertainty can be determined and reduced (but never eliminated) by repeating measurements.
Use 5 samples each of the brass and aluminum in more tensile tests to determine the
statistical accuracy of your measurement.
Additionally, using a brass sample, bend the specimen 90 and then straighten it again. Measure
the deformation and fracture characteristics of this sample and compare them to that of the
unbent samples.

Experiment Report/Summary
Give careful thought to a list of questions that you feel are important to the results of this lab and
that define a theme for your report. Include in the reduction of data the quantities described
below. Include error bars, where appropriate, on experimental data points that appear in plots.
Make sure to comment on the physical source of any particularly bad measurements.
In your discussion, please address differences that are observed in the stress-strain curves for the
four samples. Comment on the effect of bending then straightening the brass sample before
testing. Report the following data for each of the samples you test:
Young's modulus
0.2% yield strength
Ultimate Tensile Stress
Ductility according to elongation at fracture and RA
Material toughness according to energy needed to fracture the specimen