Module 8

ELASTICITY
Elasticity is the property by virtue of which material bodies regain their
original shape and size after the external deforming forces are removed.
The property of elasticity is different in different substances. Steel is more
elastic than rubber. Liquids and gases are highly elastic.
The substances can be differentiated on the basis of the property of elasticity
as follows:

Elastic Body: The body which regains its original shape and size after the
external deforming forces are removed is called elastic body.

Inelastic Body: The body which does not regain its original shape and
size after the external deforming forces are removed is called inelastic body.

Rigid Body: If it is impossible to alter the shape and size of a body by

applying external forces then the body is called rigid body.
No body is perfectly elastic, perfectly inelastic or perfectly rigid.

Stress: When a force is applied on a body, there will be relative

displacement of the particles. Due to the property of elasticity the particles
tend to regain their original position by generating internal forces. These
internal forces react in the direction opposite to applied force which are
called restoring forces.
Stress is defined as the restoring force per unit area.
Stress=

Force
Area

The unit of stress is Nm-1

Normal Stress: Restoring force per unit area perpendicular to the surface
is called normal stress.

Tangential Stress: Restoring force per unit area parallel to the surface is
called tangential stress.

Strain: When an external force acts on a body, there is change in its length,
shape and volume. In this case, the body is said to be strained.
The change in dimension per unit dimension under stress is called the strain.
Strain has no unit.
Therefore, we have three kinds of strain: (a) Longitudinal strain (b) Volume
strain and (c) Shearing strain.

(a) Longitudinal strain: The change in length per unit length is

called longitudinal strain. That is if L is the original length and l is the
change in length, then
Longitudinal strain=

changelength
original length

= L

(b) Volume strain: The change in volume per unit volume is called
volume strain. That is if V is the original volume and v is the change in
volume, then
Volume strain=

change volume
original volume

v
V

(c) Shear strain: Shear strain is the angle of shear. A change in

Shape without change in volume is known as shear strain. A shear
deformation is shown in the adjacent figure. The blacked outline ABCD
represents an unstressed block of material. The dashed area

ABC D

shows

the same block under shear stress. A surface AB is fixed and a force is
applied parallel to the surface CD, so that the body is deformed by an angle
. The shear strain is defined as the ratio of the displacement
corner D to the transverse dimension

AD h

DD x

of

x
Shear strain= =tan
h

In real-life situations,
smaller than h,

tan

simply the angle

is nearly always much

is very nearly equal to

(in radians), and the strain is

measured in radians.

Elastic limit:
The maximum stress up to which a body exhibits the property of elasticity is
called the elastic limit. If the applied force exceeds the maximum stress
limit, the body does not regain its original position completely after the
external forces are withdrawn.
The adjacent figure shows
a graph of stress versus
strain for a typical solid
bar. The graph is linear
until point A. Up to this
point,
known
as
proportional limit; the
stress is proportional to the
strain. Point B in the
Figure is elastic limit of
the material. If the bar is
stressed beyond this point,
it
is
permanently
deformed. If an even
greater stress is applied, the materials eventually breaks, shown happening at
point C.

Hookes Law: It states that within the elastic limit, stress is directly
proportional to strain. So,

Stress Strain

 , Stress=E Strain

, E=

Stress
Strain

Here, E is a constant called the modulus of elasticity. That is, modulus of

elasticity is the ratio of the stress to the strain.
There are three kinds of modulus of elasticity:

(a) Young modulus of elasticity (Y): It is defined as the ratio of

longitudinal stress to longitudinal strain. Thus
Youn g' s modulus=

Longitudinal stress
Longitudinal strain

F
A
,Y=
l
L
,Y=

FL
Al

Unit: Nm-1

(b) Bulk Modulus (K): It is the ratio of stress to volume strain.

Thus
Bulk modulus=

Stress
Volume strain
F
A
, K=
v
V

Or,

K=

FV
Av

 , K=

PV
v

Unit: Nm-1

(c) Shear Modulus or Modulus of rigidity []: It is the ratio

of shear stress to the shear strain. Thus
Shear mod ulus =

Shear stress
Shear strain

F
A
, =

, =

F
A

Unit: Nm-1

Elastic Fatigue: If a body is continuously subjected to stress and

strain, it gets fatigued.
Consider two torsion pendulums A and B having similar wires. A is initially
set into vibration. After A has come to rest, both the pendulums A and B are
set into vibration simultaneously. It will be found that due to elastic fatigue,
A comes to rest earlier than B.
Work done for Longitudinal Strain:
Let us consider a wire of length L area of cross-section A and Youngs
modulus of elasticity Y. Let l be the increase in length when a stretching
force F is applied.
We know,
Y=

FL
Al
, F=

YAl
L

Therefore, work done,

l

W = dW= F dl (1)
0

Putting the value of F in equation (1) we get,

l

YA l
W
dl
L
0

, W=

YA

ldl
L 0

YA l 2

L 2

1 YAl
l
2 L

( )

1
W = Fl
2

Work done per unit volume,

w

W
V

W
AL

Fl
2 AL

1 F l

2 A L

1
(Stress) (Strain)
2

Work done for Shearing Strain:

Let us consider a cube of length L when a tangential force F is applied to the
upper face of the cube (keeping lower face fixed), the cube is shared through
an angle . If the tangential stress is T, then
F
T
F

A

F A

Work done,
W = dW= F dl (1)

dl
L
dl Ld
d

For shear strain,

Then

W F ( Ld )

A ( Ld )

AL 2
W
- - - - - - - - - - - - - (2)
2
Work done per unit volume,
W
AL 2
2

V
2AL
2
1 F
w

2 A
1 F
=
2 A
w

1
( )
2

1
(Stress ) (Shear strain )
2

Work done by Volume Strain:

Let us consider a cube of volume V, area of cross-section A and length L.
When a normal stress P is applied, the change in volume is v.
Therefore, work done
W

Bulk modulus =

dW

P
PV

,
v
v
V

P.dv

-----------(1)

Kv
V

Therefore,
v

W
0

Kv
K
dv
V
V

vdv
0

Kv 2
1 Kv

v
2V
2 V

1
P v
2

Work done per unit volume

w

W
Pv
1
v

xPx
v
2V
2
V
1
w
(Stress) (Volume strain)
2

Poissons Ratio:
It is a commonly observed fact that when we stretch a string or a wire, it
becomes longer but thinner i.e., the increase in its length is always
accompanied by a decrease in its cross section. In other words, a linear or a
tangential strain produced in the wire is accompanied by a traverse or a
lateral strain of an opposite kind in a direction at right angles to the direction
of the applied force.
Within the elastic limit, the lateral strain is proportional to the longitudinal
strain for the material of a given body and the ratio between the two is a
constant, called Poissons ratio, for that material. It is denoted by the letter
. So,
Poison ' s ratio [ ]

The value of

Lateral strain
Longitudin al strain

lies between -1 and +0.5.In most cases, a materials Poisson

0.5

ratio ranges between 0 and 0.5. When,

, it means that there is no
change in volume and the body is completely incompressible. But it is
possible to have a negative Poisson ratio. Materials displaying the property
of negative Poissons ratio are known as auxetics. With such materials,

stretching them in one direction will actually cause them to expand in other
directions. Its suspected that living bone tissue is an auxetic, though this is
difficult to prove. There are also several man-made auxetic substances, most
notably the polymers used in Gore-Tex waterproof clothing.

In practice, the value of for most of the isotropic substances is between 0.2
to 0.4. Among common materials, rubber has a Poisson ratio very close to
0.5, whereas steel has one of 0.3 and cork is much closer to 0. This is why
wine corks are made of cork: it can withstand the pressure from the neck of
the bottle without stretching vertically and jamming in place.
Poisson's ratio is used in more complicated ways in several fields of science.
When you bend an object in one direction, Poisson's ratio affects the way the
object curves in the perpendicular direction. The ratio also affects the way
stress waves travel through substances such as rock, meaning it has some
important uses in geology.

Maximum value of Poisons Ratio :

Let us consider a wire of length L and diameter D. The wire is fixed at one
end and a force is applied at the other end. Consequently the length of the
wire increases and the diameter of the wire decreases.
Suppose, increase in length is dL, decrease in diameter is dD.

dD L
-

dL D

dD
D
dL
L

-----------------(1)

The value of Poisons ratio has no units and mainly depends upon the nature
of the material of the body.
Suppose that the volume of the wire remain unchanged after the force has
been applied. Initial volume of the wire,
D 2
L ----------------(2)
4

To obtain the maximum value of Poisons ratio

(2):
dV

we differentiate equation

D 2 dL 2LDdD
4

If dV = 0 (volume is unchanged by the application of force)

D 2 dL 2LDdD 0, Or , 2LDdD -D 2 dL
dD L

dL D

1
2

Putting this value in equation (1), we obtain

dD L
max -

dL D

1
-

1
2

This is the maximum possible value of Poissons ratio.

PROBLEMS
1. A wire 2.5 m long has a cross-sectional area of 3.2 mm2. It is hung
vertically and stretches 0.63 mm when a 12 Kg block is attached to it. Find
(a) the stress, (b) the strain and (c) Youngs modulus for the wire.
2. A steel wire is of area of cross-section 1mm2. What is the force required to
increase the length by 2 . [Y=21011 Nm-2].

3. A structural steel rod has a radius of 10 mm and a length of 80 cm. A force

of 6104 N stretches it along length. (a) What is the stress in the rod? (b)
What is the elongation of the rod? (c) What is the strain?
[Y=21011
Nm-2].
4. How much pressure is needed to compress the volume of an iron block by
0.1 % [bulk modulus, K=0.91011 Nm-2 ? Compare the result to atmospheric
pressure.
5. A solid copper cube has an edge length of 85.5 cm. How much pressure
must be applied to the cube to reduce the edge length to 85 cm? The bulk
modulus of copper is 1.41011 Nm-2.
6. A wire of length 1 m and diameter 510-3 m is increased by 110-2 m in
length. What will be the decrease in its diameter? [=0.2]
7. A uniform metal wire of length 1.5 m and area of cross-section 10-6 m2 is
stretched through 410-3 m. Calculate the work done per unit volume.
[Y=21011 Nm-2].
8. Calculate the maximum amount of energy per unit volume stored in a
metal wire when stretched if the breaking stress is 1.078109 Nm-2.
[Y=21011 Nm-2].
9. Calculate the work done in stretching a uniform metal wire of length 2 m
and area of cross-section 1mm2 through 0.1 mm. [Y=21011 Nm-2].