Appendix 8
Properties of structural materials
Our attention here is centred mainly on ferrous and
non-ferrous metals. However the principles apply to
other solid materials.
A8.1 Simple tensile test
In principle the tensile test applies an axial strain to a
standard specimen and measurements are taken of the
change in length between two specified marks, defined
as the gauge length, and also of the resulting tensile
load. Alternatively, the test could be carried out by
applying a dead load and recording the subsequent
strain.
Figure A8.1
Figure A8.1 shows a typical specimen where A is the
original cross-section area. Figure A8.2 shows the
load-extension plot for a mild steel specimen. Note that
loadoriginal-cross-section area is the nominal stress
and extensiodgauge length is the strain so the shape of
the stress-strain curve is the same. The extension axis is
shown broken since the extensions at e and f are very
much greater than that at points a to d.
Figure A8.2
The point a is the limit of proportionality, i.e. up to
this point the material obeys Hooke’s law. Point b is the
elastic limit, this means that any loading up to this point
is reversible and the unloading curve retraces the
loading curve. In practice the elastic limit occurs just
after the limit of proportionality. After this point any
unloading curve is usually a straight line parallel to the
elastic line. Point c is known as the yield point,
sometimes called the upper yield point. Point d is called
the lower yield point. If the test is carried out by
applying a load rather than an extension then the
extension will increase from point c without any
increase in load to the point c ’ . Further straining will
cause plastic deformation to take place until the
maximum load is reached at point e. This is known as
the ultimate tensile load. After this a ‘neck’ will form in
the specimen resulting in a large reduction in the
cross-section area until failure occurs at point f.
Figure A8.3
Figure A8.3 shows a similar plot for a non-ferrous
metal where it is noticed that no well-defined yield
point appears. At the point c the stress is known as a
proof stress. For example a 0.2% proof stress is one
which when removed leaves a permanent strain of
0.002.
A strain of 0.002 can also be referred to as 2
milli-strain (m.) or as 2000 micro-strain LE).
Both the above cases are for ductile materials and the
degree of ductility is measured either by quoting the
 A8.1 Simple tensile test 265

final strain in the form of a percentage elongation, or in For brittle materials failure occurs just after the
the form of the percentage reduction of area at the elastic limit there being little or no plastic deformation.
neck.