Running head: TENSILE TESTING OF STEEL 1

Lab Report: Tensile Testing of Steel

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TENSILE TESTING OF STEEL 2

Tensile Testing of Steel

Introduction

Tensile strength is the maximum force per unit area referred sometimes referred as tensile stress

that can be applied on a material without the material breaking or failing (Goodno & Gere,

2016). Therefore, tensile strength of a material is computed by dividing the cross-section area by

the force applied.

Properties of a stress-strain curve

The tensile strength of an alloy, steel, is expressed in MPa or megapascal. the tensile properties

of steel vary due to the composition of the alloy, and the method of the steel treatment applied (

Gere & Goodno, 2008).

Experiment objective

To determine the tensile strength of a give steel sample

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Experimental Method/Procedure

The ribbed steel reinforcing bar having an overall length of 110 mm and cross-sectional diameter

of 12 mm was provided. The Zwick Roell universal testing machine together with the

testExpertII software was used for mounting, controlling and recording the extension of the

specimen. At the beginning of the test, the cross-head speed was set at 2 mm/min, with a preload

of 200 N, the speed was increased by 5 mm/min until the steel specimen fractured.

A stress strain curve was drawn, 0.1% proof stress, Young modulus and ultimate tensile strength

were calculated

Results

Stress-strain curve for the sample steel was plotted as shown

700

600

500
Stress, MPa

400

300

200

100

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Strain , %

Stress-strain curve from the experimental data

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The yield strength can be identified on the curve. There is minimal change in value of stress after

the yield point has been reached. The curve shows that the sample steel has a yield stress of 450

MPa

The ultimate tensile strength was recorded as 620.521 MPa

The breaking strength has a value of 493.594 MPa

Young modulus is the gradient of the straight-line section of the strain -stress curve, that is given

as (Mascareno, 2018)

𝑦2 − 𝑦2
𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑢𝑠 =
𝑥2 − 𝑥1

𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑠 ( 𝑥1 , 𝑦1 ) 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ( 𝑥2 , 𝑦2 ) 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

For our section we take (0.15%, 300) and (0.20%, 400))

400 − 300
𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑢𝑠 = = 200,000 𝑀𝑃𝑎 = 200𝐺𝑃𝑎
0.20% − 0.15%

Discussion

The value of yield strength shows that the sample steel is within the range of reinforcement bar

as per the BS. The young modulus obtained is 200GPa, is within the range of accepted values of

young modulus range (Callister.W.D, 2007).

Conclusion
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The tensile properties of a sample steel were determined where ultimate stress, young modulus

and yield strength were successfully determined. The values obtained were within the expected

ranges

Further research should be done to investigate the effect of tensile strength properties of metal on

the tensile strength of other metal alloys

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References

Gere, J., & Goodno, B. (2008). Mechanics of Materials. Cengage Learning.

Callister.W.D, J. (2007). Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction (7th ed.). John

Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Goodno, B., & Gere, J. (2016). Mechanics of Materials. Cengage Learning.

Mascareno, B. (2018, June 28). How to Calculate Young's Modulus. Retrieved from

SCIENCING : https://sciencing.com/how-to-calculate-youngs-modulus-12751765.html