ME 457

Experimental Solid Mechanics (Lab) Tension Test

INTRODUCTION Mechanical testing play an important role in evaluating fundamental properties of engineering materials as well as in developing new materials and in controlling the quality of materials for use in design and construction. If a material is to be used as part of an engineering structure that will be subjected to a load, it is important to know that the material is strong enough and rigid enough to withstand the loads that it will experience in service. As a result engineers have developed a number of experimental techniques for mechanical testing of engineering materials subjected to tension, compression, bending or torsion loading. The tension test is the most commonly performed and is the simplest among of all the mechanical tests. The test is conducted to determine fundamental mechanical properties use in design such as the elastic modulus (E), the proportional limit (p), the yield strength (o), the ultimate strength (u), the fracture strength (f), and the stress-strain behavior in general. A specimen is subjected to a gradually increasing (i.e., "quasistatic") uniaxial load until failure occurs. This is accomplished by gripping opposite ends of the specimen and pulling it apart. The specimens used may have either a circular or a rectangular cross section, which is approximately uniform over a gage length (the length within which elongation measurements are made). The ends of tensile specimen should be suitable to fit properly the gripping device and they are usually enlarged to provide an extra area for gripping and to avoid the specimen break at the gripping location. A typical specimen (such as shown in Figure 1) is held rigidly between a fixed beam (the crosshead) and a moving beam called the actuator platform. A load cell (sensor) is used to measure the resultant force that builds up in the material as its length is increased by moving the actuator. The change in the gage length of the sample as pulling proceeds is measured from either the change in actuator position (stroke or overall change in length) or a sensor attached to the sample (called an extensometer).

Distance between shoulders

Gage length

Fillet

Fig.1 A typical tension specimen with pin ends.

In this experiment we will learn how to test the quasi-static tensile mechanical properties of two metallic materials by utilizing a universal material tester Model 1K-16 (shown in Fig.2). The 1K-16 tester is capable of tension and compression testing within its capacity of 1,000 lbs. over the 2.5-inch stroke range. The machine is screw driven and it is linked to the computer by the test view software. The controller is manually or remotely programmed with the build-in function generator. The tensile tests will be run utilizing a ramp function under constant displacement (stroke) rate until failure.

Crosshead

Lock Handles

Load Cell Specimen Grips

Actuator Platform (moves up & down to give stroke or overall change in length) Control Box

Fig. 2 A picture of the tensile testing machine (Model 1K-16)

APPARATUS Tension testing machine. Calipers. Safety glasses. Floppy disk, thumb drive, email, portable HD, etc (your own). PROCEDURE 1. Unlock the control panel by turning the key in the counter-clockwise direction. 2. Switch on the machine by pressing the switch located at the rear end of the machine. 3. Press the ENT button twice to move the actuator to the home position. 4. Measure the initial cross section (A0) at the reduced section of the specimen using the caliper (take an average of 5 measurements). 5. Using the caliper determine the gage length (L0) of the specimen (refer to the hint in the analysis section). 6. The specimen is first fixed on to the lower grip, the crosshead is then lowered to appropriate height and then the specimen is fixed to the upper grip. Lock the crosshead. 7. Switch on the computer and go to AXIAL LABVIEW file on the desktop to open the test view window. 8. Select the DISPLACEMENT CONTROL option. 9. Select the waveform as RAMP and input the amplitude (1 inch) and displacement rate (0.0016 in/sec) of the actuator. 10. Press the START button to start the test and observe the load versus displacement plot. 11. Observe closely how the specimen necks under the tensile force exerted on it. As soon as the specimen breaks hit the STOP button to stop the test. 12. Store the data in a file by pressing the reset button (a prompt appears to save the data). 13. Open the text file in which the data is stored with EXCEL. Delete all the negative load data along with the corresponding stroke data. 14. Plot the graph for load vs. stroke from the remaining data available. 15. Measure the cross section of the fractured specimen at the neck (Af) by joining the two pieces together (take an average of 5 measurements) and calculate the percent A0 A f reduction in area, %RA = 100 . A0 16. Copy the data to your portable storage device (disk, HD, USB drive, etc). 17. Repeat steps 3-16 for the second specimen. ANALYSIS For each material tested perform the following analysis. 1. Explain why the initial portion of load versus displacement curve is not linear. 2. From the data stored in the file calculate engineering stress , and engineering strain , (see the hint below). Then, construct two - graphs, one (2a) which

3.

4. 5. 6. 7.

covers the initial part of the stress-strain curve (up to 1% strain) and the second (2b) showing the entire stress-strain curve (until fracture). Determine: (a) the elastic modulus (E), the proportional limit (p), the yield strength (o) (from 2a graph), and (b) the ultimate strength (u) and associated strain (u), the fracture strength (f) and strain (f) (from 2b graph). Calculate energy capacity in terms of resilience (ur) and tensile toughness (uf). Also calculate and plot true stress versus true strain curve. Plot both engineering and true stress-strain curves on one graph. Discuss the differences between engineering and true stress-strain curves. Discuss and explain the differences between two specimens in terms of ductility (%RA), strain hardening ratio (u/0), and tensile toughness (uf).

Hint: It is reasonable to assume that all of the grip parts and the specimen ends are nearly rigid. In this case, virtually all of the displacement in actuator motion L is due to elongation within the straight section (the gage length, L0) of the test specimen. (Note that actual elongation L over the gage length is preferable.). Strain may therefore be calculated as = L/L0. Also as the test proceeds, the applied load P must increase to enforce specimens elongation. This load P divided by the cross-section area A0 is used to calculate stress = P/A0. Stress and strain as above, based on the initial (undeformed) dimensions, A0 and L0, are called engineering stress and strain Engineering strain: = L/L0 True stress: - before necking
~ = (1+ ) ~ = ln(1+)

Engineering stress: = P/A0 True strain:

Resilience: ur =
2 p

2E

Tensile toughness: +u uf f 0 2

-after necking
~ = A0/A ~ = ln A0/A (where A is the actual cross section

area at the neck) - at fracture ~ f = f A0/Af = Pf/Af

~ f = ln A0/Af