Dr.

John Taulo
Malawi University of Science &
Technology
Department of Engineering
 Introduction
 Selection of a proper material for the
machine component is one of the
most important steps in the process
of design
 The best material is one which will
serve the desired purpose at
minimum cost
 It is not always easy to select such
material and the process may
involve the trial and error method
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 Introduction
 The factors which should be
considered while selecting the
material for the machine component
are as follows:

 Availability
 Cost
 Mechanical Properties
 Manufacturing considerations

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 1. Availability
 The material should be readily
available in the market, in large
enough quantities to meet the
requirement

 Cast iron and aluminium alloys are

always available in abundance while
shortage of lead and copper alloys is
a common experience

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 2. Cost
 Cost for every application, there is a limiting
cost beyond which the designer cannot go.

 When the limit is exceeded, the designer

has to consider other alternative materials

 In cost analysis, there are two factors,

namely cost of material and cost of
processing the material into finished goods

 It is likely that the cost of material might be

low, but the processing may involve costly
manufacturing operations 5
 3. Mechanical Properties
 Mechanical properties are the most
important technical factor governing the
selection of material

 They include strength under static and

fluctuating loads, elasticity, plasticity,
stiffness, resilience, toughness, ductility,
malleability and hardness.

 Depending upon the conditions and the

functional requirement, different
mechanical properties are considered and
a suitable material is selected. 6
 3. Mechanical Properties
 The piston rings should have a hard
surface to resist wear due to rubbing
action with the cylinder surface, and
surface hardness is the selection criteria

 In case of bearing materials, a low

coefficient of friction is desirable while
clutch or brake requires a high coefficient
of friction

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4. Manufacturing considerations
 In some applications, machinability of
material is an important consideration in
selection.

 Sometimes, an expensive material is more

economical than a low priced one, which
is difficult to machine

 Free cutting steels have excellent

machinability, which is an important factor
in their selection for high strength bolts,
axles and shafts
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4. Manufacturing considerations
 Where the product is of complex shape,
castability or ability of the molten metal to
flow into intricate passages is the criterion
of material selection.

 In fabricated assemblies of plates and

rods, weldability becomes the governing
factor

 The manufacturing processes, such as

casting, forging, extrusion, welding and
machining govern the selection of
material 9
Mechanical Properties of Metals
 The mechanical properties of the metals
are those which are associated with the
ability of the material to resist mechanical
forces and load

1) Strength: It is the ability of a material to

resist the externally applied forces without
breaking or yielding

 The internal resistance offered by a part to

an externally applied force is called stress.

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Mechanical Properties of Metals
2). Stiffness: It is the ability of a material to
resist deformation under stress.
 The modulus of elasticity is the measure of
stiffness.

3). Elasticity: it is the property of a material to

regain its original shape after
deformation when the external forces are
removed
 This property is desirable for materials used
in tools and machines
 It may be noted that steel is more elastic
than rubber 11
Mechanical Properties of Metals
4). Plasticity: It is a property of a material
which retains deformation produced
under load permanently.
 This property of material is necessary for
forgings, in stamping images on coins and
in ornamental work.

5). Ductility: it is the property of a material

enabling it to be drawn into wire with the
application of a tensile force
 The ductility is usually measured by the
terms, percentage elongation and
percentage reduction in area. 12
Mechanical Properties of Metals
 The ductile material commonly used in
engineering practice (in order of
diminishing ductility) are mild steel,
copper, aluminium, nickel, zinc, tin and
lead

6) Malleability: it is a special case of ductility

which permits materials to be rolled or
hammered into thin sheets.
 The malleable materials commonly used
in engineering practice (in order of
diminishing malleability) are lead, soft
steel, wrought iron, copper and aluminium13
Mechanical Properties of Metals
7) Brittleness: it is the property of a material
opposite to ductility. It is the property of
breaking of a material with little
permanent distortion.

 Brittle materials when subjected to tensile

loads, it snaps off without giving any
sensible elongation

 Cast iron is a brittle material

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Mechanical Properties of Metals
8) Toughness: it is the property of a material
to resist fracture due to high impact loads like
hammer blows.

 The toughness of the material decreases

when it is heated
 It is measured by the amount of energy
that a unit volume of the material has
been absorbed after being stressed up to
the point of fracture
 This property is desirable in parts subjected
to shock and impact loads
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Mechanical Properties of Metals
9) Machinability: it is the property of a
material which refers to relative ease with
which a material can be cut

10) Resilience: it is the property of a material

to absorb energy and to resist shock and
impact loads
 It is measured by the amount of energy
absorbed per unit volume within elastic
limit

 This property is essential for spring materials

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Mechanical Properties of Metals
11)Creep: when a part is subjected to a
constant stress at high temperature for a
long period of time, it will undergo a slow
and permanent deformation called
creep.

 This property is considered in designing

internal combustion engines, boilers and
turbines

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Mechanical Properties of Metals
12) Fatigue: when a material is subjected to
repeated stresses, it fails at stresses below the
yield point stresses. Such type of failure of a
material is known as fatigue

 The failure is caused by means of a

progressive crack formation which are
usually fine and microscopic size

 This property is considered in designing

shafts, connecting rods, springs, gears, etc

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Mechanical Properties of Metals
13)Hardness: it is a very important property of
metals and has a wide variety of
meanings

 It embraces many different properties

such as resistance to wear, scratching,
deformation and machinability etc

 It also means the ability of a metal to cut

another metal
 The hardness is usually expressed in
numbers which are dependent on the
method of making the test 19
Mechanical Properties of Metals
13)Hardness

 The hardness of a metal may be

determined by the following tests:

(a) Brinell hardness test

(b) Rockwell hardness test

(c) Vickers hardness test, and

(d) Shores scleroscope

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