MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS

STRENGTH:-
In materials science, the strength of a material is
its ability to withstand an applied load without
failure or plastic deformation. The field
of strength of materials deals with forces and
deformations that result from their acting on a
material.
 STIFFNESS

Stiffness is resistance to deflection.

Stiffness is the rigidity of an object — the

extent to which it resists deformation in
response to an applied force.
The complementary concept is flexibility or
pliability: the more flexible an object is, the
less stiff it is
ELASTICITY
The property of a material by which it returns
bake to its original shape after removing the
external force is called elasticity.
A body is said to be perfectly elastic, if it returns
back completely to its original shape and size,
after the removal of external force. If the body
dose not return back completely to its original
shape and size, after the removal of external
force, it is said to be partially elastic. A
material is said to be isotropic if it is equally
elastic in all directions.
PLASTICITY

The property of a material by which it does not

return back to its original position after
removing the external force is called plasticity.
Plasticity is thus the converse of elasticity. Most
of the materials become plastic under he
action of large force and behave in a manner
similar to a viscous fluid.
DUCTILITY

The property of a material by which it can

undergo a considerable deformation without
rupture is called ductility. Due to the ductility
property of a material it can be drawn out by
tension to a small section as in case of wire-
drawing.
BRITTENESS

The property of a material by which it cannot

undergo any deformation under the application
of external force is called brittleness. Due to
brittleness property of a material it can not be
drawn out by tension to a small section.
Brittleness is, therefore the lack of ductility (as
in case of glass, china ware etc). This property
is generally considered to be highly
undesirable.
HOOK’S LAW
Hook’s law states, “When a material is loaded with its elastic
limit, the stress is directly proportional to the strain”.
Mathematically.
Stress ά Strain
Stress = A constant X Strain
Stress/strain = A constant
This constant is known as coefficient of elasticity or modulus
of elasticity or young’s modulus and is denoted by E.
Stress/strain=E
f/e = E
Hook’s law holds good equally for tension as well as
compression.
STRESS-STRAIN DIAGRAM
A diagram in which the stress are plotted along
the vertical axis and the corresponding
strains along the horizontal axis and these
points are joined by a line or a curve, then
such a diagram is called a stress-strain
diagram or stress-strain curve.
From the stress-strain curve we can read
certain mechanical properties such as limit
of proportionality , elastic limit , yield point
stress , ultimate tensile stress and breaking
stress.
STRESS-STRAIN CURVE OF MILD STEEL.
When a ductile material like mild is subjected
to a tensile test, it passes through the
following stages before it finally fracture.
1. Limit of proportionality.

2. Elastic limit.

3. Yield point.

4. Ultimate point.

5. Breaking point.
PROPORTIONALITY LIMIT.
Point “p” is called the limit of proportionality and
the stress at this point is called the
proportional limit stress or proportional limit.
Proportional limit is defined as the value of the
stress up to which stress and strain remain
proportional.
OP is a straight line which shows that the HOOK’S
law or law of proportionality of stress to strain
is followed up to point “p”.
ELASTIC LIMIT.
Point ‘P’ is called the elastic limit point and the stress
corresponding to this point is called the elastic limit
stress or elastic limit. Elastic limit is defined as the
limiting value of the stress up to which the material is
perfectly elastic.
The material is perfectly elastic up to point E and if it is
unloaded it will return back to its original position and
no permanent deformation ( permanent set) is formed.
For many metals such as wrought iron and steel, the two
points R and E are so close to each other that they
approximately coincide and it becomes difficult to
differentiate between them.
ELASTIC RANGE AND PLASTIC RANGE
The region of the stress-strain curve
between the origin to the elastic limit is
called the elastic range.
The region of the stress-strain cure between
the elastic limit and the point of rupture is
called the plastic range.
YIELD STRESS

Point Y is called the yield point and the stress

closely associated with yield point is called
yield stress. Yield stress is defined as the
stress at which extension of the material takes
place more quickly with no increase in load.
Some materials exhibit two points on the stress-
strain curve known as upper yield point and
lower yield point.
ULTIMATE STRESS

Point U is called the ultimate point and the

stress at this point is called the ultimate
stress. The stress corresponding to the
highest point on the stress-strain curve is
called the ultimate stress or maximum
stress or ultimate strength or tensile
strength.
BREAKING STRESS

Point B is called the breaking point and the stress

corresponding to this point is called the
breaking point or breaking strength or rupture
strength.
Breaking stress may be nominal breaking stress
or actual breaking stress or actual breaking
stress.
WORKING STRESS

The working stress, also called the allowable

stress is the maximum safe stress a material
can carry.
Working stress is generally kept well below the
elastic limit.
FACTOR OF SAFETY

The ratio of ultimate stress to the working stress

is called the factor of safety (F.O.S).
F.O.S