Stress Strain Curve Aluminum vs Steel

Stress: The external force applied per unit area over which it acts is called STRESS Strain: Change in dimension to the original dimension of the material. Hookes Law: The strain developed in the body is directly proportional to the stress which develops it provided the material is within the elastic limit. Elastic limit: The maximum limit upto which a material regains its original dimensions upon the release of the external forces is called elastic limit.

Yield Strength: It is the lowest stress that produces a permanent deformation in a material. In some materials, likealuminum alloys, the point of yielding is hard to define, thus it is usually given as the stress required to cause 0.2% plastic strain. This is called a 0.2% proof stress. Tensile Strength: It is the maximumstressthat a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled beforenecking, which is when the specimen'scrosssectionstarts to significantly contract. Stress Strain curve: Duringtensile testing of a material sample, thestressstrain curveis a graphical representation of the relationship between stress, derived from measuring the load applied on the sample, andstrain, derived from measuring thedeformationof the sample, i.e. elongation, compression, or distortion.

1- Ultimate Strength 2- Yield Strength 3- Fracture 4- Plastic Region 5- Necking Region A- Apparent Stress B- Actual Stress

Aluminum and steel are the most commonly used materials in many engineering applications. Aluminum is cheap and good mechanical properties. Steel is quite expensive than aluminum but it has quite a many distinguishing properties from aluminum which makes it useful for many applications.

Yield Strength:250MPa-550MPa (varies with constituents) Tensile Strength:270-700MPa Youngs Modulus: 200GPa Rigidity Modulus:79.8GPa Bulk Modulus: 160GPa

Yield Strength:48MPa (varies with constituents) Tensile Strength:110-210MPa Youngs Modulus: 70GPa Rigidity Modulus:25.5GPa Bulk Modulus: 68.9GPa

From the Values of elastic constants and other physical quantities following conclusions may be drawn The low density makes an aluminum structure prone to vibrations and in these cases the dynamic behavior of the structure has to be considered. The Young modulus,Eis important for the structural behavior. Its value is about 1/3 that of steel, but contrary to density, this is a disadvantage compared to steel. The low value of the Young modulus,Ehas a big influence on the deformations of an aluminium structure.

A well-known example is the bending of beams, where the stiffnessEIis the governing factor andIAl=3ISteelto arrive at the same stiffness as a steel beam In designing aluminum structures, it is often not the strength, but in many cases the deformation, that is the governing factor. So in building and civil engineering it is frequently the alloy which does not have the highest strength that has to be considered. The low Young modulus is also responsible for the higher sensitivity to stability problems in aluminium structures (buckling).

The Young modulus is responsible for the lower fatigue strength of aluminum circa half that of steel. This, in combination with the low density, means that fatigue design should be considered more carefully than with steel structures. In general, stiffer and lighter designs can be achieved with aluminium alloys than is feasible with steels