EGM1185 Material Science Lab 1 Tensile Test
EGM1185 Material Science Lab 1 Tensile Test
                 SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
           DIPLOMA IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction 3
2. Theory 3
3. Objectives 5
4. Experimental Setup 5
5. Procedure 5
6.2.2 Aluminium 15
6.2.3 Brass 15
6.3 The effect of Slip System, Grain shape, and Microstructure on mechanical properties 16
6.3.1 Microstructure 16
7. Safety Precautions 18
8. Conclusion 18
9. Appendix-Calculation 18
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1. Introduction
        A tensile test is a type of engineering test where a sample is carefully pulled apart until it breaks at a
constant speed for a brief period. Tensile test is commonly used to ascertain the mechanical properties of
materials as it aims to collect and gather the specific information about how a material behaves or change
shape when a force or load is applied to it. Both ends of a material are gripped under a constant increasing
applied tension which will result in elongation of the length of the material until it reaches the maximum
tensile strength and fractures. Therefore, to design any parts for the automobile or building structure, it is
important to know the characteristics of a material and the resulting deformation which must not exceed the
yield strength or even fracture point.
2.Theory
        For a ductile specimen which undergoes a tensile test will experience a process called necking with
significant plastic deformation before it fractures. In contrast, the specimen with brittle behavior that is under
increasing load will sudden fracture without any plastic deformation. This shows that the difference in the
measure of toughness can lead to different magnitude of the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength. Not
to mention that the magnitude of the strength of a specimen can be computed by calculating the area under
the stress-strain curve, but the elastic modulus, yield strength and ultimate tensile strength can also be
determined from the stress and strain curve. To minimize the geometry factor, tension and elongation are
normalized to the respective parameters of engineering stress and engineering strain (William D.Callister,
2018). Furthermore, it is easier to generate the data and the tensile properties are adequate for engineering
calculations.
         Both the engineering stress, 𝜎 and engineering strain, 𝜀 can be obtained from the specimen after the
tensile test.
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         When a material is subjected to be released from a controlled tension that does not exceed the yield
strength of that material, the metal is temporarily stretched and returns to its original shape. This process is
called elastically deformation which is a non-permanent process and time independent. The modulus of
elasticity is used to determine the measure of resistance that a material has this kind of elastic property. The
modulus of elasticity can also be determined from gradient of the straight-line from stress-strain curve as it is
the ratio of engineering stress against the engineering strain (William D.Callister Jr, 2018). For materials such
as ceramics or polymers, which typically display non-linear elasticity, the tangent modulus or secant modulus
can be utilized to ascertain the material’s elasticity (William D.Callister Jr, 2018). These moduli are
particularly useful for materials that do not exhibit a linear relationship between stress and strain throughout
their entire elastic range, which is known as Hooke’s Law.
The modulus of elasticity can be obtained from this equation:
                                                           𝜎
                                                      𝐸=
                                                           𝜀
where E is modulus of elasticity, 𝜎 is engineering stress and 𝜀 is engineering strain.
         In a metal undergoing a slow transition from elastic to plastic behavior, the yield point is identified as
the first deviation from the straight-line relationship observed in the stress-strain curve (William D.Callister,
2018). When a metal reaches this yield point, it has begun to deform plastically as it is subjected to further
stress. This yield strength can be determined from the intersection between a constructed straight line, which
has a strain offset inside a stress-strain graph with a value of 0.002, and the stress-strain curve (Lecture Notes-
Yield Strength chapter 6 Canvas, 2023). The yield strength can tell us how much strength a metal can withhold
without being permanently deformed when it is applied under stress.
        When a metal is being stretched to a point where it permanently deforms (plastic deformation) and
necking (the decreasing of cross-sectional area of the metal) simultaneously, it is said to hit its ultimate tensile
strength.
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3.Objectives
   1. To conduct tensile testing on various engineering materials such as Aluminium and Steel to
      determine their mechanical properties.
   2. To plot stress-strain curve of Aluminium and Steel using experimental results.
   3. To obtain modulus of elasticity, yield strength and ultimate tensile strength.
4.Experimental Setup
Figure 3: Experimental setup for tensile testing using Universal Material Tester (credit to lab manual).
5.Procedure
   1. The diameter and gauge length of the specimen is measured.
   2. The bottom clamp is screwed on with the tensile specimen by hand. The thread is made sure to be
       secure and completely in holding tightly.
   3. The top gripping head is screwed on with tensile specimen by hand. The thread is made sure to be
       secure and completely in holding tightly.
   4. The trailing pointer of the force gauge has been initialized to zero.
   5. As the hand wheel is turned, the tensile specimen slowly and steadily bears the load. Next, the
       corresponding load (force) is recorded according to the material as ∆𝑙 is increased.
   6. The tensile specimen is observed. Different material will show the fracture by slow tearing or sudden
       tearing according to the characteristic of the material itself.
   7. The maximum test load is recorded from the trailing pointer.
   8. After the specimen has a fracture tearing, it is removed and the trailing pointer on the
       force gauge is set to zero.
   9. Lastly, the load frame is moved all the way down by turning the handwheel by hand.
   10. The experiment is repeated for other materials.
   11. The stress and strain are tabulated using the obtained results and plotted into a stress-strain graph.
       The stress-strain graph is analyzed.
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700 654.303
                      600
                                          587.105
                                                                                                                   509.295
                      500
    Stress, 𝜎 (Mpa)
400 385.508
300 268.795
                      200
                                      229.89
100
                       0     0
                        0.000     0.020        0.040     0.060     0.080        0.100       0.120          0.140      0.160       0.180          0.200
                                                                          Strain, 𝜀 (mm/mm)
Aluminium Brass Mild Steel Stress offest for Brass Stress Offes for Mild Steel
        The Stress, 𝜎 is obtained from the force that is acting perpendicular to the axis of the specimen at the
cross-sectional area of the specimen. Moreover, the strain, 𝜀 is obtain from the ratio of the elongation of the
specimen in term of length. From these results, stress-stain curves for Aluminium, Brass, and Mild Steel are
plotted as shown in Figure 4. There are several mechanical properties of a material that can be obtained from
the stress-strain curve such as Yield Strength, Ultimate Tensile Strength, and Elastic Modulus.
        Yield strength is the mechanical property that indicates the point at which a material under applied
load transitions from elastic to plastic deformation. There are two methods to obtain the yield strength from
the stress-stain curve, that is the parallel strain offset and stress-strain behavior. From Figure 4, the yield
strength for Aluminium, Brass and Mild Steel are indicated in the curve. For Aluminium specimen, the method
used is by observing the stress-strain behavior from the graph. Moreover, its plastic deformation is initiated
and decreasing in the engineering stress (William D.Callister, 2018). As the deformation continues, the stress
value fluctuated and led to a lower yield point. Therefore, the yield strength is obtained from the average lower
yield point which has a value of 229.890Mpa. For Brass and Mild Steel, the use of parallel strain offset at 0.2%
method is applied to determine the yield strength and it is shown in Figure 4. For Brass, the intersection of the
parallel strain offset with the stress-strain curve happened at the value of 385.508Mpa of stress. As a result, it
has 385.508Mpa for yield strength. For Mild Steel, it has 587.105Mpa for yield strength.
Ultimate Tensile Strength, 𝜎    can be obtained from the maximum stress value from the stress-strain curve
for respective materials. According to Figure 4, the ultimate tensile strength for respective material such as
Aluminium, Brass and Mild Steel are 268.795Mpa, 509.295Mpa and 654.303Mpa.
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700
                                                                                                              587.105
             600
                                                                                     512.832
             500
                                                                                                                   385.508
             400                                                     353.677
Stress, 𝜎 (Mpa)
325.383
             300
                                                                       233.427             229.89
                                                 212.206
             200                                                       159.154
                                                   141.471
                                  88.419            88.419
             100                   60.125
                                   35.367
                      0
                  0
                      0   0.002         0.004    0.006       0.008        0.01     0.012            0.014         0.016      0.018
         -100
                                                             Strain, 𝜀 (mm/mm)
                                                Aluminium                  Brass                     Mild Steel
Figure 5: Graph of Stress-Strain Curves for respective metals before reaching the plastic deformation region.
        Elastic Modulus, which is also known as Young Modulus, can be obtained from the stiffness of the
stress-strain curve before it reaches its yield strength and further undergo plastic deformation. For materials
that have higher yield strength, it generally has larger magnitude of elastic modulus. Overall, Elastic modulus
for materials corresponds to their yield strength and is strictly not exceeding its yield strength. There are two
methods to determine the Elastic Modulus of respective materials, that is by determining the stiffness of the
curve before it reaches yield strength and the formula shown in theory. However, the stiffness of the curve is
equivalent to the ratio of value of stress against the value of strain. Therefore, the use of determining the
stiffness will be prioritized to obtain the elastic modulus.
By applying this method, the elastic modulus for respective Aluminium, Brass and Mild steel are
17548.854Mpa, 23506.585Mpa and 37634.939Mpa.
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Figure 9: Cup-Cone shape of Ductile Material including Mild Steel and Aluminium. (William D.Callister Jr,
                                                  2018)
         Figures 6, 7, and 8 show the Mild Steel specimen before and after it breaks. It has a longer length and
a smaller cross-sectional area after it fractures. As shown in Figure 9, Mild Steel has a cup-cone shape on its
broken ends, which is a sign of ductile fracture. Figure 7 shows that small holes form inside the cross-section
as the necking starts. These holes grow bigger as the deformation goes on, and they eventually turn into an
elliptical crack. The crack then spreads along the axis of the specimen. As a result, the propagation of the
cracks occurs around the perimeter of the neck of the specimen. Hence, the process of necking is observed
(William D.Callister Jr, 2018). This is because the crack motion is in parallel with the direction of the applied
stress onto the specimen.
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6.2.2 Aluminium
       Figure 10: Before Fracture.               Figure 11: Necking.                  Figure 12: Fractured.
        Figures 10, 11 and 12 show the Aluminium specimen before and after it breaks. Aluminium has a
slightly cup-cone shape on its broken ends, and it is elongated and reduced cross-sectional area after the
fracture. Before fracture, Aluminium also goes through the necking process. Therefore, Aluminium exhibits
ductile fracture behavior and apparent plastic deformation.
       6.2.3 Brass
Figure 13: Before fracture. Figure 14: Necking Figure 15: After fracture.
 Figure 16: V-shaped “Chevron” markings characteristic of brittle behavior. (William D.Callister Jr, 2018)
        Figures 13, 14 and 15 show that Brass specimen before and after it fractured. From figures 13, Brass
specimen is observed with a slight necking on its perimeter under certain pressure. However, it exhibits the
least plastic deformation behavior when compared with other metals. Furthermore, it does not have an
apparent cup-cone shape, but it does exhibit clean cut or V-shaped markings on its fractured surface. As shown
in the figure 16, the direction of the crack motion is perpendicular to the direction of the applied stress.
(William D.Callister Jr, 2018) Overall, Brass fracture in a sudden under applied load and it exhibits brittle
fractures.
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6.3 The Effects of Slip System, Grain Shape, and Microstructure on the Mechanical Properties
        In comparison, the graph in figure 4 reveals that Mild Steel has the highest values of yield strength,
Elastic Modulus, and Ultimate Tensile Strength, while Aluminium has the lowest values of these properties.
There are several factors that affect these mechanical properties such as Microstructure of metals, shape of
grain boundaries and Slip System.
6.3.1 Microstructure
Figure16a: Representation of Tensile strain imposed on host atoms by smaller substitutional impurity atoms.
Figure16b: Possible partial cancellation of impurity-dislocation lattice strains. (William D.Callister Jr, 2018)
        Mild Steel is a type of steel alloy formed by solid solution that mainly contains carbon as an added
element to form iron-carbon compounds. Carbon atoms, which have a smaller radius of 69 pm than iron atoms,
which have a radius of 194 pm, can easily diffuse into the interstitial spaces of the iron lattice. As shown in
the figure 16a and 16b, it reduces the deformation and slip of the metal by creating a tensile strain that partially
cancels off the compressive strain of the lattice (William D.Callister Jr, 2018). As a result, Mild Steel will
have higher yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, and elastic modulus.
Figure 17: Grain Boundary of Mild Steel. (K.Frayer, 2017)         Figure 18: Grain Boundary of Aluminium.
         As shown in Figure 17 and 18, the grain shape of Mild Steel is more edgy when compared with
Aluminium. During deformation, the edgy shape of grain boundaries can affect the movement of the
dislocation of slip plane in a way that the high-angle grain boundaries not being able to continue its motion in
the adjacent grain due to different atomic arrangement. As a result, it creates a barrier for the dislocation. As
the deformation continues, the dislocations tend to pile-up and accumulate with other dislocations. However,
it will result in stress concentration being created among the slip plane. These pile-up dislocations will exert
a force on the neighboring grain and accommodate other deformation. (William D.Callister Jr, 2018)
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           As demonstrated in Table 4, the difference in the theoretical and experimental values shows that there
   are several sources of error in the experiment that caused the experimental values to deviate from the
   theoretical values. Human error is a significant error in this context. Since the stress applied on the specimen
   is manually increased by turning a hand wheel, it increases the potential for the applied load to inadvertently
   exceed the required magnitude. This limitation of human ability can cause the result to deviate from the actual
   value. To overcome this issue, the experiment should be done in several trails to obtain an average value of
   the result which best fits the actual value. Another factor that caused experimental error is that the error in a
   single measurement. The dial gauge is graduated in mm with the accuracy of ±0.01mm. For every 0.1mm
   increment, there is a possible error of 0.01mm in judging the position of the pointer along the scale of the
   gauge. The solution to this error is to replace the dial gauge with a digital one that provides a higher level of
   accuracy and sensitivity. Moreover, environmental damage to the specimen is another factor that can caused
   experimental error. The specimen with cracks will have a reduction in toughness and hence provided a false
   result to the experiment. Therefore, a possible solution to this issue is to keep the specimen in the suitable
   temperature and humidity to avoid any further chemical or physical reaction on the specimen.
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7. Safety Precautions
       Firstly, the dimension of testing specimen must be prepared in a dumbbell shape following the ASTM
standard. For instance, the specimen should have a uniform cross-section area. Secondly, the specimen should
be properly gripped by the gripping head of the universal testing machine to ensure that there is no slippage
of the specimen during the test. Furthermore, the testing speed should be strictly following the ASTM
standards in order to obtain reliable and concise results. Lastly, the tensile test is strictly operated by only one
person at each test. This is to avoid any further injuries by unexpected accident.
8.Conclusion
        Through the experiment, yield strength, ultimate tensile strength and elastic modulus of the Brass,
Aluminium and Mild Steel has been determined with the use of the plotted stress-strain graph. Despite the
differences between the experimental and theoretical results, the mechanical properties of the metals still fall
within the parameter of the experiment. The Aluminium and Mild Steel is determined as ductile material
whereas the Brass is brittle. Mild Steel has the largest yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, and elastic
modulus. Aluminium has the smallest yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, and elastic modulus.
9.Appendix -Calculation
     𝐹
𝜎=
     𝐴
         6 × 10
𝐴 = 𝜋(          )
             2
=2.827× 10 𝑚
         1000𝑁
𝜎=
     2.827 × 10 𝑚
=35367765.13pa
=35.367Mpa
When ∆𝑙 is 0.1mm, and the initial length of the Aluminium specimen is 30.5mm;
The value of strain can be acquired from this formula:
    ∆𝑙
𝜀=
    𝑙
     0.1
𝜀=
    30.5
𝜀 = 0.003278
  =0.00328 (3 s.f.)
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References
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