Physical and Chemical Properties

Physical properties are those that can be observed without changing the identity of
the substance. The general properties of matter such as color, density, hardness, are
examples of physical properties. Properties that describe how a substance changes
into a completely different substance are called chemical properties. Flammability
and corrosion/oxidation resistance are examples of chemical properties.
The difference between a physical and chemical property is straightforward until
the phase of the material is considered. When a material changes from a solid to a
liquid to a vapor it seems like them become a difference substance. However, when
a material melts, solidifies, vaporizes, condenses or sublimes, only the state of the
substance changes. Consider ice, liquid water, and water vapor, they are all simply
H
2
O. Phase is a physical property of matter and matter can exist in four phases
solid, liquid, gas and plasma.
Some of the more important physical and chemical properties from an engineering
material standpoint will be discussed in the following sections.
Phase Transformation Temperatures
Density
Specific Gravity
Thermal Conductivity
Linear Coefficient of Thermal Expansion
Electrical Conductivity and Resistivity
Magnetic Permeability
Corrosion Resistance
Phase Transformation Temperatures
When temperature rises and
pressure is held constant, a typical
substance changes from solid to
liquid and then to vapor.
Transitions from solid to liquid,
from liquid to vapor, from vapor
to solid and visa versa are called
phase transformations or
transitions. Since some substances
have several crystal forms,
technically there can also be solid
to another solid form phase
transformation.
Phase transitions from solid to
liquid, and from liquid to vapor absorb heat. The phase transition
temperature where a solid changes to a liquid is called the melting point.
The temperature at which the vapor pressure of a liquid equals 1 atm (101.3
kPa) is called the boiling point. Some materials, such as many polymers, do
not go simply from a solid to a liquid with increasing temperature. Instead,
at some temperature below the melting point, they start to lose their
crystalline structure but the molecules remain linked in chains, which results
in a soft and pliable material. The temperature at which a solid, glassy
material begins to soften and flow is called the glass transition temperature.
Density
Mass can be thinly distributed as in a pillow, or tightly packed as in a block
of lead. The space the mass occupies is its volume, and the mass per unit of
volume is its density.
Mass (m) is a fundamental measure of the amount of matter. Weight (w) is a
measure of the force exerted by a mass and this force is force is produced by
the acceleration of gravity. Therefore, on the surface of the earth, the mass
of an object is determined by dividing the weight of an object by 9.8
m/s
2
(the acceleration of gravity on the surface of the earth). Since we are
typically comparing things on the surface of the earth, the weight of an
object is commonly used rather than calculating its mass.
The density (r) of a material depends on the phase it is in and the
temperature. (The density of liquids and gases is very temperature
dependent.) Water in the liquid state has a density of 1 g/cm
3
= 1000g/m
3
at
4
o
C. Ice has a density of 0.917 g/cm
3
at 0
o
c, and it should be noted that this
decrease in density for the solid phase is unusual. For almost all other
substances, the density of the solid phase is greater than that of the liquid
phase. Water vapor (vapor saturated air) has a density of 0.051 g/cm
3
.
Some common units used for expressing density are grams/cubic centimeter,
kilograms/cubic meter, grams/milliliter, grams/liter, pounds for cubic inch
and pounds per cubic foot; but it should be obvious that any unit of mass per
any unit of volume can be used.
Substance Density
(g/cm
3
)
Air 0.0013
Gasoline 0.7
Wood 0.85
Water (ice) 0.92
Water (liquid) 1.0
Aluminum 2.7
Steel 7.8
Silver 10.5
Lead 11.3
Mercury 13.5
Gold 19.3
Specific Gravity
Specific gravity is the ratio of density of a substance compared to the density of
fresh water at 4C (39 F). At this temperature the density of water is at its greatest
value and equal 1 g/mL. Since specific gravity is a ratio, so it has no units. An
object will float in water if its density is less than the density of water and sink if
its density is greater that that of water. Similarly, an object with specific gravity
less than 1 will float and those with a specific gravity greater than one will sink.
Specific gravity values for a few common substances are: Au, 19.3; mercury, 13.6;
alcohol, 0.7893; benzene, 0.8786. Note that since water has a density of 1 g/cm3,
the specific gravity is the same as the density of the material measured in g/cm3.
The Discovery of Specific Gravity
The discovery of specific gravity makes for an interesting story. Sometime around
250 B.C., the Greek mathematician Archimedes was given the task of determining
whether a craftsman had defrauded King Heiro II of Syracuse. The king had
provided a metal smith with gold to make a crown. The king suspected that the
metal smith had added less valuable silver to crown and kept some of the gold for
himself. The crown weighed the same as other crowns but due to its intricate
designs it was impossible to measure the exact volume of the crown so its density
could be determined. The king challenged Archimedes to determine if the crown
was pure gold. Archimedes had no immediate answer and pondered this question
for sometime.
One day while entering a bath, he noticed that water spilled over the sides of the
pool, and realized that the amount of water that spilled out was equal in volume to
the space that his body occupied. He realized that a given mass of silver would
occupy more space than an equivalent mass of gold. Archimedes first weighed the
crown and weighed out an equal mass of pure gold. Then he placed the crown in a
full container of water and the pure gold in a container of water. He found that
more water spilled over the sides of the tub when the craftsmans crown was
submerged. It turned out that the craftsman had been defrauding the King! Legend
has it that Archimedes was so excited about his discovery that he ran naked
through the streets of Sicily shouting Eureka! Eureka! (Which is Greek for I have
found it!).
Thermal Conductivity
Thermal conductivity () is the intrinsic property of a material which relates its
ability to conduct heat. Heat transfer by conduction involves transfer of energy
within a material without any motion of the material as a whole. Conduction takes
place when a temperature gradient exists in a solid (or stationary fluid) medium.
Conductive heat flow occurs in the direction of decreasing temperature because
higher temperature equates to higher molecular energy or more molecular
movement. Energy is transferred from the more energetic to the less energetic
molecules when neighboring molecules collide.
Thermal conductivity is defined as the quantity of heat (Q) transmitted through a
unit thickness (L) in a direction normal to a surface of unit area (A) due to a unit
temperature gradient (T) under steady state conditions and when the heat transfer
is dependent only on the temperature gradient. In equation form this becomes the
following:
Thermal Conductivity = heat distance / (area temperature gradient)

= Q L / (A T)
Approximate values of thermal conductivity for some common materials are
presented in the table below.
Material
Thermal Conductivity
W/m,
o
K
Thermal Conductivity
(cal/sec)/(cm
2
,
o
C/cm)
Air at 0 C 0.024 0.000057
Aluminum 205.0 0.50
Brass 109.0 -
Concrete 0.8 0.002
Copper 385.0 0.99
Glass, ordinary 0.8 0.0025
Gold 310 -
Ice 1.6 0.005
Iron - 0.163
Lead 34.7 0.083
Polyethylene HD 0.5 -
Polystyrene expanded 0.03 -
Silver 406.0 1.01
Styrofoam 0.01 -
Steel 50.2 -
Water at 20 C - 0.0014
Wood 0.12-0.04 0.0001
Linear Coefficient of Thermal Expansion
When heat is added to most materials, the average amplitude of the atoms'
vibrating within the material increases. This, in turn, increases the separation
between the atoms causing the material to expand. If the material does not go
through a phase change, the expansion can be easily related to the temperature
change. The linear coefficient of thermal expansion ( a) describes the relative
change in length of a material per degree temperature change. As shown in the
following equation, a is the ratio of change in length ( Dl) to the total starting
length (l
i
) and change in temperature ( DT).

By rearranging this equation, it can be seen that if the linear coefficient of thermal
expansion is known, the change in components length can be calculated for each
degree of temperature change. This effect also works in reverse. That is to say, if
energy is removed from a material then the object's temperature will decrease
causing the object to contract.
Thermal expansion (and contraction) must be taken into account when designing
products with close tolerance fits as these tolerances will change as temperature
changes if the materials used in the design have different coefficients of thermal
expansion. It should also be understood that thermal expansion can cause
significant stress in a component if the design does not allow for expansion and
contraction of components. The phenomena of thermal expansion can be
challenging when designing bridges, buildings, aircraft and spacecraft, but it can
be put to beneficial uses. For example, thermostats and other heat-sensitive sensors
make use of the property of linear expansion.
Linear Coefficient of Thermal Expansion for a Few Common Materials
Material
a
(m/m/
o
K)
a (mm/m/
o
K)
Aluminum 23.8 x 10
-6
0.0238
Concrete 12.0 x 10
-6
0.011
Copper 17.6 x 10 -6 0.0176
Brass 18.5 x 10
-6
0.0185
Steel 12.0 x 10
-6
0.0115
Timber 40.0 x 10
-6
0.04
Quartz Glass 0.5 x 10
-6
0.0005
Polymeric Materials 40-200 x 10
-6
0.040-0.200
Acrylic 75.0 x 10
-6
0.075
Electrical Conductivity and Resistivity
It is well known that one of the subatomic particles of an atom is the electron. The
electrons carry a negative electrostatic charge and under certain conditions can
move from atom to atom. The direction of movement between atoms is random
unless a force causes the electrons to move in one direction. This directional
movement of electrons due to an electromotive force is what is known as
electricity.
Electrical Conductivity
Electrical conductivity is a measure of how well a material accommodates the
movement of an electric charge. It is the ratio of the current density to the electric
field strength. Its SI derived unit is the Siemens per meter, but conductivity values
are often reported as percent IACS. IACS is an acronym for International Annealed
Copper Standard or the material that was used to make traditional copper-wire .
The conductivity of the annealed copper (5.8108 x 10
7
S/m) is defined to be 100%
IACS at 20C. All other conductivity values are related back to this conductivity of
annealed copper. Therefore, iron with a conductivity value of 1.044 x 10
7
S/m, has
a conductivity of approximately 18% of that of annealed copper and this is
reported as 18% IACS. An interesting side note is that commercially pure copper
products now often have IACS conductivity values greater than 100% because
processing techniques have improved since the adoption of the standard in 1913
and more impurities can now be removed from the metal.
Conductivity values in Siemens/meter can be converted to % IACS by multiplying
the conductivity value by 1.7241 x10
-6
. When conductivity values are reported in
microSiemens/centimeter, the conductivity value is multiplied by 172.41 to convert
to the % IACS value.
Electrical conductivity is a very useful property since values are affected by such
things as a substances chemical composition and the stress state of crystalline
structures. Therefore, electrical conductivity information can be used for
measuring the purity of water, sorting materials, checking for proper heat treatment
of metals, and inspecting for heat damage in some materials.
Electrical Resistivity
Electrical resistivity is the reciprocal of conductivity. It is the is the opposition of a
body or substance to the flow of electrical current through it, resulting in a change
of electrical energy into heat, light, or other forms of energy. The amount of
resistance depends on the type of material. Materials with low resistivity are good
conductors of electricity and materials with high resistivity are good insulators.
The SI unit for electrical resistivity is the ohm meter. Resistivity values are more
commonly reported in micro ohm centimeters units. As mentioned above
resistivity values are simply the reciprocal of conductivity so conversion between
the two is straightforward. For example, a material with two micro ohm centimeter
of resistivity will have microSiemens/centimeter of conductivity. Resistivity
values in microhm centimeters units can be converted to % IACS conductivity
values with the following formula:
172.41 / resistivity = % IACS
Temperature Coefficient of Resistivity
As noted above, electrical conductivity values (and resistivity values) are typically
reported at 20
o
C. This is done because the conductivity and resistivity of material
is temperature dependant. The conductivity of most materials decreases as
temperature increases. Alternately, the resistivity of most material increases with
increasing temperature. The amount of change is material dependant but has been
established for many elements and engineering materials.
The reason that resistivity increases with increasing temperature is that the number
of imperfection in the atomic lattice structure increases with temperature and this
hampers electron movement. These imperfections include dislocations, vacancies,
interstitial defects and impurity atoms. Additionally, above absolute zero, even the
lattice atoms participate in the interference of directional electron movement as
they are not always found at their ideal lattice sites. Thermal energy causes the
atoms to vibrate about their equilibrium positions. At any moment in time many
individual lattice atoms will be away from their perfect lattice sites and this
interferes with electron movement.
When the temperature coefficient is known, an adjusted resistivity value can be
computed using the following formula:
R
1
= R
2
* [1 + a * (T
1
T
2
)]
Where: R
1
= resistivity value adjusted to T
1

R
2
= resistivity value known or measured at temperature T
2

a = Temperature Coefficient
T
1
= Temperature at which resistivity value needs to be known
T
2
= Temperature at which known or measured value was obtained
For example, suppose that resistivity measurements were being made on a hot
piece of aluminum. Normally when measuring resistivity or conductivity, the
instrument is calibrated using standards that are at the same temperature as the
material being measured, and then no correction for temperature will be required.
However, if the calibration standard and the test material are at different
temperatures, a correction to the measured value must be made. Presume that the
instrument was calibrated at 20
o
C (68
o
F) but the measurement was made at 25
o
C
(77
o
F) and the resistivity value obtained was 2.706 x 10
-8
ohm meters. Using the
above equation and the following temperature coefficient value, the resistivity
value corrected for temperature can be calculated.
R
1
= R
2
* [1 + a * (T
1
T
2
)]
Where: R
1
= ?
R
2
= 2.706 x 10
-8
ohm meters (measured resistivity at 25
o
C)
a = 0.0043/
o
C
T
1
= 20
o
C
T
2
= 25
o
C
R
1
= 2.706 x 10
-8
ohm meters * [1 + 0.0043/
o
C * (20
o
C 25
o
C)]
R
1
= 2.648 x 10
-8
ohm meters
Note that the resistivity value was adjusted downward since this example involved
calculating the resistivity for a lower temperature.
Since conductivity is simply the inverse of resistivity, the temperature coefficient
is the same for conductivity and the equation requires only slight modification. The
equation becomes:
s
1
= s
2
/ [1 + a * (T
1
T
2
)]
Where: s
1
= conductivity value adjusted to T
1

s
2
= conductivity value known or measured at temperature T
2

a = Temperature Coefficient
T
1
= Temperature at which conductivity value needs to be known
T
2
= Temperature at which known or measured value was obtained
In this example lets consider the same aluminum alloy with a temperature
coefficient of 0.0043 per degree centigrade and a conductivity of 63.6% IACS at
25
o
C. What will the conductivity be when adjusted to 20
o
C?
s
1
= 63.6% IACS / [1 + 0.0043 * (20
o
C 25
o
C)]
s
1
= 65.0% IASC
The temperature coefficient for a few metallic elements is shown below.
Material Temperature Coefficient (/
o
C)
Nickel 0.0059
Iron 0.0060
Molybdenum 0.0046
Tungsten 0.0044
Aluminum 0.0043
Copper 0.0040
Silver 0.0038
Platinum 0.0038
Gold 0.0037
Zinc 0.0038
Magnetic Permeability
Magnetic permeability or simply permeability is the ease with which a material can
be magnetized. It is a constant of proportionality that exists between magnetic
induction and magnetic field intensity. This constant is equal to approximately
1.257 x 10
-6
Henry per meter (H/m) in free space (a vacuum). In other materials it
can be much different, often substantially greater than the free-space value, which
is symbolized
0
.
Materials that cause the lines of flux to move farther apart, resulting in a decrease
in magnetic flux density compared with a vacuum, are called diamagnetic.
Materials that concentrate magnetic flux by a factor of more than one but less than
or equal to ten are called paramagnetic; materials that concentrate the flux by a
factor of more than ten are called ferromagnetic. The permeability factors of some
substances change with rising or falling temperature, or with the intensity of the
applied magnetic field.
In engineering applications, permeability is often expressed in relative, rather than
in absolute, terms. If o represents the permeability of free space (that is, 4p X10
-
7
H/m or 1.257 x 10
-6
H/m) and represents the permeability of the substance in
question (also specified in henrys per meter), then the relative permeability,
r
, is
given by:

r
= /
0

For non-ferrous metals such as copper, brass, aluminum etc., the permeability is
the same as that of "free space", i.e. the relative permeability is one. For ferrous
metals however the value of r may be several hundred. Certain ferromagnetic
materials, especially powdered or laminated iron, steel, or nickel alloys, have

r
that can range up to about 1,000,000. Diamagnetic materials have
r
less than
one, but no known substance has relative permeability much less than one. In
addition, permeability can vary greatly within a metal part due to localized
stresses, heating effects, etc.
When a paramagnetic or ferromagnetic core is inserted into a coil, the inductance
is multiplied by
r
compared with the inductance of the same coil with an air core.
This effect is useful in the design of transformers and eddy current probes.
Corrosion
Corrosion involves the deterioration of a material as it reacts with its environment.
Corrosion is the primary means by which metals deteriorate. Corrosion literally
consumes the material reducing load carrying capability and causing stress
concentrations. Corrosion is often a major part of maintenance cost and corrosion
prevention is vital in many designs. Corrosion is not expressed in terms of a design
property value like other properties but rather in more qualitative terms such as a
material is immune, resistant, susceptible or very
susceptible to corrosion.
The corrosion process is usually electrochemical in nature,
having the essential features of a battery. Corrosion is a
natural process that commonly occurs because unstable
materials, such as refined metals want to return to a more
stable compound. For example, some metals, such as gold
and silver, can be found in the earth in their natural,
metallic state and they have little tendency to corrode. Iron
is a moderately active metal and corrodes readily in the
presence of water. The natural state of iron is iron oxide and
the most common iron ore is Hematite with a chemical
composition of Fe
2
0
3
. Rust, the most common corrosion
product of iron, also has a chemical composition of Fe
2
O
3
.
The difficulty in terms of energy required to extract metals
from their ores is directly related to the ensuing tendency to
corrode and release this energy. The electromotive force
series (See table) is a ranking of metals with respect to their
inherent reactivity. The most noble metal is at the top and
has the highest positive electrochemical potential. The most
active metal is at the bottom and has the most negative
electrochemical potential.
Note that aluminum, as indicated by its position in the series, is a relatively reactive metal; among structural
metals, only beryllium and magnesium are more reactive. Aluminum owes its excellent corrosion resistance to
the barrier oxide film that is bonded strongly to the surface and if damaged reforms immediately in most
environments. On a surface freshly abraded and exposed to air, the protective film is only 10 Angstroms thick
but highly effective at protecting the metal from corrosion.
Corrosion involve two chemical processesoxidation and reduction. Oxidation is
the process of stripping electrons from an atom and reduction occurs when an
electron is added to an atom. The oxidation process takes place at an area known as
the anode. At the anode, positively charged atoms leave the solid surface and enter
into an electrolyte as ions. The ions leave their corresponding negative charge in
the form of electrons in the metal which travel to the location of the cathode
through a conductive path. At the cathode, the corresponding reduction reaction
takes place and consumes the free electrons. The electrical balance of the circuit is
restored at the cathode when the electrons react with neutralizing positive ions,
such as hydrogen ions, in the electrolyte. From this description, it can be seen that
there are four essential components that are needed for a corrosion reaction to
Partial Electromotive Force Series
Standard Potential
Electrode Reaction
(at 25
o
C), V-SHE
Au
3+
+ 3e
-
-> Au 1.498
Pd
2+
+ 2e
-
-> Pd 0.987
Hg
2+
+ 2e
-
-> Hg 0.854
Ag
+
+ e
-
-> Au 0.799
Cu
+
+ e
-
-> Cu 0.521
Cu
2+
+ 2e
-
-> Cu 0.337
2H
+
+ 2e
-
-> H2 0.000 (Ref.)
Pb
2+
+ 2e
-
-> Pb -0.126
Sn
2+
+ 2e
-
-> Sn -0.136
Ni
2+
+ 2e
-
-> Ni -0.250
Co
2+
+ 2e
-
-> Co -0.277
Cd
2+
+ 2e
-
-> Cd -0.403
Fe
2+
+ 2e
-
-> Fe -0.440
Cr
3+
+ 3e
-
-> Cr -0.744
Cr
2+
+ 2e
-
-> Cr -0.910
Zn
2+
+ 2e
-
-> Zn -0.763
Mn
2+
+ 2e
-
-> Mn -1.180
Ti
2+
+ 2e
-
-> Ti -1.630
Al
3+
+ 3e
-
-> Al -1.662
Be
2+
+ 2e
-
-> Be -1.850
Mg
2+
+ 2e
-
-> Mg -2.363
Li
+
+ e
-
-> Li -3.050
proceed. These components are an anode, a cathode, an electrolyte with oxidizing
species, and some direct electrical connection between the anode and cathode.
Although atmospheric air is the most common environmental electrolyte, natural
waters, such as seawater rain, as well as man-made solutions, are the environments
most frequently associated with
corrosion problems.
A typical situation might involve a piece
of metal that has anodic and cathodic
regions on the same surface. If the
surface becomes wet, corrosion may take
place through ionic exchange in the
surface water layer between the anode
and cathode. Electron exchange will
take place through the bulk metal.
Corrosion will proceed at the anodic site
according to a reaction such as
M M
++
+ 2e
-

where M is a metal atom. The resulting
metal cations (M
++
) are available at the metal surface to become corrosion products
such as oxides, hydroxides, etc. The liberated electrons travel through the bulk
metal (or another low resistance electrical connection) to the cathode, where they
are consumed by cathodic reactions such as
2H
+
+ 2e
-
H 2
The basic principles of corrosion that were just covered, generally apply to all
corrosion situation except certain types of high temperature corrosion. However,
the process of corrosion can be very straightforward but is often very complex due
to variety of variable that can contribute to the process. A few of these variable are
the composition of the material acting in the corrosion cell, the heat treatment and
stress state of the materials, the composition of the electrolyte, the distance
between the anode and the cathode, temperature, protective oxides and coating, etc.
Types of Corrosion
Corrosion is commonly classified based on the appearance of the corroded
material. The classifications used vary slightly from reference to reference but
there is generally considered to be eight different forms of corrosion. There forms
are:
Uniform or general corrosion that is distributed more or less uniformly over a
surface.
Localized corrosion that is confined to small area. Localized corrosion often
occurs due to a concentrated cell. A concentrated cell is an electrolytic cell in
which the electromotive force is caused by a concentration of some components in
the electrolyte. This difference leads to the formation of distinct anode and cathode
regions.
Pitting corrosion that is confined to small areas and take the form of
cavities on a surface.
Crevice corrosion occurring at locations where easy access to the bulk
environment is prevented, such as the mating surfaces of two components.
Filiform Corrosion that occurs under some coatings in the form of
randomly distributed threadlike filaments.
Intergranular preferential corrosion at or along the grain boundaries of a metal.
Exfoliation a specific form
of corrosion that travels along
grain boundaries parallel to
the surface of the part causing
lifting and flaking at the
surface. The corrosion
products expand between the
uncorroded layers of metal to
produce a look that resembles
pages of a book. Exfoliation
corrosion is associated with sheet, plate and extruded products and usually
initiates at unpainted or unsealed edges or holes of susceptible metals.
Galvanic corrosion associated primarily with the electrical coupling of materials
with significantly different electrochemical potentials.
Environmental Cracking brittle fracture of a normally ductile material that
occurs partially due to the corrosive effect of an environment.
Corrosion fatigue fatigue cracking that is characterized by
uncharacteristically short initiation time and/or growth rate due to the
damage of corrosion or buildup of corrosion products.
High temperature hydrogen attack the loss of strength and ductility of steel
due to a high temperature reaction of absorbed hydrogen with carbides. The
result of the reaction is decarburization and internal fissuring.
Hydrogen Embrittlement the loss of ductility of a metal resulting from
absorption of hydrogen.
Liquid metal cracking cracking caused by contact with a liquid metal.
Stress corrosion cracking of a metal due to the combined action of
corrosion and a residual or applied tensile stress.
Erosion corrosion a corrosion reaction accelerated by the relative movement of
a corrosive fluid and a metal surface.
Fretting corrosion damage at the interface of two contacting surfaces under load
but capable of some relative motion. The damage is accelerated by movement at
the interface that mechanically abraded the surface and exposes fresh material to
corrosive attack.
Dealloying the selective corrosion of one or more components of a solid solution
alloy.
Dezincification corrosion resulting in the selective removal of zinc from
copper-zinc alloys.
Mechanical Properties
The mechanical properties of a material are those properties that involve a
reaction to an applied load. The mechanical properties of metals determine
the range of usefulness of a material and establish the service life that can be
expected. Mechanical properties are also used to help classify and identify
material. The most common properties considered are strength, ductility,
hardness, impact resistance, and fracture toughness.
Most structural materials are anisotropic, which means that their material
properties vary with orientation. The variation in properties can be due to
directionality in the microstructure (texture) from forming or cold working
operation, the controlled alignment of fiber reinforcement and a variety of
other causes. Mechanical properties are generally specific to product form
such as sheet, plate, extrusion, casting, forging, and etc. Additionally, it is
common to see mechanical property listed by the directional grain structure
of the material. In products such as sheet and plate, the rolling direction is
called the longitudinal direction, the width of the product is called the
transverse direction, and the thickness is called the short transverse
direction. The grain orientations in standard wrought forms of metallic
products are shown the image.

The mechanical properties of a material are not constants and often change
as a function of temperature, rate of loading, and other conditions. For
example, temperatures below room temperature generally cause an increase
in strength properties of metallic alloys; while ductility, fracture toughness,
and elongation usually decrease. Temperatures above room temperature
usually cause a decrease in the strength properties of metallic alloys.
Ductility may increase or decrease with increasing temperature depending
on the same variables
It should also be noted that there is often significant variability in the values
obtained when measuring mechanical properties. Seemingly identical test
specimen from the same lot of material will often produce considerable
different results. Therefore, multiple tests are commonly conducted to
determine mechanical properties and values reported can be an average
value or calculated statistical minimum value. Also, a range of values are
sometimes reported in order to show variability.
Loading
The application of a force to an object is known as loading. Materials can be
subjected to many different loading scenarios and a materials performance
is dependant on the loading conditions. There are five fundamental loading
conditions; tension, compression, bending, shear, and torsion. Tension is the
type of loading in which the two sections of material on either side of a
plane tend to be pulled apart or elongated. Compression is the reverse of
tensile loading and involves pressing the material together. Loading by
bending involves applying a load in a manner that causes a material to curve
and results in compressing the material on one side and stretching it on the
other. Shear involves applying a load parallel to a plane which caused the
material on one side of the plane to want to slide across the material on the
other side of the plane. Torsion is the application of a force that causes
twisting in a material.

If a material is subjected to a constant force, it is called static loading. If the
loading of the material is not constant but instead fluctuates, it is called
dynamic or cyclic loading. The way a material is loaded greatly affects its
mechanical properties and largely determines how, or if, a component will
fail; and whether it will show warning signs before failure actually occurs.


Stress and Strain
Stress
The term stress (s) is used to express the loading in terms of force applied to a
certain cross-sectional area of an object. From the perspective of loading, stress is
the applied force or system of forces that tends to deform a body. From the
perspective of what is happening within a material, stress is the internal
distribution of forces within a body that balance and react to the loads applied to it.
The stress distribution may or may not be uniform, depending on the nature of the
loading condition. For example, a bar loaded in pure tension will essentially have a
uniform tensile stress distribution. However, a bar loaded in bending will have a
stress distribution that changes with distance perpendicular to the normal axis.
Simplifying assumptions are often used to represent stress as a vector quantity for
many engineering calculations and for material property determination. The
word "vector" typically refers to a quantity that has a "magnitude" and a
"direction". For example, the stress in an axially loaded bar is simply equal to the
applied force divided by the bar's cross-sectional area.

Some common measurements of stress are:
Psi = lbs/in
2
(pounds per square inch)
ksi or kpsi = kilopounds/in
2
(one thousand or 10
3
pounds per square inch)
Pa = N/m 2 (Pascals or Newtons per square meter)
kPa = Kilopascals (one thousand or 10
3
Newtons per square meter)
GPa = Gigapascals (one million or 10
6
Newtons per square meter)
*Any metric prefix can be added in front of psi or Pa to indicate the multiplication
factor
It must be noted that the stresses
in most 2-D or 3-D solids are
actually more complex and need
be defined more methodically.
The internal force acting on a
small area of a plane can be
resolved into three components:
one normal to the plane and two
parallel to the plane. The normal
force component divided by the area gives the normal stress (s), and parallel force
components divided by the area give the shear stress (t). These stresses are average
stresses as the area is finite, but when the area is allowed to approach zero, the
stresses become stresses at a point. Since stresses are defined in relation to the
plane that passes through the point under consideration, and the number of such
planes is infinite, there appear an infinite set of stresses at a point. Fortunately, it
can be proven that the stresses on any plane can be computed from the stresses on
three orthogonal planes passing through the point. As each plane has three stresses,
the stress tensor has nine stress components, which completely describe the state of
stress at a point.
Strain
Strain is the response of a system to an applied stress. When a material is loaded
with a force, it produces a stress, which then causes a material to deform.
Engineering strain is defined as the amount of deformation in the direction of the
applied force divided by the initial length of the material. This results in a unitless
number, although it is often left in the unsimplified form, such as inches per inch
or meters per meter. For example, the strain in a bar that is being stretched in
tension is the amount of elongation or change in length divided by its original
length. As in the case of stress, the strain distribution may or may not be uniform
in a complex structural element, depending on the nature of the loading condition.

If the stress is small, the material may only strain a small amount and the material
will return to its original size after the stress is released. This is called elastic
deformation, because like elastic it returns to its unstressed state. Elastic
deformation only occurs in a material when stresses are lower than a critical stress
called the yield strength. If a material is loaded beyond it elastic limit, the material
will remain in a deformed condition after the load is removed. This is called plastic
deformation.
Engineering and True Stress and Strain
The discussion above focused on engineering stress and strain, which use the
fixed, undeformed cross-sectional area in the calculations. True stress and strain
measures account for changes in cross-sectional area by using
the instantaneous values for the area. The engineering stress-strain curve does not
give a true indication of the deformation characteristics of a metal because it is
based entirely on the original dimensions of the specimen, and these dimensions
change continuously during the testing used to generate the data.
Engineering stress and strain data is commonly used because it is easier to generate
the data and the tensile properties are adequate for engineering calculations. When
considering the stress-strain curves in the next section, however, it should be
understood that metals and other materials continues to strain-harden until they
fracture and the stress required to produce further deformation also increase.
Stress Concentration
When an axial load is applied to a piece of
material with a uniform cross-section, the
norm al stress will be uniformly
distributed over the cross-section.
However, if a hole is drilled in the
material, the stress distribution will no
longer be uniform. Since the material that
has been removed from the hole is no
longer available to carry any load, the load
must be redistributed over the remaining
material. It is not redistributed evenly over
the entire remaining cross-sectional area
but instead will be redistributed in an
uneven pattern that is highest at the edges
of the hole as shown in the image. This
phenomenon is known as stress
concentration.
Tensile Properties
Tensile properties indicate how the material will react to forces being applied in
tension. A tensile test is a fundamental mechanical test where a carefully prepared
specimen is loaded in a very controlled manner while measuring the applied load
and the elongation of the specimen over some distance. Tensile tests are used to
determine the modulus of elasticity, elastic limit, elongation, proportional limit,
reduction in area, tensile strength, yield point, yield strength and other tensile
properties.
The main product of a tensile test is a load versus elongation curve which is then
converted into a stress versus strain curve. Since both the engineering stress and
the engineering strain are obtained by dividing the load and elongation by constant
values (specimen geometry information), the load-elongation curve will have the
same shape as the engineering stress-strain curve. The stress-strain curve relates
the applied stress to the resulting strain and each material has its own unique
stress-strain curve. A typical engineering stress-strain curve is shown below. If the
true stress, based on the actual cross-sectional area of the specimen, is used, it is
found that the stress-strain curve increases continuously up to fracture.

Linear-Elastic Region and Elastic Constants
As can be seen in the figure, the stress and strain initially increase with a linear
relationship. This is the linear-elastic portion of the curve and it indicates that no
plastic deformation has occurred. In this region of the curve, when the stress is
reduced, the material will return to its original shape. In this linear region, the line
obeys the relationship defined as Hooke's Law where the ratio of stress to strain is
a constant.
The slope of the line in this region where stress is proportional to strain and is
called themodulus of elasticity or Young's modulus. The modulus of elasticity
(E) defines the properties of a material as it undergoes stress, deforms, and then
returns to its original shape after the stress is removed. It is a measure of the
stiffness of a given material. To compute the modulus of elastic , simply divide the
stress by the strain in the material. Since strain is unitless, the modulus will have
the same units as the stress, such as kpi or MPa. The modulus of elasticity applies
specifically to the situation of a component being stretched with a tensile force.
This modulus is of interest when it is necessary to compute how much a rod or
wire stretches under a tensile load.
There are several different kinds of moduli depending on the way the material is
being stretched, bent, or otherwise distorted. When a component is subjected to
pure shear, for instance, a cylindrical bar under torsion, the shear modulus
describes the linear-elastic stress-strain relationship.
Axial strain is always accompanied by lateral strains of opposite sign in the two
directions mutually perpendicular to the axial strain. Strains that result from an
increase in length are designated as positive (+) and those that result in a decrease
in length are designated as negative (-). Poisson's ratio is defined as the negative
of the ratio of the lateral strain to the axial strain for a uniaxial stress state.

Poisson's ratio is sometimes also defined as the ratio of the absolute values of
lateral and axial strain. This ratio, like strain, is unitless since both strains are
unitless. For stresses within the elastic range, this ratio is approximately constant.
For a perfectly isotropic elastic material, Poisson's Ratio is 0.25, but for most
materials the value lies in the range of 0.28 to 0.33. Generally for steels, Poissons
ratio will have a value of approximately 0.3. This means that if there is one inch
per inch of deformation in the direction that stress is applied, there will be 0.3
inches per inch of deformation perpendicular to the direction that force is applied.
Only two of the elastic constants are independent so if two constants are known,
the third can be calculated using the following formula:
E = 2 (1 + n) G.
Where: E = modulus of elasticity (Young's modulus)
n = Poisson's ratio
G = modulus of rigidity (shear modulus).
A couple of additional elastic constants that may be encountered include the bulk
modulus (K), and Lame's constants (m and l). The bulk modulus is used describe
the situation where a piece of material is subjected to a pressure increase on all
sides. The relationship between the change in pressure and the resulting strain
produced is the bulk modulus. Lame's constants are derived from modulus of
elasticity and Poisson's ratio.
Yield Point
In ductile materials, at some point, the stress-strain curve deviates from the
straight-line relationship and Law no longer applies as the strain increases faster
than the stress. From this point on in the tensile test, some permanent deformation
occurs in the specimen and the material is said to react plastically to any further
increase in load or stress. The material will not return to its original, unstressed
condition when the load is removed. In brittle materials, little or no plastic
deformation occurs and the material fractures near the end of the linear-elastic
portion of the curve.
With most materials there is a gradual transition from elastic to plastic behavior,
and the exact point at which plastic deformation begins to occur is hard to
determine. Therefore, various criteria for the initiation of yielding are used
depending on the sensitivity of the strain measurements and the intended use of the
data. (See Table) For most engineering design and specification applications, the
yield strength is used. The yield strength is defined as the stress required to
produce a small, amount of plastic deformation. The offset yield strength is the
stress corresponding to the intersection of the stress-strain curve and a line parallel
to the elastic part of the curve offset by a specified strain (in the US the offset is
typically 0.2% for metals and 2% for plastics).
To determine the yield strength using this offset, the point
is found on the strain axis (x-axis) of 0.002, and then a
line parallel to the stress-strain line is drawn. This line
will intersect the stress-strain line slightly after it begins
to curve, and that intersection is defined as the yield
strength with a 0.2% offset. A good way of looking at
offset yield strength is that after a specimen has been loaded to its 0.2 percent
offset yield strength and then unloaded it will be 0.2 percent longer than before the
test. Even though the yield strength is meant to represent the exact point at which
the material becomes permanently deformed, 0.2% elongation is considered to be a
tolerable amount of sacrifice for the ease it creates in defining the yield strength.
Some materials such as gray cast iron or soft copper exhibit essentially no linear-
elastic behavior. For these materials the usual practice is to define the yield
strength as the stress required to produce some total amount of strain.
True elastic limit is a very low value and is related to the motion of a few
hundred dislocations. Micro strain measurements are required to detect
strain on order of 2 x 10 -6 in/in.
Proportional limit is the highest stress at which stress is directly
proportional to strain. It is obtained by observing the deviation from the
straight-line portion of the stress-strain curve.
Elastic limit is the greatest stress the material can withstand without any
measurable permanent strain remaining on the complete release of load. It is
determined using a tedious incremental loading-unloading test procedure.
With the sensitivity of strain measurements usually employed in engineering
studies (10 -4in/in), the elastic limit is greater than the proportional limit.
With increasing sensitivity of strain measurement, the value of the elastic
In Great Britain, the yield
strength is often referred
to as the proof stress.
The offset value is either
0.1% or 0.5%
limit decreases until it eventually equals the true elastic limit determined
from micro strain measurements.
Yield strength is the stress required to produce a small-specified amount of
plastic deformation. The yield strength obtained by an offset method is
commonly used for engineering purposes because it avoids the practical
difficulties of measuring the elastic limit or proportional limit.
Ultimate Tensile Strength
The ultimate tensile strength (UTS) or, more simply, the tensile strength, is the
maximum engineering stress level reached in a tension test. The strength of a
material is its ability to withstand external forces without breaking. In brittle
materials, the UTS will at the end of the linear-elastic portion of the stress-strain
curve or close to the elastic limit. In ductile materials, the UTS will be well outside
of the elastic portion into the plastic portion of the stress-strain curve.
On the stress-strain curve above, the UTS is the highest point where the line is
momentarily flat. Since the UTS is based on the engineering stress, it is often not
the same as the breaking strength. In ductile materials strain hardening occurs and
the stress will continue to increase until fracture occurs, but the engineering stress-
strain curve may show a decline in the stress level before fracture occurs. This is
the result of engineering stress being based on the original cross-section area and
not accounting for the necking that commonly occurs in the test specimen. The
UTS may not be completely representative of the highest level of stress that a
material can support, but the value is not typically used in the design of
components anyway. For ductile metals the current design practice is to use the
yield strength for sizing static components. However, since the UTS is easy to
determine and quite reproducible, it is useful for the purposes of specifying a
material and for quality control purposes. On the other hand, for brittle materials
the design of a component may be based on the tensile strength of the material.
Measures of Ductility (Elongation and Reduction of Area)
The ductility of a material is a measure of the extent to which a material will
deform before fracture. The amount of ductility is an important factor when
considering forming operations such as rolling and extrusion. It also provides an
indication of how visible overload damage to a component might become before
the component fractures. Ductility is also used a quality control measure to assess
the level of impurities and proper
processing of a material.
The conventional measures of ductility
are the engineering strain at fracture
(usually called the elongation ) and the
reduction of area at fracture. Both of
these properties are obtained by fitting
the specimen back together after
fracture and measuring the change in length and cross-sectional area. Elongation is
the change in axial length divided by the original length of the specimen or portion
of the specimen. It is expressed as a percentage. Because an appreciable fraction of
the plastic deformation will be concentrated in the necked region of the tensile
specimen, the value of elongation will depend on the gage length over which the
measurement is taken. The smaller the gage length the greater the large localized
strain in the necked region will factor into the calculation. Therefore, when
reporting values of elongation , the gage length should be given.
One way to avoid the complication from necking is to base the elongation
measurement on the uniform strain out to the point at which necking begins. This
works well at times but some engineering stress-strain curve are often quite flat in
the vicinity of maximum loading and it is difficult to precisely establish the strain
when necking starts to occur.
Reduction of area is the change in cross-sectional area divided by the original
cross-sectional area. This change is measured in the necked down region of the
specimen. Like elongation, it is usually expressed as a percentage.
As previously discussed, tension is just one of the way that a material can be
loaded. Other ways of loading a material include compression, bending, shear and
torsion, and there are a number of standard tests that have been established to
characterize how a material performs under these other loading conditions. A very
cursory introduction to some of these other material properties will be provided on
the next page.
Compressive, Bearing, & Shear Properties
Compressive Properties
In theory, the compression test is simply the opposite of the
tension test with respect to the direction of loading. In
compression testing the sample is squeezed while the load and
the displacement are recorded. Compression tests result in
mechanical properties that include the compressive yield
stress, compressive ultimate stress, and compressive modulus
of elasticity.
Compressive yield stress is measured in a manner identical to
that done for tensile yield strength. When testing metals, it is
defined as the stress corresponding to 0.002 in./in. plastic
strain. For plastics, the compressive yield stress is measured at
the point of permanent yield on the stress-strain curve. Moduli
are generally greater in compression for most of the commonly used structural
materials.
Ultimate compressive strength is the stress required to rupture a specimen. This
value is much harder to determine for a compression test than it is for a tensile test
since many material do not exhibit rapid fracture in compression. Materials such
as most plastics that do not rupture can have their results reported as the
compressive strength at a specific deformation such as 1%, 5%, or 10% of the
sample's original height.
For some materials, such as concrete, the compressive strength is the most
important material property that engineers use when designing and building a
structure. Compressive strength is also commonly used to determine whether a
concrete mixture meets the requirements of the job specifications.
Bearing Properties
Bearing properties are used when designing mechanically fastened joints. The
purpose of a bearing test is to determine the the deformation of a hole as a function
of the applied bearing stress. The test specimen is basically a piece of sheet or
plate with a carefully prepared hole some standard distance from the edge. Edge-
to-hole diameter ratios of 1.5 and 2.0 are common. A hardened pin is inserted
through the hole and an axial load applied to the specimen and the pin. The bearing
stress is computed by dividing the load applied to the pin, which bears against the
edge of the hole, by the bearing area (the product of the pin diameter and the sheet
or plate thickness). Bearing yield and ultimate stresses are obtained from bearing
tests. BYS is computed from a bearing stress deformation curve by drawing a line
parallel to the initial slope at an offset of 0.02 times the pin diameter. BUS is the
maximum stress withstood by a bearing specimen.
Shear Properties
A shearing stress acts parallel to the stress plane, whereas a tensile or compressive
stress acts normal to the stress plane. Shear properties are primarily used in the
design of mechanically fastened components, webs, and torsion members, and
other components subject to parallel, opposing loads. Shear properties are
dependant on the type of shear test and their is a variety of different standard shear
tests that can be performed including the single-shear test, double-shear test,
blanking-shear test, torsion-shear test and others. The shear modulus of elasticity is
considered a basic shear property. Other properties, such as the proportional limit
stress and shear ultimate stress, cannot be treated as basic shear properties because
of form factor effects.
Hardness
Hardness is the resistance of a material to localized deformation. The term can
apply to deformation from indentation, scratching, cutting or bending. In metals,
ceramics and most polymers, the deformation considered is plastic deformation of
the surface. For elastomers and some polymers, hardness is defined at the
resistance to elastic deformation of the surface. The lack of a fundamental
definition indicates that hardness is not be a basic property of a material, but rather
a composite one with contributions from the yield strength, work hardening, true
tensile strength, modulus, and others factors. Hardness measurements are widely
used for the quality control of materials because they are quick and considered to
be nondestructive tests when the marks or indentations produced by the test are in
low stress areas.
There are a large variety of methods used for determining the hardness of a
substance. A few of the more common methods are introduced below.
Mohs Hardness Test
One of the oldest ways of measuring hardness was devised by the German
mineralogist Friedrich Mohs in 1812. The Mohs hardness test involves observing
whether a materials surface is scratched by a substance of known or defined
hardness. To give numerical values to this physical property, minerals are ranked
along the Mohs scale, which is composed of 10 minerals that have been given
arbitrary hardness values. Mohs hardness test, while greatly facilitating the
identification of minerals in the field, is not suitable for accurately gauging the
hardness of industrial materials such as steel or ceramics. For engineering
materials, a variety of instruments have been developed over the years to provide a
precise measure of hardness. Many apply a load and measure the depth or size of
the resulting indentation. Hardness can be measured on the macro-, micro- or
nano- scale.
Brinell Hardness Test
The oldest of the hardness test methods in common use on engineering materials
today is the Brinell hardness test. Dr. J. A. Brinell invented the Brinell test in
Sweden in 1900. The Brinell test uses a desktop machine to applying a specified
load to a hardened sphere of a specified diameter. The Brinell hardness number, or
simply the Brinell number, is obtained by dividing the load used, in kilograms, by
the measured surface area of the indentation, in square millimeters, left on the test
surface. The Brinell test is frequently used to determine the hardness metal
forgings and castings that have a large grain structures. The Brinell test provides a
measurement over a fairly large area that is less affected by the course grain
structure of these materials than are Rockwell or Vickers tests.
A wide range of materials can be tested using a Brinell test simply by varying the
test load and indenter ball size. In the USA, Brinell testing is typically done on iron
and steel castings using a 3000Kg test force and a 10mm diameter ball. A 1500
kilogram load is usually used for aluminum castings. Copper, brass and thin stock
are frequently tested using a 500Kg test force and a 10 or 5mm ball. In Europe
Brinell testing is done using a much wider range of forces and ball sizes and it is
common to perform Brinell tests on small parts using a 1mm carbide ball and a test
force as low as 1kg. These low load tests are commonly referred to as baby Brinell
tests. The test conditions should be reported along with the Brinell hardness
number. A value reported as "60 HB 10/1500/30" means that a Brinell Hardness of
60 was obtained using a 10mm diameter ball with a 1500 kilogram load applied for
30 seconds.
Rockwell Hardness Test
The Rockwell Hardness test also uses a machine to apply a specific load and then
measure the depth of the resulting impression. The indenter may either be a steel
ball of some specified diameter or a spherical diamond-tipped cone of 120 angle
and 0.2 mm tip radius, called a brale. A minor load of 10 kg is first applied, which
causes a small initial penetration to seat the indenter and remove the effects of any
surface irregularities. Then, the dial is set to zero and the major load is applied.
Upon removal of the major load, the depth reading is taken while the minor load is
still on. The hardness number may then be read directly from the scale. The
indenter and the test load used determine the hardness scale that is used (A, B, C,
etc).
For soft materials such as copper alloys, soft steel, and aluminum alloys a 1/16"
diameter steel ball is used with a 100-kilogram load and the hardness is read on the
"B" scale. In testing harder materials, hard cast iron and many steel alloys, a 120
degrees diamond cone is used with up to a 150 kilogram load and the hardness is
read on the "C" scale. There are several Rockwell scales other than the "B" & "C"
scales, (which are called the common scales). A properly reported Rockwell value
will have the hardness number followed by "HR" (Hardness Rockwell) and the
scale letter. For example, 50 HRB indicates that the material has a hardness
reading of 50 on the B scale.
A -Cemented carbides, thin steel and shallow case hardened steel
B -Copper alloys, soft steels, aluminum alloys, malleable iron, etc.
C -Steel, hard cast irons, pearlitic malleable iron, titanium, deep case hardened
steel and other materials harder than B 100
D -Thin steel and medium case hardened steel and pearlitic malleable iron
E -Cast iron, aluminum and magnesium alloys, bearing metals
F -Annealed copper alloys, thin soft sheet metals
G -Phosphor bronze, beryllium copper, malleable irons
H -Aluminum, zinc, lead
K, L, M, P, R, S, V -Bearing metals and other very soft or thin materials,
including plastics.
Rockwell Superficial Hardness Test
The Rockwell Superficial Hardness Tester is used to test thin materials, lightly
carburized steel surfaces, or parts that might bend or crush under the conditions of
the regular test. This tester uses the same indenters as the standard Rockwell tester
but the loads are reduced. A minor load of 3 kilograms is used and the major load
is either 15 or 45 kilograms depending on the indenter used. Using the 1/16"
diameter, steel ball indenter, a "T" is added (meaning thin sheet testing) to the
superficial hardness designation. An example of a superficial Rockwell hardness is
23 HR15T, which indicates the superficial hardness as 23, with a load of 15
kilograms using the steel ball.
Vickers and Knoop Microhardness Tests
The Vickers and Knoop Hardness Tests are a modification of the Brinell test and
are used to measure the hardness of thin film coatings or the surface hardness of
case-hardened parts. With these tests, a small diamond pyramid is pressed into the
sample under loads that are much less than those used in the Brinell test. The
difference between the Vickers and the Knoop Tests is simply the shape of the
diamond pyramid indenter. The Vickers test uses a square pyramidal indenter
which is prone to crack brittle materials. Consequently, the Knoop test using a
rhombic-based (diagonal ratio 7.114:1) pyramidal indenter was developed which
produces longer but shallower indentations. For the same load, Knoop indentations
are about 2.8 times longer than Vickers indentations.
An applied load ranging from 10g to 1,000g is used. This low amount of load
creates a small indent that must be measured under a microscope. The
measurements for hard coatings like TiN must be taken at very high magnification
(i.e. 1000X), because the indents are so small. The surface usually needs to be
polished. The diagonals of the impression are measured, and these values are used
to obtain a hardness number (VHN), usually from a lookup table or chart. The
Vickers test can be used to characterize very hard materials but the hardness is
measured over a very small region.
The values are expressed like 2500 HK25 (or HV25) meaning 2500 Hardness
Knoop at 25 gram force load. The Knoop and Vickers hardness values differ
slightly, but for hard coatings, the values are close enough to be within the
measurement error and can be used interchangeably.
Scleroscope and Rebound Hardness Tests
The Scleroscope test is a very old test that involves dropping a diamond tipped
hammer, which falls inside a glass tube under the force of its own weight from a
fixed height, onto the test specimen. The height of the rebound travel of the
hammer is measured on a graduated scale. The scale of the rebound is arbitrarily
chosen and consists on Shore units, divided into 100 parts, which represent the
average rebound from pure hardened high-carbon steel. The scale is continued
higher than 100 to include metals having greater hardness. The Shore Scleroscope
measures hardness in terms of the elasticity of the material and the hardness
number depends on the height to which the hammer rebounds, the harder the
material, the higher the rebound.
The Rebound Hardness Test Method is a recent advancement that builds on the
Scleroscope. There are a variety of electronic instruments on the market that
measure the loss of energy of the impact body. These instruments typically use a
spring to accelerate a spherical, tungsten carbide tipped mass towards the surface
of the test object. When the mass contacts the surface it has a specific kinetic
energy and the impact produces an indentation (plastic deformation) on the surface
which takes some of this energy from the impact body. The impact body will lose
more energy and it rebound velocity will be less when a larger indentation is
produced on softer material. The velocities of the impact body before and after
impact are measured and the loss of velocity is related to Brinell, Rockwell, or
other common hardness value.
Durometer Hardness Test
A Durometer is an instrument that is commonly used for measuring the indentation
hardness of rubbers/elastomers and soft plastics such as polyolefin, fluoropolymer,
and vinyl. A Durometer simply uses a calibrated spring to apply a specific pressure
to an indenter foot. The indenter foot can be either cone or sphere shaped. An
indicating device measures the depth of indentation. Durometers are available in a
variety of models and the most popular testers are the Model A used for measuring
softer materials and the Model D for harder materials.
Barcol Hardness Test
The Barcol hardness test obtains a hardness value by measuring the penetration of
a sharp steel point under a spring load. The specimen is placed under the indenter
of the Barcol hardness tester and a uniform pressure is applied until the dial
indication reaches a maximum. The Barcol hardness test method is used to
determine the hardness of both reinforced and non-reinforced rigid plastics and to
determine the degree of cure of resins and plastics.
Creep and Stress Rupture
Properties
Creep Properties
Creep is a time-dependent deformation
of a material while under an applied
load that is below its yield strength. It
is most often occurs at elevated
temperature, but some materials creep
at room temperature. Creep terminates
in rupture if steps are not taken to
bring to a halt.
Creep data for general design use are
usually obtained under conditions of constant uniaxial loading and constant
temperature. Results of tests are usually plotted as strain versus time up to rupture.
As indicated in the image, creep often takes place in three stages. In the initial
stage, strain occurs at a relatively rapid rate but the rate gradually decreases until it
becomes approximately constant during the second stage. This constant creep rate
is called the minimum creep rate or steady-state creep rate since it is the slowest
creep rate during the test. In the third stage, the strain rate increases until failure
occurs.
Creep in service is usually affected by changing conditions of loading and
temperature and the number of possible stress-temperature-time combinations is
infinite. While most materials are subject to creep, the creep mechanisms is often
different between metals, plastics, rubber, concrete.
Stress Rupture Properties
Stress rupture testing is similar to creep testing except that the stresses are higher
than those used in a creep testing. Stress rupture tests are used to determine the
time necessary to produce failure so stress rupture testing is always done until
failure. Data is plotted log-log as in the chart above. A straight line or best fit
curve is usually obtained at each temperature of interest. This information can
then be used to extrapolate time to failure for longer times. A typical set of stress
rupture curves is shown below.

Toughness
The ability of a metal to deform plastically and to absorb energy in the process
before fracture is termed toughness. The emphasis of this definition should be
placed on the ability to absorb energy before fracture. Recall that ductility is a
measure of how much something deforms plastically before fracture, but just
because a material is ductile does not make it tough. The key to toughness is a
good combination of strength and ductility. A material with high strength and high
ductility will have more toughness than a material with low strength and high
ductility. Therefore, one way to measure toughness is by calculating the area under
the stress strain curve from a tensile test. This value is simply called material
toughness and it has units of energy per volume. Material toughness equates to a
slow absorption of energy by the material.

There are several variables that have a profound influence on the toughness of a
material. These variables are:
Strain rate (rate of loading)
Temperature
Notch effect
A metal may possess satisfactory toughness under static loads but may fail under
dynamic loads or impact. As a rule ductility and, therefore, toughness decrease as
the rate of loading increases. Temperature is the second variable to have a major
influence on its toughness. As temperature is lowered, the ductility and toughness
also decrease. The third variable is termed notch effect, has to due with the
distribution of stress. A material might display good toughness when the applied
stress is uniaxial; but when a multiaxial stress state is produced due to the presence
of a notch, the material might not withstand the simultaneous elastic and plastic
deformation in the various directions.
There are several standard types of toughness test that generate data for specific
loading conditions and/or component design approaches. Three of the toughness
properties that will be discussed in more detail are 1) impact toughness, 2) notch
toughness and 3) fracture toughness.
Impact Toughness
The impact toughness (AKA Impact strength) of a material can be determined with
a Charpy or Izod test. These tests are named after their inventors and were
developed in the early 1900s before fracture mechanics theory was available.
Impact properties are not directly used in fracture mechanics calculations, but the
economical impact tests continue to be used as a quality control method to assess
notch sensitivity and for comparing the relative toughness of engineering materials.
The two tests use different specimens
and methods of holding the specimens,
but both tests make use of a pendulum-
testing machine. For both tests, the
specimen is broken by a single overload
event due to the impact of the pendulum.
A stop pointer is used to record how far
the pendulum swings back up after
fracturing the specimen. The impact
toughness of a metal is determined by
measuring the energy absorbed in the
fracture of the specimen. This is simply
obtained by noting the height at which
the pendulum is released and the height
to which the pendulum swings after it has struck the specimen . The height of the
pendulum times the weight of the pendulum produces the potential energy and the
difference in potential energy of the pendulum at the start and the end of the test is
equal to the absorbed energy.
Since toughness is greatly affected by
temperature, a Charpy or Izod test is often
repeated numerous times with each specimen
tested at a different temperature. This produces
a graph of impact toughness for the material as a
function of temperature. An impact toughness
versus temperature graph for a steel is shown in
the image. It can be seen that at low
temperatures the material is more brittle and
impact toughness is low. At high temperatures
the material is more ductile and impact
toughness is higher. The transition temperature
is the boundary between brittle and ductile
behavior and this temperature is often an extremely important consideration in the
selection of a material.

Notch-Toughness
Notch toughness is the ability that a material possesses to absorb energy in the
presence of a flaw. As mentioned previously, in the presence of a flaw, such as a
notch or crack, a material will likely exhibit a lower level of toughness. When a
flaw is present in a material, loading induces a triaxial tension stress state adjacent
to the flaw. The material develops plastic strains as the yield stress is exceeded in
the region near the crack tip. However, the amount of plastic deformation is
restricted by the surrounding material, which remains elastic. When a material is
prevented from deforming plastically, it fails in a brittle manner.
Notch-toughness is measured with a variety of specimens such as the Charpy V-
notch impact specimen or the dynamic tear test specimen. As with regular impact
testing the tests are often repeated numerous times with specimens tested at a
different temperature. With these specimens and by varying the loading speed and
the temperature, it is possible to generate curves such as those shown in the graph.
Typically only static and impact testing is conducted but it should be recognized
that many components in service see intermediate loading rates in the range of the
dashed red line.

Fracture Toughness
Fracture toughness is an indication of the amount of stress required to propagate a
preexisting flaw. It is a very important material property since the occurrence of
flaws is not completely avoidable in the processing, fabrication, or service of a
material/component. Flaws may appear as cracks, voids, metallurgical inclusions,
weld defects, design discontinuities, or some combination thereof. Since engineers
can never be totally sure that a material is flaw free, it is common practice to
assume that a flaw of some chosen size will be present in some number of
components and use the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) approach to
design critical components. This approach uses the flaw size and features,
component geometry, loading conditions and the material property called fracture
toughness to evaluate the ability of a component containing a flaw to resist
fracture.
A parameter called the stress-intensity factor (K) is used to
determine the fracture toughness of most materials. A
Roman numeral subscript indicates the mode of fracture and
the three modes of fracture are illustrated in the image to the
right. Mode I fracture is the condition in which the crack
plane is normal to the direction of largest tensile loading.
This is the most commonly encountered mode and,
therefore, for the remainder of the material we will consider
K
I

The stress intensity factor is a function of loading, crack
size, and structural geometry. The stress intensity factor may
be represented by the following equation:

Where: K
I

is the fracture toughness in
s is the applied stress in MPa or psi
a is the crack length in meters or inches
B
is a crack length and component geometry factor that is different for
each specimen and is dimensionless.
Role of Material Thickness
Specimens having standard
proportions but different
absolute size produce different
values for K
I
. This results
because the stress states
adjacent to the flaw changes
with the specimen thickness (B)
until the thickness exceeds some
critical dimension. Once the
thickness exceeds the critical
dimension, the value of
K
I
becomes relatively constant
and this value, K
IC
, is a true
material property which is
called the plane-strain fracture toughness. The relationship between stress
intensity, K
I
, and fracture toughness, K
IC
, is similar to the relationship between
stress and tensile stress. The stress intensity, K
I
, represents the level of stress at
the tip of the crack and the fracture toughness, K
IC
, is the highest value of stress
intensity that a material under very specific (plane-strain) conditions that a material
can withstand without fracture. As the stress intensity factor reaches the K
IC
value,
unstable fracture occurs. As with a materials other mechanical properties, K
IC
is
commonly reported in reference books and other sources.

Plane-Strain and Plane-Stress
When a material with a crack is loaded in tension, the
materials develop plastic strains as the yield stress is
exceeded in the region near the crack tip. Material within
the crack tip stress field, situated close to a free surface,
can deform laterally (in the z-direction of the image)
because there can be no stresses normal to the free
surface. The state of stress tends to biaxial and the
material fractures in a characteristic ductile manner, with
a 45
o
shear lip being formed at each free surface. This
condition is called plane-stress" and it occurs in
relatively thin bodies where the stress through the
thickness cannot vary appreciably due to the thin
section.
However, material away from the free surfaces of a
relatively thick component is not free to deform
laterally as it is constrained by the surrounding
material. The stress state under these conditions
tends to triaxial and there is zero strain
perpendicular to both the stress axis and the
direction of crack propagation when a material is
loaded in tension. This condition is called plane-
strain and is found in thick plates. Under plane-
strain conditions, materials behave essentially
elastic until the fracture stress is reached and then
rapid fracture occurs.
Since little or no plastic
deformation is noted,
this mode fracture is
termed brittle fracture.
Plane-Strain Fracture
Toughness Testing
When performing a
fracture toughness test,
Plane Strain - a condition of a
body in which the
displacements of all points in
the body are parallel to a given
plane, and the values of theses
displacements do not depend on
the distance perpendicular to the
plane
Plane Stress a condition of a
body in which the state of stress
is such that two of the principal
stresses are always parallel to a
given plane and are constant in
the normal direction.
the most common test specimen configurations are the single edge notch bend
(SENB or three-point bend), and the compact tension (CT) specimens. From the
above discussion, it is clear that an accurate determination of the plane-strain
fracture toughness requires a specimen whose thickness exceeds some critical
thickness (B). Testing has shown that plane-strain conditions generally prevail
when:

Where: B
is the minimum thickness that produces a condition where plastic
strain energy at the crack tip in minimal
K
IC
is the fracture toughness of the material
s
y
is the yield stress of material
When a material of unknown fracture toughness is tested, a specimen of full
material section thickness is tested or the specimen is sized based on a prediction
of the fracture toughness. If the fracture toughness value resulting from the test
does not satisfy the requirement of the above equation, the test must be repeated
using a thicker specimen. In addition to this thickness calculation, test
specifications have several other requirements that must be met (such as the size of
the shear lips) before a test can be said to have resulted in a K
IC
value.
When a test fails to meet the thickness and other test requirement that are in place
to insure plane-strain condition, the fracture toughness values produced is given
the designation K
C
. Sometimes it is not possible to produce a specimen that meets
the thickness requirement. For example when a relatively thin plate product with
high toughness is being tested, it might not be possible to produce a thicker
specimen with plain-strain conditions at the crack tip.
Plane-Stress and Transitional-Stress States
For cases where the plastic energy at the crack tip is not negligible, other fracture
mechanics parameters, such as the J integral or R-curve, can be used to
characterize a material. The toughness data produced by these other tests will be
dependant on the thickness of the product tested and will not be a true material
property. However, plane-strain conditions do not exist in all structural
configurations and using K
IC
values in the design of relatively thin areas may result
in excess conservatism and a weight or cost penalty. In cases where the actual
stress state is plane-stress or, more generally, some intermediate- or transitional-
stress state, it is more appropriate to use J integral or R-curve data, which account
for slow, stable fracture (ductile tearing) rather than rapid (brittle) fracture.
Uses of Plane-Strain Fracture Toughness
K
IC
values are used to determine the critical crack length when a given stress is
applied to a component.

Where: s
c
is the critical applied stress that will cause failure
K
IC
is the plane-strain fracture toughness
Y is a constant related to the sample's geometry
a
is the crack length for edge cracks
or one half crack length for internal crack
K
IC
values are used also used to calculate the critical stress value when a crack of a
given length is found in a component.

Where: a
is the crack length for edge cracks
or one half crack length for internal crack
s is the stress applied to the material
K
IC
is the plane-strain fracture toughness
Y is a constant related to the sample's geometry
Orientation
The fracture toughness of a material commonly varies with grain direction.
Therefore, it is customary to specify specimen and crack orientations by an ordered
pair of grain direction symbols. The first letter designates the grain direction
normal to the crack plane. The second letter designates the grain direction parallel
to the fracture plane. For flat sections of various products, e.g., plate, extrusions,
forgings, etc., in which the three grain directions are designated (L) longitudinal,
(T) transverse, and (S) short transverse, the six principal fracture path directions
are: L-T, L-S, T-L, T-S, S-L and S-T.

Fatigue Properties
Fatigue cracking is one of the primary damage mechanisms of structural
components. Fatigue cracking results from cyclic stresses that are below the
ultimate tensile stress, or even the yield stress of the material. The name fatigue
is based on the concept that a material becomes tired and fails at a stress level
below the nominal strength of the material. The facts that the original bulk design
strengths are not exceeded and the only warning sign of an impending fracture is
an often hard to see crack, makes fatigue damage especially dangerous.
The fatigue life of a component can be expressed as the number of loading cycles
required to initiate a fatigue crack and to propagate the crack to critical size.
Therefore, it can be said that fatigue failure occurs in three stages crack
initiation; slow, stable crack growth; and rapid fracture.
As discussed previously, dislocations play a major role in
the fatigue crack initiation phase. In the first stage,
dislocations accumulate near surface stress concentrations
and form structures called persistent slip bands (PSB)
after a large number of loading cycles. PSBs are areas
that rise above (extrusion) or fall below (intrusion) the
surface of the component due to movement of material
along slip planes. This leaves tiny steps in the surface that
serve as stress risers where tiny cracks can initiate. These
tiny crack (called microcracks) nucleate along planes of
high shear stress which is often 45
o
to the loading
direction.
In the second stage of fatigue, some of the tiny microcracks join together and begin
to propagate through the material in a direction that is perpendicular to the
maximum tensile stress. Eventually, the growth of one or a few crack of the larger
cracks will dominate over the rest of the cracks. With continued cyclic loading, the
growth of the dominate crack or cracks will continue until the remaining uncracked
section of the component can no longer support the load. At this point, the fracture
toughness is exceeded and the remaining cross-section of the material experiences
rapid fracture. This rapid overload fracture is the third stage of fatigue failure.
Factors Affecting Fatigue Life
In order for fatigue cracks to initiate, three basic factors are necessary. First, the
loading pattern must contain minimum and maximum peak values with large
enough variation or fluctuation. The peak values may be in tension or compression
and may change over time but the reverse loading cycle must be sufficiently great
for fatigue crack initiation. Secondly, the peak stress levels must be of sufficiently
high value. If the peak stresses are too low, no crack initiation will occur. Thirdly,
the material must experience a sufficiently large number of cycles of the applied
stress. The number of cycles required to initiate and grow a crack is largely
dependant on the first to factors.
In addition to these three basic factors, there are a host of other variables, such as
stress concentration, corrosion, temperature, overload, metallurgical structure, and
residual stresses which can affect the propensity for fatigue. Since fatigue cracks
generally initiate at a surface, the surface condition of the component being loaded
will have an effect on its fatigue life. Surface roughness is important because it is
directly related to the level and number of stress concentrations on the surface. The
higher the stress concentration the more likely a crack is to nucleate. Smooth
surfaces increase the time to nucleation. Notches, scratches, and other stress risers
decrease fatigue life. Surface residual stress will also have a significant effect on
fatigue life. Compressive residual stresses from machining, cold working, heat
treating will oppose a tensile load and thus lower the amplitude of cyclic loading

The figure shows several types of loading that could initiate a fatigue crack. The
upper left figure shows sinusoidal loading going from a tensile stress to a
compressive stress. For this type of stress cycle the maximum and minimum
stresses are equal. Tensile stress is considered positive, and compressive stress is
negative. The figure in the upper right shows sinusoidal loading with the minimum
and maximum stresses both in the tensile realm. Cyclic compression loading can
also cause fatigue. The lower figure shows variable-amplitude loading, which
might be experienced by a bridge or airplane wing or any other component that
experiences changing loading patterns. In variable-amplitude loading, only those
cycles exceeding some peak threshold will contribute to fatigue cracking.
S-N Fatigue Properties
There are two general types of fatigue
tests conducted. One test focuses on the
nominal stress required to cause a fatigue
failure in some number of cycles. This
test results in data presented as a plot of
stress (S) against the number of cycles to
failure (N), which is known as an S-N
curve. A log scale is almost always used
for N.
The data is obtained by cycling smooth or notched specimens until failure. The
usual procedure is to test the first specimen at a high peak stress where failure is
expected in a fairly short number of cycles. The test stress is decreased for each
succeeding specimen until one or two specimens do not fail in the specified
numbers of cycles, which is usually at least 10
7
cycles. The highest stress at which
a runout (non-failure) occurs is taken as the fatigue threshold. Not all materials
have a fatigue threshold (most nonferrous metallic alloys do not) and for these
materials the test is usually terminated after about 10
8
or 5x10
8
cycles.
Since the amplitude of the cyclic loading has a major effect on the fatigue
performance, the S-N relationship is determined for one specific loading
amplitude. The amplitude is express as the R ratio value, which is the minimum
peak stress divided by the maximum peak stress. (R=
min
/
max
). It is most common
to test at an R ratio of 0.1 but families of curves, with each curve at a different R
ratio, are often developed.
A variation to the cyclic stress controlled fatigue test is the cyclic strain controlled
test. In this test, the strain amplitude is held constant during cycling. Strain
controlled cyclic loading is more representative of the loading found in thermal
cycling, where a component expands and contracts in response to fluctuations in
the operating temperature.
It should be noted that there are several short comings of S-N fatigue data. First,
the conditions of the test specimens do not always represent actual service
conditions. For example, components with surface conditions, such as pitting from
corrosion, which differs from the condition of the test specimens will have
significantly different fatigue performance. Furthermore, there is often a
considerable amount of scatter in fatigue data even when carefully machined
standard specimens out of the same lot of material are used. Since there is
considerable scatter in the data, a reduction factor is often applied to the S-N
curves to provide conservative values for the design of components.
Fatigue Crack Growth Rate Properties
For some components the crack propagation life is neglected in design because
stress levels are high, and/or the critical flaw size small. For other components the
crack growth life might be a substantial portion of the total life of the assembly.
Moreover, preexisting flaws or sharp design features may significantly reduce or
nearly eliminate the crack initiation portion of the fatigue life of a component. The
useful life of these components may be governed by the rate of subcritical crack
propagation.
Aircraft fuselage structure is a good example of structure that is based largely on a
slow crack growth rate design. Many years ago, the USAF reviewed a great
number of malfunction reports from a variety of aircraft. The reports showed that
the preponderance of structural failures occurred from 1) built-in preload stresses,
2) material flaws and 3) flaw caused by in-service usage. These facts led to a
design approach that required the damage tolerance analysis to assume a material
flaw exists in the worst orientation and at the most undesirable location. The
analysis helps to ensure that structures are designed that will support slow stable
crack growth until the crack reaches a length where it can reliable be detected
using NDT methods.
The rate of fatigue crack propagation is determined by
subjecting fatigue-cracked specimens, like the compact
specimen used in fracture toughness testing, to constant-
amplitude cyclic loading. The incremental increase in
crack length is recorded along with the corresponding
number of elapsed load cycles acquire stress intensity (K),
crack length (a), and cycle count (N) data during the test.
The data is presented in an a versus N curve as shown in
the image to the right. Various a versus N curves can be
generated by varying the magnitude of the cyclic loading
and/or the size of the initial crack.
The data can be reduced to a single curve by
presenting the data in terms of crack growth
rate per cycle of loading (Da/ DN or da/dN)
versus the fluctuation of the stress-intensity
factor at the tip of the crack (DK
I
). DK
I
is
representative of the mechanical driving force,
and it incorporates the effect of changing crack
length and the magnitude of the cyclic loading.
(See the page on fracture toughness for more
information on the stress-intensity factor.) The
most common form of presenting fatigue crack
growth data is a log-log plot of da/dN
versus DK
I
.
The fatigue crack propagation behavior of
many materials can be divided into three
regions as shown in the image. Region I is the
fatigue threshold region where the Dk is too low to propagate a crack. Region II
encompasses data where the rate of crack growth changes roughly linearly with a
change in stress intensity fluctuation. In region III, small increases in the stress
intensity amplitude, produce relatively large increases in crack growth rate since
the material is nearing the point of unstable fracture.

Selection of Materials
Specific Metals
Metal Ores
Iron and Steel
Decarburization
Aluminum and Aluminum Alloys
Nickel and Nickel Alloys
Titanium and Titanium Alloys

General Manufacturing Processes
Metallic Components
Ceramic and Glass Components
Polymers/Plastic Components
Composites
Manufacturing Defects
Metals
Polymers
Composites
Service Induced Damage
Metals
Polymers
Composites
Material Specifications
Component Design, Performance and NDE
Strength
Durability
Fracture Mechanics
Nondestructive Evaluation