Materials Testing

Materials testing offers assurance that components

used in your infrastructure or products are fit for
purpose and capable of performing over their
expected lifespan.

Materials testing is a diligent approach to ensuring that your infrastructure and

vital equipment will provide continued production, undergo minimal degradation
and are designed with optimal performance in mind. Materials testing can also
supply a wealth of information about the materials you are developing or
incorporating into products to ensure they perform within expected
specifications.

Ensuring that crucial materials are fit for purpose presents a challenge to
developers, operators and manufacturers across many industries globally. You
need assurance that your equipment and infrastructure will perform to the end of
its design life with minimal maintenance, failure mitigation and with mechanical
strength prioritised and planned for. To optimise your R&D programmes you will
need a comprehensive understanding of your materials or products under
development.

Conducting materials testing for customers for over four decades, we are your
ideal partner to provide the independent and industry-leading services you
require. Our expertise covers infrastructure, aerospace and automotive
components, metals, composites, polymers, construction materials and more.

At Intertek, we also provide a range of services that complement our materials

testing. These services include consultancy, testing and inspection in the areas
of non-destructive testing, corrosion testing, materials analysis, asset integrity
management, fatigue testing, oil and gas corrosion services, metallurgy, failure
analysis, physical and mechanical testing, and the provision of expert witnesses.

With our unique blend of local and global knowledge and internationally
renowned experts leading our teams, we are the ideal provider for your materials
testing, giving you the insight you need on material properties, strength,
durability and performance.

As well as delivering solutions on a project-by-project basis, at Intertek we aspire

to become your trusted materials testing partner, enabling you to consolidate
your vital services and streamline your processes.

Tensile testing, is also known as tension testing,[1] is a fundamental materials science test in
which a sample is subjected to a controlled tension until failure. The results from the test are
commonly used to select a material for an application, for quality control, and to predict how a
material will react under other types of forces. Properties that are directly measured via a tensile
test are ultimate tensile strength, maximum elongation and reduction in area.[2] From these
measurements the following properties can also be determined: Young's modulus, Poisson's
ratio, yield strength, and strain-hardening characteristics.[3]Uniaxial tensile testing is the most
commonly used for obtaining the mechanical characteristics of isotropic materials.
For anisotropic materials, such as composite materials and textiles, biaxial tensile testing is
required.
Tensile specimen[edit]

Tensile specimens made from an aluminum alloy. The left two specimens have a round cross-
section and threaded shoulders. The right two are flat specimens designed to be used with serrated
grips.

A tensile specimen is a standardized sample cross-section. It has two shoulders and a

gage (section) in between. The shoulders are large so they can be readily gripped,
whereas the gauge section has a smaller cross-section so that the deformation and
failure can occur in this area.
The shoulders of the test specimen can be manufactured in various ways to mate to
various grips in the testing machine (see the image below). Each system has
advantages and disadvantages; for example, shoulders designed for serrated grips are
easy and cheap to manufacture, but the alignment of the specimen is dependent on the
skill of the technician. On the other hand, a pinned grip assures good alignment.
Threaded shoulders and grips also assure good alignment, but the technician must
know to thread each shoulder into the grip at least one diameter's length, otherwise the
threads can strip before the specimen fractures.
In large castings and forgings it is common to add extra material, which is designed to
be removed from the casting so that test specimens can be made from it. These
specimens may not be exact representation of the whole workpiece because the grain
structure may be different throughout. In smaller workpieces or when critical parts of the
casting must be tested, a workpiece may be sacrificed to make the test specimens. For
workpieces that that are machined from bar stock, the test specimen can be made from
the same piece as the bar stock.
Equipment

A universal testing machine (Hegewald & Peschke)

The most common testing machine used in tensile testing is the universal testing
machine. This type of machine has two crossheads; one is adjusted for the length of the
specimen and the other is driven to apply tension to the test specimen. There are two
types: hydraulic powered and electromagnetically powered machines.
The machine must have the proper capabilities for the test specimen being tested.
There are four main parameters: force capacity, speed, precision and accuracy. Force
capacity refers to the fact that the machine must be able to generate enough force to
fracture the specimen. The machine must be able to apply the force quickly or slowly
enough to properly mimic the actual application. Finally, the machine must be able to
accurately and precisely measure the gauge length and forces applied; for instance, a
large machine that is designed to measure long elongations may not work with a brittle
material that experiences short elongations prior to fracturing.
Alignment of the test specimen in the testing machine is critical, because if the
specimen is misaligned, either at an angle or offset to one side, the machine will exert
a bending force on the specimen. This is especially bad for brittle materials, because it
will dramatically skew the results. This situation can be minimized by using spherical
seats or U-joints between the grips and the test machine. If the initial portion of the
stressstrain curve is curved and not linear, it indicates the specimen is misaligned in
the testing machine.
The strain measurements are most commonly measured with an extensometer,
but strain gauges are also frequently used on small test specimen or when Poisson's
ratio is being measured.Newer test machines have digital time, force, and elongation
measurement systems consisting of electronic sensors connected to a data collection
device (often a computer) and software to manipulate and output the data. However,
analog machines continue to meet and exceed ASTM, NIST, and ASM metal

Compression Test
A compression test is any test in which a material experiences opposing forces that push inward
upon the specimen from opposite sides or is otherwise compressed, squashed, crushed, or
flattened. The test sample is generally placed in between two plates that distribute the applied load
across the entire surface area of two opposite faces of the test sample and then the plates are
pushed together by a universal test machine causing the sample to flatten. A compressed sample is
usually shortened in the direction of the applied forces and expands in the direction perpendicular to
the force. A compression test is essentially the opposite of the more common tension test.

Purpose of Compression Tests:

The goal of a compression test is to determine the behavior or response of a material while it
experiences a compressive load by measuring fundamental variables, such as, strain, stress, and
deformation. By testing a material in compression the compressive strength, yield strength, ultimate
strength, elastic limit, and the elastic modulus among other parameters may all be determined. With
the understanding of these different parameters and the values associated with a specific material it
may be determined whether or not the material is suited for specific applications or if it will fail under
the specified stresses.

Types of Compression Tests:

In general a compression test for a material involves at least two opposing forces directed towards
each other applied to opposite face of the test sample so that the sample is compressed. However,
there are many different variations to this basic test setup that involve any combination of different
variables. The more common compression tests involve forces applied to more than one axis of the
specimen as well as the testing of the sample at elevated and lowered temperatures. Uniaxial,
biaxial, triaxial, cold temperature, elevated temperature, fatigue and creep are all examples of
different compression tests that may be performed upon a material.

Types of Compression Testing materials:

Typically materials subjected to compression testing have a compressive strength generally
accepted to be high and a tensile strength (e.g tensile test) that is considered to be of a lower value.
Almost all materials can experience compressive forces in one way or another depending upon their
application, but the most common materials are composites, concretes, wood, stone, brick, mortars,
grouts, polymers, plastics, foam and metals among many others.

The coefficient of thermal expansion describes how the size of an object changes with a change
in temperature. Specifically, it measures the fractional change in size per degree change in
temperature at a constant pressure. Several types of coefficients have been developed: volumetric,
area, and linear. Which is used depends on the particular application and which dimensions are
considered important. For solids, one might only be concerned with the change along a length, or
over some area.
The volumetric thermal expansion coefficient is the most basic thermal expansion coefficient, and
the most relevant for fluids. In general, substances expand or contract when their temperature
changes, with expansion or contraction occurring in all directions. Substances that expand at the
same rate in every direction are called isotropic. For isotropic materials, the area and volumetric
thermal expansion coefficient are, respectively, approximately twice and three times larger than the
linear thermal expansion coefficient.

Thermal expansion coefficients for some common materials

The expansion and contraction of material must be considered when designing large structures,
when using tape or chain to measure distances for land surveys, when designing molds for casting
hot material, and in other engineering applications when large changes in dimension due to
temperature are expected.

coefficient of linear thermal expansion

material in 10-6/K at 20 C

Mercury 60

BCB 42

Lead 29

Aluminum 23
Brass 19

Stainless steel 17.3

Copper 17

Gold 14

Nickel 13

Concrete 12

Iron or Steel 11.1

Carbon steel 10.8

Platinum 9

Glass 8.5

GaAs 5.8

Indium Phosphide 4.6

Tungsten 4.5

Glass, Pyrex 3.3

Silicon 3
Invar 1.2

Diamond 1

Quartz, fused 0.59

Coefficient of Thermal Expansion Data

A Coefficient of Thermal Expansion, typically represented by the symbol , is a measure of
the change in length of a material in response to a change in its temperature.

Within small temperature changes, the change in the length of a material is proportional to its
change in temperature. Materials expand as temperatures increase, and contract with
decreasing temperatures. Different materials expand by different amounts as shown in the
table below.

The data shows thermal expansion material properties that correspond with an approximate
temperature of 20 degrees Centigrade (68 degrees Fahrenheit). A material's Thermal Expansion
Coefficient is not a fixed constant... the Coefficient value itself also increases (slightly) with
higher temperatures.

All data should be considered as approximate as values can vary widely between individual
material specimens depending on several factors including alloy type and heat treatment.

Coefficient of Linear Thermal Expansion

(Coefficient of Expansion data for selected materials - listed from smallest-to-largest value)

Metal
Materi Coefficient
or
al of Coefficient of Thermal Expansion
Alloy
Desig Expansion Relative Value
Group
nation
Classif
ication

Pure Tungs
4.5 2.5
Metals ten

Molyb
Pure
denu 4.8 2.7
Metals
m

Pure Chro
4.9 2.7
Metals mium

Pure Zircon
5.7 3.2
Metals ium

Pure Rheni
6.2 3.4
Metals um

Pure Tantal
6.3 3.6
Metals um

Pure Iridiu
6.4 3.6
Metals m

Pure Ruthe
6.4 3.6
Metals nium

Pure Rhodi
8.2 4.6
Metals um

Pure Vanad
8.4 4.7
Metals ium

Pure Titani
8.6 4.8
Metals um

Pure Platin
8.8 4.9
Metals um

Steel
Iron
(1.45 10.1 5.6
Alloys
% C)

Iron Gray
10.5 5.8
Alloys Cast
 Iron

Steel
Iron
(1.08 10.8 6.0
Alloys
% C)

Steel
Iron
(0.56 11.0 6.1
Alloys
% C)

Steel
Iron
(0.40 11.3 6.3
Alloys
% C)

Nickel Hastel
11.3 6.3
Alloys loy C

Pure Berylli
11.3 6.3
Metals um

Nickel Incon
11.5 6.4
Alloys el

Steel
Iron
(0.06 11.7 6.5
Alloys
% C)

Steel
Iron
(0.22 11.7 6.5
Alloys
% C)

Pure
Iron 11.8 6.6
Metals

Pure Palladi
11.8 6.6
Metals um

Cast
Iron Iron -
11.9 6.6
Alloys Nodul
ar

Mallea
ble
Iron
Iron 12.0 6.7
Alloys
(pearli
tic)
Nickel Monel
12.9 7.2
Alloys (cast)

Nickel Ni-o-
12.9 7.2
Alloys nel

Nickel Duran
13.0 7.2
Alloys ickel

Pure
Cobalt 13.0 7.2
Metals

Pure
Nickel 13.4 7.4
Metals

Nickel
Monel 14.0 7.8
Alloys

Pure
Gold 14.2 7.9
Metals

35Ni-
Nickel
45Fe- 15.8 8.8
Alloys
20Cr

Cupro
Coppe
-
r 16.2 9.0
nickel,
Alloys
305

Coppe Nickel
r silver, 16.2 9.0
Alloys 65-18

Pure Coppe
16.5 9.2
Metals r

60Ni-
Nickel
24Fe- 17.0 9.4
Alloys
16Cr

Nickel 80Ni-
17.3 9.6
Alloys 20Cr

Stainle Stainl
ss ess 17.3 9.6
Steel Steel
 type
304

Phosp
Coppe hor
r bronz 17.8 9.9
Alloys e,
1.25%

Berylli
Coppe
um
r 17.8 9.9
Coppe
Alloys
r

Alumi
Coppe num-
r Silicon 18.0 10.0
Alloys Bronz
e

Comm
Coppe
ercial
r 18.4 10.2
Bronz
Alloys
e, 90%

Coppe Red
r brass, 18.7 10.4
Alloys 85%

Nickel Const
18.8 10.4
Alloys antan

Pure
Silver 18.9 10.5
Metals

Coppe Low
r brass, 19.1 10.6
Alloys 80%

Lead-
base
Lead
babbit 19.6 10.9
Alloys
t (SAE
14)

Coppe Inhibit 20.2 11.2

r ed
Alloys admir
alty

Coppe
Yellow
r 20.3 11.3
Brass
Alloys

Coppe
Muntz
r 20.8 11.6
metal
Alloys

Coppe
Naval
r 21.2 11.8
Brass
Alloys

Solder
Lead (70Sn
21.6 12.0
Alloys -
30Pb)

Pure Mang
21.7 12.1
Metals anese

Pure
Tin 22.0 12.2
Metals

Pure Calciu
22.3 12.4
Metals m

Pure Alumi
23.1 12.8
Metals num

Lead-
base
Lead babbit
24.0 13.3
Alloys t
(Alloy
8)

Solder
Lead (63Sn
24.7 13.7
Alloys -
37Pb)

Pure Magn 24.8 13.8

Metals esium

Hard
Lead lead
27.2 15.1
Alloys (94Pb
-6Sb)

Lead 5-95
28.7 15.9
Alloys Solder

Pure
Lead 28.9 16.1
Metals

Pure
Zinc 30.2 16.8
Metals

Pure Cadmi
30.8 17.1
Metals um

The data used to create this Coefficient of Thermal Expansion table was compiled and adapted
using information from various sources, including the following...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_expansion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deflection_(engineering)

Chapter 06 - Beam Deflections

Deflection of Beams
The deformation of a beam is usually expressed in terms of its deflection from its
original unloaded position. The deflection is measured from the original neutral
surface of the beam to the neutral surface of the deformed beam. The configuration
assumed by the deformed neutral surface is known as the elastic curve of the beam.

Methods of Determining Beam Deflections

Numerous methods are available for the determination of beam deflections. These
methods include:

1. Double-integration method

The double integration method is a powerful tool in solving deflection and slope
of a beam at any point because we will be able to get the equation of the elastic
curve.
2. Area-moment method

Another method of determining the slopes and deflections in beams is the area-
moment method, which involves the area of the moment diagram.

3. Strain-energy method (Castigliano's Theorem)

Italian engineer Alberto Castigliano (1847 1884) developed a method of

determining deflection of structures by strain energy method. His Theorem of
the Derivatives of Internal Work of Deformation extended its application to
the calculation of relative rotations and displacements between points in the
structure and to the study of beams in flexure.Energy of structure is its
capacity of doing work and strain energy is the internal energy in the
structure because of its deformation. By the principle of conservation of
energy.

4. Conjugate-beam method

The length of a conjugate beam is always equal to the length of the actual
beam.

The load on the conjugate beam is the M/EI diagram of the loads on the actual
beam.

A simple support for the real beam remains simple support for the conjugate
beam.

A fixed end for the real beam becomes free end for the conjugate beam.

The point of zero shear for the conjugate beam corresponds to a point of zero
slope for the real beam.

The point of maximum moment for the conjugate beam corresponds to a

point of maximum deflection for the real beam.

5. Method of superposition

The slope or deflection at any point on the beam is equal to the resultant of the
slopes or deflections at that point caused by each of the load acting separately.
Torsion Test
Torsion tests twist a material or test component to a specified degree, with a specified force, or until
the material fails in torsion. The twisting force of a torsion test is applied to the test sample by
anchoring one end so that it cannot move or rotate and applying a moment to the other end so that
the sample is rotated about its axis. The rotating moment may also be applied to both ends of the
sample but the ends must be rotated in opposite directions. The forces and mechanics found in this
test are similar to those found in a piece of string that has one end held in a hand and the other end
twisted by the other.
Purpose of torsion testing:
The purpose of a torsion test is to determine the behavior a material or test sample exhibits when
twisted or under torsional forces as a result of applied moments that cause shear stress about the
axis. Measurable values include: the modulus of elasticity in shear, yield shear strength, torsional
fatigue life, ductility, ultimate shear strength, and modulus of rupture in shear. These values are
similar but not the same as those measured by a tensile test and are important in manufacturing as
they may be used to simulate the service conditions, check the products quality and design, and
ensure that it was manufactured correctly.

Types of torsion tests:

The three common forms that torsion testing take include failure, proof and operational. A torsion
test for failure requires that the test sample be twisted until it breaks and is designed to measure the
strength of the sample. A proof test is designed to observe the material under a specified torque load
over a set period of time. Finally, operational testing is measures the materials performance under
the expected service conditions of its application. All of these forms of tests may be performed with
either torsion only loading or a combination of torsion and axial (tension or compression) loading
depending upon the characteristics to be measured.

Types of materials:
Many materials experience torques or torsional forces in their applications and so will benefit from or
require torsion testing. Materials used in structural, biomedical and automotive applications are
among the more common materials to experience torsion in their applications. These materials may
be composed of metals, plastics, woods, polymers, composites, or ceramics among others and
commonly take the forms of fasteners, rods, beams, tubes and wires.