Flexural strength:

Flexural strength, also known as modulus of rupture, or bend strength, or transverse

rupture strength is a material property, defined as the stress in a material just before it yields in

a flexure test. The transverse bending test is most frequently employed, in which a specimen

having either a circular or rectangular cross-section is bent until fracture or yielding using

a three point flexural test technique.

When an object formed of a single material, like a wooden beam or a steel rod, is bent (Fig. 1),

it experiences a range of stresses across its depth (Fig. 2). At the edge of the object on the inside

of the bend (concave face) the stress will be at its maximum compressive stress value. At the

outside of the bend (convex face) the stress will be at its maximum tensile value. These inner

and outer edges of the beam or rod are known as the 'extreme fibres'. Most materials generally

fail under tensile stress before they fail under compressive stress, so the maximum tensile stress

value that can be sustained before the beam or rod fails is its flexural strength.

Fig. 1 Beam of material under bending Fig. 2 Stress distribution across the beam

The flexural strength would be the same as the tensile strength if the material

were homogeneous. In fact, most materials have small or large defects in them which act to

concentrate the stresses locally, effectively causing a localized weakness. When a material is
bent only the extreme fibres are at the largest stress so, if those fibres are free from defects, the

flexural strength will be controlled by the strength of those intact 'fibres'. However, if the same

material was subjected to only tensile forces then all the fibres in the material are at the same

stress and failure will initiate when the weakest fibre reaches its limiting tensile stress.

Therefore, it is common for flexural strengths to be higher than tensile strengths for the same

material. Conversely, a homogeneous material with defects only on its surfaces (e.g., due to

scratches) might have a higher tensile strength than flexural strength. If we don't take into

account defects of any kind, it is clear that the material will fail under a bending force which is

smaller than the corresponding tensile force. Both of these forces will induce the same failure

stress, whose value depends on the strength of the material. The methods for measuring flexural

strength of a sample are three-point bending and four-point bending method.

Three-point flexural test:

The three-point bending flexural test provides values for the modulus of elasticity in

bending, (Ef), flexural stress (pf), flexural strain (€f) and the flexural stress–strain response of

the material. The main advantage of a three-point flexural test is the ease of the specimen

preparation and testing. However, this method has also some disadvantages: the results of the

testing method are sensitive to specimen and loading geometry and strain rate.

The test is carried out in a Universal Testing Machine. The sample is placed on two supporting

pins a set distance apart.

Calculation of the flexural stress pf

3𝐹𝐿
𝑝𝑓 = , 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
2𝑏𝑑2

𝐹𝐿
𝑝𝑓 = , 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑐𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝜋𝑅 3
Calculation for flexural strain €f

6𝐷𝑑
𝜀𝑓 =
𝐿2

Calculation for flexural modulus Ef

𝐿3 𝑚
𝐸𝑓 =
4𝑏𝑑3

in these formulas the following parameters are used:

 𝑝𝑓 = Stress in outer fibers at midpoint, (MPa)

 €𝑓 = Strain in the outer surface, (mm/mm)
 𝐸𝑓 = flexural Modulus of elasticity, (MPa)
 𝐹 = load at a given point on the load deflection curve, (N)
 𝐿 = Support span, (mm)
 𝑏 = Width of test beam, (mm)
 𝑑 = Depth or thickness of tested beam, (mm)
 𝐷 = maximum deflection of the center of the beam, (mm)
 𝑚 = The gradient (i.e., slope) of the initial straight-line portion of the load deflection
curve, (F/D), (N/mm)
 𝑅 = The radius of the beam (mm)

Four-point flexural test:

The four-point bending flexural test provides values for the modulus of elasticity in

bending , flexural stress , flexural strain and the flexural stress-strain response of the material.

This test is very similar to the three-point bending flexural test. The major difference being that

the addition of a fourth bearing brings a much larger portion of the beam to the maximum

stress, as opposed to only the material right under the central bearing. This difference is of

prime importance when studying brittle materials, where the number and severity of flaws

exposed to the maximum stress is directly related to the flexural strength and crack initiation.
It is one of the most widely used apparatus to characterize fatigue and flexural stiffness of

asphalt mixtures.

Fig. 3 Four-point flexural test

Calculation for the flexural stress pf

3𝐹𝐿
𝑝𝑓 = , 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑟 − 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
4𝑏𝑑2
In the above formula loading span is the half of the support span.
Ceramics are usually very brittle, and their flexural strength depends on both their

inherent toughness and the size and severity of flaws. Exposing a large volume of material to

the maximum stress will reduce the measured flexural strength because it increases the

likelihood of having cracks reaching critical length at a given applied load. Values for the

flexural strength measured with four-point bending will be significantly lower than with three-

point bending.
Tensile Testing:

Ultimate tensile strength (UTS), often shortened to tensile strength (TS), ultimate

strength, or Ftu within equations, is the capacity of a material or structure to withstand loads

tending to elongate, as opposed to compressive strength, which withstands loads tending to

reduce size. In other words, tensile strength resists tension (being pulled apart), whereas

compressive strength resists compression (being pushed together). Ultimate tensile strength is

measured by the maximum stress that a material can withstand while being stretched or pulled

before breaking.

Tensile strengths are rarely used in the design of ductile members, but they are important in

brittle members. The below figure shows stress-strain curve for mild steel.

Fig. 4 Stress-strain relation of mild steel during tensile testing