BURSA TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, ARCHITECTURE AND

ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY

TENSILE TESTING
EXPERIMENT SHEET

Asst. Prof. Dr. Onur SARAY

Asst. Prof. Dr. Sukhwinder Kaur BHULLAR
Res. Asst. Ali Osman GÜNEY

BURSA, 2015
 TENSILE TESTING
1. OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this laboratory is to determine characteristic mechanical properties of metals,

by performing uniaxial tensile tests using given specimens.

2. GENERAL INFORMATION

Tensile Tests are performed for several reasons. Tensile properties frequently are included in
material specifications to ensure quality. Tensile properties often are measured during
development of new materials and processes, so that different materials and processes can be
compared. Also, tensile properties often are used to predict the behavior of a material under
forms of loading other than uniaxial tension.

Material selection is a central task of the overall design process. Engineers must decide which
materials are the most appropriate for a particular design. The tensile test is an important
standard engineering procedure useful to characterize some relevant elastic and plastic
variables related to the mechanical behaviour of materials.

Elastic Properties: When a solid material is subjected to small stresses, the bonds between
the atoms are stretched. When the stress is removed, the bonds relax and the material returns
to its original shape. This reversible deformation is called elastic deformation. In the elastic
region, stress and strain are related to each other linearly and characterized by Young’s
modulus, 𝐸 and the Poisson’s ratio 𝑣.
𝜎𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑎𝑙(𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐)
𝐸=
𝜀𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑎𝑙(𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐)

𝜎𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑎𝑙 : engineering stress along the loading axis, 𝜀𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑎𝑙 : engineering strain.

𝐹
𝜎𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑎𝑙 =
𝐴0

where 𝐹 is the tensile force and 𝐴0 is the initial cross-sectional area of the gage section.

∆𝐿
𝜀𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑎𝑙 =
𝐿0

where 𝐿0 is the initial gage length and ∆𝐿 is the change in gage length (𝐿 − 𝐿0 ).

In the elastic range, Poisson’s ratio, 𝑣, of the magnitude of the lateral contraction strain to the
axial strain:
𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙
𝑣=−
𝑒𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑎𝑙
Plastic Properties: The plastic behavior of metals, which is dominated by the motion of linear
defects such as dislocations and vacancies, plays a central role on assessing the safety
conditions of a mechanical system.

The tensile strength, or ultimate tensile strength is the maximum load divided by the original
cross-sectional area of the specimen:

𝑃𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝜎𝑢 =
𝐴0

The tensile strength is the value most frequently quoted from the results of a tension test.
Actually, however, it is a value of little fundamental significance with regard to the strength
of a metal. For ductile metals, the tensile strength should be regarded as a measure of the
maximum load that a metal can withstand under the very restrictive conditions of uniaxial
loading.

Yield strength is the stress at which plastic deformation or yielding is observed to begin
depends on the sensitivity of the strain measurements. With most materials, there is a gradual
transition from elastic to plastic behavior, and the point at which plastic deformation begins is
difficult to define with precision. In tests of materials under uniaxial loading, three criteria for
the initiation of yielding have been used: the elastic limit, the proportional limit, and the yield
strength.

Ductility is the degree of plastic deformation that a material can withstand before fracture. A
material that experiences very little or no plastic deformation upon fracture is termed brittle.

In general, measurements of ductility are of interest in three respects:

 To indicate the extent to which a metal can be deformed without fracture in

metalworking operations, such as rolling and extrusion.
 To indicate to the designer the ability of the metal to flow plastically before fracture.
 To serve as an indicator of changes in impurity level or processing conditions.
Ductility measurements may be specified to assess material quality even though no
direct relationship exists between the ductility measurement and performance in
service.

Resilience is the ability of a material to absorb energy when deformed elastically and to
return it when unloaded.

The toughness of a material is its ability to absorb energy in the plastic range.
Engineering Stress - Strain Curve: In the conventional engineering tensile test, an
engineering stress-strain curve is constructed from the load-elongation measurements made
on the test specimen (Fig. 1). The engineering stress used in this stress-strain curve is the
average longitudinal stress in the tensile specimen. The strain used for the engineering stress-
strain curve is the average linear strain, which is obtained by dividing the elongation of the
gage length of the specimen by its original length.

Fig. 1. Engineering stress-strain curve.

True Stress - True Strain Curve: 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
test.

Generally, the metal continues to strain-harden all the way up to fracture, so that the stress
required to produce further deformation should also increase. 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. If the strain measurement is also based on instantaneous
measurements, the curve, which is obtained, is known as a true-stress-true-strain curve.

Mathematical Expressions for the Flow Curve: The flow curve of many metals in the region

of uniform plastic deformation can be expressed by the simple power curve relation:
 𝜎 = 𝐾𝜀 𝑛

where 𝑛 is the strain-hardening exponent, and 𝐾 is the strength coefficient. A log-log plot of
true stress and true strain up to maximum load will result in a straight line if Eq 25 is satisfied
by the data (Fig. 2). The linear slope of this line is 𝑛, and 𝐾 is the true stress at 𝜀 = 1.0. For
most metals, 𝑛 has values between 0.10 and 0.50.

Fig. 2. Log-log plot of true stress-true strain curve 𝑛 is the strain-hardening exponent; 𝐾 is the
strength coefficient.

3. TENSILE SPECIMENS AND TESTING MACHINE

A tensile specimen is a standardized sample cross-section. The cross section of the specimen
is usually round, square or rectangular. It has two shoulders and a gauge (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 (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. Typical tensile specimen, showing a reduced gage section and enlarged shoulders.

The distances between the ends of the gage section and the shoulders should be great enough
so that the larger ends do not constrain deformation within the gage section, and the gage
length should be great relative to its diameter. Otherwise, the stress state will be more
complex than simple tension.
The most common testing machines are universal testers, which test materials in tension,
compression, or bending. Their primary function is to create the stress - strain curve. In
mechanical engineering laboratory Shimadzu AG-Xplus 250 kN universal testing machine
(Fig. 4) is used for tensile testing of specimens.

Fig 4. Tensile testing machine.

The tensile test machine is based on a variable-speed electric motor; a gear reduction system;
and screws that move the crosshead up or down. This motion loads the specimen in tension or
compression. Crosshead speeds can be changed by changing the speed of the motor.

Procedure:

 Put gage marks on the specimen

 Measure the initial gage length, width and thickness
 Place the specimen between upper and lower jaw faces.
 Perform the tensile test.
 Get the 𝐹 – 𝑥 and/or 𝜎 − 𝜀 data.
 Measure the final gage length and width.

4. ASSIGMENTS

1. Tabulate the data obtained during the test

2. Plot the load versus elongation curve
3. Plot the engineering stress – strain curve
4. Calculate the strength parameters;
4.1 Yield stress (0.2 % off-set), 𝜎𝑦 [MPa]
4.2 Young’s modulus, E [GPa]
4.3 Ultimate tensile strength, UTS [MPa]
5. Calculate the critical strains;
5.1 Yielding strain, 𝑒𝑦

5.2 Strain at onset of neck (Uniform Strain), 𝑒𝑈𝑇𝑆

5.3 Fracture strain (Elongation to failure), 𝑒𝑓
6. Calculate the energy parameters;
6.1 Resilience, 𝑈𝑅 ; the elastic energy in J.
6.2 Toughness, 𝑈𝑇 ; the total energy absorbed by the specimen in J.
7. Convert engineering stress – strain data to true stress - true strain data and plot. Show the
calculation steps.
8. Find parameters of 𝜎 = 𝐾𝜀 𝑛 and compare with that obtained from engineering stress –
strain.

REFERENCES

[1] J.R. Davis, “Tensile Testing”, Second Edition, ASM International, 2004.
[2] Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, “Tensile Test Laboratory”, The
State University of New Jersey.
[3] Eduardo E. Cabezas and Diego J. Celentano, “Experimental And Numerical Analysis Of
The Tensile Test Using Sheet Specimens”, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, 2002.
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensile_testing, Eylül, 2015.