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Machine Design : Selection of Materials for Design

Research · May 2015

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.1452.9448

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Sachin Chaturvedi
Al-Falah School of Engineering & Technology
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Machine Design : S e l e c t i o n of Materials for Design

Contents:
Classification of Engineering Materials, Mechanical properties of Engineering Materials, Hardness,
Strength parameters with reference to stress-strain diagram, Factor of Safety.

 Introduction

The knowledge of materials and their properties is of great significance for a design engineer.
The machine elements should be made of such a material which has properties suitable for the
conditions of operation.

 Classification of Engineering Materials

The engineering materials are mainly classified as:

1. Metals and their alloys, such as iron, steel, copper, aluminum, etc.
2. Non-metals, such as glass, rubber, plastic, etc.

The metals may be further classified as:

1. Ferrous metals.
2. Non-ferrous metals.

The Ferrous metals are those which have the iron as their main constituent, such as cast iron,
wrought iron and steel.

The Non-ferrous metals are those which have a metal other than iron as their main constituent,
such as copper, aluminum, brass, tin, zinc, etc.

 Selection of Materials for Engineering Purposes

The selection of a proper material, for engineering purposes, is one of the most difficult problems
for the designer. The best material is one which serves the desired objective at the minimum
cost. The following factors should be considered while selecting the material:

1. Availability of the materials.

2. Suitability of the materials for the working conditions in service.
3. The cost of the materials.

 Mechanical Properties of Metals

The mechanical properties of the metals are those which are associated with the ability of the
material to resist mechanical forces and load. These mechanical properties of the metal include
strength, stiffness, elasticity, plasticity, ductility, brittleness, malleability, toughness, resilience, creep
and hardness. Now we can discuss these properties as follows:

1. Strength: It is the ability of a material to resist the externally applied forces without breaking
or yielding. The internal resistance offered by a part to an externally applied force is called
stress.

2. Stiffness: It is the ability of a material to resist deformation under stress. The modulus of
elasticity is the measure of stiffness.

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Machine Design : S e l e c t i o n of Materials for Design

3. Elasticity: It is the property of a material to regain its original shape after deformation when
the external forces are removed.

4. Plasticity: It is property of a material which retains the deformation produced under load
permanently.

5. Ductility: It is the property of a material enabling it to be drawn into wire with the application
of a tensile force. A ductile material must be both strong and plastic. The ductility is usually
measured by the terms, percentage elongation and percentage reduction in area. The
ductile material commonly used in engineering practice are mild steel, copper, aluminum,
nickel, zinc, tin and lead.

6. Brittleness: It is the property of a material opposite to ductility. It is the property of breaking

of a material with little permanent distortion. Cast iron is a brittle material.

7. Malleability: It is a special case of ductility which permits materials to be rolled or

hammered into thin sheets. The malleable materials commonly used in engineering
practice are lead, soft steel, wrought iron, copper and aluminum.

8. Toughness: It is the property of a material to resist fracture due to high impact loads like
hammer blows. The toughness of the material decreases when it is heated.

9. Resilience: It is the property of a material to absorb energy and to resist shock and impact
loads. This property is essential for spring materials.

10. Creep: When a part is subjected to a constant stress at high temperature for a long period
of time, it will undergo a slow and permanent deformation called creep. This property is
considered in designing internal combustion engines, boilers and turbines.

11. Fatigue: When a material is subjected to repeated stresses, it fails at stresses below the
yield point stresses. Such type of failure of a material is known as fatigue. This property is
considered in designing shafts, connecting rods, springs, gears, etc.

12. Hardness: It is the property of the metals; it adopts many different properties such as
resistance to wear, scratching, deformation and machinability etc. The hardness of a metal
may be determined by the following tests:

a) Brinell hardness test.

b) Rockwell hardness test.
c) Vickers hardness test.
 Ferrous Metals
The ferrous metals are those which have iron as their main constituent. The ferrous metals
commonly used in engineering practice are cast iron, wrought iron, steels and alloy steels. The
raw material for all ferrous metals is pig iron which is obtained by smelting (Extract metals by
heating) iron ore with coke and limestone (A sedimentary rock consisting mainly of calcium that
was deposited by the remains of marine animals), in the blast furnace.

 Cast Iron

The cast iron is obtained by re-melting pig iron with coke and limestone in a furnace known as
cupola.

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It is primarily an alloy of iron and carbon. The carbon content in cast iron varies from 1.7 per cent
to 4.5 per cent. It also contains small amounts of silicon, manganese, phosphorous and sulphur.

Cast iron is a brittle material; therefore, it cannot be used in those parts of machines which are
subjected to shocks. The properties of cast iron which make it a valuable material for
engineering purposes are its low cost, good casting characteristics, high compressive strength,
wear resistance and excellent machinability. The compressive strength of cast iron is much
greater than the tensile strength.
 Types of Cast Iron

1. Grey cast iron: It is an ordinary commercial iron having the following compositions:

Carbon = 3 to 3.5%; Silicon = 1 to 2.75%;

Manganese = 0.40 to 1.0%; Phosphorous = 0.15 to 1%;
Sulphur = 0.02 to 0.15%; and the remaining is iron.

The grey colour is due to the fact that the carbon is present in the form of free graphite. It has
a low tensile strength, high compressive strength and no ductility. It can be easily machined.
A very good property of grey cast iron is that the free graphite in its structure acts as a
lubricant. Due to this reason, it is very suitable for those parts where sliding action is desired.
The grey iron castings are widely used for machine tool bodies, automotive cylinder blocks,
heads, housings, fly-wheels, pipes and pipe fittings and agricultural implements.
2. White cast iron: The white cast iron shows a white fracture and has the following approximate
compositions:

Carbon = 1.75 to 2.3%; Silicon = 0.85 to 1.2%;

Manganese = less than 0.4%; Phosphorus = less than 0.2%;
Sulphur = less than 0.12%, and the remaining is iron.

The white colour is due to fact that it has no graphite and whole of the carbon is in the form of
carbide (known as cementite) which is the hardest constituent of iron. The white cast iron has
a high tensile strength and a low compressive strength. Since it is hard, therefore, it cannot
be machined with ordinary cutting tools but requires grinding as shaping process.

3. Chilled cast iron: It is a white cast iron produced by quick cooling of molten iron. The quick
cooling is generally called chilling and the cast iron so produced is called chilled cast iron. Chills
are used on any faces of a casting which are required to be hard to withstand wear and friction.

4. Mottled cast iron: It is a product in between grey and white cast iron in composition, colour and
general properties. It is obtained in castings where certain wearing surfaces have been chilled.

5. Malleable cast iron: The malleable iron is a cast iron-carbon alloy which solidifies in the condition
in a graphite free structure, i.e. total carbon content is present in its combined form as cementite
(Fe3C).

It is ductile and may be bent without breaking or fracturing the section. The tensile strength of
the malleable cast iron is usually higher than that of grey cast iron and has excellent machining
qualities.

It is used for machine parts for which the steel forgings would be too expensive and in which the
metal should have a fair degree of accuracy, e.g. hubs of wagon wheels, small fittings for railway
rolling stock, brake supports, parts of agricultural machinery, pipe fittings, door hinges, locks etc.

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 Alloy Cast Iron

The alloy cast irons contain small percentages of other constituents like silicon, manganese,
sulphur and phosphorus. These cast irons may be called as plain cast irons. The alloy cast iron
is produced by adding alloying elements like nickel, chromium, molybdenum, copper and
manganese in sufficient quantities. These alloying elements give more strength and result in
improvement of properties. The alloy cast iron has special properties like increased strength,
high wear resistance, corrosion resistance or heat resistance. The alloy cast irons are
extensively used for gears, automobile parts like cylinders, pistons, piston rings, crank cases,
crankshafts, camshafts, sprockets, wheels, pulleys, brake drums and shoes, parts of crushing
and grinding machinery etc.

 Wrought Iron

It is the purest iron which contains at least 99.5% iron but may contain upto 99.9% iron. The
typical composition of a wrought iron is

Carbon = 0.020%, Silicon = 0.120%, Sulphur = 0.018%,

Phosphorus = 0.020%, Slag = 0.070%, and the remaining is iron.

The wrought iron is produced from pig iron by remelting it in the puddling furnace of
reverberatory type. The molten metal free from impurities is removed from the furnace as a
pasty mass of iron and slag. The wrought iron is a tough, malleable and ductile material. It can
be easily forged or welded. It is used for chains, crane hooks, railway couplings, steam pipes
and water.

 Steel

It is an alloy of iron and carbon, with carbon content up to a maximum of 1.5%. The carbon
occurs in the form of iron carbide, because of its ability to increase the hardness and strength of
the steel. Other elements e.g. silicon, sulphur, phosphorus and manganese are also present to
greater or lesser amount to impart certain desired properties to it.

Most of the steel produced now-a-days is plain carbon steel or simply carbon steel. Carbon steel
is defined as steel which has its properties mainly due to its carbon content and does not contain
more than 0.5% of silicon and 1.5% of manganese.

The plain carbon steels varying from 0.06% carbon to 1.5% carbon are divided into the following
types depending upon the carbon content.

1. Dead mild steel — up to 0.15% carbon

2. Low carbon or mild steel — 0.15% to 0.45% carbon
3. Medium carbon steel — 0.45% to 0.8% carbon
4. High carbon steel — 0.8% to 1.5% carbon

According to Indian standard a new system of designating the steel is recommended.

According to this standard, steels are designated on the following two bases:

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Machine Design : S e l e c t i o n of Materials for Design

1. On the basis of mechanical properties.

2. On the basis of chemical composition.

 Free Cutting Steels

The free cutting steels contain sulphur and phosphorus. These steels have higher sulphur
content than other carbon steels. In general, the carbon content of such steels varies from 0.1 to
0.45 per cent and sulphur from 0.08 to 0.3 per cent. Now a day, lead is used from 0.05 to 0.2 per
cent instead of sulphur, because lead also greatly improves the machinability of steel without the
loss of toughness.
 Alloy Steel
Alloy steel may be defined as steel to which elements other than carbon are added in sufficient
amount to produce an improvement in properties. The alloying is done for specific purposes to
increase wearing resistance, corrosion resistance and to improve electrical and magnetic
properties, which cannot be obtained in plain carbon steels. The chief alloying elements used in
steel are nickel, chromium, molybdenum, cobalt, vanadium, manganese, silicon and tungsten.
1. Nickel: it increases the strength and toughness of the steel. These steel contains 2 to 5%
Nickel and from 0.1 to 0.5% carbon. In this range nickel contributes great strength and
hardness with the elastic limit, good ductility and good resistance to corrosion.

2. Chromium: It is used in steel as an alloying element to combine hardness with high

strength and high elastic limit. It also impart corrosion-resisting properties to steel.

3. Tungsten: It prohibits gain growth, increase the depth of hardening of quenching steel
and confers the property of remaining hard even when heated to red colour.

4. Vanadium: It is used to obtaining a fine grain structures in tool steel. The addition to a
very small amount of vanadium produces a marked increase in tensile strength and
elastic limit in low and medium carbon steel without a loss of ductility.

5. Manganese: It improves the strength of the steel in both the hot rolled and heat treated
condition.

6. Silicon: The silicon steel behaves like Nickel steels. These steel have high elastic limit as
compared to ordinary steel.

 Stress-strain Diagram

In designing various parts of a machine, it is necessary to know how the material will function in
working state. The mechanical properties mostly used in mechanical engineering practice are
commonly determined from a standard tensile test.

This test consists of gradually loading a standard specimen of a material and noting the
corresponding values of load and elongation until the specimen fractures.

The load is applied and measured by a testing machine. The stress is determined by dividing the
load values by the original cross-sectional area of the specimen.

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Machine Design : S e l e c t i o n of Materials for Design

The elongation is measured by determining the amounts that two reference points on the
specimen are moved apart by the action of the machine. The original distance between the two
reference points is known as gauge length.

The strain is determined by dividing the elongation values by the gauge length.

The values of the stress and corresponding strain are used to draw the stress-strain diagram of
the material tested.

A stress-strain diagram for mild steel under tensile test is shown in below Figure.

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 The various properties of the material are discussed below:

1. Proportional limit: We see from the diagram that from point O to A is a straight line, which
represents that the stress is proportional to strain. Beyond point A, the curve slightly
deviates from the straight line. It is thus obvious, that Hooke's law holds good up to point A
and it is known as proportional limit.

2. Elastic limit: It may be noted that even if the load is increased beyond point A upto the
point B, the material will regain its shape and size when the load is removed. This means
that the material has elastic properties up to the point B. This point is known as elastic limit.

3. Yield point: If the material is stressed beyond point B, the plastic stage will reach i.e. on the
removal of the load; the material will not be able to recover its original size and shape.

A little consideration will show that beyond point B, the strain increases at a faster rate with
any increase in the stress until the point C is reached. At this point, the material yields
before the load and there is an appreciable strain without any increase in stress.

In case of mild steel, it will be seen that a small load drops to D, immediately after yielding
commences. Hence there are two yield points C and D. The points C and D are called the
upper and lower yield points respectively. The stress corresponding to yield point is known
as yield point stress.

4. Ultimate stress: At D, the specimen regains some strength and higher values of stresses
are required for higher strains, than those between A and D. The stress (or load) goes on
increasing till the point E is reached. The gradual increase in the strain (or length) of the
specimen is followed with the uniform reduction of its cross-sectional area.

The work done, during stretching the specimen, is transformed largely into heat and the
specimen becomes hot.

At E, the stress, which attains its maximum value, is known as ultimate stress.

5. Breaking stress: After the specimen has reached the ultimate stress, a neck is formed,
which decreases the cross-sectional area of the specimen.

A little consideration will show that the stress (or load) necessary to break away the
specimen, is less than the maximum stress. The stress is, therefore, reduced until the
specimen breaks away at point F. The stress corresponding to point F is known as
breaking stress or Fracture point.

 Factor of Safety

It is defined, in general, as the ratio of the maximum stress to the working stress.
Mathematically,

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In case of ductile materials e.g. mild steel, where the yield point is clearly defined, the factor
of safety is based upon the yield point stress. In such cases,

In case of brittle materials e.g. cast iron, the yield point is not well defined as for ductile
materials.

Therefore, the factor of safety for brittle materials is based on ultimate stress.

Note: This relation may also be used for ductile materials.

 Selection of Factor of Safety

The selection of a proper factor of safety to be used in designing any machine component
depends upon a number of considerations, such as the material, mode of manufacture, type of
stress, service conditions and shape of the parts. Before selecting a proper factor of safety, a
design engineer should consider the following points:

1. The reliability of the properties of the material.

2. The reliability of test results and accuracy of application of these results.
3. The reliability of applied load.
4. The certainty as to exact mode of failure.
5. The extent of simplifying assumptions.
6. The extent of localised stresses.
7. The extent of initial stresses set up during manufacture.
8. The extent of loss of life if failure occurs.
9. The extent of loss of property if failure occurs.

Each of the above factors must be carefully considered and evaluated.

The high factor of safety results in unnecessary risk of failure.

The values of factor of safety based on ultimate strength for different materials and type of load.

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