Middle East Technical University

Department of Mechanical Engineering

ME 498 Mechanical Characterization of Materials

3. Tensile Testing

These slides are partly based on the lecture notes of Dr. Rıza Gürbüz and Dr. Ergin Tönük.
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Tensile Testing
• Tensile testing is the most widely used destructive mechanical test.
• Objective: to determine the stress-strain behavior of a material.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfBFt6ySsnA

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 Typical Stress-Strain Response of Materials

Kaygusuz and Özerinç, 2019, J of Applied Polymer Science

• Note that the above trends represent a generalization

based on the most common behavior for each type of • Within a family of engineering materials, there can
material. be wide variations in strength & ductility. Above is
an example for plastics.
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Mechanical Properties that can be determined by Tensile Testing

E, Elastic modulus
σy, εy Yield strength & yield strain
Strength & Strain Parameters σu, Ultimate tensile strength (UTS)
εu, Maximum uniform strain
σf , εu, Fracture stress & strain
%ΔL, Percent elongation
Ductility Parameters
%RA, Percent area reduction
UR , Resilience
Energy Parameters
UT , Toughness
Poisson’s ratio
Other Parameters n, Strain hardening exponent
m, strain rate sensitivity
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Basic Steps of Tensile Testing
• The specimen is manufactured according to a well-
defined geometry.
• The specimen is mounted properly with appropriate
alignment and gripping.
• The specimen is tested either under constant loading or
constant displacement rate.
• The instrument records load and displacement as a
function of time.
• The raw data is converted to load vs. displacement
curve.
• By using the initial gauge length and the gauge
diameter of the specimen, load-displacement curve can
be converted to stress-strain curve.
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Standards
• ASTM E8
• Standard Test Methods for Tension Testing of Metallic Materials
• One of the most commonly used standard (30 pages long with all details about the test).
• Other versions are available for testing plastics (ASTM D638) and ceramics (ASTM 1273).
• Analogous Turkish Standard: TS EN ISO 6892-1 – Metalik Malzemeler Çekme Deneyi Bölüm 1:
Oda sıcaklığında deney metodu
• ASTM E21
• Standard Test Methods for Elevated Temperature Tension Tests of Metallic Materials
• Analogous Turkish standard: TS EN ISO 6892-2:2011 Metalik Malzemeler-Çekme Deneyi Bölüm 2:
Yüksek Sıcaklıkta Deney Metodu
• Many other standards exists for a range of materials and conditions.
• Standards do not only provide the requirements for a standardized approach but also
provide many useful suggestions and practices for successful testing.
• METU has online access to all ASTM standards.

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Specimen Geometry
• The instruments holds the specimen from its ends, called the grip section.
• The stress state in the grip section is not uniform due to the clamping forces and the stress
concentrations at the points of contact.
• The dogbone shape provides a large cross-sectional area in the grip section. This large area causes
lower stresses compared to the that of gauge section. As a result, plastic deformation outside the
gauge section is avoided.
• Gauge length (G) refers to the part of the test specimen actually being measured for elongation
during a tensile test.
• A large-radius filet reduces stress concentrations (to avoid plasticity outside the gauge length).

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ASTM E8 Rectangular Test Specimen
• Specimen size and dimensions

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ASTM E8 Pin-Loaded Test Specimen

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ASTM E8 Round Test Specimen

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Length/Diameter Ratio
• A small gauge length / diameter
ratio is not desirable as the
nonuniform elongation due to
necking can extend over the
whole length of the specimen.
• When L0 is greater than about
4D0, elongation becomes mostly
uniform towards the ends of the
gauge length.
• Note that the elongation at
fracture depends on the gauge
length due to the nonuniformity
in the necking region.

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 Gripping (ASTM E8)
• Proper gripping is important
for obtaining unaxial stress
conditions.
• Misalignments can result in
additional bending or torsion
and poor gripping can cause
relative motion between the
grips and the specimen.

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Other Highlights from ASTM E8
• The gauge lengths for the round specimen should be 4 x diameter.
• Room temperature is any temperature between 10 to 38°C.
• The machines used for the testing should conform to the requirements of
ASTM E4 – Practices for Force Verification of Testing Machines.
• Speed of testing: Different approaches are allowed that controls:
• Rate of strain
• Rate of stress
• Crosshead speed
• Elapsed time for the completion of the test

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Determination of Elastic Modulus
• E calculation is not specified by ASTM D8.
• ASTM E111 – Standard Test Method for Young’s Modulus, Tangent Modulus,
and Chord Modulus provides the necessary details.
• Two approaches are recommended:
• Graphical Data Method: Calculate the slope of stress-strain curve by using two data
points.

• Numerical Data Method: Perform a least-squares linear fit to the elastic portion of the
data and calculate the slope (see your ME 310 notes).
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Definitions Regarding Plastic Deformation
• True elastic limit: The lowest stress at which dislocations move. This definition is
not commonly used because dislocations move at very low stresses, and detecting
the associated strain bursts is very difficult (on the order of 10-6 strain). This
property is more interesting for materials science studies but not that critical for
applications.
• Proportionality limit: The stress/strain limit at which stress is directly proportional
to strain. – determined by looking at the data
• Elastic limit: The greatest stress the material can withstand without any
measurable permanent strain after unloading. For metals, proportionality limit
and elastic limit are practically identical to each other. However, for some
materials such as elastomers, elastic limit is much larger than proportionality limit.
• Yield point: The point at which the stress-strain curve has an obvious slope change
indicative of plasticity. If the transition is an obvious one, the stress at this point
can be defined as the yield strength of the material.
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Yield Strength – Offset Method (ASTM E8)
• In many cases, it is difficult to locate the
exact location of the transition to plastic
deformation in metals.
• In order to eliminate the uncertainty,
offset method is commonly used.
• A line parallel to the elastic response is
constructed by shifting the elastic
response to the right by a X% strain.
• The intersection of this line with the
stress-strain curve is called the X%
offset yield strength.
• 0.2% offset is the most common
approach.
• Strength is reported as follows:
Yield strength (offset = 0.2%) = 360 MPa
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Yield Strength – Discontinious Yielding (ASTM E8)
• If the stress-strain response in the
vicinity of the initial yielding looks
like the figure, then three values
can be reported: strain
hardening
• Upper yield strength starts
• Lower yield strength
• Yield point elongation: The percent
strain taking place from the onset of
yielding to the zone of strain
hardening.

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Ductility
• Ductility can be quantified by two different measurements.
• % Elongation at fracture

• % Reduction in Area

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Other Parameters – ASTM E8
• Ultimate tensile strength (UTS): Calculate the tensile strength by dividing the
maximum force carried by the specimen during the tension test by the original
cross-sectional area of the specimen.
• Uniform elongation: Elongation at the point of maximum force (εUTS).
• Elongation after fracture: Fit the two halves of the test specimen together and
measure the distance between gauge marks that were applied before the test.
• Elongation at fracture: Includes the elastic elongation.
• For materials that fail suddenly, the elongation at fracture is the strain level just prior to
the sudden decrease in force.
• For materials that do not exhibit a sudden decrease in force, the elongation at fracture is
the strain measured just prior to when the force falls below 10% of the maximum force
encountered during the test.
• See ASTM E8 for further details.

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Artifacts in Stress-Strain Curve
• In some cases, the initial portion of the curve might exhibit a nonlinear response due to
some experimental issue. These parts of the curve should be excluded from the analysis.

Ideal behavior Extensometer is displaced slightly to negative strains when it is

attached to the specimen
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Artifacts in Stress-Strain Curve – continued

Extensometer slips on the specimen when the Specimen straightens as the force is applied, due to
force is applied. misalignment or residual stress.

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Artifacts in Stress-Strain Curve – continued

specimen slips in the grips and disturbs the Bent specimen or specimens with coil set (sheets with curvature
extensometer as the due to storage in the form of coils)
force is applied.

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Resilience and Toughness
Resilince
• Elastic energy absorbed within the elastic
region.
• Calculated as the area below the elastic
portion of the stress-strain diagram.
• UR = (Yield strength)2 / 2E
Toughness
• Total energy needed to fracture the material.
• Calculated from the total area below the
stress-strain diagram.
• Although toughness gives an indication of the
fracture resistance of the material, it is not
always directly correlated with fracture
toughness.
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Ductile vs. Brittle Fracture

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Tensile Testing Machines: Electromechanical
• The displacement is ensured by the
rotation of the screws.
• Provides complete displacement
control. Abrupt decreases in load will
not greatly influence the rate of
displacement.
• This type of instrument is more
suitable for observing the necking
behavior in a controlled fashion.

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An Electromechanical Testing System

https://www.instron.us/-/media/literature-library/products/2012/12/5900-series-general-brochure.pdf?la=en-US
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 Tensile Testing Machines: Hydraulic
• A hydraulic system provides the load control.
• They are more cost-effective for very high load
requirements.

https://www.instron.us/-/media/literature-library/products/2015/02/industrial-series-brochure.pdf?la=en-US
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Universal Testing Machines
• Today, most tensile testing machines can do both tensile and compression
testing, and they can also perform a wide range of other custom tests due to
their flexibility and programmability.
• These machines are frequently referred to as universal testing machines
(independent of being electromechanical or hydraulic).
A Comment on Displacement and Load Control
• With the advances in closed-loop control and electronics, it is know possible to control
load or displacement by either types of tensile testing machines.
• It is usually more difficult to perform displacement controlled experiments. Because,
when there is an abrupt increase or decrease in the load carrying capacity of the
material, the testing machine should able to quickly adjust itself. Otherwise there will a
deviation from the specified displacement scheme.

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Accurate Strain Measurements
• Most tensile testing machines indicate the displacement of the loading frame (crosshead
displacement). Using this displacement to calculate strain does not provide accurate results due to
the following:
Machine compliance
• The specimen exerts reaction forces on the frame of the testing machine.
• Although testing machines are built to have very high stiffness, their frame will still elastically deform
under loading.
• As a result of this deformation, the displacement measurement will overestimate the strain.
Deformation of the specimen outside the gauge length
• Plastic deformation is usually confined to the gauge section; however, elastic deformation is not.
• The parts of the specimen between the gauge section and the clamps will also elastically deform
under load.
• Therefore, part of the crosshead displacement will be accomodated by the elongations in these
regions outside the gauge length.
• Crosshead displacement/gauge length calculation will overestimate the strain.

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Calibrating for Machine Compliance
• Machine compliance is not specimen dependent, therefore, one can calibrate
for it by measuring a specimen of known elastic modulus.
• However, this procedure only corrects the deformation of the testing machine
frame and does not correct for the deformation of the specimen outside the
gauge section.
• In order to completely avoid the uncertainties, extensometers are commonly
used.

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Extensometers
• Extensometers are devices to measure
displacements over the gauge length of
the specimen.
• They are necessary for accurate
measurements of elastic modulus and
0.2% offset yield strength.
• There exists different versions.
• Mechanical
• Optical (digital image correlation)
• Laser
• Refer to ASTM E83 Standard Practice
for Verification and Classification of
Extensometers for practical details.

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Poisson’s Ratio
• When a specimen is uniaxially deformed along x-axis within its elastic limits, its
dimensions also change along y and z-directions.
• The extent of this lateral deformation is material-dependent and quantified by
Poisson’s ratio.
𝐿𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝜀𝑦 𝜀𝑧
•𝜈= − =− = −
𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝜀𝑥 𝜀𝑥
• Poisson’s ratio of most metals lie in between 0.25 to 0.4.
• Examples: Copper: 0.36, Aluminum: 0.33, Tungsten: 0.28
• For volume conservation during elastic deformation, ν = 0.5 should be
satisfied. Therefore, for most structural materials, volume is not conserved for
elastic deformations.
• In plastic regime, volume is conserved, therefore, νplastic = 0.5.
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Negative Poisson’s Ratio
• Negative Poisson’s ratio is possible in some specific directions in anisotropic
materials.
• It is also possible to engineer negative Poisson ratio structures (so called
auxetics) by engineering a specially designed cellular structure.
• This is an active research area with many opportunities for the design of new
generation smart materials.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_7Prst1Ysc
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP5Fk-lHvK0&t=42s

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