Material Engineering - Characteristics & Manufacture

Introduction to Material Engineering

Learning Outcomes

  • Define engineering stress and engineering strain.
  • State Hooke’s law.
  • Define Poisson’s ratio.
  • Determine modulus of elasticity, yield strength, and estimate percent elongation from a stress-strain diagram.
  • Understand manipulation of density and modulus of hybrid materials.

Key Concepts

  • Stress causes strain.
  • Resilience in humans is coping with stress without strain; in materials, it's elastic modulus.
  • Stress is applied load; strain is the material's shape change response.
  • Strain depends on material, stress magnitude, and loading mode.

Stiffness and Strength

  • Stiffness: Resistance to elastic shape change (returns to original shape when stress is removed).
  • Strength: Resistance to permanent distortion or failure.
  • Stress and strain are stimulus and response, not material properties.
  • Stiffness (elastic modulus E) and strength (elastic limit σy or tensile strength σ{ts}) are material properties.
  • Density \rho and modulus are microstructure-insensitive; strength and toughness are microstructure-sensitive.

Density

  • Density is mass per unit volume, measured in \frac{kg}{m^3}.
  • Double weighing is the best measure of density.

Modes of Loading

  • Axial tension.
  • Compression.
  • Axial tension/compression.
  • Torsion.
  • Bi-axial tension or compression.

Stress

  • \sigma = \frac{F}{A}
  • Tensile stress: Force applied normal to surface (positive F = tension, negative F = compression).
  • Shear stress: Force applied parallel to surface.
  • Pressure: Equally applied tensile and compressive forces.
  • Units: MPa (Mega Pascal, 10^6 N/m^2).

Strain

  • Strain is dimensionless (ratio of two lengths).
  • Tensile stress lengthens (tensile strain +).
  • Compressive stress shortens (compressive strain -).
  • Tensile strain: \epsilon = \frac{L-L0}{L0}
  • Shear strain: \gamma = \frac{w}{L_0}
  • Volumetric strain: \frac{V-V0}{V0}

Tensile Test

  • Typical stress-strain behavior shows elastic region, yield strength \sigma_y, tensile strength TS, and fracture point F.
  • Necking acts as stress concentrator.

Stress-Strain Curves

  • Initial linear part is Hooke’s law (elastic), strain is recoverable.
  • Stresses above elastic limit cause permanent deformation (ductile) or brittle fracture.
  • E is Young’s modulus in \sigma = E \epsilon.
  • G is Shear modulus in \tau = G \gamma.
  • K is Bulk modulus in p = K \Delta.
  • Units for moduli: GPa (10^9 N/m^2).

Poisson’s Ratio

  • \nu = - \frac{\epsilon_t}{\epsilon}
  • Typically ~1/3.
  • For isotropic material: G = \frac{E}{2(1+\nu)} and K = \frac{E}{3(1-2\nu)}.
  • For elastomers, \nu \approx 1/2 when G = \frac{1}{3}E and K >> E.

Hooke’s Law in 3D

  • \epsilon1 = \frac{\sigma1}{E}, \epsilon2 = \epsilon3 = -\nu \epsilon1 = -\nu \frac{\sigma1}{E}
  • Constrained compression: \epsilon1 = \frac{\sigma1}{E}(1-\nu^2)
  • \frac{\sigma1}{\epsilon1} = \frac{E}{1-\nu^2}

Elastic Energy

  • Work per unit volume: dW = \frac{FdL}{AL} = \sigma d\epsilon.
  • Elastic energy: \int_0^{\sigma^} \sigma d\epsilon = \frac{1}{2} \frac{(\sigma^)^2}{E}.

Stress-Free Strain

  • Materials respond to magnetic fields, electrostatic fields, and thermal expansion (\epsilon_T = \alpha \Delta T).

Ductility

  • \%EL = \frac{Lf - L0}{L_0} \times 100
  • \%RA = \frac{A0 - Af}{A_0} \times 100

Toughness

  • Energy to break a unit volume of material.
  • Approximated by area under stress-strain curve.

Anisotropy

  • Isotropic: Properties are the same in all directions.
  • Anisotropic: Properties depend on direction.

Manipulating Modulus and Density

  • Hybrid materials: Mixtures of solids for internal structure.
  • Composites: Fibers or particles in a matrix (polymer, metal, or ceramic).
  • \hat{\rho} = f\rhor + (1-f)\rhom
  • EU = fEr + (1-f)E_m
  • EL = \frac{Em Er}{fEm + (1-f)E_r}

Foams

  • Cellular solids characterized by relative density.
  • \frac{\hat{\rho}}{\rho_s} = 3(\frac{t}{L})^2
  • \frac{\hat{E}}{Es} = (\frac{\hat{\rho}}{\rhos})^2