Chapter 2

Properties of Materials
 ELASTICITY, STRENGTH, AND
DEFORMATION
Relationship Between Stress and Strain
❑A wide variety of materials are presently used
in architectural structures: stone, brick,
concrete, steel, timber, aluminium, plastics, etc.
❑ All have essential properties that make them
applicable for a given purpose in a structure.
❑ The criterion for selection, at a very basic level,
is the material’s ability to withstand forces
without excessive deformations or actual
failures.
❑ One major consideration in any structural
design is deflection (deformation).
❑ Deformation in structures cannot increase
indefinitely, and it should disappear after the
applied load is removed.
❑ Elasticity is a material property in which
deformations disappear with the disappearance
of the load (Figure below).
Elastic behaviour
❑ All structural materials are elastic to some extent.
❑ As loads are applied and deformations result, the
deformations will vanish as the load is removed as
long as a certain limit is not exceeded.
❑ This limit is called the elastic limit.
❑ Within the elastic limit, no permanent deformations
result from the application and removal of the load.
❑ If this limit of loading is exceeded, however, a
permanent deformation results.
❑ The behavior of the material is then termed plastic
or inelastic.
Plastic behavior (permanent deformation)
❑ Insome materials, when the elastic limit is
exceeded, the molecular bonds within the
material are unable to reform,
❑ Thus, causing cracks or separation of the
material.
❑ Such materials are termed brittle.
❑ Cast iron, high-carbon steel, and ceramics are
considered to be brittle;
❑ Materials that have molecular bonds re-forming
after exceeding the elastic limit will result in
permanent deformations;
❑ however, the material still remains in one piece
without any significant loss in strength.
❑ This type of material behavior is termed ductile.
❑ low-carbon steel, aluminium, copper, and gold
exhibit properties of ductility, which is a measure of
plasticity.
❑ Ductile materials give warning of impending failure.
❑ Brittle materials do not.
❑ The discovery in 1678 by Robert Hooke, an
English scientist, mathematically relates stress to
strain.
❑ The relationship, known as Hooke’s law, states
that in elastic materials, stress and strain are
proportional.
Stress-strain diagram for concrete structure(brittle material)
Stress-strain diagram for mild steel with key points highlighted(ductile material)
❑ Using an exaggerated scale on the stress-strain
data for mild steel, as shown in Figure above,
the significant points on the curve are defined
as follows:
1) Proportional limit: The proportional limit is
that stress beyond which the ratio of stress to
strain no longer remains constant. It is the
greatest stress that a material is capable of
developing without deviation from Hooke’s
law of stress-strain proportionality.
2) Elastic limit: Located close to the
proportional limit, yet of entirely
different meaning, is the elastic [Link]
elastic limit is that maximum unit stress
that can be developed in a material
without causing a permanent set
(deformation).
3) Yield point: When the load on the test specimen is
increased beyond the elastic limit, a stress level is
reached where the material continues to elongate
without an increase of load. This point, called the yield
point, is defined as the stress at which a marked
increase in strain occurs without a concurrent
increase in applied stress. After the initial yielding
(upper yield point) is reached, the force resisting
deformation decreases due to the yielding of the
material. The value of stress after initial yielding (the
lower yield point) is usually taken to be the true
material characteristic to be used as the basis for the
determination of allowable stress (for design
purposes).
4) Ultimate strength: The ultimate strength of a
material is defined as the stress obtained by
dividing the maximum load reached before the
specimen breaks by the original cross-
sectional [Link] ultimate strength (often
called the tensile strength) of the material is
sometimes used as a basis for establishing the
allowable design stresses for a material.
5) Rupture strength: (breaking strength, fracture
strength). In a ductile material, rupture does
not usually occur at the ultimate unit stress.
After the ultimate unit stress has been
reached, the material will generally “neck
down,” as shown in Figure above, and its
rapidly increasing elongation will be
accompanied by a decrease in load. This
decrease becomes more rapid as the rupture
point is approached.
6) Elongation: Elongation is a measure of the
ability of a material to undergo deformation
without rupture. Percentage elongation, defined
by the equation below, is a measure of the
ductility of a material. Ductility is a desirable
and necessary property, and a member must
possess it to prevent failure due to local
overstressing.
Lf − Lo
*100% = % of elongation
Lo
Lf − length of specimen at rupture (fracture)
Lo – original specimen length
7) Reduction of area: As the load on the
material undergoing testing is increased, the
original cross-sectional area decreases until it
is at a minimum at the instant of fracture. It is
customary to express this reduction in area as
the ratio (as a percentage) of the change in
area to the original specimen cross-sectional
area.
Ao − Af
*100% = % reduction in area
Lo
Table: Average strength values for selected engineering
materials.
Creep

❑ The deformation that most structural materials

undergo when stressed to their allowable limit
at room temperature is a completed
deformation and will not increase no matter
how long the stress is applied.
❑ At some higher temperature, however, these
same materials will reveal a continuing
deformation or creep that, if permitted to
continue, will ultimately lead to excessive
displacements or rupture
Cyclic Stress (Fatigue)

❑ Members subjected to repeated conditions of

loading or unloading, or to repeated stress
reversals, will fail at a stress considerably lower
than the ultimate stress obtained in a simple
tension test.
❑ Failures that occur as a result of this type of
repeated loading are known as fatigue failures.
❑ A theory of fatigue failure assumes a sudden
change in shape of the loaded member.
Poisson’s Ratio
❑ The cross-sectional reduction (necking down)
during a steel tensile test has a definite
relationship to the increase in length
(elongation) experienced by the specimen.
❑ When a material is loaded in one direction, it
will undergo strains both perpendicular as well
as parallel to the direction of the load (see
Figure below).
❑ The ratio of the lateral or perpendicular strain
to the longitudinal or axial strain is called
Poisson’s ratio.
❑ Poisson’s ratio varies from 0.2 to 0.4 for most
metals.
❑ Most steels have values in the range of 0.283 to
0.292.
❑ The symbol µ(mu) is used for Poisson’s ratio,
which is given by the equation
ɛlateral
μ=
ɛlongitudinal
 (a) Unloaded. (b) Under load.

Figure: Elongation of specimen under loading

Modulus of Elasticity (Young’s Modulus)

❑ The ratio formed by dividing a unit stress by its

corresponding value of strain was suggested by
Thomas Young in 1807 as a means of evaluating
the relative stiffness of various materials (see
figure below).
❑ This ratio is called Young’s modulus, or the
modulus of elasticity, and it is the slope of the
straight-line portion of the stress-strain
diagram:
σ
E=
ɛ
❑ Where
E= Modulus of elasticity (N/m2 or N/mm2 pascal)
σ= stress (N/m2 or N/mm2 or pascal)
ɛ= strain (unit less)

Figure: E- ratio of stress to strain for various materials.

❑ This ratio of stress to strain remains constant
for all steels and many other structural
materials within their useful range.
❑ Materials exhibiting high E values are more
resistant to deformation and, in the case of
beams, suffer much less deflection under load.
❑ Note, in Figure above that of the three
materials shown, the steel specimen has a much
steeper slope in the elastic range than
aluminium or wood and, therefore, will be much
more resistant to deformation.
❑ The Young’s modulus equation may also be
written in a very useful expanded form
whenever the stress and deformation are
caused by axial loads.
𝑃 δ
σ= and Ɛ =
𝐴 𝐿
σ P/A PL
E= = =
Ɛ δ/L δ𝐴
PL
∴δ = (elastic equation)
E𝐴
Example Problems: Material Properties
1) The following data were obtained during a tensile
test on a mild steel specimen having an initial
diameter of 0.505 inch. At failure, the reduced
diameter of the specimen was 0.305 inch. Plot the
data, and determine the following:
a) Modulus of elasticity.
b) Proportional limit.
c) Ultimate strength.
d) Percentage reduction in area.
e) Percentage elongation.
f) Indicated strength at rupture.
g) True rupture strength.
solution

Plot of data for steel tensile test.

Initial diameter = 0.505’’
Lorig = 2.00’’
Aorig = 0.20in2
Reduced diameter at failure = 0.305’’
Afail = 0.073in2
a) Modulus of elasticity:
Δσ 30,000lb/in2
E= = = 30,000,000lb/in2
ΔƐ 0.001

By Tesetegn T. 33
b) Proportional limit is the last point of the linear
part of the diagram.
σprop = 30,000 psi
c) Ultimate strength is the absolute highest
stress magnitude.
σult = 67,900 psi
d) Percentage area reduction equals
Ao − Af 0.2 − 0.073
*100% = *100% = 63.5%
Ao 0.2
e) Percentage elongation equals
δtotal 0.625′′
Loriginal
=
2′′ *100% = 31.25%
f) Indicated strength of rupture:
σrupture= 49,300Psi
g) True rupture strength:
9860lb
σrupture = 0.073in2 =135,068Psi
2) A 600-foot-long roof cable cannot be permitted to
stretch more than three feet when loaded, or the roof
geometry will be affected too drastically. If Es=29*103
ksi and the load is 1,500 k, determine the required
cable diameter needed to avoid excessive elongation
or overstress. σt= 100ksi (allowable tensile stress).

Section cut through a cable roof structure.