ST MARYS POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE PALAKKAD

Department: Automobile Engineering Semester: 3

Subject: Material Science and Strength of Materials.

MODULE: 1
Mechanical properties of materials

• The mechanical properties of a material are those which affect the mechanical strength and
ability of a material to be moulded in suitable shape. Some of the typical mechanical
properties of a material are:
Strength, Toughness, Hardness, Brittleness, Malleability, Ductility, Creep, Resilience,
Fatigue.
1, Strength
It is the property of a material which opposes the deformation or breakdown of material in
presence of external forces or load. Materials which we finalize for our engineering products,
must have suitable mechanical strength to be capable to work under different mechanical
forces or loads.
2, Toughness
It is the ability of a material to absorb the energy and gets plastically deformed without
fracturing. Its numerical value is determined by the amount of energy per unit volume. Its unit
is Joule/ m3. Value of toughness of a material can be determined by stress-strain characteristics
of a material. For good toughness, materials should have good strength as well as ductility.

3, Ductility
Ductility is a property of a solid material which indicates that how easily a material gets
deformed under tensile stress. Ductility is often categorized by the ability of material to get
stretched into a wire by pulling or [Link] mechanical property is also an aspect of
plasticity of material and is temperature dependent. With rise in temperature, the ductility of
material increases.
4, Brittleness
Brittleness of a material indicates that how easily it gets fractured when it is subjected to a
force or load. When a brittle material is subjected to a stress it observes very less energy and
gets fractures without significant strain. Brittleness of material is temperature dependent.
Some metals which are ductile at normal temperature become brittle at low temperature.
5, Malleability
Malleability is a property of solid materials which indicates that how easily a material gets
deformed under compressive stress. Malleability is often categorized by the ability of material
to be formed in the form of a thin sheet by hammering or rolling. This mechanical property is
an aspect of plasticity of material. Malleability of material is temperature dependent. With rise
in temperature, the malleability of material increases.
6, Creep
Creep is the property of a material which indicates the tendency of material to move slowly
and deform permanently under the influence of external mechanical stress. It results due to
long time exposure to large external mechanical stress. It results due to long time exposure to
large external mechanical stress with in limit of yielding. Creep is more severe in material that
are subjected to heat for long time.

7, Resilience
Resilience is the ability of material to absorb the energy when it is deformed elastically by
applying stress and release the energy when stress is removed.

Cooling curve for pure iron

Need for heat treatment

METHODS OF HEAT TREATMENT

Heat treatment involves a combination of heating, holding and cooling at controlled rates to
produce the desired conditions.
>The following heat treatment processes are generally applied to steel for obtaining the desired
conditions

1, Annealing
A material can be annealed by heating it to a specific temperature and then letting the material
slowly cool to room temperature in an oven. Annealing is the process for softening materials.
2, Normalizing
It is a type of heat treatment applicable to ferrous metals only. It differs from annealing in that
the metal is heated to a higher temperature and then removed from the furnace for air cooling.
The purpose of normalizing is to remove the internal stresses induced by heat treating, welding,
casting, forging, forming, or machining.
3, Quenching or Hardening
It is done to increase the strength and wear properties. To harden by quenching, a metal
(usually steel or cast iron) must be heated into the austenitic crystal phase and then quickly
cooled.
• Depending on the alloy and other considerations cooling may be done with forced air or other
gas such as nitrogen or with oil, brine.

One drawback of using this method by itself is that the metal becomes brittle. This treatment
is therefore typically followed by a tempering process

4, Tempering
Tempering is carried out by preheating previously quenched or normalized steel to a
temperature below the critical range, holding, and then cooling to obtain the desired
mechanical properties. Tempering is used to reduce the brittleness of quenched steel.
The temperature chosen for the tempering process directly impacts the hardness of the work
piece . The higher the temperature in the tempering process, the lower the hardness.

5, Case Hardening
Case Hardening is the process of hardening the surface of a metal, often a low carbon steel, by
infusing elements into the material's surface, forming a thin layer of a harder alloy.
Case hardening improves the wear resistance of machine parts without affecting the tough
interior of the parts
Case hardening process are classified as:
1, Carburising
Carburising consists of introducing carbon into surface of the steel. Carburising is most widely
used for securing hard, wear resistant surface and a tough core. In this process , low carbon or
low- carbon alloy steel is heated in contact with highcarbon material from which the steel
absorbs carbon.
2, Nitriding
Nitriding consists of introducing nitrogen into the surface of the steel. Nitriding is usually done
at 500-600 degree Celsius. Objects are placed in a gas-tight chamber through which ammonia
is allowed to circulate. In this temperature ammonia dissociates nitrogen and it diffuses into
the steel surface. The atomic nitrogen combines with elements in the steel to form nitrides.
These gives extreme hardness to the surface. The nitriding process is usually applied to
medium carbon alloy steels. Nitriding increases the wear resistance, corrosion resistance and
fatigue strength of the steel.
 3, Cyaniding
Cyaniding is a case hardening process in which both carbon and nitrogen are added to the
surface layers of the steel. The process is based on the decomposition of molten cyanides salts
with the formation of free atoms of carbon and nitrogen which diffuses into the surface.

Purpose of alloying
The purpose of alloying steels are:
• Improved corrosion resistance.
• Better hardenability
• Grain size control
• Greater strength
• Improved machinability
• Improved high or low temperature stability
• Improved ductility
• Improved toughness
• Better wear resistance.
Effect of alloying elements
1, Carbon:
>Carbon content in steel improves Hardness, Tensile strength, Machine ability &
Melting point of the alloy steel

2, Nickel:
>It Increases toughness and resistance, deep hardens the steel, does not unite with
carbon

3, Chromium:
>Joins with carbon to form chromium carbide, by this it increases hardness of steel
with improved resistance to abrasion and wear.

4, Boron:
>Increases hardenability of steel

5, Manganese:
>Contributes greatly strength and hardness.
>Lowers both ductility and weldability if it is presents in high percentage with high
carbon content in steel.

6, Vanadium:
>Promotes fine grains in steel
>Imparts strength and toughness to heat-treated steel
ALLOY STEELS
>Alloy steel is defined as the type of steel to which elements other than carbon and iron are
added in sufficient amounts to produce improvements in properties
>The most common alloying elements added to steel are Chromium, nickel, molybdenum,
vanadium, tungsten, cobalt, boron, and copper.

STAINLESS STEELS:
When 11.5% or more chromium is added to iron a fine film of chromium oxide forms
spontaneously on the surfaces exposed to air. The film acts as a barrier to retard further
oxidation rust or corrosion. As this steel cannot be stained easily it is called stain less steel.

All stainless steels can be grouped in to three metallurgical classes:

1, Austenitic
Austenitic stainless steel is one of the stainless steel. Its primary crystalline structure
is austenite (face-centered cubic) and it prevents steels from being hardenable by heat
treatment and makes them essentially non-magnetic. This structure is achieved by adding
enough austenite stabilizing elements nickel, manganese and nitrogen. It possesses the highest
corrosion resistance of all the stainless steels. It is non –magnetic so that they can be easily
identified with a magnet.

2, Martensitic stainless steels

Martensitic stainless steels are identified by their martensitic microstructure in the hardened
condition. Because of the higher carbon –Chromium ratio martensitic stainless steels are the
only types harden able by heat treatment. These steels are magnetic in all conditions and
possess the best thermal conductivity of the stainless types. Martensitic stainless steels can be
cold worked without difficulty especially with low carbon content.
3, Ferritic stainless steels:
They possess a micro-structure which is primarily ferritic. Ferritic Stainless steels have a low
carbon to chromium ratio. These steels are magnetic and have good ductility. Ferritic steels
are more corrosion resistance than martensitic steels. It cannot be hardened by heat treatment.
It has chromium content up to 14% to 30%. It does not have any other major alloying element.

EFFECT OF GRAIN SIZE ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES

The mechanical properties of metals that obtain maximum strength depend upon the
arrangement of grains, their shape and especially their size. The fine grain structure has a
small grain size whereas coarse grain structure has a large grain size. The grain size is
controlled by several factors out of which temperature and time of heating are most important.
The important effects of grain size are given below:
1, fine –grained structure has higher strength than coarse grained structure.
2, fine grains provide better resistance to cracking and better machining finish.
3, coarse grains make the surface rough.
4, coarse grains make the metal less tough.
5, coarse – grained structure has a better workability than fine grained structure.
6, coarse grained materials at high temperatures exhibit better creep resistance than fine –
grained materials.

Specific applications, merits and demerits of steel, aluminium, magnesium,

copper, composites and plastics as automobile component material.