Introduction

In tensile test a dog-bone specimen undergoes tensile loading. The load is applied along the longitudinal axis and perpendicular to the cross sectional area of the specimen. This loading creates some amount of elongation in the specimens gauge length. This elongation is along the longitudinal axis and its results in reduction in area of the specimen. There are two basic kinds of failure in tension test, brittle failure and ductile failure. Ductile failure is characterized by a phenomenon called cup and cone fracture. In ductile failure, a material starts necking initially. After a period of time small cavities start forming and these cavities coalescence to form an elliptical crack. This crack continues to grow in a direction parallel to its major axis by this microvoid coalescence process (Callister, Pg 237). Finally the by rapid propagation of crack around the outer perimeter of the neck and by shear deformation at an angle of 45 with the longitudinal axis fracture occurs. The interior of the fractured surface has a fibrous appearance, which indicates plastic deformation of the ductile material. In case of a brittle fracture, there is no appreciable necking. Deformation is really less compared to that of the ductile material and hence the fractured surface doesnt have the cup and cone feature. The propagation of crack is very rapid and the fractured surface is flat. The direction of crack motion is perpendicular to the direction of applied stress (Callister, Pg 239). Examples of such fractures are provided below in Figure 1. Where the right hand ride is the brittle fracture and the left hand side is the ductile fracture.

Figure 1 : (a) Ductile Fracture, Cup and Cone Phenomena.

(b) Brittle Failure

Tensile stress and tensile strain on a material can be calculated using the values of applied load and the elongation caused by the load.

Tensile stress and tensile load can be related using the following equation where A = cross sectional area, P = applied load and = tensile stress. (Equation 1) And (Equation 2)

Tensile strain is calculated using the know elongation of the specimens gauge length. It is given by the following equation where = elongation/change in length, = original length and = strain (Equation 3) The obtained values of tensile stress and tensile strain are plotted, where strain is the xaxis and stress is the y-axis. An example of a typical tensile stress vs. strain graph is show in Figure 2 below. The graph has no values because it is an example and not an actual plotted graph.

Tensile Stress vs. Tensile Strain

Stress () (Psi)

Strain () in/in
Figure 2 : Example of Tensile Stress vs. Tensile Strain

By observation it can be seen that there are two different curves in this graph. One is the linear curve and the other is a non linear curve. The linear curve represents the elastic region of the material and the non linear part is called the plastic region. Plastic region exist until the maximum point on the graph. After this point he stress starts decreasing with increasing strain. This part of the curve is called necking. For a ductile material, the necking region is extensive, whereas for a brittle material it might be nonexistent. The final point on the curve is the point or stress and strain where fracture occurred. In the elastic region tensile stress and strain can be related to one another by a property called elastic modulus. The equation for elastic modulus is given below and it is only for the linear curve, beyond that this equation is not valid. Elastic modulus represents stiffness of a material. It represents the stress required to produce a certain amount of strain in the elastic region of the material. Higher the elastic modulus, greater is the stiffness. In the equation below E = elastic modulus. (Equation 4) When a material elongates along the longitudinal axis, its cross sectional area decreases, that is there is constriction in the lateral axis. In the elastic region this elongation and constriction can be related by Poissons ratio which states that that elongation in the direction of applied load is accompanied by and is proportional to the constriction in the lateral direction in the elastic region of the material (Callister, Pg 160). The equation given below relates the elongation and constriction, where = longitudinal strain/tensile strain and = lateral strain and v = Poissons ratio (Equation 5) Proportionality limit is the point on the stress-strain curve where the linearity of the curve ends. Its a point where elastic deformation ends and represents the onset of plastic deformation on a microscopic level (Callister, Pg 163). Proportionality limit is difficult to measure precisely and hence yield strength is defined as the onset of plastic deformation. Yield strength is calculated by taking a strain offset of 0.2% and drawing a line parallel to the linear line and the point of intersection between the curve and the line will give yield strength. Beyond this point the material is permanently deformed and upon releasing the tensile load will not regain its original geometric properties unlike that during elastic deformation. When the load is released after plastic deformation, the material strain hardens, that is it becomes stronger, this is due to strain recovery that occurs when the load is released. Ultimate tensile strength is the maximum stress a material can take before it starts necking. Its the highest point on the stress curve and it represents the onset of necking in ductile materials, where as for brittle materials sometimes the ultimate tensile stress is the stress where the material fractures
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Fracture strength of a material represents the stress at which a material will fracture. For ductile materials it will be less than maximum stress whereas for some brittle materials it can be equal to ultimate stress. Ductility of a material is the measure of the degree of plastic deformation that has been sustained at fracture (Callister, Pg 166). Ductile materials will have high ductility and brittle materials will have low ductility, which means that they will have little or no plastic deformation upon fracture. The ductility of a material is can be calculated using percent elongation and per reduction in area. Equation 6 represents the percent elongation and Equation 7 represents the percent reduction in area. Where = fracture length and = final area. (Equation 6)

(Equation 7)

The greater the elongation and reduction greater is the ductility. Resilience is the capacity of a material to absorb energy when it is deformed elastically and then, upon unloading to have this energy recovered (Callister, Pg168). It is represented by modulus of resilience, which is the strain energy per unit volume required to stress a material from an unloaded state until to point of yielding. It is the area under the elastic region of the stress strain curve. It can be calculated using the equation below, where = yield stress and = yield strain. (Equation 8) Toughness is the ability of a material to absorb energy and plastically deform before fracturing. A tough metal has both high strength and high ductility. Toughness is calculated as the area under the entire curve and it can be approximated by using the equation below, where = ultimate tensile strength and = fracture strain. (Equation 9) Strain hardening ratio is a materials property that relates to its ability to strain harden when the load is released after plastic deformation. It can be approximated using Equation 10, where = yield strength and = ultimate tensile strength (Equation 10)
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Engineering stress-strain curve is based on the original dimensions of the specimen and hence it does not indicate that a ductile material keeps on strain hardening up to fracture, it does not give a true indication of the deformation characteristics of a metal (Kalu, Tension, Pg 31). This is the reason why another curve that is a true stress-strain curve is required to fully understand the deformation of a metal. In a true stress-true strain curve, the true stress keeps on rising since we take into consideration the instantaneous cross section area, which keeps on decreasing as the material is deformed, which means the material work hardens in the neck region. Until the point of necking the true stress can be related to engineering stress and strain by Equation 11 and the true strain can be related by Equation 12, where = true stress and = true strain (Equation 11) (Equation 12) Post necking the true stress and true strain curve can be closely approximated using Equation 13 and Equation 14 respectively, where = final load or load at fracture. (Equation 13) (Equation 14)

A comparison of the true stress - strain curve and engineering stress-strain curve in provided in Figure 3, where it can be observed that after plastic deformation the stress keeps increasing for the true stress-strain curve, whereas for the engineering stress-strain curve it decreases (Callister, Figure 6.16, Pg 171).

True fracture Strength of the material represents the amount of stress it can take before fracturing. Unlike engineering fracture strength, the true fracture strength of a ductile material is greater than its ultimate tensile strength. It is the stress required to strain a material until it fractures and it can be calculated using Equation 13. True fracture strain, is the strain at fracture of a material. It represents the strain a material can go through until it fractures. It can be calculated using Equation 14. True toughness represents area under the curve of a true stress-strain diagram. It should be greater than engineering tensile toughness, because of the increase in stress, of the true stressstrain curve. It can be closely approximated using Equation 9, or it can be calculated by taking the area under the curve of the true stress-strain diagram. Strain hardening exponent is a value which measures the ability of a metal to strain harden, the larger the magnitude, the greater strain hardening for a given amount of plastic deformation. It can be approximated using the log (true stress) vs. log (true strain) graph, where it is the slope of the linear part of the graph. The strain hardening coefficient is another constant which is required along with the strain hardening exponent to relate the true stress and true strain after the necking. It can be obtained by taking the intercept of the linear part of the log-log graph. True stress and true strain using the exponent and coefficient are related by Equation 15, where = strain hardening coefficient and = strain hardening exponent. (Equation 15) An alloy of the same composition can have different stress-strain curves depending on the heat treatment it is given. If during the heat treatment undergoes recovery that is only it was previously strain hardened, it becomes weaker and softer and more ductile. This is because of dislocation annihilation and formation of low angle boundaries. It the same specimen was heat treated at a higher temperature and for a certain period of time, it might undergo recrystallization where new set of strain free equiaxed grains are form which eventually take over the entire specimen due to nucleation. Which results in a more ductile material, which is softer and weaker than the strain hardened one. If this material is kept at the same temperature for a longer time, it results in diffusion which increases the size of the grains and decreases the total boundary area. This means the material becomes weaker and softer, that is its mechanical properties are affected.

Experimental
During the experiment the provided specimens, which were Aluminum 6061 quenched, Aluminum 6061 as received, Aluminum quenched plus heat treated for 1 hour, Aluminum 6061 quenched and heat treated for 5 hours, Steel as received and Cast Iron as received were put through tensile loading using a Hydraulic Tension Testing Machine. This machine applied and measured the load. The dog-bone specimens were under load until failure. Using the Tinius Olsen Tester the load level is set to 24,000lb for Aluminum and 6000lb for Steel and Cast Iron and the specimens were mounted between the machine grips carefully. Elongation of the specimens was calculated using an Extensometer, which was placed carefully on the specimens. The Extensometer was zeroed after 4% strain. The data collected was applied load and elongation.

Results and Discussion

The raw data collected for all six specimens were their respective initial and final radiuses, initial and final topper lengths, their initial and final gauge lengths. From the calculation of each of the specimen that underwent tensile test, it was observed that the specimens elongated a certain amount and their areas decreased a certain amount. The value of elongation and area reduction were different for different specimens. Using this data the initial area of the specimen was recorded using Equation 2, where the radius used was the initial radius. Using area and the data obtained during the experiment a raw graph of the stress strain curve was obtained. Stress was calculated using Equation 1 and the strain was calculated using Equation 3. A graph similar to figure below was plotted for all six specimens.

Raw Data:Tensile Stress vs. Strain Plot (Al 6061 Q + 5hrs)

30000 25000

Stress () (Psi)

20000 15000 10000 5000 0 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3

Strain () in/in
Figure 4: Raw data of Stress vs. Strain plot for Al (6061 Q+5hrs)

The reason for the drop in stress after intervals of about 0.035 strains is because the extensometer had to be zeroed after about 4% strain and for safety reasons it was zeroed after about 3.5% strain. Using the above graph it was hard to calculate the mechanical properties of the different specimens. Hence a more convenient and a customized graph for all six specimens had to be plotted. The engineering stress vs. strain graph of all six specimens is provided in Figure 5.

90000

80000

70000

60000 Al(6061) Q 50000 Cast Iron Al(6061) AR 40000 Al(6061) Q + 5 hrs Steel 30000 Al(6061) Q + 1 hr

20000

10000

0 -0.02 0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12 0.14

Figure 5: Engineering Stress vs. Strain curve for all six specimens

These stress strain curves have two regions, one is the elastic one and the other is the plastic region Elastic region is the linear part of the curve where there is no permanent deformation, that is after the load is released the specimen will retain its geometrical dimensions. The non-linear part of this curve is the plastic region where permanent deformation occurs. Plastic region for the four aluminum specimens in greater than that of steel or cast iron, this is because, aluminum in general is a more ductile material than steel or cast iron. In a ductile material there is extensive plastic deformation before fracture occurs. In cast iron however there is little to no plastic deformation, since it is very brittle due to its carbon content. Using these curves many mechanical properties of the material are obtained.

Elastic Constant Properties The elastic constant properties are the mechanical properties obtained in the linear or elastic region of the curve. They are only valid in the linear region of the graph, beyond that point these values cannot be measured using the stress-strain curves. These properties are provided in Table 1.
Elastic Modulus (E)(Experimental) 7565.79 ksi 27934.41 ksi 14175.31 ksi 3320 ksi 10000 ksi 17400 psi Poisson's Ratio (v)(Experimental) n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Elastic Modulus (Theoretical) n/a 30000 ksi n/a n/a n/a 10000 ksi Poissons Ratio (Theoretical) 0.26 0.30 0.33 n/a n/a n/a

Specimen Grey 20 Cast Iron A36 Steel Al6061 (5 hours) Al6061 (Quenched) Al6061 (1 hour) Al6061 (As received)

Table 1: Elastic Constant properties

The elastic modulus which represents the stiffness off a material is only valid in the elastic region. It relates tensile stress and tensile strain in this region. The greater the value of this modulus, the stiffer the material. In order to deform a material with high stiffness, more stress is required to produce the strain required to deform a material. The modulus of elasticity was calculated using Equation 4. The material with highest modulus of elasticity is steel, which means that steel is the stiffest material of the provided materials. It can also be observed that the as received aluminum specimen has lower stiffness than the other aluminum specimens, which means that heat treating the aluminum specimens resulted in increase of their stiffness. This increase in modulus of elasticity resulted in more stress required to deform the specimens. Poissons ratio, which relates the longitudinal strain with the lateral strain using Equation 5, states that with elongation in the longitudinal axis or the tensile load axis there is a constriction in the lateral axis and these two can be related using a constant v in the elastic region. Poisson's ratio cannot be determined because the instantaneous diameter/radius was not calculated within the elastic region. Only the final diameter and length along with the initial diameter and length were calculated. Looking at Equation 5, it can be observed that in order to calculate experimentally calculate Poissons ratio instantaneous length and area is required. The theoretical values of the heat treated specimens are not available because these values have changed as a result of heat treatment and can only be found experimentally. The elastic modulus experimental value for steel differs about 6.8 % from its theoretical value and for aluminum it differs a lot, this maybe be due to human calculation error.

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Strength Properties These properties define the strength of the material. Stronger the metal, harder it is to deform it. The greater the strength more is its ability to resist deformation. Strength under tensile load can also be defined as the maximum stress a material can bore before it necking is apparent. The other definition could be the strength at which the material fractures and is rendered useless. The strength which is defined by a materials ability to resist deformation for all the specimens is provided in Table 2. Specimen Grey 20 Cast Iron A36 Steel Al6061 (5 hours) Al6061 (Quenched) Al6061 (1 hour) Al6061 (As received)
Table 2 : Strength Properties 1

Proportional Limit 11500 psi 67397.31 psi 8352.83 psi 9624 psi 3000 psi 46330 psi

Yield Strength (Experimental) 14000 psi 69037.42 psi 13153.57 psi 13370 psi 40000 psi 46330 psi

Yield Strength (Theoretical) n/a 32-36 ksi n/a n/a n/a 8 ksi

Proportionality limit of a material is the point on the stress-strain curve where its linearity ends and the non linear curve begins, that is its the point of transition from elastic region to plastic region of a material. It represents the onset of plastic deformation on a microscopic level and an accurate answer is hard to find though the stress-strain curve, but a close approximation can be made. The strongest metal or the metal that resists deformation the most and has the highest proportionality limit is steel. From the aluminum specimens the as received has the highest proportionality limit value, and on a microscopic level resists deformation the most. Yield strength was calculated using the 0.2% strain offset method. This method is applied to get the strength of the material at microscopic level. An example of this method is provided in Figure 6 below

Tensile Stress vs. Tensile Strain(Offset Method)

15000

Stress () (Psi)

10000 Stress-Strain Curve 5000 0 0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 Offset 1 Offset 2

Strain ( ) in/in
Figure 6: Offset method for Yield Strength of Al (6061) Q + 5 hrs

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If the stress in a specimen is greater than the yield strength then the material has permanently deformed and will not regain its geometric dimensions. From Table 2 it can be observed that steel has the highest yield strength from all the specimens provided. Which is accurate since its proportionality limit was also the highest and yield strength and proportionality limit represent the same property of a material. From the aluminum specimen the aluminum as received has the highest value of yield strength. It can be said that the aluminum as received was probably strain hardened before it was provided for tensile experiment, since the other heat treated aluminum have less strength that is they have become weaker which means they underwent recovery, recrystallization and grain growth. Aluminum that was 1 hour heat treated underwent recovery since its yield strength did not drop significantly. Whereas the 5 hours heat treated aluminum underwent recrystallization since the material became weaker and its yield strength decreased. A new set of strain free grains were formed for this specimen, which made it weaker. The maximum strength and the strength at fracture of a material are tabulated below in Table 3. These strengths are usually not used to represent the strength of a material, because by the time the stress strain curve has reached this point the material has deformed extensive or fractured and is rendered useless and therefore yield strength is used to define materials strength.
Ult. Tensile Strength (Experimental) 28400 psi 81519.53 psi 28024.25 psi 25297 psi 45000 psi 48752 psi Ult. Tensile Strength (Theoretical) 18 ksi 58 72.5 ksi n/a n/a n/a 45 ksi

Specimen Grey 20 Cast Iron A36 Steel Al6061 (5 hours) Al6061 (Quenched) Al6061 (1 hour) Al6061 (As received)
Table 3: Strength Properties 2

Fracture Strength 10095.18 psi 76565.34 psi 21693.76 psi 19201 psi 14000 psi 38749 psi

Ultimate tensile strength of a material is the maximum stress that a material can take before it starts necking. It is the point on the stress-strain curve which represents the onset of necking. It is the maximum point on the stress strain curve. For extremely brittle materials ultimate tensile strength is equal fracture strength since no necking occurs. For a ductile material fracture strength is less than ultimate tensile strength because of necking and it can be observed for aluminum specimens in Figure 5. Since it measures the strength of the material, the arrangement of specimens from highest tensile strength will be same as that of yield strength. This is because of the annealing heat treatment the aluminum specimens underwent.

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Ductile Properties Ductility of a material is defined as its ability to plastically deform before fracture. More the plastic deformation after necking greater is the ductility of the material. There are two ways of representing ductility of a material and both are represented in a tabular form in Table 4 below.
Specimen Grey 20 Cast Iron A36 Steel Al6061 (5 hours) Al6061 (Quenched) Al6061 (1 hour) Al6061 (As received)
Table 4: Ductile Properties.

Percent Elongation (%EL) Experimental 103.58% 5% 23.53% 12.23% 17% 5.85%

Reduction in Area (%RA) 2.97% 56.19% 57.80% 63.67% 30% 48.70%

Percent Elongation Theoretical n/a 23 % n/a n/a n/a 25 %

When a load is applied in the longitudinal direction there is increase in the specimens length. The greater the elongation more is the ductility of the specimen. This ductility property of a material is called percent elongation and is calculated using Equation 6. From Table 4 it can be observed that steel was the least ductile material that was provided for the specimen. Theoretically cast iron is suppose to be very brittle due to its carbon content and the presence of graphite in its microstructure, however this is not the case in the experimental value. This is a huge error which may have occurred while calculation or the length measurement of the specimen and hence it will be avoided while comparing the ductility of the specimens provided. Aluminum as received was the least ductile specimen of the provided aluminum specimens. This is because it was cold worked, which increased its strength but reduced its ductility. The heat treated aluminums have higher ductility since they underwent annealing heat treatments which increased their ductility but made them weaker and softer. With increase in length in the longitudinal direction there is a decrease is radius in the lateral direction resulting in reduction of area, greater the reduction greater is the ductility. This property of ductility is called percent reduction in area and is calculated using Equation 7. This reduction in area along with increase in length results in necking of the material and a brittle specimen will have really little reduction in area or increase in length and hence will have very little or no necking.

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Energy Capacity Properties Energy capacity properties of a material represent the ability of a material to absorb energy during elastic deformation or before fracture. The energy capacity properties of the material are provided below in a tabular form
Specimen Grey 20 Cast Iron A36 Steel Al6061 (5 hours) Al6061 (Quenched) Al6061 (1 hour) Al6061 (As received)
Table 5: Energy Capacity Properties

Resilience 14 psi 84.64 psi 28.82 psi 55.88 psi 3770 ksi 109.15 psi

Tensile Toughness 398.56 psi 1473.6 psi 2400.5 psi 2364 psi 26.4 ksi 2779.6 psi

Resilience is the capacity of a material to absorb energy when it is deformed elastically and then, upon unloading to have this energy recovered. It is represented by modulus of resilience, which is the strain energy per unit volume required to stress a material from an unloaded state until to point of yielding. It is the area under the elastic region of the stress strain curve. It can be calculated using Equation 8. Gray cast iron has the least resilience of the provided specimens, which means that it has the least capacity to absorb energy upon elastic deformation that is it will take longer for it to recover back to its original form after plastic deformation. Out of the provided aluminum specimen the 1 hour heat treated specimen has the highest resilience and will be the specimen that will be appropriate to use in spring application since it is not too stiff and yet has a high yield strength, which means that it takes less stress to elastically deform it but significant stress to permanently deform the specimen. Toughness is the ability of a material to absorb energy and plastically deform before fracturing. A tough metal has both high strength and high ductility. Toughness is calculated as the area under the entire curve and it can be approximated by using Equation 9. For a specimen to be tough it must display both strength and ductility. From the provided specimens cast iron has the least toughness of all the materials that were provided. This is because cast iron is not ductile and is a very brittle material. Even though it high strength its ductility is very low. From the provided aluminum specimens the 1 hour heat treated specimen has the highest toughness. Since heat treating it did not reduce its strength considerably and yet increase its ductility, it made the aluminum tougher when compared to the 5 hours heat treated one because that specimen when heat treated got really weak even though its ductility increased, its toughness decreased.

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True Stress-Strain Curve In order to fully understand deformation of a material the engineering stress-strain curve is not enough since it doesnt represent the actually deformation pattern of the material. It doesnt show work hardening in the material when necking occurs hence a true stress-strain curve is plotted, which shows increase in stress or work hardening after necking. True stress vs. strain curve of the given cast iron is provided below in Figure 7. Five other graphs of the similar kind were plotted for all six specimens.

True Stress vs. True Strain (Cast iron)

40000 35000 30000

Stress () Psi

25000 20000 15000 10000 5000 0 0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0.012 0.014 0.016 0.018 0.02

Strain () in/in
Figure 7: True Stress vs. True Strain of Cast Iron

When compared to the engineering stress-strain curve it can be seen that there is no downward curve after necking. The fracture strength for true stress-strain curve is the maximum point of the curve, whereas in tensile ultimate strength is the highest point on the engineering stress strain curve. Using this plot one can determine the true properties of the provided specimens which will differ from its engineering mechanical properties. Until the point of necking true stress and true strain were calculated using Equation 11 and 12 and after necking using Equation 13 and 14.

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True Properties The true strength properties of the material will differ from its engineering strength properties because the value for true stress and strain differs from engineering stress and strain and deformation curve after necking differs too. The true strength properties of the given materials are provided in Table 6. True Toughness of a material will defer from its engineering toughness because the strain at fracture will be different for true value and engineering value. It can be calculated approximately by using Equation 9 and can be calculated by taking the area under the curve of the true stress-strain curve.
Strain Hardening Coefficient, K n/a 96480 psi 79086.07 psi 5.0856 psi 59.4 ksi 18.29 ksi Strain Hardening Exponent n 0.2 0.68 0.35 0.5071 0.03 1.24 True True Fracture Toughness Strain 371 psi 0.0175 62104.74 0.825 psi 58254.3 0.866 psi 9804.01 1.013 psi 1.856 0.666 21400 psi 198075 psi

Specimen Grey 20 Cast Iron A36 Steel Al6061 (5 hours) Al6061 (Quenched) Al6061 (1 hour) Al6061 (As received)
Table 6: True Properties

Fracture Strength 37285.08 97277.45 66421.06 psi 577517.5 psi 19800 psi 42436.2 psi

True fracture Strength of the material represents the amount of stress it can take before fracturing. Unlike engineering fracture strength, the true fracture strength of a ductile material is greater than its ultimate tensile strength. It is the stress required to strain a material until it fractures and it can be calculated using Equation 13. True fracture strength is greatest for steel specimen, which was the same for engineering value. However this is not the case for heat treated aluminum specimens. The fracture strength is greatest for 5 hours heat treated aluminum since it has the most ductility and a ductile material has a higher potential to strain harden after necking. Which results in increase in the stress required to cause fracture since in a true value strain hardening after necking is taken in consideration. Strain hardening exponent is a value which measures the ability of a metal to strain harden, the larger the magnitude, the greater strain hardening for a given amount of plastic deformation. It can be approximated using the log (true stress) vs. log (true strain) graph, where it is the slope of the linear part of the graph. The strain hardening coefficient is another constant which is required along with the strain hardening exponent to relate the true stress and true strain after the necking. It can be obtained by taking the intercept of the linear part of the log-log graph. From the table it can be observed that aluminum as received has the most ability to strain harden for a certain amount of plastic deformation, while the 1 hour heat treated aluminum has the least
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ability to strain harden. The strain hardening coefficient of cast iron is not available because the value found was too small and it did not make sense. This error may have resulted from calculation and hence it is not taken into consideration in the results. An example of the log-log graph is provided below, it is the log-log graph of aluminum Q + 5hrs

True Stress vs. True Strain. Log-Log

y = 0.35x + 4.8981 5 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0

Stress () (Psi)

Strain () in/in
Figure 8: Log (True Stress) vs. Log (True Strain) of Al (6061) Q + 5hrs

Comparing the true toughness values with tensile engineering toughness it can be observed that for cast iron, the values are fairly similar. This is because cast iron does not strain harden upon necking rather it fractures without any extensive necking. For steel and other aluminum specimens the true toughness is different because of strain hardening after necking until the point of fracture. This strain hardening leads to different strain at fracture and hence different true toughness.

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Fracture Surfaces The fracture surfaces for steel A36 and cast iron under tension load are shown below.

Fibrous

45 shear

Figure 9: Steel Specimen

Figure 10: Cast Iron Specimen

The steel specimen fractured in a ductile manner when a tension load was applied to it. The cup and cone phenomena, which is the characteristic of a ductile fracture is evident in Figure 9. The reduction in area wasnt too large, it is still apparent. The surface appears fibrous and a 45 shear fracture with respect to the tensile load axis can be observed. The cast iron specimen fractured in a brittle manner. No necking or appreciable reduction in area can be observed in Figure 10. The fracture surface is perpendicular to the direction of applied stress. This flat surface is the characteristic of a brittle fracture and is exhibited by cast iron under tensile load. The fracture surfaces for aluminum as received, aluminum quenched, aluminum heat treated for 1 hr and for 5 hrs is shown below.

Figure 11: Aluminum (6061) As Received

Figure 12: Aluminum (6061) Quenched

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Figure 13: Aluminum (6061) Quenched and 1 hour Heat Treated

Figure 14: Aluminum (6061) Quenched and 5 hours Heat Treated

The aluminum specimens show the characteristics of a ductile fracture. Cup and cone phenomena can be observed in all four aluminum specimens. There is a reduction in cross sectional area, but it is different for different specimens, greater the reduction more is the ductility of the specimen. Just by observation that is without taking any measurements or doing any calculations the area reduction for aluminum quenched + 5 hours which can be observed in Figure 15 is the more ductile than the other aluminums tested.

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