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Lecture 28:

Selection of Material
and Shape

Jayant Jain

Assistant Professor,
Department of Applied Mechanics,
IIT Delhi, Hauz Khas, 110016

Recap
Introduced the importance of shapes in materials
selection
Characterization of material shape: shape factor,
measure of efficiency of material usage, independent
of size and material
Derived shape factors:
Elastic bending of beams
Elastic twisting of shaft
Introduced Shape efficiency charts: contours of
shape factors, displays influence of shape on
performance

Determine the shape factor for the beam


that can give high failure load??

Onset of failure in bending

In bending, the stress is largest at the point ym in the


surface of the beam that lies furthest from the neutral
axis; it is:

When failure will take place in bending


Where does the shape enters in the problem of failure
of beam??
It enters through Z

Failure of beams in bending

Shape efficiency chart

Determine the shape factor for onset of


failure in twisting??

Failure in twisting

The moment Q for rectangular section = (b2h2)/(3h+1.8b)


This will generate another shape efficiency chart
What would be the shape efficiency chart in this case??

Material limit of shape factor


Manufacturing constraint
When we push materials to achieve higher shape
factor then local buckling and/or many such failure
phenomenon can arises (pushing many parameters
to the extreme)

Increase in buckling load of tubular column

Buckling load is proportional to area square


Increase in dia of tube keeping the mass constant would
result in higher buckling loads
With above wall thickness continuously decreases hence there
is limit to this: failure modes initiates

Why do we bother about shapes??


Shaping can be used to make structures lighter;
it is a way to achieve the same stiffness with less
material

Why limits??

Shaping could increase the value of I by 64X if steel was used in the
construction of a beam with a square cross-section; if wood was used,
the maximum increase would be 9X
Materials: engineering, science, processing and design, 2nd edition Copyright (c)2010 Michael Ashby, Hugh Shercliff, David Cebon

Microscopic or microstructural shape factors

Microscopic shape
So far we have seen that the macroscopic shapes can be
utilised to increase efficiency
Efficiency can be achieved in another way: through shape on
a small scale; microscopic or micro-structural shape
Microstructured material can be thought of as new materials:
It has density, strength etc. e.g. wood
The added efficiency is characterized by a set of microscopic
shape factors

Microscopic shape

Micro

Microscopic and Macroscopic shape

Think of this as a piece of wood


Total shape factor will be product of two

Many natural materials have microscopic


shape. Wood is just one example.
Bone, the stalks and leaves of plants and
the cuttle-bone of a squid all have
structures that give high stiffness at
low weight

Examples of micro-structured materials

Cells

Rings

Fibres

Plates

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