TENSION TEST ON MILD STEEL

OBJECT
To determine the strength and other elastic and non-elastic
properties of mild steel, to observe the behaviour of the material
under load and to study the fracture as listed below:

a)
b)
c)

1) Elastic strength in tension:

a) Modulus of elasticity
2)
Non-elastic properties:
Upper yield point stress
Lower yield point stress
Breaking stress
3)
Ductility:
a) Percentage elongation
b) Percentage reduction in area
4)
Nature of fracture
INTRODUCTION AND THEORY
A brief description of the properties of the material is given
below:
Stress Strain diagram for Mild Steel in tension:

P=
E=
Yu =
YL =
U=
M=

Proportional limit
Elastic limit
Upper yield point
Lower yield point
Ultimate strength
Breaking stress

Elasticity

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Elasticity is the property of a material by virtue of which
deformation caused by stress disappears upon removal of stress.
The elastic limit is defined as the greatest stress that a Permanent
set material is capable of developing without permanent set.
Beyond the elastic limit, if the specimen is unloaded, then the
extension (or strain) produced does not completely vanish. This
extension remaining in the specimen is called the permanent set.
Ductility
Ductility is a property whereby a material is rolled or drawn
out by tension into a smaller section.
Plasticity
Plasticity is the property of a material in which any stress
produces a permanent strain.
Proportional limit
The proportional limit is defined as the greatest stress that a
material is capable of developing without deviation from the
straight-line proportionality between stress and strain.
Yield strength
When the load is increased beyond the proportional limit, a
point is reached when the specimen suddenly starts to deform at a
much faster rate without any increase in the load. The highest value
of the stress after which this sudden extension occurs is known as
the upper yield point (Yu). The lower yield point (YL) is the stress
which produces a considerable amount of elongation. The upper
yield point is dependent upon the size and shape of the specimen,
its surface finish and the rate of loading. In routine testing, it is the
lower yield point which is measured.
Ultimate strength
Ultimate strength is the maximum stress the material can
develop, and is computed on the basis of the maximum load carried
by the test piece divided by the original area of cross-section.
Youngs modulus of Elasticity
Under simple stress within the proportional limit, the ratio of
stress to strain is called the modulus of elasticity.

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Breaking stress
Breaking stress is defined as breaking load divided by original
area of cross-section.
All these stresses are based on original cross-sectional area
(engineering stresses).
STUDY OF NATURE OF FRACTURE
In static tension tests, brittle materials exhibit transverse
fracture. A highly ductile material like gold would reduce to a point.
Mild steel has a typical Cup and Cone fracture, which makes it
imperfectly ductile. The base of the cup suggests the magnitude of
brittleness and the conical fracture, the ductility.
DUCTILITY: Appropriate gauge length is to be chosen. The code
requirement is that the fracture occurs at a distance not less than
1/3rd of the gauge length for L O = 4 SO and 5.65 SO, 1/4th for LO =
8.16 SO and 1/5th for LO = 11.3 SO. Use 5.65 SO as gauge length
LO.
(LO = Lauge length, SO = Area of Cross-section)

Ao A
100%
A
o
Percentage Reduction in area: =
Ao = Original area
A = Final area

L Lo
100%
= Lo

PercentageElongation:

L = Final length between gauge marks.

EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP
Universal Testing Machine with options to use any of the three
scales 0-10t, 0- Universal Testing M/C ZD-100. This is a 100 tonne
capacity 40t and 0-100t. With alteration of parts and addition of
fixtures it is possible to take up tension tests, compression tests,
shear tests and bending testswith this machine.
The machine works on the hydraulic principle, the system
consists of an electrically operated high pressure pumping unit
pumping oil under pressure to the working cylinder from where the
force is transmitted to the specimen through cross-heads and
upright columns.
The delivery of oil from the pump can be
3

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regulated by a valve controlled by a graduated hand wheel. This
also serves as the valve for the return of oil from the working
cylinder back to the reservoir. The discharge of oil to the working
cylinder can further be controlled by the load maintainer.It consists
of a box connected to the pressure pipe through a spring loaded
valve. The tension of the spring can be changed by the hand wheel,
or electrically by means of a geared D.C. motor. When the oil
pressure in the working cylinder is sufficient, so as to lift the valve,
oil starts flowing by passing to the reservoir through this box.
With suitable adjustment of the discharge valve and the load
maintainer the load can be maintained steady and by controlling the
speed of the D.C. motor (or by hand wheel), the rate of loading can
be controlled. The load can be released by reversing the direction.
The load is measured by a torsion dynamometer.
The
pressure in the working cylinder is communicated to the measuring
cylinder and piston which deflects a lever rigidly connected to the
torsion bar and hence is communicated to the load indicating
pointer through the lever, rack and toothed wheel.
The machine has three ranges of operation. Appropriate scale
is chosen. The three measuring cylinders in the dynamometer
system correspond to these three ranges.
A suction pump driven by the pumping set sucks the leakage
from the main measuring cylinders and returns this to the main
reservoir.
The machine is equipped with autograph recording device for
load deformation records.
PROCEDURE
1)

Draw the neat sketch of the machine.

2)

The dimensions of the specimen are to be measured.

Compute the cross-sectional area. The appropriate gauge
length is then computed. The gauge length is to be
divided into several equal parts.

3)

The rate of loading before yield point should not exceed

0.5 Kg/mm2. In the plastic zone it should not exceed 40%
of the gauge length (IS 1608-1960).

4)

The extensometer is to be used with a selected gauge

length value to measure extension.

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5)

Record the extensometer readings with corresponding

loads. Obtain the stress and strain corresponding to each
load.

6)

Stress-strain diagram within elastic limit is to be plotted to

compute Youngs modulus value.

7)

Record the upper yield load, lower yield load, ultimate load
and breaking load.

8)

Observe the nature of fracture.

OBSERVATIONS AND COMPUTATION TABLE

Total length of the specimen (mms) =
Length between shoulders (mms)
Diameter of ends (mms)

=
=

Diameter of reduced section (mms)

Area of reduced section, So (mm2)

Gauge length, Lo = 5.65

Ao

(mms)

=
=

Elongated gauge length, L (mms)

Elongation in gauge length (mms)

= L Lo =

Distance of fracture from the nearest gauge mark (mms) =

Diameter of the fractured section (mms) =
Area of fractured section, Su (mm2)
Dial gauge
reading

Loa
d
(N)

Lef
t

Righ
t

Mea
n

Extensio
n mm
(meanx

=
Strai

Stress

Modulus of

elasticity, E

leastcou

load/

nt)

area

stress/strai

(N/mm

n (N/mm2)

Extensome
ter Length
(mm)

L Lo
100%
L
o
Percentage elongation in length=
Ao A
100%
A
o
Percentage reduction in area
=
PRECAUTIONS

1)

Care should be taken to have an appropriate gauge length of

the specimen.

2)

Care should be taken so that the rate of loading before yield

point should not exceed 1/2 Kgf/mm2.

3)

Maximum care is to be taken to set the extensometer correctly

to the specimen.

QUESTIONNAIRE
1) Explain the phenomenon causing yielding in mild
steel.
2) What is necking?When is it observed?
3) What is strain hardening?
your test?

Did you observe it in

4) What are Leuders lines? Did you observe these in

your test?
5) What would be the probable stress-strain diagram
for a brittle material like cast iron?
6) What is proof stress? How do you determine this?
7) Differentiate between ductility and malleability.
8) What is the relation between nominal and actual
stress for loads beyond yield point?
9) Why it is necessary to state the gauge length
while reporting the percentage of elongation?