The various engineering and true stress-strain properties

obtainable from a tension test are summarized by the

categorized listing of Table 1.1.
Note that the engineering fracture strain f and the %
elongation are only different ways of stating the same
quantity. Also, the %RA and f can be calculated from each
other.
Note that the strength coefficient H determines the
magnitude of the true stress in the large strain region of the
stress-strain curve, and so it is included as a measure of
strength.
The strain hardening exponent n is a measure of the rate of
strain hardening.

Table 1.1 Materials Properties Obtainable from Tension Tests

Category

Engineering Property

True Stress-Strain
Property

Elastic
Constants

Elastic modulus, E
Poisson's ratio,

Strength

Proportional limit, p
Yield strength, y
Ultimate tensile strength,
Engineering fracture strength,

True fracture strength, f

Strength coefficient, H or K

Ductility

Percent elongation, 100

Reduction in area, %RA

True fracture strain,

Energy Capacity Resilience, ur

Tensile toughness, ut

True toughness, u

Strain hardening Strain hardening

Ratio, /

Strain hardening
exponent, n

Modulus of Elasticity
The slope of the initial portion of the stress-strain curve is
the modulus of elasticity, or Youngs Modulus. The
modulus of elasticity is a measure of the stiffness of the
material. It is an important design value.
The modulus of elasticity is determined by the building
forces between atoms. It is only slightly affected by
alloying.

Measures of Yielding
Yielding defines the point at which plastic deformation begins.
This point may be difficult to determine in some materials, which
have gradual transition from elastic to plastic behavior. Therefore,
various criteria (depends on the sensitivity of the strain
measurements) are used to define yielding.
1. Proportional Limit - This is the highest stress at which stress is
directly proportional to strain.
2. Elastic Limit - This is the greatest stress the material can
withstand without any measurable permanent strain remaining on
the complete release of the load.
3. Yield Strength - This is the stress required to produce a small
(0.2% strain) specified amount of plastic deformation.

(a)

(a)

(b)

Figure 1-13. (a) Typical stress-strain (type II) behavior for a metal showing
elastic and plastic deformations, the proportional limit P, and the yield
strength y, as determined using the 0.002 strain offset method.
(b) Representative stress-strain (type IV) behavior found for some steels
demonstrating the yield drop (point) phenomenon.

Poissons Ratio
If the applied stress is uniaxial (only in the z direction), then x = y .
A parameter termed Poissons ratio v is defined as the ratio of the
lateral and axial strains, or

y
x
v

z
z

(1.8)
z

Figure 1-14.

l l lo
z

l
lo
d

d do
z

do
do

(1.9)
(1.10)

Measures of Ductility
Ductility is a qualitative, subjective property of a material. It
usually indicates the extent to which a metal can be deformed
without fracture.
Two methods one can obtain ductility from tension test are:
- the engineering strain at fracture, ef, known as elongation
where
L f Lo
(1.11)
ef

Lo

- the reduction in area at fracture, q

where
Ao A f

Ao

(1.12)

 The two properties are obtained by putting the fractured

specimen back together, and taking measurements of Lf and Af.
Both elongation and reduction of area are usually expressed as
a percentage.
The value of ef will depend on the gage length Lo in necked
specimens. The reduction in area is a better method of
reporting elongation, especially for ductile materials.

Toughness
The toughness of a material is its ability to absorb energy in the
plastic range. This property is particular desirable in parts such
as freight car couplings, gears, chains, and crane hooks.
One way of looking at toughness is to consider it as the total
area under the stress- strain curve. This area is an indication of
the amount of work per unit volume which can be done on the
material without causing it to rupture.

Figure 1-15 shows the stress strain curve for high and low
toughness materials.

Figure 1-15. Comparison of stress-strain curves for

high and low toughness materials.

 The area under the curve for ductile metals (stress-strain curve is
like that of the structural steel) can be approximated by either of
the following equations:
(1.13)
U T su e f
or
so su
UT
ef
2

(1.14)

The area under the curve for brittle materials (stress-strain curve
is sometimes assumed to be a parabola) can be given by:
2
U T su e f
3

(1.15)

All these relations are only approximately to the area under the
stress-strain curve.

Resilience
The ability of a material to absorb energy when deformed
elastically is called resilience. Otherwise called modulus of
resilience, it is the strain energy per unit volume required to stress
the material from zero stress to the yield stress o. The strain
energy per unit volume for uniaxial tension is

1
U o x ex
2

(1.16)

From the above definition the modulus of resilience is

1
1 so so
U R so eo so
2
2 E 2E

(1.17)

Resilience Continued. . .
The value can be obtained by integrating over the area under the
curve up to the yield point, and this is given as:

Ur

de

(1.18a)

Assuming a linear elastic region,

1
U r yey
2

(1.18b)

2
1
1 y y

U r y e y y
2
2 E 2E

(1.19)

True Stress-True Strain Curve

The relationship between the true stress, , and engineering
stress, s, is given by:

(e 1) s (e 1)
A
o

(1.20)

where P is the Load, and Ao is the original length

The derivation of Eq. (1.20) assumes both constancy of volume
and a homogenous distribution of strain along the gage length
of the tension specimen. Thus, Eq. (1.20) should only be used
until the onset of necking.

 It must be emphasized that the engineering stress-strain curve

does not give a true indication of the deformation characteristics
of a metal because it is based on the original dimensions of the
specimen.
In actuality, ductile materials continue to strain-harden up to
fracture, but engineering stress-strain curve gives a different
picture. The occurrence of necking in ductile materials leads to a
drop in load and engineering stress required to continue
deformation, once the maximum load is exceeded.
An assessment of the true stress-true strain curve provides a
realistic characteristic of the material.

 Beyond maximum load the true stress should be determined

from actual measurements of load and cross-sectional area.

P
A

(1.21)

The true strain may be determined from the engineering or

conventional strain e by

ln(e 1)

(1.22)

This equation is applicable only to the onset of necking for the

reasons discussed above.

 Beyond maximum load the true strain should be based on

actual area or diameter measurements.
2
Ao
Do
( pi / 4) Do
ln
ln

2
ln
A
( pi / 4) D 2
D

(1.23)

Figure 1-16 compares the true-stress true-strain curve for AISI

4140 hot-rolled steel with its corresponding engineering
stress-strain curve.

Figure 1-17. True stress-strain and engineering stress-strain

curves for AISI 4140 hot-rolled steel

 The annealed structure is ductile, but has low yield stress.

The ultimate tensile stresses (the maximum engineering
stresses) are marked by arrows. After these points, plastic
deformation becomes localized (called necking), and the
engineering stresses drop because of the localized
reduction in cross-sectional area.

However, the true stress continues to rise because the

cross-sectional area decreases and the material workhardens in the neck region. The true-stress-true-strain
curves are obtained by converting the tensile stress and its
corresponding strain into true values and extending the
curve.

Instability in Tension
Necking or localized deformation begins at maximum load, where
the increase in stress due to decrease in the cross-sectional area of
the specimen becomes greater than the increase in the load-carrying
ability of the metal due to strain hardening. This conditions of
instability leading to localized deformation is defined by the
condition dP = 0.

P A

dP dA Ad 0

(1.24)

From the constancy-of-volume relationship,

V Ao Lo AL

dL
dA
d
L
A

(1.25)

From the instability condition,

dA d

(1.26a)

so that at a point of tensile instability

d

(1.26b)

The necking criterion can be expressed more explicitly if engineering

strain is used. Starting with Eq. (1.26b )
d d de d dL / Lo d

( L e)
d de d de dL / L
de

d
d

1 e

(1.27)

We know that the volume V is constant in plastic deformation:

V Ao Lo AL
Consequently,

Ao Lo
L

In what follows, we use the subscripts e and for engineering

(nominal) and true stresses and strains, respectively. We have
L Lo
Ao
e

1
Lo
A

P Ao
Ao

1 e
e
A P
A

 1 e e

(1.28)

On the other hand, the incremental longitudinal true strain is

defined as

dL

(1.29)

For extended deformation, integration is required:

L
L

dL
L
ln
L
Lo

(1.30)

exp

Lo

(1.31)

On substituting, we get

P

exp
Ao

(1.32)

True Stress at Maximum Load

su

and

Pmax

Au

Pmax
Ao

Ao
u ln
Au

Eliminating Pmax yields

Ao
u su
Au

and

u su e

(1.29)

True Fracture Strain

The true fracture strain, f , is the true strain based of the original
area Ao and the area after fracture Af.

f ln

Ao
Af

(1.30)

For cylindrical tensile specimens the reduction of area q is related

to the true fracture strain by the relationship
ef

1
ln
1 q

(1.31)