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Mechanical of Composite Materials
CH 3403E
College of Engineering
Petrochemical Eng. Department

Dr. Zinah J. Ahmed

2024-2025

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Properties of Materials
1. Introduction
When selecting a material for a product or application, it is important to ensure
that its properties will be adequate for the anticipated operating conditions. The
various requirements of each part or component must first be estimated or
determined. These requirements typically include mechanical characteristics
(strength, rigidity, resistance to fracture, the ability to withstand vibrations or
impacts) and physical characteristics (weight, electrical properties, appearance) as
well as features relating to the service environment (ability to operate under
extremes of temperature or to resist corrosion). Candidate materials must
possess the desired properties within their range of possibilities.
Much of a manufacturing education relates to an understanding of (1) the
structure of materials, (2) the properties of materials, (3) the processing of
materials, and (4) the performance of materials, and the interrelations between
these four factors. Most engineering materials do not have a single set of
properties but rather offer a range or spectrum of possibilities. To help evaluate
the properties of engineering materials, a variety of standard tests have been
developed, and data from these tests have been tabulated and made readily
available. The properties of engineering materials can be summarised in the
Figure 1-1.

• Mechanical properties of a material determine its behavior when subjected to

mechanical stress (examples on materials under stress are aluminum alloy from
which an airplane wing is constructed and the steel in an automobile axle).

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This chapter will begin to address the properties of engineering materials and
begin to provide the whys behind various properties. Chapters 2 will introduce
the common types of composite materials and their properties. Chapter 3 will
introduce terminology used for studying mechanics of composites.
1.1 MECHANICAL PROPERTIES (STATIC PROPERTIES)
When the forces that are applied to a material are constant, or nearly so, they
are said to be static. Since static loadings are observed in many applications, it is
important to characterize the behavior of materials under these conditions.

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Mechanical properties include: elastic modulus, ductility, hardness, etc.
• Two opposite objectives for the product in design and manufacturing:
– In design: the objective for the product is to withstand stresses without
significant change in geometry (dependent on elastic modulus and yield stress).
– In manufacturing: the objective is to alter the geometry by applying stresses
that exceed the yield strength of the material.
Note: it is helpful for the manufacturing engineer to appreciate the design
objective and for the designer to be aware of the manufacturing objective.
Stress-Strain relationships
• There are 3 static stresses to which materials can be subjected
– Tensile stresses: tend to stretch the material
– Compressive stresses: tend to squeeze the material.
– Shear stresses: tend to cause adjacent portions of the material to slide against
one another.

Fig. 1-2: Materials under static stresses; (a) Tensile, (b) compressive, and (c) shear (γ= tan θ).
Dashed lines: shape before deformation.

1- Tensile properties
• Tensile test: most common procedure for studying stress-strain relationships,
particularly for metals.

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• In the test, force is applied that pulls the material, tending to elongate it and
reduce its diameter.
• Standards by ASTM specify the preparation of the test specimen and the test
procedure.

Fig. 1-3: Tensile specimen and setup of the tensile test. (A0 & L0: cross sectional area and
length before test, length is measured between the gauge marks (gauge length)).

There are two different types of stress-strain curves: (1) Engineering stress-strain
and (2) True stress-strain. The first is more important in design and the second is
more important in manufacturing.

(1) Engineering Stress-Strain: stress and strain defined relative to the original area
and length of the specimen.

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Fig. 1-4: Progress of a tensile test: (1) beginning of test, no load, (2) uniform elongation and
reduction of A0 , (3) Continued elongation, max. load reached, (4) necking begins and load
decreases, (5) fracture, and (6) final length can be measured if pieces are put back together.

– Important in design as the designer assumes that the strains experienced by any
component will NOT significantly change its shape. The components are designed
to withstand the anticipated stresses encountered in service. Fig. 1-5 shows an
engineering stress-strain curve
for a metallic specimen.
• The engineering stress at any point on the curve is defined as the force divided
by the original area:

where σ: engineering stress, MPa (n / mm2), F = applied force, N, and A0 is the

original area of the specimen, mm2

• The engineering strain at any point in the test is given by:

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where e is engineering strain, mm / mm, L = length during the elongation at any

point, mm, and L0 is the gauge length, mm.
e: can be thought of as elongation per unit length.

Fig. 1-5: a typical engineering stress-strain curve for a metallic specimen.

• The stress-strain relationship in the figure has two regions, elastic and plastic
regions:
(1) In the elastic region: the relationship is linear and the material exhibits elastic
behavior by returning to its original length when the load is released. The
relationship is defined by Hooke’s law:

– As stress continues to increase, a point Y is reached, this is the point where

material begins to yield and called the yield point or yield strength (end of elastic
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region and transition to plastic region). Y is defined as the stress at 0.2% strain
offset (Y is not always clear on the figure).

• The stress-strain relationship in the figure has two regions, elastic and plastic
regions:
(2) In the plastic region: the relationship is no more linear and is no longer guided
by Hooke’s law. Further stressing will lead to further elongation in the specimen
but with faster rate, leading to a dramatic change in the slope.

– Elongation is accompanied by a uniform reduction in A0 so as to maintain a

constant volume.
– Finally, the applied load reaches a max. value. The engineering stress calculated
at this point is called the tensile (or ultimate) tensile strength (TS or UTS),
where TS = Fmax / Ao.
– After crossing the TS point, stress starts to decline where necking occurs; the
specimen during necking starts exhibiting localized elongation. The area at the
necking narrows down significantly until failure occurs. The stress calculated just
before the failure is called fracture stress.

• Ductility: the ability of a material to plastically strain without fracture. Ductility

is important in both design and manufacturing. This measure can be taken as
either elongation or reduction in area:

(1) Elongation and defined as:

(2) Area reduction and defined as:

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Tensile properties
• There are two different types of stress-strain curves: (1) Engineering stress-
strain and (2) True stress-strain. The first is more important in design and the
second is more important in manufacturing.

(2) True Stress-Strain: stress and strain defined relative to the instantaneous
(actual) area that becomes increasingly smaller as the test proceeds.
• The true stress at any point on the curve is defined as the force divided by the
instantaneous area:

where σ: true stress, MPa (n / mm2), F = applied force, N, and A is the

instantaneous area resisting the load, mm2.

Similarly, the true strain is a more realistic assessment of the instantaneous

elongation per unit length of the test specimen. This is done by dividing the total
elongation into small increments, calculating the engineering strain for each
increment of its starting length, and then adding up the strain values:

where L is the instantaneous length at any moment during deformation.

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The elastic region in the true stress-strain curve is almost similar to that of the
engineering stress-strain curve (can you guess why). Hence, the elastic region in
the true curve obeys Hooke’s Law.
• The progressive reduction in area in the true stress-strain curve is considered in
the plastic region. Hence, the stress in this region is higher as compared to that of
the engineering stress-strain curve.

Fig. 1-6: a typical true stress-strain curve for a metallic specimen.

Strain (work) hardening: a property that most metals exhibit during deformation.
It means that the metal is getting stronger as strain increases (see true stress-
strain curve).
• Strain hardening is important in manufacturing, especially in metal forming
processes.
• With plotting the true stress and true strain of the plastic region on a log-log
scale, the result would be a linear relationship as in fig. 1-7, and the relation
between true stress and true strain would then be:

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K (strength coefficient) = σ if ε = 1. n (strain hardening exponent) (slope), and

related to a metal’s tendency to work harden.
Flow curve equation. It captures a good approximation of the behavior of metals
in the plastic region, including their capacity for strain hardening.

Fig. 1-7: true stress-strain curve plotted on a log-log scale.

Note: Necking is closely related to strain hardening.

Necking begins when ε = n. A higher n means the metal can be strained further
before necking begins
Much information about elastic-plastic behavior is provided by the true stress-
strain diagram; as Hooke’s law governs the metal’s behavior in the elastic region
and the flow curve equation determines the behavior in the plastic region.

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2- Compression properties
Compression test: a test that applies a load that squeezes a cylindrical specimen
between two platens (see fig. 1-8). As the specimen is compressed, its height is
reduced and its cross-sectional area is increased. The engineering stress is defined
in the same way as in the tensile test; i.e.,

The engineering strain is defined as:

where h is the height of the specimen at any particular moment into the test
in mm, and h0 is the starting height in mm

Fig. 1-8: Compression test: (a) compression force applied to test specimen in (1) and (2)
resulting change in height; and (b) setup of the test.
Note that e will have a negative sign, as the height is decreased during compression. This sign is
neglected.

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Fig. 1-9 shows an engineering stress-strain curve. The curve has elastic and plastic
regions as before, but the shape of the plastic region is different from its tensile
test complement. Reasons:
– Compression causes A to increase, the load increases more rapidly.
– As the cylindrical specimen is compressed, friction at the surfaces in contact
with the platens prevent the cylinder from spreading. Additional energy is
consumed by friction during the test, resulting in a higher applied force.
– This will result in barreling of the specimen; the middle of the specimen is
permitted to increase in A much
more than at the ends.
– Important compression processes include forging, rolling and extrusion.

Fig. 1-9: Typical engineering Fig. 1-10: Barreling effect. (1) before and
(2) after compression.
stress-strain curve for a Compression

3- Hardness
• Hardness: is a measure of a material’s resistance to localized plastic
deformation (permanent indentation).
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• High hardness: material is resistant to scratching and wear.
•There is a good correlation between the material’s hardness and its strength.
•Hardness tests are performed more frequently than any other mechanical test
for several reasons:
They are simple and inexpensive-ordinarily no special specimen needs to be
prepared, and the testing apparatus is relatively inexpensive.
The test is nondestructive-the specimen is neither fractured nor excessively
deformed; a small indentation is the only deformation.
– Other mechanical properties often may be estimated from hardness data, such
as tensile strength.
Rockwell Hardness Tests
• The most common method used to measure hardness because they are so
simple to perform and require no special skills.
• Several indenters (steel ball, conical diamond), several loads can be utilized.
Thus, suitable for almost all metal alloys, including polymers.
• Indenter (1.6 or 3.2 mm in diameter) is pressed into the specimen. Load starts
at 10 kg to seat the indenter in the material, and then increased up to 150 kg. The
indenter penetrates into the material. The distance penetrated (d) is converted to
Rockwell hardness by the testing machine.

Fig. 1-11: Rockwell hardness testing technique.

Brinell Hardness Tests

• In Brinell tests, as in Rockwell measurements, a hard, spherical indenter (10 mm
in diameter) is forced into the surface of the metal to be tested.
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• Standard loads range between 500 and 3000 kg.
• The load is then divided into the indentation area to get Brinell Hardness
number.

Fig. 1-12: Brinell hardness testing technique.

Vickers Hardness Test

• Uses a pyramid-shaped diamond indenter (10 mm in diameter).
• Impressions made by this indenter are geometrically similar regardless of load.
• Value of load applied depends on the material’s hardness.
• Applied loads are much smaller than for Rockwell and Brinell, ranging between
1 and 1000 g.

Fig. 1-13: Vickers hardness testing technique.

Knoop Hardness Test

• Uses a pyramid-shaped diamond indenter with length to width ratio of 7:1.
• Applied loads are the smallest comparing to Rockwell, Brinell and Vickers
hardness.

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Fig. 1-14: Vickers hardness testing technique.

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES (DYNAMIC PROPERTIES) In many engineering

applications, products or components are subjected to various types of dynamic
loading. These may include (1) sudden impacts or loads that vary rapidly in
magnitude, (2) repeated cycles of loading and unloading, or (3) frequent changes
in the mode of loading, such as from tension to compression.

4- Effect of Temperature on Properties

• Temperature has a significant effect on nearly all properties of materials.
• Important in design: a designer need to know how the material properties at
the operating temperatures during service.
• Important in manufacturing: a manufacturer need to know how the properties
are affected by temperature during manufacturing.
• Generally speaking, the higher the temperature the higher the ductility and the
lower the strength (better formability at high temperatures).

Fig. 1-15: Effect of temp. on strength & ductility

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