CE212 Introduction to Engineering Design Fall 2009

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Whelan

Laboratory #1: Tensile Testing of Steel Wire and Stress-Strain Diagrams

Laboratory Objective: Determine the material properties for the steel wire to be used as tension
members in the truss design for the course project. This week’s laboratory is geared toward
developing the stress-strain diagram for the general carbon steel wire from which we can
estimate the yield strength, ultimate strength, and elastic modulus for use in the design process.

Test Equipment and Instrumentation:

The test setup is shown below and consists of an automated load frame with a load cell to
measure the applied loads on the specimen and a displacement transducer to measure the
elongation of the specimen during loading. The load cell and displacement transducer are
electro-mechanical sensors that output voltages that correspond to changes in the applied load or
position. Electronics are setup to convert the voltages to digital readings and log these numbers
in the computer. Recorded data from the tests will be promptly posted to the course website for
analysis and presentation in the laboratory report.

Procedure:
1. Prepare two tensile samples as instructed by measuring and marking the specimen to length.

2. The model bridges will use ring terminals to make clean connections between members in the
truss. The ends of tensile members are wrapped securely around the ring terminals and then the
terminals are crimped to prevent pull-out of the wires. This process will be demonstrated in the
lab. **Take special note of this procedure since this is how you will assemble tensile members
for your bridge**.

3. Measure the length of the specimen between the terminals. This length will be needed to
calculate the strain, as it is the initial length of the specimen.

4. Place the specimen in the load frame grips and secure the ring terminal using the threaded
connection. The lead screw may need to be raised or lowered to fit the specimen length. The
CE212 Introduction to Engineering Design Fall 2009
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Whelan

specimen should have zero load on it when placed in the load frame. Adjust the displacement
transducer if necessary to allow for travel of the inner rod during loading.

5. Load the specimen in tension until failure. You can watch on the computer screen how the
load changes with elongation. You will need to replicate a similar plot in your report.

6. Remove the specimen following failure and examine the local region of failure under the
microscope. Sketch a representation of what the two ends look like.

Calculations:
Each group is responsible for calculating and reporting by Oct. 26th the:
a) yield strength (ksi)
b) ultimate strength (ksi), and
c) Elastic Modulus (E) (ksi)
for the specimens tested. This data will be used by all groups to statistically analyze the results
in the lab report.
NOTE: This data is due on Oct. 26th, but the final lab report will combine both this week’s
lab and next week’s lab. The final lab report will be due IN WORKSHOP on the week of
11/2. The lab report guidelines and grading criteria will be posted on the website.

To accomplish this, you will need to:

1) Calculate the cross-sectional area of the wire using the specified diameter.

2) Develop a stress-strain diagram for each test (stress on the y-axis and strain on the x-axis).
Watch your units and make sure you have stress calculated in ksi (kips per square inch).
Remember that a “kip” is 1000lb. Note also that the test data may have an initial offset that will
need to be subtracted from all of the measurements so that at the start of loading there is 0 stress
and 0 strain. We can calculate the axial stress during loading by dividing the measured tensile
force (load) by the cross-sectional area. The axial strain can be calculated by dividing the
change in length (elongation) by the initial specimen length. The initial specimen length should
be the initial length between the ring terminals.

3) Determine the Elastic Modulus (E) by fitting a linear curve to only the initial region of the
data that is straight (prior to yielding). The elastic modulus is the slope of this line:

4) The yield strength shall be determined through the offset yield stress method using a value of
0.002 strain offset and the Elastic modulus determined in step 3 to draw a line to the stress-strain
curve. Where the line intercepts the curve is the yield stress. This is the same method shown in
class and used in homework assignment #1.

5) The ultimate strength is the maximum tensile stress exhibited by the specimen before failure.