Elasticity

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Discussion
basics
Elasticity is the property of solid materials to return to their original shape and size
after the forces deforming them have been removed. Recall Hooke's law first
stated formally by Robert Hooke inThe True Theory of Elasticity or
Springiness (1676)
ut tensio, sic vis
which can be translated literally into
As extension, so force.
or translated formally into
Extension is directly proportional to force.
Most likely we'd replace the word "extension" with the symbol (x), "force" with the
symbol (F), and "is directly proportional to" with an equals sign (=) and a constant of
proportionality (k), then, to show that the springy object was trying to return to its
original state, we'd add a negative sign (). In other words, we'd write the
equation
F = k x
This is Hooke's law for a spring a simple object that's essentially one-dimensional.
Hooke's law can be generalized to
Stress is proportional to strain.
where strain refers to a change in some spatial dimension (length, angle, or volume)
compared to its original value and stress refers to the cause of the change (a force
applied to a surface).
The coefficient that relates a particular type of stress to the strain that results is
called anelastic modulus (plural, moduli). Elastic moduli are properties of materials,
not objects. There are three basic types of stress and three associated moduli.
Elastic moduli
modulus (symbols)
stress
(symbol)
strain
(symbol)
configuration
change
young's
(E or Y)
normal to
opposite faces ()
length
= /0
longer and thinner
or shorter and fatter
shear
(G or S)
tangential to
opposite faces ()
tangent
= x/y
rectangles become
parallelograms
bulk
(K or B)
normal to all faces,
pressure (P)
volume
= V/V0
volume changes
but shape does not
The international standard symbols for the moduli are derived from appropriate non-
English words E for lasticit (French for elasticity), G for glissement (French for
slipping), and K forkompression (German for compression). Some American
textbooks have decided to break with tradition and use the first letter of each
modulus in English Y for Young's, S for shear, and B for bulk.
Stresses on solids are always described as a force divided by an area. The direction
of the forces may change, but the units do not. The SI unit of stress is the newton
per square meter, which is given the special name pascal in honor
of Blaise Pascal (16231662) the French mathematician (Pascal's triangle), physicist
(Pascal's principle), inventor (Pascal's calculator), and philosopher (Pascal's wager).


Pa =
N

m
2

Strains are always unitless.
Strain units
type of strain name of symbol definition unit
linear epsilon = /0 m/m = 1
shear gamma = x/y m/m = 1
volume theta = V/V0
m
3
/m
3
= 1
Which means that pascal is also the SI unit for all three moduli.
stress = modulus strain
[ Pa = Pa 1 ]
failure is an option
elastic limit, yield strength
breaking point, ultimate strength
young's modulus
Imagine a piece of dough. Stretch it. It gets longer and thinner. Squash it. It gets
shorter and fatter. Now imagine a piece of granite. Try the same mental experiment.
The change in shape must surely occur, but to the unaided eye it's imperceptible.
Some materials stretch and squash quite easily. Some do not.
The quantity that describes a material's response to stresses applied normal to
opposite faces is called Young's modulus in honor of the British
scientist Thomas Young (17731829). Young was the first person to define work as
the force displacement product, the first to use the word energy in its modern sense,
and the first to show that light is a wave. He was not the first to quantify the
resistance of materials to tension and compression, but he became the most famous
early proponent of the modulus that now bears his name. Young didn't name the
modulus after himself. He called it the elastic modulus, but this term should be used
moduli in general as was mentioned above. The symbol for Young's modulus is
usually E from the French word lasticit (elasticity) but some prefer Y in honor of
the man himself.
Young's modulus is defined for all shapes and sizes by the same rule, but for
convenience sake let's imagine a rod of length 0 and cross sectional area A being
stretched by a force F to a new length0 + .
[slide]
Tensile stress is the outward normal force per area ( = F/A) and tensile strain is the
fractional increase in length of the rod ( = /0). The proportionality constant that
relates these two quantities together is the ratio of tensile stress to tensile strain
Young's modulus.
F
= E

A 0
= E
The same relation holds for forces in the opposite direction; that is, a strain that tries
to shorten an object.
[slide]
Replace the adjective tensile with compressive. The normal force per area directed
inward ( = F/A) is called the compressive stress and the fractional decrease in
length ( = /0) is called thecompressive strain. This makes Young's modulus the
ratio of compressive stress to compressive strain. An adjective may have changed,
but the mathematical description did not.
F
= E

A 0
= E
The SI units of Young's modulus is the pascal [Pa]


N
= Pa
m

A m
but for most materials the gigapascal is more appropriate [GPa].
1 GPa = 10
9
Pa
Extension and contraction are opposite types of linear strain. Extension means to get
longer. Contraction means to get shorter. Whenever a material is extended or
contracted by a linear stress in one direction (the x axis, for example), the reverse
strain usually takes place in the perpendicular directions (the y and z axes). The
direction of a linear stress is called the axial direction. All the directions that are
perpendicular to this are called the transverse directions.
An axial extension is usually accompanied by a transverse contraction. Stretching a
piece of dough makes it get thinner as well as longer. This is the way Chinese hand-
pulled noodles (, la mian) are made. Likewise, an axial contraction is usually
accompanied by a transverse extension. Flattening a piece of dough makes it get
wider and longer as well as thinner. This is the way Italian fresh pasta is made.
The ratio of transverse strain to axial strain is known as Poisson's ratio (). A
negative sign is needed to show that the changes are usually of opposite type (+
extension, vs. contraction). If we keep with the tradition that x is the axial direction
and y and z are the transverse directions then Poisson's ratio can be written as
=
y/y0
=
z/z0
x/x0 x/x0
The symbol that looks unfortunately like the Latin letter v (vee) is actually the Greek
letter (nu). It is related to the Latin letter n (en).
v n
Latin "vee" velocity
Greek "nu" Poisson's
ratio
Latin "en" number
Typical values for Poisson's ratio range from 0 to 0.5. Cork is an example of a
material with a very low Poisson's ratio (nearly zero). When a cork is pushed into a
wine bottle, it gets shorter but not thicker. (There is some axial strain, but barely any
transverse strain.) Rubber on the other hand, has a very high Poisson's ratio (nearly
0.5). When a rubber stopper is pushed into a chemical flask, the stopper gets shorter
by some amount and wider by nearly half that amount. (The axial strain is
accompanied by a large transverse strain.) Corks can be pounded into bottles with a
mallet. Pounding a rubber stopper into a glass flask with a mallet is likely to end in
disaster.
Surprisingly, negative Poisson's ratios are also possible. Such materials are said to
be auxetic. They grow larger in the transverse direction when stretched and smaller
when compressed. Most auxetic materials are polymers with a crumpled, foamy
structure. Pulling the foam causes the crumples to unfold and the whole network
expands in the transverse direction.
Uniaxial properties of selected materials (GPa)
material
young's
modulus
compressive
strength
tensile
strength
aluminum 70 0.040
carrot, fresh 0.00136 0.000504
carrot, stored 1 week 0.00103 0.000507
concrete 17 0.021 0.0021
concrete, high strength 30 0.040
copper 130 0.22
bone, compact 18 0.17 0.12
bone, spongy 76 0.0022
brass 110 0.25
diamond 1100
glass 5090 0.050
granite 52 0.145 0.0048
gold 74
iron 210
marble 0.015
marshmallow 0.000029
nickel 170
nylon 24 0.075
oak 11 0.059 0.12
plastic, PET 2.02.7 0.055
plastic, HDPE 0.80 0.015
plastic, PVC
plastic, LDPE
plastic, PP 1.52.0 0.040
plastic, PS 3.03.5 0.040
plutonium 97
porcelain 0.55 0.0055
silicon 110
silicon carbide 450
steel, stainless 0.86
steel, structural 200 0.40 0.83
steel, high strength 0.76
rubber 0.010.10 0.0021
tin 47
titanium 120
tungsten 410
tungsten carbide 500
uranium 170
shear modulus
A force applied tangentially (or transversely or laterally) to the face of an object is
called a shear stress. The deformation that results is called shear strain. Applying a
shear stress to one face of a rectangular box slides that face in a direction parallel to
the opposite face and changes the adjacent faces from rectangles to parallelograms.
[slide]
The coefficient that relates shear stress ( = F/A) to shear strain ( = x/y) is called
theshear modulus or the rigidity modulus. It is usually represented by the
symbol G from the French word glissement (slipping) although some like to
use S from the English word shear instead.
F
= G
x
A y
= G
Fluids (liquids, gases, and plasmas) cannot resist a shear stress. They flow rather
than deform. The quantity that describes how fluids flow in response to shear
stresses is called viscosity and is dealt with elsewhere in this book.
The inability to shear also means fluids are opaque to transverse waves like
the secondary waves of an earthquake (also known as shear waves or s waves).
The liquid outer core of the earth was discovered by the s wave shadow it cast on
seismometer networks. Types of waves are discussed elsewhere in this book.
Fluids can resist a normal stress. This means that liquids and gases are transparent
to theprimary waves of an earthquake (also known as pressure waves or p waves).
The solid inner core of the earth was detected in p wave signals that made it all the
way from one side of the earth through the liquid outer core to the other side.
P waves are also audible. You can hear them when they transmit into the air.
The resistance of a material to a normal stress is described by the bulk modulus,
which is the next topic in this section.
Shear properties of selected materials (GPa)
material shear shear
modulus strength
aluminum
concrete
concrete, high strength
copper
bone, compact
bone, spongy
brass
diamond
glass
granite
gold
iron
marble
marshmallow
nickel
nylon
oak
plastic, PET
plastic, HDPE
plastic, PVC
plastic, LDPE
plastic, PP
plastic, PS
plutonium
porcelain
silicon
silicon carbide
steel, stainless
steel, structural
steel, high strength
rubber
tin
titanium
tungsten
tungsten carbide
uranium
bulk modulus
A force applied uniformly over the surface of an object will compress it uniformly.
This changes the volume of the object without changing its shape.
[slide]
The stress in this case is simply described as a pressure (P = F/A). The
resulting volume strain is measured by the fractional change in volume ( = V/V0).
The coefficient that relates stress to strain under uniform compression is known as
the bulk modulus or compression modulus. Its traditional symbol is K from the
German word kompression (compression) but some like to use Bfrom the English
word bulk which is another word for volume.
F
= K
V
A V0
P =
The bulk modulus is a property of materials in any phase but it is more common to
discuss the bulk modulus for solids than other materials. Gases have a bulk modulus
that varies with initial pressure, which makes it more of a subject for
thermodynamics, in particular, the gas laws.
The reciprocal of bulk modulus is called compressibility. Its symbol is usually (beta)
but some people prefer (kappa). A material with a high compressibility experiences
a large volume change when pressure is applied.
=
1
K
The SI unit of compressibility is the inverse pascal [Pa
1
].
Bulk properties of selected materials (GPa)
material
bulk
modulus
material
bulk
modulus
aluminum plastic, PET
carrot, fresh plastic, HDPE
carrot, stored 1 week plastic, PVC
concrete plastic, LDPE
concrete, high strength plastic, PP
copper plastic, PS
bone, compact plutonium
bone, spongy porcelain
brass silicon
diamond silicon carbide
glass steel, stainless
granite steel, structural
gold steel, high strength
iron rubber
marble tin
marshmallow titanium
nickel tungsten
nylon tungsten carbide
oak uranium
scaling
no gigantic animals
surface area is proportional to length
2

mass and volume is proportional to length
3

BMR is proportional to mass
3/4

tension is proportional to length (Hooke's law)
pressure is proportional to length
2
(stomach, bladder stretching)
surface tension
=
F

T ~ 300 K unless otherwise indicated
material surface tension (N/m)
alcohol, ethyl (grain) 223.2
alcohol, isopropyl (15 ) 217.9
alcohol, methyl (wood) 225.5
water, pure 728
water, soapy
250450Surface tension for selected
liquids

Capillarity
The average diameter of the capillaries is about 20 m, although some are
only 5 m in diameter. there are about 190 km of capillaries in 1 kg of muscle,
the surface area of the capillaries in 1 kg of muscle is about 12 m
2
.