MECH 6561 Assignment 2 Due on July 19th, 2016

1. The lower yield point for a certain plain carbon steel bar is found to be 135 MPa, while a second
bar of the same composition yields at 260 MPa. Metallographic analysis shows that the average
grain diameter is 50 m in the first bar and 8 m in the second bar.
(a) Predict the grain diameter needed to cause a lower yield point of 205 MPa.
(b) If the steel could be fabricated to form a stable grain structure of 500 nm grains, what
strength would be predicted?

2. Some alloys use a combination of strain hardening and precipitation hardening to achieve
particularly high strength levels. The usual order of strengthening is solution treatment,
quenching, cold working, and finally precipitation heat treatment. Why not reverse the order of
the cold working and precipitation heat treatment steps?

3. A thin-walled pressure vessel 1.25-cm thick originally contained a small semicircular flaw (radius
0.25-cm) located at the inner surface and oriented normal to the hoop stress direction. Repeated
pressure cycling enabled the crack to grow larger. If the fracture toughness of the material is
88MPa , the yield strength equal to 825 MPa, and the hoop stress equal to 275 MPa, would the
vessel leak before it ruptured?

4. Discuss the strengthening techniques that may be used to enhance the fatigue resistance

5. A mild steel plate is subjected to constant uniaxial fatigue loads to produce stresses varying from
= 160 MPa and = -20 MPa. The static properties of the steel are = 500 MPa, Su=
1/2
600 MPa, E= 207 GPa and Kc= 100 MPa m . If the plate contains an initial through thickness
edge crack of 0.5 mm, how many fatigue cycles will be required to break the plate?
Assume the relationship between crack growth and fracture toughness to be: