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Laboratory Report
Leila Ouellaj
Raquel Denning
Kenza Benomar
02/26/2018
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Introduction
The objective of this lab was to determine a relationship between hardness, strength and
ductility of a quenched specimen of steel, where hardness is the controlled parameter and the
strength and ductility represent the measured parameters. In this experiment, hardness tests
and tensile strengths were performed. Hardness is the ability of a material to resist indentation
or penetration. It is usually related to the material’s strength and ductility. Before the
experiment, the specimen was heat treated, more specifically it was quenched which means
rapid cooling of steel in oil where the carbon is strapped in the specimen. Generally, the faster
the steel is cooled, this will result in a steel with lower ductility and higher strength.
Procedure
The first part of the experiment consisted of performing a Rockwell Hardness test that uses
different scales to test a wide range of materials. In this case, the scale used is C, the one of
hard steels and metals. The specimen was placed in a plate in the machine and 6 hardness
measurements were taken on different spots of the specimen, then the mean was calculated
and recorded. The second part was to measure the diameter of the specimen and mark a 2”
segment in the middle portion of the specimen. Then, the tensile test was performed on the
specimen by increasing the load until the specimen failed and broke; the yield and ultimate
strengths were recorded. Finally, the new length of the 2” segment was measured to calculate
the % elongation, and the new diameter was measured to get the ductility.
Results/Analysis
The specimen was quenched only; the measurements were taken as follow:
Diameter Length
Initial 0.41 2
Final 0.28 2.5
% elongation 2.5 − 2
= 25%
2
Ductility 0.28 − 0.41
= −32%
0.28
For the hardness of the specimen, from the values got of the 6 trials (see appendix A), the
mean was 47.01, and from the table of the hardness test (see appendix B), the tensile strength
was 229ksi.
Experimentally, the tensile strength was 280ksi, which is 22% higher than expected but it is
acceptable. It is mostly due to the non-homogeneous nature of the specimen as well as the
calibration of the hardness tester plate which affected the mean of hardness test and the
expected yield strength as a consequence. In general, the tests showed a very small standard
deviation. The ultimate strength was around 318ksi. The graph of the tensile strength
experiment is as follow (from Appendix C) :
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35000
30000 y = 24.31x - 6535.4
R² = 0.8691
25000
20000
15000
Stress (psi)
10000
5000
0
0 500 1000 1500 2000
-5000
-10000
Load (lbf)
From the tensile test, the modulus of elasticity was found to be 28400ksi which is 2.1% close
to the expected value.
Conclusion
The results found experimentally suggest that the variability in the results of the hardness test
show that the material is non homogeneous. Furthermore, the results confirm that there’s a
relationship between the hardness, strength and ductility. The hardness test table shows that
the harder a material is, the higher its yield strength is. The specimen of steel in this case was
quenched only with an average strength of 47 which means a relatively high yield and
ultimate strength but a lower ductility.
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References
Kerry,H. (2018,February 26) Heat Traeatment Lab.
Yamamoto Scientific Tool Lab (2008), Standard Blocks for Hardness Catalogue.
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Appendix A
6
Appendix B
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Appendix C
Partner Data Point File
Start of Test Mon 26 Feb 2018
16:01:29
Time ( min Strain ( in/in Stress ( psi Position ( in
) ) ) ) Load ( lbf ) Zone
0 1.50E-05 7.6394 0.0035 6 Speed 1
0.00167 1.60E-05 7.6394 0.0035 6 Speed 1
0.00333 1.50E-05 7.6394 0.0035 6 Speed 1
0.005 1.60E-05 7.6394 0.0035 6 Speed 1
0.00667 1.60E-05 7.6394 0.0035 6 Speed 1
0.00833 1.60E-05 7.6394 0.0035 6 Speed 1
0.01 1.60E-05 6.3662 0.0035 5 Speed 1
0.01167 1.70E-05 7.6394 0.0035 6 Speed 1
0.01333 1.60E-05 7.6394 0.0035 6 Speed 1
0.015 1.80E-05 7.6394 0.0037 6 Speed 1
0.01667 1.70E-05 7.6394 0.0037 6 Speed 1
0.01833 1.70E-05 7.6394 0.0037 6 Speed 1
0.02 1.70E-05 7.6394 0.0037 6 Speed 1
0.02167 1.70E-05 7.6394 0.0037 6 Speed 1
0.02333 1.70E-05 7.6394 0.0037 6 Speed 1
0.025 1.80E-05 7.6394 0.0037 6 Speed 1
0.02667 1.70E-05 7.6394 0.0037 6 Speed 1
0.02833 1.70E-05 7.6394 0.0037 6 Speed 1
0.03 1.70E-05 7.6394 0.0037 6 Speed 1
0.03167 1.70E-05 7.6394 0.004 6 Speed 1
0.03333 1.70E-05 7.6394 0.004 6 Speed 1
0.035 1.80E-05 7.6394 0.004 6 Speed 1
0.03667 1.80E-05 7.6394 0.004 6 Speed 1
0.03833 1.90E-05 7.6394 0.004 6 Speed 1
0.04 1.80E-05 7.6394 0.004 6 Speed 1
0.04167 1.80E-05 7.6394 0.004 6 Speed 1
0.04333 1.80E-05 7.6394 0.004 6 Speed 1
0.045 1.80E-05 7.6394 0.004 6 Speed 1
0.04667 1.80E-05 7.6394 0.0043 6 Speed 1
0.04833 1.70E-05 7.6394 0.0043 6 Speed 1
0.05 1.80E-05 7.6394 0.0043 6 Speed 1
0.05167 1.80E-05 7.6394 0.0043 6 Speed 1
0.05333 1.80E-05 7.6394 0.0043 6 Speed 1
0.055 1.90E-05 7.6394 0.0043 6 Speed 1
0.05667 1.90E-05 7.6394 0.0043 6 Speed 1
0.05833 1.90E-05 7.6394 0.0043 6 Speed 1
0.06 1.90E-05 7.6394 0.0043 6 Speed 1
0.06167 1.80E-05 7.6394 0.0043 6 Speed 1
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