EXPERIMENT 6

Compressive Stress
(Universal Testing Machine)

Submitted by:

Castro, Ethan Zachary G.

Group 4
INTRODUCTION
The importance of the science of materials used in structures cannot be denied. Different stresses are
studied in this paper. Tensile, Compressive and Shear are the different kind of stresses. Tensile stress, shown in
Figure 1, is a force acting perpendicular to the area of contact. Compressive stress is the opposite of tensile
stress wherein the force applied is facing the area of contact, shown in Figure 2.

Figure 1: Tensile Stress

Figure 2: Compressive Stress

When a specimen of material is loaded in such a way that it extends or lengthens, it is said to be in
tension whereas tensile stress is applied. On the other hand if the material compresses or shortens it is said to be
in compression whereas compressive stress is applied. On an atomic level, the molecules or atoms are forced
apart under tensile stress and compressive stress they are forced together making the material more compact and
denser. Since atoms in solids always try to find an equilibrium position, and distance between other atoms,
forces arise throughout the entire material which oppose both tension and compression. The phenomena
prevailing on an atomic level are therefore similar.
The third type of stress acts perpendicular to the area. Figure 3 shows how the object reacts to the force
applied. Shear stress decreases as the force moves farther away from the area of contact, creating a gradient.

Figure 3: Shear Stress

 The strain is the relative change in length under applied stress; positive strain characterizes an object
under tension load which tends to lengthen it, and a compressive stress that shortens an object gives negative
strain. Tension tends to pull small sideways deflections back into alignment, while compression tends to
amplify such deflection into buckling.
Stress is defined by the force acting on a unit area and internal forces acting within a member caused by
an applied load. The types of stresses resulting from different force orientation are tensile stress, compressive
stress and shear stress. A particular kind of stress which is used in the experiment is compressive stress.

Compressive stress is the stress on materials that leads to a smaller volume. By compressive stress the
material is under compression. Compressive stress to bars, columns, etc. leads to shortening. One can increase
the compressive stress until compressive strength is reached. Then materials will react with ductile behavior
(most metals, some soils and plastics) or with fracture in case of brittle materials.

Figure 4: Typical diagram of a Universal Testing Machine

Compressive strength is measured on materials, components, and structures. In mechanics, compression

is the application of balanced inward (pushing) forces to different points on a material or structure, that is,
forces with no net sum or torque directed so as to reduce its size in one or more directions. It is contrasted with
tension or traction, the application of balanced outward (pulling) forces; and with shearing forces, directed so as
to displace layers of the material parallel to each other. The compressive strength of materials and structures is
an important engineering consideration.
This experiment aims to determine the maximum allowable compressive stress that the materials in
subject can tolerate. The maximum stress refers to the stress in which the object can undergo without breaking.
METHODOLOGY
The equipment used in this experiment is the Universal Testing Machine (UTM) shown in Figure 5. The
materials tested for the compressive stress are ceramic tiles, a block of wood and a high-density plastic
container. The group used a high-density plastic container as the sample material. It was placed standing-up in
the machine. Prior to this the surface area of the plastic container that is in contact with the upper metal slab was
measured and recorded on table of data and results. A plate has been placed below the material for stability
purposes. For safety, a protective barrier was placed in the front of the machine. Using the computer connected
for the operation of the UTM, values of area of contact was inputted respectively for each trial using different
materials.
 As exhibited in Figure 4, the material is placed in the circular plate, standing up. Then, the adjustable
crosshead slowly compressed the material while recording the applied force until the maximum stress is
applied. For the tension part of the experiment, the material, a steel bar, was loaded on the grip and was pulled
by lowering the adjustable crosshead. The maximum allowable stress is computed using Equation 1 where F is
the force with respect with the pressure is applied and A is the area of contact.

Figure 5: Universal Testing Machine (Compression space)

Figure 6: Universal Testing Machine (Tension space)

 Figure 7: Final position of the material in the Universal Testing Machine

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Results were summarized in the attached data sheet, showing the perpendicular cross-sectional area
calculated, as well as the maximum force the material can withstand before fracture. The ultimate compressive
strength was then calculated by using the formula for stress (force per unit area). Results have shown that
among the materials tested, wood has the highest ultimate compressive strength, followed by ceramic, and then
plastic. The areas calculated were the areas perpendicular to the application of the force, thereby complying
with the definition of compression. Since the ceramic tiles and the wooden block were regularly shaped
rectangles, the values for their areas were definite: the length and the thickness of the base where the force is to
be applied were measured, and were multiplied. For the plastic material, which resembles a rectangle with
chipped-off corners, the area was approximated by assuming that it was rectangular. This assumption was done
based on the fact that when a rectangular area was used, the computed stress would be close enough to the stress
generated by the computer operating the Universal Testing Machine. The calculated value was 27576 Pa, while
the generated value was 30000 Pa. Considering the latter as the true value, a percentage error of 8.08% was
incurred by the aforementioned assumption. Considering a limit of 10% error would make this assumption
valid.

Figure 8: Plastic Material

 As to why wood has the highest ultimate compressive strength, wood consists of interwoven structures
of cellulose fibers, which offer significant strength due to its intermolecular and intramolecular hydrogen bonds,
and added to this is that they are adhered by lignin, a glue-like polymer adding to the strength of the cellulose
fibers by keeping them bound together. Majority of these structures are aligned in a longitudinal manner,
aligning themselves with the axis of the limb of the wood sample. This is the reason why wood has high
resistance to being squeezed, which is a simple way of saying that wood has high ultimate compressive
strength. Moreover, it is also highly resistant to tensile forces, because of the same reason. However, wood may
be easily snapped or bended, which may be done even by just using one’s bare hands. This is because there is
only a small amount of the said cellulose structures arranged perpendicular to the axis of the limb of the wood,
thereby making it easy to fracture wood when force is applied in this manner.
Meanwhile, ceramic have interatomic bonding ranging from purely ionic to covalent. They are
inorganic, non-metallic materials made up of oxides of alkali or alkaline-earth metals. The ionic bonds formed
are what make ceramic materials hard, while the covalent character of some bonds present contribute to the
brittleness of the material. Crystal structures of ceramics differ from each other, depending on the relative ionic
size of the cation and anion present in the compound constituting the material. Two ceramics were tested in the
experiment, and the difference in the values obtained for their ultimate compressive strength may be explained
by the fact that they are made up of different compounds. One may have had weaker strength due to its crystal
structure having more vacancies compared to the other.
Finally, plastic is composed purely of covalent bonds, which are relatively weaker than metallic and
hydrogen bonds. In the experiment, plastic did not really fracture, rather, it deformed. Plastic materials are more
of deformable bodies, rather than rigid bodies. They tend to deform and not fracture due to the internal
intermolecular forces arising to oppose the applied force on the material. When the force is not sufficient to
overcome these intermolecular forces, these forces will completely resist the applied force and allow the object
to assume a new equilibrium state. A larger applied force will yield to permanent deformation, and further
increasing may finally result to its fracture.
CONCLUSIONS
The experiment succeeded in determining the maximum allowable stress that certain materials can
tolerate. Materials tested were ceramic, plastic, and wood. Along the way, procedures on how materials are
being tested for their compressive strength was practically demonstrated and observed. In addition, after
determining the values for the ultimate strength of the materials, the values were compared and results obtained
were rationalized. It was found that wood has the highest strength among the three due to its constituent fibers,
exhibiting repeating units of intermolecular and intramolecular hydrogen bonds. Further, ceramic has the
second highest strength due to its constituent ionic and covalent bond characters. Finally, plastic is the weakest
because it is purely covalent.