Determination of material properties of mild steel at different temperatures and strain rates

• Main Author: Vara, Amit Rashiklal
• Other Authors: Nurick, Gerald N
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: University of Cape Town 2014
• Subjects: Mechanical Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5458

Includes abstract. === Includes bibliographical references. === Quantification of material properties through physical experiments is of significant importance. Test data from such experiments aid in the understanding of the material behaviour when exposed to a variety of loading conditions. Such data also help in the formulation of empirical and constitutive relations that can be applied in numerical simulations. This project dealt with the determination of the variation of the yield stress of mild steel with temperature and strain rate. This was achieved by carrying out high temperature tensile tests at different strain rates on mild steel specimens. These experiments also helped set a methodology for carrying out high temperature tensile tests using a servohydraulic universal tester. Results from the tests indicated that increases in temperature tended to decrease the yield stress, whereas increases in strain rate had the opposite effect. This was found to be consistent with data found in literature. It was also noted that the temperature effect was more dominant than the strain rate effect over quasi-static strain rates.