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Ultimate tensile strength
Maximum stress withstood by stretched/pulled material before breaking

Ultimate tensile strength (UTS) is the maximum stress a material can endure while being stretched before breaking. In brittle materials, UTS is close to the yield point, but in ductile materials, it can be higher. UTS is determined through a tensile test by recording the engineering stress versus strain, with the highest point on the stress–strain curve representing the UTS. While tensile strengths are vital for brittle members, they are less critical in designing ductile ones. UTS values are available for various common materials, including alloys, composites, ceramics, plastics, and wood.

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Definition

The ultimate tensile strength of a material is an intensive property; therefore its value does not depend on the size of the test specimen. However, depending on the material, it may be dependent on other factors, such as the preparation of the specimen, the presence or otherwise of surface defects, and the temperature of the test environment and material.

Some materials break very sharply, without plastic deformation, in what is called a brittle failure. Others, which are more ductile, including most metals, experience some plastic deformation and possibly necking before fracture.

Tensile strength is defined as a stress, which is measured as force per unit area. For some non-homogeneous materials (or for assembled components) it can be reported just as a force or as a force per unit width. In the International System of Units (SI), the unit is the pascal (Pa) (or a multiple thereof, often megapascals (MPa), using the SI prefix mega); or, equivalently to pascals, newtons per square metre (N/m2). A United States customary unit is pounds per square inch (lb/in2 or psi). Kilopounds per square inch (ksi, or sometimes kpsi) is equal to 1000 psi, and is commonly used in the United States, when measuring tensile strengths.

Ductile materials

Many materials can display linear elastic behavior, defined by a linear stress–strain relationship, as shown in figure 1 up to point 3. The elastic behavior of materials often extends into a non-linear region, represented in figure 1 by point 2 (the "yield strength"), up to which deformations are completely recoverable upon removal of the load; that is, a specimen loaded elastically in tension will elongate, but will return to its original shape and size when unloaded. Beyond this elastic region, for ductile materials, such as steel, deformations are plastic. A plastically deformed specimen does not completely return to its original size and shape when unloaded. For many applications, plastic deformation is unacceptable, and is used as the design limitation.

After the yield point, ductile metals undergo a period of strain hardening, in which the stress increases again with increasing strain, and they begin to neck, as the cross-sectional area of the specimen decreases due to plastic flow. In a sufficiently ductile material, when necking becomes substantial, it causes a reversal of the engineering stress–strain curve (curve A, figure 2); this is because the engineering stress is calculated assuming the original cross-sectional area before necking. The reversal point is the maximum stress on the engineering stress–strain curve, and the engineering stress coordinate of this point is the ultimate tensile strength, given by point 1.

Ultimate tensile strength is not used in the design of ductile static members because design practices dictate the use of the yield stress. It is, however, used for quality control, because of the ease of testing. It is also used to roughly determine material types for unknown samples.2

The ultimate tensile strength is a common engineering parameter to design members made of brittle material because such materials have no yield point.3

Testing

Main article: Tensile testing

Typically, the testing involves taking a small sample with a fixed cross-sectional area, and then pulling it with a tensometer at a constant strain (change in gauge length divided by initial gauge length) rate until the sample breaks.

When testing some metals, indentation hardness correlates linearly with tensile strength. This important relation permits economically important nondestructive testing of bulk metal deliveries with lightweight, even portable equipment, such as hand-held Rockwell hardness testers.4 This practical correlation helps quality assurance in metalworking industries to extend well beyond the laboratory and universal testing machines.

Typical tensile strengths

Typical tensile strengths of some materials
MaterialYield strength (MPa)Ultimate tensile strength (MPa)Density (g/cm3)
Steel, structural ASTM A36 steel250400–5507.8
Steel, 10902478417.58
Chromium-vanadium steel AISI 61506209407.8
Steel, 2800 Maraging steel52,6172,6938.00
Steel, AerMet 34062,1602,4307.86
Steel, Sandvik Sanicro 36Mo logging cable precision wire71,7582,0708.00
Steel, AISI 4130,water quenched 855 °C (1,570 °F), 480 °C (900 °F) temper89511,1107.85
Steel, API 5L X6594485317.8
Steel, high strength alloy ASTM A5146907607.8
Acrylic, clear cast sheet (PMMA)107287111.16
Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS)1243430.9–1.53
High-density polyethylene (HDPE)26–33370.85
Polypropylene12–4319.7–800.91
Steel, stainless AISI 302132756207.86
Cast iron 4.5% C, ASTM A-481302007.3
"Liquidmetal" alloy1,723550–1,6006.1
Beryllium14 99.9% Be3454481.84
Aluminium alloy15 2014-T64144832.8
Polyester resin (unreinforced)165555 
Polyester and chopped strand mat laminate 30% E-glass17100100 
S-Glass epoxy composite182,3582,358 
Aluminium alloy 6061-T62413002.7
Copper 99.9% Cu702208.92
Cupronickel 10% Ni, 1.6% Fe, 1% Mn, balance Cu1303508.94
Brass200 +5008.73
Tungsten9411,51019.25
Glass, annealed 41192.53
E-Glass—1,500 for laminates, 3,450 for fibers alone2.57
S-Glass—4,7102.48
Basalt fiber20—4,8402.7
Marble—152.6
Concrete—2–52.7
Carbon fiber—1,600 for laminates,4,137 for fibers alone1.75
Carbon fiber (Toray T1100G)21(the strongest human-made fibres) 7,000 fibre alone1.79
Human hair140–160200–250221.3223
Bamboo fiber 350–5000.4–0.8
Spider silk (see note below)1,0001.3
Spider silk, Darwin's bark spider241,652
Silkworm silk500 1.3
Aramid (Kevlar or Twaron)3,6203,7571.44
UHMWPE2524520.97
UHMWPE fibers2627 (Dyneema or Spectra)2,300–3,5000.97
Vectran 2,850–3,3401.4
Polybenzoxazole (Zylon)282,7005,8001.56
Wood, pine (parallel to grain) 40 
Bone (limb)104–1211301.6
Nylon, molded, 6PLA/6M2975-851.15
Nylon fiber, drawn30900311.13
Epoxy adhesive—12–3032—
Rubber—16 
Boron—3,1002.46
Silicon, monocrystalline (m-Si)—7,0002.33
Ultra-pure silica glass fiber-optic strands334,100
Sapphire (Al2O3)400 at 25 °C,275 at 500 °C,345 at 1,000 °C1,9003.9–4.1
Boron nitride nanotube—33,0002.6234
Diamond1,6002,800~80,000–90,000 at microscale353.5
Graphene—intrinsic 130,000;36engineering 50,000–60,000371.0
First carbon nanotube ropes?3,6001.3
Carbon nanotube (see note below)—11,000–63,0000.037–1.34
Carbon nanotube composites—1,20038—
High-strength carbon nanotube film—9,60039—
Limpet Patella vulgata teeth (goethite whisker nanocomposite)4,9003,000–6,50040
^a Many of the values depend on manufacturing process and purity or composition. ^b Multiwalled carbon nanotubes have the highest tensile strength of any material yet measured, with one measurement of 63 GPa, still well below one theoretical value of 300 GPa.41 The first nanotube ropes (20 mm in length) whose tensile strength was published (in 2000) had a strength of 3.6 GPa.42 The density depends on the manufacturing method, and the lowest value is 0.037 or 0.55 (solid).43 ^c The strength of spider silk is highly variable. It depends on many factors including kind of silk (Every spider can produce several for sundry purposes.), species, age of silk, temperature, humidity, swiftness at which stress is applied during testing, length stress is applied, and way the silk is gathered (forced silking or natural spinning).44 The value shown in the table, 1,000 MPa, is roughly representative of the results from a few studies involving several different species of spider however specific results varied greatly.45 ^d Human hair strength varies by genetics, environmental factors, and chemical treatments.

Typical properties of annealed elements

Typical properties for annealed elements46
ElementYoung'smodulus(GPa)Yield strength(MPa)Ultimatestrength(MPa)
Silicon1075,000–9,000
Tungsten411550550–620
Iron21180–100350
Titanium120100–225246–370
Copper130117210
Tantalum186180200
Tin479–1415–200
Zinc85–105200–400200–400
Nickel170140–350140–195
Silver83170
Gold79100
Aluminium7015–2040–50
Lead1612

See also

Further reading

References

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