The tensile strength of a material can be defined as the amount of resistance that it shows against stress or strain. The area determines this resistance under the true stress-true strain curve. However, this is not true always since some materials have high tensile strength but show brittleness at high strain rates. True strain can be defined as the elongation per unit length that is experienced by a material when it is calculated using instant dimension. True stress can also be defined as the load divided when using instant area by which the load is acting upon. Different materials exhibit different behaviors when put under stress to establish their tensile strengths. in most cases, it becomes hard to conduct tensile tests on brittle materials because of the flaws they have. As stated earlier, different materials exhibit different behaviors when put under strain and stress. The graph below shows how different materials behave when put under stress and strain.

Different materials are used for different purposes depending on their tensile strength. A good example of such a material is an aluminum alloy. Due to its stress-strain characteristics it has attracted aviation industry. The aluminum alloy has drawn spacecraft manufactures due to its excellent tensile strength and weight. The figure below shows the stress-strain relationship of aluminum alloy.

The stress-strain curve shows the tensile strength of materials. Tensile strength has got its characteristics and these characteristics mainly establish the nature of the material.  The following are the tensile characteristics. The first tensile characteristic shown in the curve is the proportional limit. The proportional limit is the region under which hooks law apply. Under this region, the stress is directly proportional to the stress. No deformation takes place under this region. The second characteristic shown in this curve is the elastic limit. The elastic limit is the region under which there is a limiting value of an applied load beyond which strain will entirely disappear whenever the load is removed. Under the elastic limit, the material can return to its normal shape. This material can only return to its normal shape only if the load applied is within the elastic limit. Beyond the elastic limit, the material gets deformed and cannot return to its normal shape. The third tensile characteristic shown in the graph is the yield point. The yield point is a region under which a material attains a plastic nature. Once materials reach yield point, they start experiencing permanent deformation. The forth tensile characteristic is the ductile point. The ductile point is the region where the cross-sectional area of the material gets smaller as compared to its original size. At this point, the material has already acquired plastic nature, and it has started experiencing permanent deformation.

The fifth tensile characteristic is the ultimate point. This ultimate point is the region under which the material can withstand a maximum load. At this point, the material attains an ultimate strength as well as a maximum elongation. It is possible that the material may undergo a large deformation before reaching failure. The last tensile characteristic is the point of rupture which is commonly referred to as the breakpoint. This point of rupture is the region where the material can no longer withstand the load. Beyond this region the materials failures or even breaks. From the graph above, it is evident that aluminum alloy has got great tensile characteristics. Its ultimate point is above 75000 psi hence attracting aerospace engineers. It is important to note that despite these excellent tensile features of aluminum alloy, it is light therefore perfect for aircraft ships.

 
Do you need high quality Custom Essay Writing Services?