Aluminum 6061 Modulus of Elasticity

[Aaron5380]

Bare with me as I'm brand new to all of this, and my inexperience may show, but i have what may be a simple question to some of you. I'm conducting a lab experiment in my Materials lab I will be testing the the strength of 3 different Aluminum 6061 specimens. I have an L beam, thin walled cylinder (tube), and a box beam. Each specimen will be clamped to a table and will have a load applied so we can observe bending stresses with a strain gauge and a Tunis Olsen indicator box. The whole point is to determine which specimen has the highest strength when load is applied. From the data, I should be able to calculate the E modulus, or get it from a stress/strain plot. My concern is, how will I be able to verify my modulus is accurate when I've completed the experiment? Do I just compare my data to 69 GPa or does the shape of the specimen have any factor in what the actual E mod. is? I guess to better phrase the question, is the E mod. for a material independent of shape and size? Is it a fixed value for a specific material regardless of specimens shape?

 

[OldEngr63]

Young's modulus for a particular material does not depend on the shape or size of the specimen. It is a material property, meaning that it depends on the material, the chemical composition, but that is all.

 

[Aaron5380]

Thank you! So, when I'm done with the experiment, I'll calculate the E mod for each specimen, as well as plot them on a stress vs strain graph and use the slope as my result. I believe the actual E mod. for Aluminum 6061 is 69 GPa, but that I can look up in my book to double check. Again, thanks a bunch!