How to obtain Allowable Shear Stress

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around determining the maximum allowable shear stress for a 4340 steel shaft, specifically focusing on whether tensile strength can be used as a substitute. Participants also explore the effects of heat treatment on the material's properties.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested
  • Experimental/applied

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions if tensile strength can be used to find the maximum allowable shear stress for a 4340 shaft.
  • Another participant provides a reference to a table that may contain relevant shear and tensile strength data.
  • A participant mentions a general rule of thumb for the ratio between shear and tensile stress for homogeneous, isotropic materials, stating it is approximately 0.577.
  • Discussion includes the max shear stress theory and distortion-energy theory, with specific equations provided for calculating shear stress based on yield strength.
  • One participant expresses gratitude for the information and inquires about the effects of heat treatment, specifically quenching, on the yield and ultimate strength of SAE-4340 steel.
  • A later reply references Machinery's Handbook as a resource for estimating tensile properties related to steel hardness and mentions internal testing conducted by a company to establish relationships between hardness and tensile properties.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants present various approaches and theories regarding shear stress calculations and the effects of heat treatment, but no consensus is reached on the use of tensile strength or the specific impact of heat treatment factors.

Contextual Notes

Some assumptions regarding material properties and the applicability of rules of thumb are not explicitly stated. The discussion includes references to specific editions of resources, which may vary in content.

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If not specified directly by your materials reference, a general rule of thumb is that the theoretical ratio between shear and tensile stress for a homogeneous, isotropic material is 0.577.
 
you are looking in terms of yield strength, the max shear stress theory and max distortion energy theory help.

Max shear stress: Ssy=.5Sy
Distortion-Energy theory: Ssy=.577Sy
 
Thanks everyone.
I get the answers 0.5X, right ^_^.

Btw, I wonder what's the effect of Heat Treament on SAE-4340/ any steel. for example Quenching.

What's the multiply factor on Yield and ultimate strength?
 
If you look in Machinery's Handbook, there is a nice section relating steel hardness to a relatively accurate form of estimating tensile properties. When you heat treat something, usually a Rockwell or some other hardness is mentioned as a requirement.

In my latest copy (26th edition) it starts on page 473-474.

My company did some internal testing quite some time ago with a lot of different alloys and found a relatively good relationship between the two parameters. The Machinery's section is pretty good.
 

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