Work Hardening - Empirical Relations

Empirical Relations

There are two common mathematical descriptions of the work hardening phenomenon. Hollomon's equation is a power law relationship between the stress and the amount of plastic strain:

where σ is the stress, K is the strength index, εp is the plastic strain and n is the strain hardening exponent. Ludwik's equation is similar but includes the yield stress:

If a material has been subjected to prior deformation (at low temperature) then the yield stress will be increased by a factor depending on the amount of prior plastic strain ε0:

The constant K is structure dependent and is influenced by processing while n is a material property normally lying in the range 0.2–0.5. The strain hardening index can be described by:

This equation can be evaluated from the slope of a log(σ) - log(ε) plot. Rearranging allows a determination of the rate of strain hardening at a given stress and strain:


Read more about this topic:  Work Hardening

Famous quotes containing the words empirical and/or relations:

    To develop an empiricist account of science is to depict it as involving a search for truth only about the empirical world, about what is actual and observable.... It must involve throughout a resolute rejection of the demand for an explanation of the regularities in the observable course of nature, by means of truths concerning a reality beyond what is actual and observable, as a demand which plays no role in the scientific enterprise.
    Bas Van Fraassen (b. 1941)

    Actually, the laboring man has not leisure for a true integrity day by day; he cannot afford to sustain the manliest relations to men; his labor would be depreciated in the market.
    He has no time to be anything but a machine.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)