Mechanical Properties

· For an isotropic material only two independent elastic constants are required. These are normally taken to be E and ν, which can be directly evaluated from a uniaxial tensile test.
· The linking relationships to the other elastic constants are :
E = 2G(1 +ν); K = E/3(1 - 2ν); G = E/2(1+ ν).
· Fine-grain polycrystalline technical materials and jello are examples of "isotropic" solids.

· The photograph shows a low carbon steel with about 0.15 % carbon in an iron matrix. The grains are about 10 μm in diameter with no preferred crystal orientation.

From: Newey and Weaver, "Materials Principles and Practice," Butterworths (1990)