Material Mechanics

strain field
strain field
Optical methods for surface imaging are an extremely important non-intrusive tool in today’s investigations of complex structures and advanced materials. It is an intuitive approach to the measurement and analysis of the mechanics of materials, providing accurate numerical data together with qualitative visual feedback.

Surface imaging allows the user to acquire data regarding shape, deformation, and strain of components, without the need for complex calibration. Important parameters such as crack top propagation, crack opening, and strain derivatives are easily obtained. Single camera systems allow the quick analysis of planar deformation, and multi camera systems measure the full shape, deformation and strain of a 3D component under test. The wealth of information available is unprecedented.

Digital Image Correlation (DIC) is the most versatile and cost effective optical technique for surface imaging. Unlike some alternate imaging techniques, it has the ability to simultaneously measure very small and very large. Additionally, unlike competing techniques no lasers are required, surface preparation is minimal or not required at all, and a simple change of lens allows the user to investigate an entirely different scale of experiment.

Due to the versatility and ease of use, StrainMaster from LaVision is appropriate across a wide range of industry and academic applications, able to analyse images from Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) sources for material grain structure determination, to large structures with dimensions of several metres. The system is appropriate to long time scale fatigue events, or ultra-fast events requiring MHz camera frame rates.