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Procedia Engineering 184 (2017) 16 – 21

Advances in Material & Processing Technologies Conference

Novel Non-Contact Evaluation of Strain Distribution Using

Digital Image Correlation with Laser Speckle Pattern
of Low Carbon Steel Sheet
N.Mashiwaa, T.Furushimab*, K.Manabea
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University,1-1 Minami-osawa, Hachioji, Tokyo 192-0397 Japan
b
Deptartment of Mechanical and Biofunctional Systems, Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo, Komaba 4-6-1, Meguro, Tokyo 153-
8505, Japan

Abstract

An uni-axial tensile test is one of the general methods to obtain plastic properties for estimating deformation behavior of
materials in the simulation of practical metal forming process. Non-contact measurement is generally used because of
determination of accurate plastic properties excepting for contact effects. In the conventional method, strain distribution of
specimen sprayed with random pattern is measured by digital image correlation (DIC). However, sprayed treatments on the
specimen surface is unsuitable under various testing conditions, for example an elevated temperature, micro scale, and large
deformation. Thus, non-sprayed specimen is desirable under such test conditions. In this study, we propose perfectly non-contact
strain distribution measurement by using DIC with laser speckle pattern generated on specimen surface by irradiation of laser
source. True strain in the un-axial tensile test is measured by following methods (1) laser speckle pattern by DIC, and (2)
conventional measurement method with tracking gage marks. As a result, strain level measured by DIC with laser speckle pattern
has good agreement with that of conventional extensometer. Furthermore, the strain distribution can be measured successfully
under uniform and non-uniform deformation during necking by proposed method. Thus, we can verify the validity of proposed
measurement method for determination of plastic properties.
© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of the Advances in Material & Processing Technologies
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Conference.
Peer review under responsibility of the organizing committee of the Advances in Materials & Processing Technologies Conference

Keywords: Laser speckle pattern; Non-contact; Digital image correlation; Strain distribution measurement; Plastic deformation

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +81-3-5452-6809; fax: +81-3-5452-6809.

E-mail address: tsuyoful@iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp

1877-7058 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer review under responsibility of the organizing committee of the Advances in Materials & Processing Technologies Conference
doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2017.04.065
 N. Mashiwa et al. / Procedia Engineering 184 (2017) 16 – 21 17

1. Introduction

In recent years, metal forming processes becomes more complex such as press working of complex and micro
forming. From this background, it becomes more important to obtain accurate mechanical properties of materials. A
tensile test is the most commonly method to obtain mechanical properties of materials. There are various contact and
non-contact techniques for measurement of surface deformation and strain. For example, strain gage and contact-
type extensometer are mentioned as contact techniques. They have some problems like limit of measuring range of
strain and restraint of specimen. Especially, in the case of decreasing thickness, restraint of specimen has large
effects on measured mechanical properties. Meanwhile, there are Moiré interferometry [1,2], Holography [3],
Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry (ESPI) [4,5] and Digital Image Correlation (DIC) in non-contact
techniques. Raul R et al [2] reported that Moiré interferometry was used to evolution of the deformation process of
an aluminum sample subjected to a uni-axial tensile deformation and they were able to identify the area where
strains began to localize and to observe the appearance of the diffused necking. In the case of ESPI, strain rate field
of semi-hard copper sheet at different loading steps and strain localization onset were obtained accurately by Bruno
Guelorget et al [4]. However, these techniques require complex and substantial systems to measure accurately. In
constant, nowadays DIC has been used widely as a full-field measurement method that can obtain displacement and
strain fields. As a reason for this, firstly, DIC software comes into wide use by development of image processing
technology. Secondly, it requires relatively simple experimental setup. In conventional DIC method, specimen
surface is painted by spray to generate random speckle pattern in order to determine the displacement and strain field
by analyzing the evolution of random speckle pattern on specimen surface captured on images. For instance, Z.T. Xu
et al [6] obtained the forming limit diagrams of sheet metals by utilizing these advantage of DIC method.
Nevertheless, treatment on specimen surface with paints in conventional DIC method. This treatment can prevent
application to some situations such as experiment at elevated temperature and large deformation because of
durability of paints. Therefore, non-sprayed specimen is desirable under such test conditions.
Laser speckle pattern formed by reflection and scattering of light is used various fields for measurement. In
medical field, Laser Speckle Contrast Imaging (LSCI) is a full-field optical technique to monitor microvascular
blood flow with high spatial and temporal resolutions [7]. Besides, in engineering field, S. Seebacher et al [8]
reported that determination of material parameters of micro components by using laser speckle pattern and
measuring its displacement. However, in these cases, generally, optical setup and procedure of image processing
become complication.
From these background, the objective in this study is proposal of novel non-contact evaluation method for plastic
deformation that do not required paints on specimen surface. We used laser speckle pattern due to reflected and
scattered of coherent laser beam irradiated on surface instead of conventional sprayed pattern. Utilizing this
proposed method, strain and strain distribution are measured qualitatively and quantitatively easily under uni-axial
tensile test to evaluate plastic deformation.

2. Experimental procedure

2.1. Laser speckle pattern

Fig. 1 shows schematic illustration of formation of laser speckle pattern. Laser speckle pattern is formed on
images as result of light distribution when a coherent laser beam irradiated on surface is reflected and scattered by
the micro structures on the surface [9]. Most surfaces of object have larger roughness than wavelength of irradiated
laser beam. When laser beam irradiates on such surface, scattered light interfere with each other. Surfaces generally
have irregularity in surface roughness, so that laser speckle pattern mirrors that irregularity. Because appearance of
laser speckle pattern depends on surface condition irradiated laser beam, it represents more reliably deformation of
specimen surface. In this study, we use laser speckle pattern instead of conventional sprayed pattern and obtain
displacement and strain fields by using DIC.
18 N. Mashiwa et al. / Procedia Engineering 184 (2017) 16 – 21

Laser source

Incident light
Laser speckle pattern

Specimen surface

Scattered light
Camera

Fig. 1. Formation of Laser speckle pattern by surface texture.

2.2. Specimen

Dimensions of tensile test specimen used in the experiments is shown in Fig.2. The parallel length, width and
thickness of the specimen were 21 mm, 3.0 mm, and 0.5 mm, respectively. The specimen of SPCC low carbon steel
was used in the experiment.

Fig. 2. Dimensions of tensile test specimen.

2.3. Experimental apparatus

Fig. 3 shows photograph of experimental apparatus. In the experimental test, an universal testing machine
AUTOGRAPH (SHIMADZU, AG-50kN ISD) was used as a tensile testing machine. Laser source used in
experiments was red laser. During the tensile test process, continuous images were taken by a digital single lens
reflex camera (PENTAX K-50, 16 megapixels resolution) with 90 mm fixed focal lens (TAMRON SP AF90mm
F/2.8 Di MACRO1:1).

Specimen
Laser
Camera

Fig. 3. Photograph of experimental apparatus.

 N. Mashiwa et al. / Procedia Engineering 184 (2017) 16 – 21 19

2.4. Experimental test

In the experiments, all tensile loading was performed using displacement control and the crosshead displacement
rate of the tensile test machine applied to specimen is 1.0 mm/min. In this paper, uni-axial tensile test is conducted
for specimen of low carbon steel SPCC. Interval of capturing images is 5.0 s. Therefore, crosshead displacement of
tensile test machine at intervals of continuous images is 1/12 mm. Condition of capturing images is that f value,
shutter speed and focal length are 3.5, 1/15 s, 90 mm, respectively.
The displacement and strain fields were determined by analysing the evolution of random speckle pattern
captured on images. DIC processing program have been developed to realize the displacement and strain by
calculation with the Matlab software. In this study, free DIC software Ncorr [10,11] was used to calculate the
displacement and strain.

3. Results and discussions

3.1. Effects of initial surface condition on measurement method

The Laser speckle pattern is occurred by light scattering on surface that has irregularity. So, initial condition of
measured surface has large effects on measurement method in this study. Microphotography of specimen surface,
images with laser speckle pattern and arithmetic mean roughness are showed in Fig. 4. Arithmetic mean roughness
of dull finished surface and mirror finished surface of low carbon steel SPCC are 0.729 μm and 0.032 μm,
respectively. From Fig. 4, we know that certain surface roughness is required occurring laser speckle pattern on
specimen surface. However, the except for particular condition like mirror finished surface, it seems that laser
speckle pattern is occurred on specimen surface.

Dull finished surface Mirror finished surface

Microphotography

Image with
laser speckle pattern

1.0 mm 1.0 mm

Arithmetic mean roughness

0.729 0.032
Ra [μm]

Fig. 4. Effect of surface roughness on laser speckle pattern.

20 N. Mashiwa et al. / Procedia Engineering 184 (2017) 16 – 21

3.2. True strain

During tensile test, strain in gage length was obtained by two methods that are tracking gage marks and DIC.
Table 1 shows true strain of low carbon steel SPCC. As you can see, true strains measured by DIC with laser
speckle pattern has good agreement with that of conventional method. Thus, it is confirmed for validity of non-
contact measurement method proposed in this study to measure true strain in gage length.

Table 1. True strain in longitudinal direction of low carbon steel SPCC.

Stroke [mm] 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0

T rue strain (DIC with laser speckle pattern) 0.0752 0.1541 0.2362 0.3307

T rue strain (Gage length) 0.0757 0.1530 0.2326 0.3279

3.3. Strain distribution

Fig. 5 illustrates the deformation process of the low carbon steel SPCC specimen during the uni-axial tensile test.
Before displacement of crosshead is 7.5 mm, strain distribution is almost uniform. But strain localization and
necking can be observed obviously after displacement of crosshead becomes 7.5 mm. In this way, we can obtain the
deformation process of materials just before breaking by using proposed method.
Furthermore, evolution of true strain distribution with actual value is showed in Fig. 6. Position of transverse axis
in Fig. 6 indicates initial coordinates on center line in gage area before deformation. We can know how the strain
distribution is developing quantitatively. For example, true strain on necking zone is 0.4878 when crosshead
displacement of tensile test machine is 8.0 mm. In comparison with true strain in gage area when crosshead
displacement is 8.0 mm showed in table 2, this value is very high level. How deformation concentrates on necking
zone can be revealed by this results.
According to the results, evolution of strain distribution in deformation process can be evaluated qualitatively and
quantitatively just before breaking.

Before
Stroke 6.0 mm 6.5 mm 7.0 mm 7.5 mm 7.75 mm 8.0 mm 8.25 mm
breaking

0.40

0.35

0.30

0.25

0.20

0.15

0.10

0.05

Fig. 5. Evolution of strain distribution map for low carbon steel.

 N. Mashiwa et al. / Procedia Engineering 184 (2017) 16 – 21 21

0.5
Position [mm]
lower 0 10 upper
0.45

0.4

0.35 Stroke = 8.0 mm

True strain
0.3 Stroke = 7.5 mm

0.25 Stroke = 6.0 mm

0.2

0.15 Stroke = 4.0 mm

0.1
Stroke = 2.0 mm
0.05

0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Position [mm]

Fig. 6. Evolution of strain distribution on center line of low carbon steel specimen.

4. Conclusions

In this study, we propose perfectly non-contact strain and its distribution measurement by using DIC with laser
speckle pattern generated on specimen surface by irradiation of laser beam. Based on the experimental works, the
following concluding remarks are drawn:

1) Laser speckle pattern can be observed enough clearly to analyse by DIC. However, certain surface roughness is
required occurring laser speckle pattern on specimen surface. In other words, strain and its distribution
measurement method proposed in this study required certain surface roughness on measured surface.
2) True strain measured by proposed method has good agreement with that of conventional method tacking gage
marks. It is confirmed for validity of non-contact measurement method proposed in this study to measure true
strain in gage length.
3) Evolution of strain distribution in deformation process can be evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively just
before breaking by proposed method.

Acknowledgement

This study was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) Number JP 16K06800.

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