A General Methodology for Full-Field Plastic Strain Measurements Using X-ray Absorption Tomography and Internal Markers

Probing the strain locally and throughout the bulk of various materials has long been of interest in Materials Science. This article presents a general methodology for assessing the plastic strain in terms of the displacement gradient tensor throughout the bulk of opaque samples. The method relies on a homogenous distribution of marker particles throughout the bulk of a sample, markers which are detected through the application of synchrotron X-ray tomography. Making use of the morphology of individual markers, motion of individual markers is tracked during deformation allowing the local displacement field to be determined throughout the bulk. The local displacement gradient tensor is derived from the displacement field. Spatial resolution is directly related to marker particle density in the sample, here 30 μm. The accuracy of the displacement gradient tensor calculation is dependent on the accuracy with which each marker position is determined and is shown to be in the range from 0.005 to 0.012.