Quantitative measurement of plastic strain field at a fatigue crack tip

Abstract

A novel approach is introduced to map the mesoscale plastic strain distribution resulting from heterogeneous plastic deformation in complex loading and component geometries, by applying the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) to backscattered electron (BSE) images of polycrystalline patches. These DFTs are then calibrated against the full width at half the maximum of the central peak of the DFTs collected from the same material tested under in situ scanning electron microscopy uniaxial tensile conditions, which indicates a close relationship with the global tensile strain. In this work, the technique is demonstrated by measuring the residual strain distribution and plastic zone size around a fatigue crack tip in a commercially pure titanium compact tension specimen, by collecting BSE images in a 15 × 15 array of 115mm square images around the fatigue crack tip. The measurement results show good agreement with the plastic zone size and shape measured using thermoelastic stress analysis. © 2012 The Royal Society.