Advanced Materials Research Vol.

980 (2014) pp 122-126 Submitted: 2014-05-14

© (2014) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland Accepted: 2014-05-14
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.980.122 Online: 2014-06-30

Identification of the Mechanical Properties of High-Strength Steel using

Digital Image Correlation
Michaela Štamborská a, Miroslav Kvíčala b and Monika Losertová c
Department of Non-ferrous Metals, Refining and Recycling, Faculty of Metallurgy and Materials
Engineering, VŠB-Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic
a
stamborska.michaela@gmail.com, bmiroslav.kvicala@vsb.cz, cmonika.losertova@vsb.cz

Keywords: digital image correlation, virtual fields method, notched specimens

Abstract. Identification of the mechanical properties of high-strength steel using digital image
correlation. In this paper an experimental procedure to identify the plastic behaviour of sheet metals
up to large strains using full field measurement is presented. The tests were conducted on notched
specimens. This geometry generates a heterogeneous strain field which was measured during the
test using a digital image correlation system. The advantage of using a heterogeneous strain field in
the identification procedure is that a complex state of stress-strain can be analyzed at the same time
and much more information can be obtained in a single test. On the other hand, the stress field
cannot be directly computed from the test and a suitable identification procedure must be
developed. Here, the virtual fields method (VFM) adapted for large strains and plasticity was used
to identify the hardening behaviour and the anisotropy of the material. The values obtained with the
VFM were compared with the results from a standard identification made using uniaxial tensile
tests.

Introduction
Identification and quantification of the plastic deformation of materials is important in several
respects. On the one hand, industry manufactures many components by cold forming, on the other
hand, overloading of supporting structural elements often leads to plastic deformation of materials
and to their violation (break). Knowing the size and distribution of plastic deformation allows
better use of the properties of materials in the production of parts and in their operation. A typical
example of the production of parts by plastic deformation of the material is cold forming of sheet
steel. This process is most commonly used in the automotive and consumer industry (and to
improve performance moldings in these fields of industry).
Usually, the identification of mechanical properties is tested by using uniaxial tensile tests.
However, in recent years, thanks to developments in full-field measurement techniques, more
complex specimens which generate heterogeneous stress-strain fields can be used to study the
behaviour of material properties during plastic flow. Then the parameters can be identified using,
for example, an inverse approach which includes FE updating [1-2].
Digital image correlation is a full-field measurement technique which allows us to evaluate
spatial displacement and deformation along the surface of an object. Some of its features are:
flexible area of measurement (mm2 to m2), applicability to different materials and geometries, and
spatial visualization of the measured quantities [3-6].
This contribution deals with the use of digital image correlation in measuring the strain fields on
the surface of notched specimens and use of these data to identify the mechanical properties of the
material. Digital image correlation was used to evaluate the displacement and strain fields.
The next identification process is the Virtual Fields Method [7] which has been successfully
applied in many applications, including elasto-plasticity [8,9] and large-strain plasticity [10,11].
The use of heterogeneous tests allows us to get a lot of information from a single test since different
stress-strain conditions are evaluated at the same time. In this article, tests on a notched specimen
were carried. The displacement and strain field was measured using digital image correlation. Then
the virtual fields method (VFM) was used to identify the hardening behaviour. The stress fields

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 Advanced Materials Research Vol. 980 123

were calculated from the strain fields using the hardening behaviour obtained with the virtual fields
method.

Materials and Methods

Geometry and material parameters of specimens. The analysis was carried out on specimens
made of cold-rolled sheet metal used in the automotive and consumer industries. The geometry of
the notched specimen and the dimensions in millimetres are shown in Fig. 1.

Figure 1. Geometry of specimens

Specimens were produced from hot dip galvanize steel, namely HX220PD steel. This material
has high strength stress and rather atypical values of anisotropy. The mechanical properties obtained
from standard tensile tests for directions 0°, 45° and 90° are listed in Table 1.

Table 1. Mechanical properties

Thickness Rp0,2 Rm A80
Dir. r
[mm] [MPa] [MPa] [%]
0° 0.9 225 387 35 1.1
45° 0.9 235 372 37.5 1.9
90° 0.9 245 388 35 1.8

Diagrams of force - displacement obtained by the tensile test on the INSTRON 880 tensile
machine are shown in Fig. 2 for notched specimens.

Figure 2. Diagram of force-displacement for notched specimens in all directions

Digital image correlation. The experiment was carried out using an INSTRON 880 tensile
machine with hydraulic grips. Measurements were taken using a couple of JAI Pulnix TM - 4000
CL high-speed CCD cameras (fig. 3), which are able to acquire 2048×2048 pixels with 10-bit
dynamic range. The displacement and strain fields were measured using VIC 3D. The results are
shown for a traverse displacement of 3.2 mm.
124 Modern Technologies for Engineering, Applied Mechanics and Material
Science

Figure 3. Experimental setup

Figure 4 shows the strain fields εx, εy, γxy [-] for a notched specimen along the rolling direction.

Figure 4. The strain fields εx, εy and γxy [-] obtained by Vic 3D for notched specimen along the
rolling direction

Identification using VFM. The displacement fields obtained by digital image correlation were
imported to Camfit, a Matlab GUI which implements the Virtual Fields Method. The program can
identify the isotropic elastic constants and the hardening behaviour using different constitutive laws.
In this case, the hardening is described using a Swift law, see equation 1:
σ eq = K.( ε 0 + ε eq pl ) n (1)

where εeqpl is the equivalent accumulated plastic strain, and K, ε0, n are the parameters to be
identified by Camfit [5]. The parameters obtained by Camfit are listed in Table 2.

Table 2. Identified parameters

Elastic range Elasto–plastic range obtained with Power law
Young´s modulus Poisson’s ratio X1 X2 X3 Initial yield stress
Dir.
[GPa] [-] [MPa] [MPa]
0° 173.6 0.32 1531.7 0.084 0.779 223.2
45° 126.6 0.36 1320.6 0.080 0.683 234.9
90° 223.2 0.27 797.9 0.023 0.313 245.1

The stress fields σx, σy, τxy [MPa] obtained in the notched specimen for a traverse displacement
of 3.2 mm are illustrated in Fig. 5.
 Advanced Materials Research Vol. 980 125

Figure 5. Stress fields σx, σy, τxy [MPa] obtained from strain fields for notched specimen

Two tensile tests were realized before the experiment and the results of the yield stress are
compared with the results obtained by the virtual fields method and are listed in Table 3.
Table 3. The parameters obtained by Camfit and standard tensile test
Camfit Standard tensile test
Strain fields Stress fields Initial yield stress Test1 Test2
Dir.
[-] [MPa] [MPa] [MPa] [MPa]
0 0.095 410 223.2 226 225
45 0.093 375 234.9 235 233
90 0.0965 405 245.1 245 246

Conclusion
This article deals with an identification of the mechanical properties of high strength steel using
digital image correlation. DIC was used to measure the displacement and strain fields on the surface
of specimens. The displacement fields were exported to the Camfit, which implements the virtual
fields method, to determine the material parameters for the elastic and plastic range. It was Young's
modulus and Poisson's ratio for elastic range and four hardening parameters for plastic range, which
are necessary for calculation stress fields from strain fields. One of this hardening parameters was
yield stress. Two tensile tests were realized before experiment and the results of yield stress are
compared with results obtained by virtual fields method.
The presented results show that applying digital image correlation is a suitable measuring
method to analyze plastic strain on the surface of objects and corroborates the fact that the virtual
fields method is suitable for determining material properties of metal sheet specimens.

Acknowledgements
This article has been elaborated in the framework of the project Opportunity for young researchers,
reg. no. CZ.1.07/2.3.00/30.0016, supported by Operational Programme Education for
Competitiveness and co-financed by the European Social Fund and the state budget of the Czech
Republic and in the Project No. LO1203 "Regional Materials Science and Technology Centre -
Feasibility Program" funded by Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic.

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Modern Technologies for Engineering, Applied Mechanics and Material Science
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Identification of the Mechanical Properties of High-Strength Steel Using Digital Image Correlation
10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.980.122