Optics and Lasers in Engineering 122 (2019) 184–194

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Optics and Lasers in Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/optlaseng

High-temperature deformation measurement of the heated front surface of

hypersonic aircraft component at 1200 °C using digital image correlation
Dafang Wu∗, Lujin Lin, Haoyuan Ren, Fanghui Zhu, Huaitao Wang
School of Aeronautical Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Keywords: The outside surface of a hypersonic aircraft flying in the atmosphere is in an extremely harsh high-temperature
High-temperature environment due to severe aerodynamic heating. It is important and difficult to measure the deformation of the
Hypersonic aircraft heated front surfaces of aircraft components in high-temperature aerobic environments in transient aerodynamic
Heated front surface
heating experimental simulation system for high-speed aircraft. In this paper, an experimental system of strain
Strain measurement
measurement for the heated front surfaces of hypersonic aircraft components was established. The strain distri-
Digital image correlation
bution of the front surface at temperatures up to 1200 °C in an aerobic environment was successfully obtained
in combination with a digital image correlation method. The processing results of speckle images of heated front
surfaces of two different materials show that the measurement results for Al2 O3 ceramics have a high good-
ness of fit with the “strain-temperature” relationship derived based on Hillman’s “thermal expansion coefficient-
temperature” relationship. The experimental results of the nickel-based superalloy (1Cr18Ni9Ti) conform well
with existing data, which verified the credibility and effectiveness of the proposed experimental method. The
optical measurement system developed for measuring strain on the heated front surfaces of components in a
1200 °C high-temperature environment provides an important means for thermal strength analysis as well as for
the safety and reliability design of the heated components of hypersonic aircraft.

1. Introduction blocked by the unsteady high-temperature, high-speed airflow, and it is

During the flight of a hypersonic aircraft at high Mach numbers in
the atmosphere, severe friction with the air generates a significant aero-
dynamic heating phenomenon [1,2]. The harsh aerodynamic thermal
environment causes a sharp increase in the outside surface temperature
of the aircraft, which causes changes to the mechanical characteristics
of the material and the structure of the aircraft. The structural thermal
strain can also lead to changes in the geometric configuration of the air-
craft components, which affects the aerodynamic profile of the aircraft
and can even threaten flight safety. Therefore, it is very important to
ascertain the stress and deformation of hypersonic vehicle components
in the aerodynamic heating environment for the safe and reliable design
of aircraft.
High temperatures caused by aerodynamic heating of hypersonic air-
craft occur on the outer surfaces of aircraft components such as the
radome, cabin body, and wing rudder (Fig. 1(a)). Two modes of testing
are used in ground aerodynamic thermal simulation tests: “convection”
and “nonconvection” [3]. When using the “convection” mode to per-
form testing in a high-temperature structural wind tunnel (Fig. 1(b)),
hot airflow and intense light cover the outer surface of the structure.
The information about the surface deformation of the heated object is
difficult for an external optical measurement system to accurately iden-
tify and record it [4,5]. In addition, when using the “nonconvection”
infrared radiation heating mode to perform testing (Fig. 1(c)), the ra-
diant heat source obstructs the outer surface of the structure, and it is
similarly difficult to observe the deformation information on the sur-
faces of the components [6–8]. Therefore, it is difficult to measure the
deformation of the directly heated surface of hypersonic aircraft com-
ponents. Currently, measurements of surface deformation of high-speed
aircraft structures in a harsh high-temperature environment are often
performed on nondirectly heated surfaces [9,10].
Extremely high-temperature tests usually must be carried out in a
vacuum or in an enclosed space filled with inert gas [11–14], and a
vacuum or inert gas environment is different from the aerobic environ-
ment in which a hypersonic aircraft flies in the atmosphere. The physic-
ochemical properties and ablation characteristics of the materials vary
in these two different environments [15,16]. In addition, a hypersonic
aircraft needs high-efficiency thermal protection materials to delay the
transfer of surface heat to the interior, resulting in a very large tempera-
ture difference between the inner and outer surfaces of the aircraft. The
temperature difference between the heated surface and the nondirectly
heated surface of some components can reach several hundred degrees

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: wdf1950@163.com (D. Wu).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optlaseng.2019.06.006
Received 11 February 2018; Received in revised form 5 June 2019; Accepted 6 June 2019
0143-8166/© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
D. Wu, L. Lin and H. Ren et al.
Fig. 1. (a) Aerodynamic heating (b) High-temperature wind tunnel (c) Radiant heating.
Celsius or even more than a thousand degrees Celsius. Therefore, when
simulating the thermal boundary state of the surface of an aircraft un-
der direct heating, one cannot heat all parts of the components [17–21];
rather, these tests require a device that heats a single side and generates
a temperature difference between the hot and cold surfaces consistent
with the aerodynamic heating boundary conditions to obtain the de-
formation information. However, single-sided heating in an extremely
high-temperature aerobic environment is harder to achieve than general
heating in a furnace. Due to these reasons, experimental measurements
of the deformation of the directly heated surfaces of hypersonic aircraft
components using single-sided heating in a 1200 °C high-temperature
aerobic environment have rarely been reported.
The digital image correlation method is an effective full-field defor-
mation optical measurement technique [22–26] that has been success-
fully applied to high-temperature strain measurements [27–29]. How-
ever, to apply the digital image correlation method to strain measure-
ments of directly heated surfaces of hypersonic aircraft components in a
high-temperature aerobic environment, it is necessary to both develop
a set of testing devices for the heating tests and to solve the problem of
being able to directly observe and record the deformation information
about the hot surfaces in the high-temperature environment. In addi-
tion, it is necessary to solve a series of related problems, such as the
instability of the optical image caused by changes in the refractive in-
dex due to hot air shaking in high-temperature aerobic environments
and the low image definition in high-temperature environments.
In this study, a water-cooling measurement system is developed for
strain testing of the heated front surface of hypersonic aircraft com-
ponents that have a temperature difference between the hot and cold
surfaces. A small light transmission area is set up in the heating de-
vice to resolve the difficulty of directly observing the surface deforma-
tion information in a high-temperature environment, and attempts are
Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of the noncontact heated front surface deformation measurement system in a high-temperature aerobic environment.
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Optics and Lasers in Engineering 122 (2019) 184–194
made to minimize the influence of the light transmission area on the
temperature field uniformity of the heated surfaces of the components,
overcome hot air shaking and the resulting adverse effects of changes
in the refractive index on the stability of the optical image, and in-
crease the signal-to-noise ratio of the optical images to obtain clear
high-temperature speckle images. Optical measurements of the strain
information on the heated front surface of an Al2 O3 high-temperature-
resistant ceramic specimen in an aerobic environment at temperatures
up to 1200 °C are performed. The test results are compared with the
thermal expansion coefficient vs the temperature relationship given by
Hillman to verify the accuracy and usability of the test methods and
test results. Our study provides important technical support for thermal
strength analysis as well as safety and reliability design of the heated
components of hypersonic aircraft.
2. High-temperature testing system
Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of the optical measurement system
we developed to determine the deformation of the heated front surface
in a 1200 °C high-temperature aerobic environment. The radiant heat
source was a quartz lamp heater. Quartz lamp tubes with a diameter
of 10 mm and a power of 1000 W are used to form a densely arranged
orthogonal array, and a 30 mm × 30 mm light transmission area forms
at the center of the quartz lamp array by selective arrangement of the
quartz lamp tubes. Information about the heated front surface of the
components can be transmitted to the exterior through this light trans-
mission area and be recorded by an optical camera. The light transmis-
sion area will have an effect on the temperature field uniformity of the
heated surface of the specimen; however, this effect can be reduced by
increasing the distance between the quartz lamp array and the specimen.
In this study, the system will be verified through testing.
D. Wu, L. Lin and H. Ren et al.
Fig. 4. Thermal control system and the surface temperature results of the specimen: (a) Computer thermal control system (b) Generation of a stepped temperature
environment.
The limited surface heating mode was adopted in this experiment,
and the periphery of the specimens was affected by the boundary en-
vironment. However, as long as the heating area of the test equipment
was large enough, a uniform temperature field could be generated in the
central area. The planar dimensions of the specimen in this experiment
were 110 mm × 110 mm, the size of the quartz lamp array was designed
to be 300 mm × 300 mm. Therefore, the heating area was much larger
than the area of the specimen, which made it possible to obtain a more
uniform temperature environment.
Because the melting point of the copper electrodes of the quartz
lamps is 1080 °C, it is difficult for the conventional quartz lamp heat-
ing device to produce a thermal test environment with temperatures
up to 1200 °C. Moreover, the difference in the thermal expansion co-
efficients of the copper electrodes in the quartz lamps and the quartz
glass is extremely large. The thermal expansion coefficient of copper is
1.70 × 10−5 (1/ °C), while that of the quartz glass is only 5.3–5.8 × 10−7
(1/ °C), which is a 30-fold difference. Therefore, large deformations gen-
erated by the copper electrodes in a high-temperature environment will
cause damage to the enclosures at the ends of the quartz lamps, and
the hot tungsten will burn out after infiltration by air. Therefore, the
temperature of the enclosures at the ends of the quartz lamps should
not be too high and generally must be less than 600 °C. In addition,
very large deformations are generated by the copper bars that hold
the electrodes of the quartz lamps at high temperatures, causing dam-
age to the ends of the quartz lamps. Therefore, it is necessary to cool
the electrodes of the quartz lamps as well as the copper bars hold-
ing the electrodes to decrease the deformation and protect the fragile
quartz lamp tubes. Therefore, in this study, the copper bars holding
the electrodes of the quartz lamps are designed as hollow structures,
as shown in Fig. 2(a), and the electrodes of the quartz lamps and the
fixed copper bars are cooled by continuously flowing water to prevent
the generation of large deformations. These measures ensure that the
quartz lamp radiant heating device can operate normally in a 1200 °C
environment.
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Optics and Lasers in Engineering 122 (2019) 184–194
Fig. 3. Al2O3 ceramic specimen.
The digital CCD camera used in the optical measurement system to
record the speckle images was a MER-200-20GM (China Daheng Group,
Inc., Beijing Image Vision Technology Branch). The lens focal length is
75 mm and the image resolution obtained is 1628 × 1236 dpi.
3. Measurement of the deformation of the heated surface in a
high-temperature environment
3.1. Specimens and installation
As shown in Fig. 3, the specimen is an Al2 O3 ceramic plate that
can tolerate temperatures up to 1600 °C and has characteristics of
high hardness, high pressure resistance, high wear resistance, and
strong current resistance. The planar dimensions of the specimen are
110 mm × 110 mm, and the thickness is 1 mm. Before the test, the sur-
face of the Al2 O3 material undergoes blackening treatment, and white
speckle granules are then randomly spattered onto the back surface of
the specimen to enable the identification of changes in the displacement
field on the surface using the digital image correlation method. Black
cobalt oxide colorant is used in the blackening treatment of the Al2 O3
ceramic plate’s surface. The melting point of cobalt oxide is 1935 °C. The
speckle granules are made using a customized white two-component
high-temperature inorganic adhesive, the main components of which
are silicate and alumina powder with an adhesive strength of 8 MPa
and a linear expansion coefficient of 8 × 10−6 / °C, which is very similar
to the linear coefficient of 7 × 10−6 / °C of the Al2 O3 ceramic material;
therefore, it has good adhesive effect at high temperatures, so it does not
easily fall off and has stable performance. The white powder is mixed
with a transparent setting liquid and stirred uniformly to produce the
speckled granule marking material.
During the high-temperature heating process, the ceramic plate
will expand in all directions. In this test, the ceramic plate speci-
men is installed in a square groove in the middle of a lightweight ce-
ramic fiber thermal insulation board. The dimensions of the groove are
D. Wu, L. Lin and H. Ren et al.
Fig. 5. Photographs of the noncontact optical measurement of the strain on the heated front surface of a component in a high-temperature aerobic environment.
111 mm × 111 mm × 1.1 mm, slightly larger than the planar dimensions
of the specimen. A thin tungsten wire is installed at the upper and lower
parts of the square groove to prevent the ceramic plate specimen from
falling off.
3.2. Temperature environment and image acquisition
To control the temperature of the heated front surface of the spec-
imen, a K-type thermocouple (nickel chromium-nickel silicon) with a
temperature measurement range from −270 to 1360 °C is installed on
the side with the speckle granules. The diameter of the thermocou-
ple wire is 0.3 mm. The temperature-measuring end is sintered into a
small dot-like body through capacitor discharge welding, and a high-
temperature inorganic adhesive is used to adhere the temperature sen-
sor onto the surface of the specimen (Fig. 4(b)). A heat insulation light
channel is installed between the camera and the specimen, and the ra-
dius of the light transmission hole is 15 mm. To avoid affecting the qual-
ity of the speckle image in the light transmission area in the center of the
specimen, the temperature-measuring thermocouple is adhered 24 mm
away from the center of the specimen.
During the experiment, a self-developed “transient aerodynamic
heating experimental simulation system for high-speed aircraft”
[30,31] was used to control the temperature of the heated front sur-
face of the Al2 O3 plate in real time (Fig. 4(a)). The surface temperature
of the specimen increased in a stepwise manner as shown in Fig. 4(b).
The ascending segment lasted for 30 s, and each increase of 100 °C was
immediately followed by a shift to a stable state, during which the tem-
perature was maintained for 30 s. Twenty seconds after the temperature
entered a stable state, the measurement system automatically triggered
the image collection program, and the CCD camera shot a speckle im-
age of the heated front surface. Fig. 4(b) shows that the set tempera-
tures on the front surface of the Al2 O3 ceramic plate fit the generated
temperatures well. This means the system can simulate a steady and
dynamic thermal environment. Thirteen images of speckles at 25 °C,
100 °C, 200 °C, …, and 1200 °C were saved in the experiment.
3.3. High-temperature strain measurement site map
Fig. 5 shows photographs of the noncontact optical measurement
of strain on the heated front surface in the high-temperature aerobic
environment and images of the heated surface of the Al2 O3 ceramic
plate.
4. Key issues that must be resolved in strain measurements of the
front surface
To perform noncontact measurements of strain on the heated front
surfaces of components in a 1200 °C aerobic environment, the following
key issues must be resolved: (1) the temperature field uniformity of the
heated front surface of the specimen, (2) the effect of hot airflow shaking
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Optics and Lasers in Engineering 122 (2019) 184–194
on the quality of the speckle image, and (3) setting a monochromatic
light quasiparallel enhanced light source.
4.1. Temperature field uniformity of the heated surface of the specimen
To collect strain information about the heated front surface of the
structure, a small light transmission area (Fig. 6) is established in the
middle of the quartz lamp array. Although the light transmission area
is not large, it will affect the temperature field uniformity of the heated
surface. Therefore, the distance between the quartz lamp array and the
heated components is increased to reduce the effect of the light transmis-
sion area on the temperature field uniformity. In this test, the distance
between the specimen and the quartz lamp array increased to 100 mm.
To verify the effectiveness of the test method, the Al2 O3 ceramic plate
is replaced by a nickel-based superalloy plate (1Cr18Ni9Ti) to test the
temperature field uniformity. A very fine (0.3 mm) metal thermocouple
wire (nickel chromium-nickel silicon) is used, and the metal thermocou-
ple wire is melted by capacitor discharge welding onto the nickel-based
superalloy plate; therefore, the temperature measurements will be more
accurate. The Al2 O3 ceramic plate is a nonmetallic material, and it is
necessary to use a high-temperature adhesive to adhere the temperature-
measuring end of the thermocouple wire to the surface of the ceramic
plate. Multiple thermocouples are necessary to measure the tempera-
ture field uniformity, and the thicknesses of the adhesive layers for the
thermocouples will be slightly different, which will result in slight vari-
ations in the temperature measurements; this temperature difference is
not caused by the temperature field uniformity of the quartz lamp ar-
ray. This study measures the temperatures using a metal thermocouple
wire welded to the metal plate, which avoids measurement errors from
the source due to the different thicknesses of the adhesive layers, mak-
ing the test results of temperature field uniformity more accurate and
reliable.
Five temperature sensors (T1 –T5 in Fig. 6) were installed on the sur-
face of the metal plate. The temperature control point T1 is welded to
the center of the metal plate. T2 –T5 are distributed around T1 , and the
distance from T1 is 28 mm. The five sensors were used to examine the
temperature distribution on the heated surface of the plate. First, the
thermal control system implemented a closed-loop control of the tem-
perature at the center point T1 . Over a period of 170 s, the temperature
at T1 was increased to 600 °C and then kept constant, and the tempera-
ture changes at points T2 –T5 were measured. The temperature of T1 -T5
in Fig. 6(a) revealed that the temperature difference between each point
was very slight during the heating and isothermal processes. Fig. 6(b)
shows a photograph of the quartz lamp heating array with a small light
transmission area. As the temperature increased, the light transmission
area could not be observed.
Table 1 shows the temperature measured at points T1 –T5 . It indicates
that the scatter of the temperature measurements is very small. At each
point, the relative deviation ((Ti )max -Tave )/Tave between the maximum
temperature (Ti )max and the mean temperature Tave at the measurement
D. Wu, L. Lin and H. Ren et al. Optics and Lasers in Engineering 122 (2019) 184–194

Fig. 6. (a) Experimental results of the temperature field uniformity on the heated surface of the plate (b) Temperature variation of the quartz lamp array.

Fig. 7. Schematic diagram of the method used to suppress hot air flow shaking to collect the high-temperature speckle images: (a) Light path (b) The heat insulation
light channel (c) Speckle images.

Table 1 updraft generates shaking in the air within the heating area, and the re-
Measurement data of the uniformity of the temperature field on the heated sur- fractive index of the air changes unsteadily, which distorts the clarity of
face of the plate. the optical image and can even lead to failure of the digital image cor-
Time /s 50 100 150 200 250 300 relation analysis. Therefore, to use the digital image correlation method
in an aerobic high-temperature environment to obtain a clear image of
T1 / °C 280.7 522.2 764.9 998.3 1001.4 1001.2
T2 / °C 283.1 520.5 759.6 996.5 1002.1 1001.6
deformation of the heated front surface, it is necessary to overcome the
T3 / °C 281.6 523.9 767.4 999.3 1004.4 1004.5 effect of hot air shaking on the image quality. A previous study proposed
T4 / °C 282.8 523.1 765.8 1001.0 1006.6 1006.4 blowing gas onto the surface of the heated body to make the air at the
T5 / °C 279.5 521.2 765.2 1000.0 1006.2 1005.7 front of the heated surface more uniform and reduce the effect of hot
Tave / °C 281.6 522.2 764.6 999.06 1004.1 1003.9
air shaking on the quality of the optical image [32]. However, the blow-
((Ti )max -Tave )/Tave /% 0. 55 0. 33 0. 39 0. 20 0. 24 0. 25
ing method cannot be used when the surface temperature is very high
because if low-temperature air is blown onto the surface of the heated
point was less than 0.67%. This illustrates that a uniform temperature body, it will affect the generation of high temperatures, and the airflow
field on the heated surface could also be obtained by appropriately in- shaking caused by the mixture of cold and hot air will also seriously dis-
creasing the distance between the heat source and the specimen despite tort the speckle image. Therefore, the effect of hot air shaking on optical
the small light transmission area in the middle of the quartz lamp array. images in an aerobic environment must be minimized.
Fig. 7(a) shows that the crucial area for the reduction of the image
4.2. Effect of hot airflow shaking in a high-temperature environment definition caused by hot air shaking is the cylindrical space between
the framed area of the heated front surface of the components and the
In an aerobic environment, as the temperature of the heated sur- charge-coupled device (CCD) camera. Therefore, the following measures
face of the specimen increases, the density of the hot air decreases, the were adopted to reduce the effect of air movement. (1) Lightweight,

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D. Wu, L. Lin and H. Ren et al.
heat-resistant insulation panels and flexible insulation blankets were in-
stalled on the periphery of the quartz lamp heating array to form a closed
cavity to reduce the overall flow of hot air. (2) A quartz glass frame was
fabricated to seal around the heated surface of the specimen to further
reduce the flow of the hot air on the surface of the specimen. Because the
quartz glass frame can transmit infrared light rays and its melting point
is approximately 1700 °C, it can work effectively at high temperatures.
(3) A light transmission channel to provide heat insulation (Fig. 7(b))
was installed between the CCD camera and the specimen. The size of
the light transmission aperture was very small and its diameter was
only 30 mm. Therefore, the flow area for hot air in the image collection
channel was significantly reduced. Because the light transmission chan-
nel was very small (<30 mm in diameter), the up-and-down movement
of the hot air was suppressed. The integrated use of the aforementioned
multilevel spatial sealing and zonal isolation measures effectively sup-
presses hot air shaking, and a clear high-temperature speckle image can
be obtained, as shown in Fig. 7(c).
4.3. Quasiparallel auxiliary light source
During the testing process, as the temperature increases, the light
intensity of the heat source and the radiant light intensity of the heated
surface both increase, which reduces the image contrast of the camera,
and a saturation phenomenon may appear. Therefore, a 450 nm band-
pass filter lens (bandwidth ± 5 nm) is added in front of the camera lens
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Optics and Lasers in Engineering 122 (2019) 184–194
Fig. 8. (a) Bilateral lighting (b) Bilateral light paths (c)
Speckle image using a bilateral light source (d) Ring light-
ing (e) Ring light path (f) Speckle image using a ring light
source.
[7,33] to obtain clear speckle images at high temperatures. In addition,
to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the speckle image of the surface
of the specimen in the high-temperature environment, a monochromatic
light-emitting diode (LED) auxiliary light source with a wavelength of
450 ± 3 nm and a power of 150 W is designed to enhance the effec-
tive recognition wavelength of 450 nm. To further improve the direc-
tional projection ability of the LED auxiliary light source, a miniature
condensing lens is also installed at the front of each luminotron, which
greatly improves the light-gathering ability and irradiation intensity of
the auxiliary light source. Because the lens of the optical camera is di-
rectly aligned with the test area, it is generally necessary to set up aux-
iliary light sources on both sides of the camera lens [18], as shown in
Fig. 8(a). Because a slender heat insulation light channel (Fig. 7(a)) that
suppresses hot air shaking is also installed in this test, if light sources
are used on both sides, there will be an included angle between the two
paths of light, and the slender heat insulation light channel will obscure
the incident light in the oblique direction, causing the speckle image of
the front surface of the specimen to have low definition and poor consis-
tency (Fig. 8(b), (c)). For this reason, a ring-shaped auxiliary light source
is designed with 50 3 W LED luminotrons surrounding the periphery of
the camera (Fig. 8(d)). The light emitted by this ring-shaped light source
is nearly parallel, which greatly enhances the irradiation intensity and
uniformity of the light on the surface of the specimen (Fig. 8(e)), ensur-
ing that the camera is able to acquire high-quality speckle images of the
heated front surface of the components (Fig. 8(f)).
D. Wu, L. Lin and H. Ren et al. Optics and Lasers in Engineering 122 (2019) 184–194

Fig. 9. Heated front surface speckle images of the Al2 O3 ceramic plate at different temperatures: (a) 25 °C (b) 600 °C (c) 800 °C (d) 1000 °C (e) 1100 °C (f) 1200 °C.

a certain step length. The position of the target subset’s center point,
𝑃 ′ (𝑥′𝑖 , 𝑦′𝑖 ), can be obtained by performing correlation calculations be-
tween the reference subset and the deformed subsets in the searching
subset in accordance with a predetermined correlation function.
The correlation function used in this study to evaluate the degree of
similarity in the speckle images before and after deformation is
𝑥=
∑𝑀 𝑥=
∑𝑀 [ ] [ ]
𝑓 (𝑥, 𝑦) − 𝑓𝑚 × 𝑔(𝑥′ , 𝑦′ ) − 𝑔𝑚
𝑥=−𝑀 𝑥=−𝑀
𝐶𝑓 ,𝑔 (𝐏) = √ √ (1)
𝑥=
∑𝑀 𝑥=
∑𝑀 [ ]2 𝑥=
∑𝑀 𝑥=
∑𝑀 [ ]2
𝑓 (𝑥, 𝑦) − 𝑓𝑚 𝑔(𝑥′ , 𝑦′ ) − 𝑔𝑚
𝑥=−𝑀 𝑥=−𝑀 𝑥=−𝑀 𝑥=−𝑀

𝑥∑
=𝑀 𝑥∑
=𝑀
1
𝑓𝑚 = [𝑓 (𝑥, 𝑦)]2 (2)
(2𝑚 + 1) 𝑥=−𝑀 𝑥=−𝑀
2

𝑥∑
=𝑀 𝑥∑=𝑀
1 [ ( ′ ′ )]2
𝑔𝑚 = 𝑔 𝑥 ,𝑦 (3)
(2𝑚 + 1)2 𝑥=−𝑀 𝑥=−𝑀
Fig. 10. Schematic diagram of the digital image correlation method.
where f(x,y) represents the gray-scale of the coordinate point (x,y) in the
image reference subset, g(x’,y’) represents the gray-scale of the coordi-
5. Test results nate point (x’,y’) in the image target subset, and P is the displacement
vector. The extrema of the correlation function C for the speckle images
5.1. High-temperature speckle images of the Al2 O3 heated front surface before and after the deformation were determined.
𝜕𝐶
Fig. 9 shows the speckle images of the heated front surface of the =0 (4)
𝜕 𝐏𝑖
Al2 O3 ceramic plate at 25 °C-1200 °C obtained in this experiment. The
The displacement of the reference subset’s center point can be ob-
image brightness changes slightly as the temperature increases, but the
tained through an iterative algorithm that determines the relevant pa-
definition of the speckle images is good at all temperatures.
rameters of the displacement vector P. The in-plane strain of the speckle
images can be obtained by deriving the displacement function in a cor-
5.2. Deformation field of the heated surface
responding direction

The digital image correlation method is a measurement method for 𝜕𝑢 𝜕v 𝜕u 𝜕𝑣

the numerical calculation of image information through a comparative
analysis of changes in images taken before and after surface deformation
of the tested object occurs. By tracking and matching the changes in
position of the same speckle spot in the speckle images taken before
and after deformation, the displacement information of the surface of
the tested object is obtained [34,35].
The basic principles of the digital image correlation method are
shown in Fig. 10. First, a square subarea with a center at P(xi , yi ) is
selected from the reference image (reference subset).
After the deformation, a searching subset is defined in the deformed
image, and several square deformed subsets with the same size as the
reference subset are successively selected from the searching subset at
𝜀𝑥 = 𝜀 = 𝛾 = + (5)
𝜕𝑥 𝑦 𝜕𝑦 𝑥𝑦 𝜕𝑦 𝜕𝑥
A rectangular calculation area was selected from the speckle images
shown in Fig. 9. The size of the area was 357 × 350 pixels. The in-plane
full-field displacement of the surface of the specimen was obtained by
analyzing the movements of the discrete pixels in that area before and
after the temperature changed, and the strain field was then calculated.
During the analysis and calculation, the size of the subarea in the ref-
erence image was 87 × 87 pixels, and the distance between adjacent
calculation points was 7 pixels; there was a total of 2652 calculation
points. Fig. 11 shows diagrams of the displacement fields of the heated
front surface at 400 °C-1200 °C obtained by the analysis using the digital
image correlation method.

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D. Wu, L. Lin and H. Ren et al. Optics and Lasers in Engineering 122 (2019) 184–194

Fig. 11. Measured displacement fields for the heated front surface of the Al2 O3 ceramic plate: (a) 400 °C (b) 600 °C (c) 800 °C (d) 1000 °C (e) 1100 °C (f) 1200 °C.
The units in the legend and the horizontal and vertical coordinates are pixels.

Fig. 12. Photographs of a thermal fracture and the fracture morphology of the
Al2 O3 ceramic plate (magnification 2000 times): (a) Fracture mode (b) Fracture
surface microstructure.

Fig. 11 shows that the displacement contours change around the cen-
Fig. 13. Strain-temperature measurement curve of the heated front surface of
ter. After the surface temperature of the specimen reaches 1000 °C, the
the Al2 O3 ceramic plate obtained using the digital image correlation method
fluctuations in the displacement contours increase, and the thermal ex- (25–1200 °C).
pansion uniformity of the Al2 O3 ceramic plate decreases. The increasing
high-temperature nonuniform deformation increases the possibility of
damaging the Al2 O3 . After the test temperature exceeds 1250 °C, frac- T can be obtained by multiplying 𝛼(T) in Eq. (6) by ΔT:
tures form in the ceramic plate due to the excessively high tempera-
𝛼(𝑇 ) = 6.6 × 10−6 + 4.1 × 10−9 × (𝑇 + 273) − 0.89 × 10−12 × (𝑇 + 273)2 (6)
ture (Fig. 12(a)). Micromorphology photographs of the fracture in the
ceramic plate shown in Fig. 12(b) demonstrate that the fracture cross-
section has irregular convex and concave shapes. This occurs because as
the temperature increases, the continuous increase in the internal stress 𝜀(𝑇 ) = 𝛼(𝑇 ) × Δ𝑇
[ ]
of the specimen causes local stress concentrations to increase, eventually = 6.6 × 10−6 + 4.1 × 10−9 × (𝑇 + 273) − 0.89 × 10−12 × (𝑇 + 273)2
leading to fracturing of the ceramic plate. × Δ𝑇 (7)

5.3. Thermal strain of the Al2 O3 ceramic plate
Hillman [36] provided the formula for the thermal expansion coef-
ficient 𝛼 of the Al2 O3 ceramic material as the temperature T changes: If
the difference between the current temperature and the initial tempera-
ture is set as ΔT, the relationship between the strain 𝜀 and temperature
Fig. 13 shows the “strain-temperature” curve derived based on the
“thermal expansion coefficient-temperature” formula for the Al2 O3 ce-
ramic provided by Hillman as well as the strains in the Al2 O3 ceramic 𝜀x
and 𝜀y obtained based on the high-temperature speckle images and the
digital image correlation analysis method. The curve was obtained by
fitting the data using the least squares method. Table 2 gives the values

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Table 2
Heated front surface strain of Al2 O3 the ceramic plate.

Temperature / °C 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200

𝜀 (T) /𝜇𝜀 Eq. (7) 2450 3450 4470 5520 6620 7910 9100 10,340 11,580 12,820
𝜀 x /𝜇𝜀 2580 3770 4320 6060 6640 7760 8730 9700 11,280 11,740
Relative error /% 5.3 9.3 3.4 9.8 0.3 1.9 4.1 6.2 2.6 8.4
𝜀 y /𝜇𝜀 2530 3570 4700 5340 6430 7680 9410 10,030 11,530 12,180
Relative error /% 3.3 3.5 5.1 3.3 2.9 2.9 3.4 3.0 0.4 5.0

Fig. 14. Specimen and thermal environment:

(a) Nickel-based high-temperature metal plate
(1Cr18Ni9Ti) (b) The temperature environment
over time.

Fig. 15. Speckle images of the heated surface of the nickel-based high-temperature metal plate (1Cr18Ni9Ti) at different temperatures: (a) 25 °C (b) 400 °C (c) 600 °C
(d) 800 °C (e) 1000 °C (f) 1100 °C.

of the heated front surface strain 𝜀x and 𝜀y measured in the experiment.
Comparing the experimental result with calculated result from Eq. (7),
the relative error is listed. Most relative error values were less than 5%
and the maximum was 9.8%. The test results of this study have a rel-
atively high goodness of fit with the “strain-temperature” relationship
derived from Hillman’s formula, thus verifying the accuracy and usabil-
ity of the test results.
5.4. Test results of the nickel-based superalloy plate
The ceramic material in this test is a brittle material. Fig. 11 shows
that after the temperature exceeds 1000 °C, the thermal expansion uni-
formity of the material decreases, the fluctuations of the displacement
contours increase, and fractures form (Fig. 12). Therefore, an additional
test is performed on the surface deformation of a heated plate made of
an isotropic nickel-based superalloy material (1Cr18Ni9Ti).
The metal specimen has planar dimensions of 100 mm × 100 mm
and a thickness of 2 mm. Because the grayscale on the surface of
the metal plate will change during the high-temperature test, black-
ening treatment is carried out on the surface of the nickel-based su-
peralloy plate before the test. White Al2 O3 powder is added to high-
temperature adhesive and thoroughly stirred, and a flat specimen
with a black base and white random speckle granules is made by
spattering (Fig. 14(a)).
Because the thermal conductivity of the nickel-based superalloy
plate is comparatively good, the heating conditions are set to the lin-
early increasing temperature shown in Fig. 14(b). Fig. 14(b) demon-
strates that the curve of the surface temperature of the metal specimen
has a high goodness of fit with the curve of the actual temperature con-
trol.
Fig. 15 shows digital images of the heated surface of the nickel-based
superalloy plate at different temperatures (25 °C–1100 °C). As the tem-
perature of the heated surface increases, the brightness of the images
increases, but the quality of the speckle images is good.
Fig. 16 shows diagrams of the displacement fields of the front sur-
face of the metal plate at 400 °C, 600 °C, 800 °C, 1000 °C, and 1100 °C
obtained by the analysis using the digital image correlation method.
The displacement contours change around the center, indicating that

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Fig. 16. Measured displacement fields of the heated front surface of the nickel-based high-temperature metal plate: (a) 400 °C (b) 600 °C (c) 800 °C (d) 1000 °C (e)
1100 °C. The units of the legend and the horizontal and vertical coordinates are pixels.

Table 3
Heated front surface strain of the nickel-based high-temperature metal plate.

Temperature/ °C 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100

𝜀 (T)/𝜇𝜀 Eq. (9) 3283 5023 6827 8696 10,630 12,630 14,694 16,823 19,017 21,276
𝜀 x /𝜇𝜀 3129 4548 6186 9281 10,662 12,636 16,117 17,828 20,385 22,660
Relative error/% −4.7 −9.5 −9.4 6.7 0.3 0.1 9.7 6.0 7.2 6.5
𝜀 y /𝜇𝜀 3085 4650 6219 8915 10,721 13,000 14,713 17,618 19,449 21,052
Relative error/% −6.3 −8.2 −9.8 2.4 0.9 2.9 0.1 4.5 2.1 −1.0

with changing temperature T is obtained by fitting the data.

Fig. 17. Strain-temperature measurement curve of the heated front surface of
the nickel-based high-temperature metal plate obtained using the digital image
correlation method (25–1100 °C).
𝛼(𝑇 ) = 14.88 × 10−6 + 3.25 × 10−9 × (𝑇 + 273) (8)
The relationship between the strain 𝜀 and temperature T can be ob-
tained by multiplying 𝛼(T) in Eq. (8) by ΔT
𝜀 (𝑇 )
[ ] (9)
= 𝛼(𝑇 ) × Δ𝑇 = 14.88 × 10−6 + 3.25 × 10−9 × (𝑇 + 273) × Δ𝑇
Fig. 17 shows the “strain-temperature” curve derived from the
“thermal expansion coefficient-temperature” relationship for the nickel-
based superalloy (1Cr18Ni9Ti) as well as the strains in the nickel-based
superalloy 𝜀x and 𝜀y obtained based on the high-temperature speckle im-
ages and the digital image correlation analysis method. The curve was
obtained by fitting the data using the least squares method. Table 3 gives
the values of the heated front surface strain 𝜀x and 𝜀y measured in the
experiment. The experimental result was compared with the calculated
result from Eq. (9). The relative error values of 70% were less than 5%
and the maximum was less than 10.0%. The test results have a relatively
high goodness of fit with the “strain-temperature” relationship for the
nickel-based superalloy (1Cr18Ni9Ti) derived in [37].

the thermal expansion of the metal plate after heating is comparatively
uniform.
Data on the thermal expansion coefficients of the nickel-based super-
alloy (1Cr18Ni9Ti) with changing temperature are given in [37]. The
formula for the thermal expansion coefficient 𝛼 of this metal material
6. Conclusion
To perform experimental testing of the surface strain on the heated
front surfaces of hypersonic aircraft components in high-temperature,
oxidizing environments, an infrared radiation experimental system to
measure the deformation of the heated front surface of a heat-resistant

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ceramic material was developed. The following conclusions were ob-
tained:
(1) The ability to generate a thermal experimental environment was
enhanced by designing a quartz lamp infrared radiation heating
device that was cooled by flowing water. The fabrication of a
densely arranged orthogonal quartz lamp heating array with a
light transmission area resolved the obstruction of the informa-
tion about the deformation of the heated front surface caused by
the intense light of the heat source in a high-temperature envi-
ronment, and the strain on the heated front surfaces of compo-
nents in a 1200 °C high-temperature oxidizing environment was
measured using the digital image correlation method.
(2) To overcome the effect of hot air movement between the CCD
camera and the image collection area on the quality of the im-
ages, multi-level spatial sealing and area isolation techniques
were applied in the heating space to suppress the movement
of the hot air. Sharp high-temperature speckle images were ob-
tained by installing a monochromatic ring-shaped auxiliary light
source and a narrow bandpass filter.
(3) The effect of the light transmission area on the uniformity of the
temperature field on the heated surface was decreased by increas-
ing the distance between the quartz lamp heat source and the
heated components. The results of the experiment showed that
after increasing the distance be-tween the heat source and the
specimen to 100 mm, the relative deviations between the maxi-
mum temperatures and the mean temperatures at five measure-
ment points on the surface of the specimen were less than 0.67%,
and a more uniform temperature field on the hot surface was ob-
tained.
(4) The results of the strain tests of the ceramic and metal materials
at different temperatures show that the measurement results for
the Al2 O3 ceramic have a high goodness of fit with the “strain-
temperature” relationship derived based on Hillman’s “thermal
expansion coefficient-temperature” relationship. The test results
of the nickel-based superalloy (1Cr18Ni9Ti) conform well with
existing data, verifying the accuracy and usability of the test
method.
The optical measurement system developed in this study to measure
the strain on the heated front surfaces of components in a 1200 °C high-
temperature environment provides an important means of testing for
thermal strength analysis as well as for the safety and reliability design
of the heated components of hypersonic aircraft.
Acknowledgments
The authors appreciate the support from the National Natural Sci-
ence Foundation of China (No. 11427802).
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