MATERIALS CHARACTERISATION

An investigation on the application of a non-destructive optical strain measurement system to fracture toughness testing
T R S Lima, C O D Martins, A Reguly and J F Santos
Submitted 26.10.09 Accepted 22.01.10

In the process of materials development and optimisation, the determination and analysis of mechanical properties, in particular toughness, have a major importance. This work presents a non-contact and non-destructive strain analysis technique which allows the determination of strain fields and displacements on a surface of interest. In the present study, an optical strain measurement system called ARAMIS has been used. The aim of this work was to verify the capacity of this system in detecting variations of strain and displacements in the vicinity of a crack tip located in two different regions of a welded joint. The system was applied to monitor the surface of fracture toughness test specimens of welded joints. The results from a CMOD clip gauge and from the optical strain analysis system were analysed and compared. Laser-welded samples of API 5L X-65 steel produced using a 25 kW CO2 laser source were prepared and tested in accordance with BS 7448-1997: Fracture Mechanics Toughness Test. The displacement results generated by the optical strain measurement system agree with those obtained with the standard clip-gauge technique. The results show that this strain measurement technique is a powerful tool for the strain/stress measurements, capable of providing a non-contact full-field strain map of the analysed specimens.
Keywords: Non-destructive testing, optical inspection, materials characterisation, strain field.

1. Introduction
The catastrophic failure of structures and mechanical components is always accompanied by unacceptable losses. In order to avoid such losses and to fulfill existing safety requirements, improved materials and components are continuously developed. During the process of materials development and optimisation, the determination of materials properties, especially toughness, has a major importance. Nowadays, engineers have to focus on a rational utilisation of materials and manufacturing process. One way of improving the efficiency of this task is to increase the volume of information in every experiment. In this sense, the application of complementary analytical methods to monitor mechanical testing has increased its acceptance and utilisation. The use of strain gauges and clip gauges has been the standard choice for monitoring strains and displacements during testing. Information on the strain x stress curve, crack propagation, fatigue process, etc
T R S Lima*, C O D Martins and A Reguly are with UFRGS Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. J F Santos is with GKSS Forschungszentrum Geesthacht GmbH, Institute of Materials Research, Materials Mechanics and Joining, Solid-State Joining Processes, Germany. *Corresponding author. Email: tlima@demet.ufrgs.br

can be easily obtained by the utilisation of such sensors. However, these sensors have the disadvantage of providing local information only, ie giving punctual results. This paper presents results of the application of a non-contact full-field strain and displacement measurement system technique based on the optical measurements principles[1,2]. This system analyses, calculates and documents strain as a result of, for example, external loading. The system recognises the surface structure of the object to be measured via digital camera images and allocates coordinates to the image pixels. A series of images is captured and recorded during loading of the object to be measured. Then, the digital images are analysed and the displacement and the deformation of the object are calculated. This system is ideally suited to measure, with high temporal and local resolution as well as with a high accuracy, three or twodimensional strain and displacement in real components and test specimens. The concepts of fracture mechanics are outlined in a number of text books[3-6]. The understanding of strain and stress behaviour at the crack tip plays an important role in fracture mechanics. Therefore, research efforts have been made to develop analytical and numerical models which describe the influence of the presence of a crack on the strain distribution and to determine relationships between the strain field and fracture toughness parameters[7-13]. The difficulty in developing a mathematical model to describe this strain behaviour increases for non-homogeneous materials, which is the case of mismatched welds[14-18]. Therefore, experimental validation is necessary to verify if the mathematical models successfully describe the real material behaviour. The present work addresses the application of a non-destructive technique to obtain experimental results on strain and displacements of a material surface close to a crack under loading.

2. Optical strain measurement system

Nowadays, a variety of commercially available optical inspection systems combine computational power, high-resolution digital cameras and compact mechanical design to provide turnkey operation for industrial applications. One of them is the ARAMIS optical strain measurement system. The principle of this system is based on the grey-value distribution in a rectangular area (facet). Since this area shows the same grey-value distribution before and after deformation, it is possible to determine the relative position of the grey-value gradients and to calculate strain and displacements between two different stages. Figure 1 demonstrates a facet in undeformed and deformed state. Each facet must have grey-value gradients in both coordinate directions (x, y). In most applications, a random or regular pattern with good contrast is applied to the surface of the sample, which deforms along with the object. The deformation of this structure under different load conditions is recorded by the CCD cameras and

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Figure 1. Grey-value distribution in undeformed and deformed state

evaluated. The initial image processing defines unique correlation areas known as macro-image facets, typically 5-20 pixels square, across the entire imaging area. The centre of each facet is a measurement point that can be considered as an extensometer and strain rosette. These facets are tracked in each successive image with sub-pixel accuracy. Then, using photogrammetric principles, the coordinates of the entire surface of the specimen are precisely calculated. The results are the three-dimensional image of the shape of the component, the displacements and the plane strain tensor. In this sense, the optical strain measurement system can be used as a powerful tool for strain/stress measurements, providing a full-field strain map, even at high speed. This is a non-destructive and non-contact technique which is independent of the material or geometry of the specimen to be analysed.

Figure 2. Positioning of the notch at the welded joint

3. Experimental procedure
In order to evaluate the capacity of the optical strain measurement system in acquiring information on the strain and displacement behaviour from the surface of fracture toughness specimens, laserwelded joints of API 5L X-65 pipeline steel samples were prepared and tested in accordance with ASTM E1737-96[19] and EFAM GTP 02 the GKSS test procedure for determining the fracture behaviour of materials[20]. The samples were laser welded by 25 kW CO2 source, employing a laser power of 25 kW and a welding speed of 1 m/min. Single-edge notch bend (SENB) specimens were used in order to determine the fracture toughness of the welded joints. The final a/W ratio after fatigue pre-cracking was 0.5. Two different notch positions, fusion zone (FZ) and heat-affected zone (HAZ), were tested. Figure 2 shows an image of the notch location on the sample. Figure 3 shows a schematic view of the experiment. In order to verify the heterogeneity of mechanical properties across the welded joint, a microhardness test was carried out.

Figure 3. Overview of the fracture toughness test assembly: (a) specimen, (b) clip gauge and (c) camera from optical strain measurement system

Figure 4. Microhardness profiles across the welded joints

4. Results
Figure 4 presents the microhardness profile across the welded joint investigated in this work. The weld presents high strength overmatching evidenced by the hardness increase in the weld region (ie HAZ/FZ). For comparison purposes, the results of the optical strain measurement system and of the CMOD clip gauge (displacement of the crack mouth opening) were evaluated. The displacement of the crack mouth opening was determined over the points PRight and PLeft, as shown in Figure 5. The CMOD results obtained by clip gauge and the displacement calculated from the points PLeft and PRight are shown in Figure 6. It can be seen that there is no significant difference in the results recorded by the two methods. The optical system made it possible to determine, with success, the strain behaviour in the vicinity of the crack tip in all specimens tested in this work. In order to clarify the visualisation and understanding of strain values and strain variations with the
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Figure 5. Identification of the points selected for measurement of the crack mouth opening displacement by optical strain measurement system

distance from the crack tip, two sections were created along the strain fields to the left and right side of the crack. The profiles of strain in the X direction and von Mises strain, along these two sections, are presented in Figures 7 and 8. These Figures also show the maps of strain in the X direction and the position of the fusion zone. These strain field results correspond to the final load during the fracture mechanics toughness tests.

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The deformation field is smaller to the left region, where the fusion zone is located, while the deformation field to the right region is bigger due to the presence of a material with higher capacity of deformation (ie non-affected base material). This difference occurs due to the characteristic of the welded joint, which presents high strength overmatching. In this sense, the optical strain measurement technique has shown to be a powerful tool for these measurements, capable of providing a full-field strain map of the analysed specimens.

5. Conclusions
This work discusses the capacity of an optical strain measurement system in acquiring information on strain and displacement behaviour from the surface of fracture toughness test specimens extracted from a laser-welded joint in an API 5L X-65 pipeline steel. The values of displacement obtained with the optical strain measurement system agree with those obtained with the standard clip-gauge technique, showing the accuracy of the system. As an advantage, the optical strain measurement system combines the capacity of being a non-destructive technique and the possibility of observing the strain field in the vicinity of the crack tip and the effects of inhomogeneous material properties on the surface strain distribution. This study shows that the optical strain measurement system is a powerful tool for the strain/stress measurements, capable of providing a non-contact full-field strain map of the analysed specimens. Acknowledgements The authors would to acknowledge the financial support from CNPq, CAPES and DAAD. References
Figure 7. Distribution of strain in X direction close to the crack tip and strain profiles along the section left and right. Results from specimen with notch located in the FZ

Figure 6. Load versus displacement plots. Comparison of results from clip gauge and optical strain measurement system

Figure 8. Distribution of strain in X direction close to the crack tip and strain profiles along the section left and right. Results from specimen with notch located in the HAZ

The strain map of the specimen with the notch located in the fusion zone shows a similar distribution of strain to both sides of the crack tip. It is an indication of the similarity of the mechanical properties in both sides of the crack. A different strain behaviour in the regions to the right and left of the crack tip was observed for the specimen with the notch positioned in the HAZ of the laserwelded joint.

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13. J R Rice, A path independent integral and the approximate analysis of strain concentration by notches and cracks, Journal of Applied Mechanics, Vol 35, pp 379-386, 1968. 14. K H Schwalbe and M Koak, Eds, Mis-matching of Welds, Proceedings of the International Conference MIS-MATCH 93, ESIS 17 1994, Mechanical Eng Publications, London, UK. 15. J X Zhang and Y W Shi, The effect of welding mechanical heterogeneity on fracture toughness feature of base metal, International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping, 72, pp 199-202, 1997. 16. Y P Lei, Y W Shi, H Murakawa and Y Luo, The effect of mechanical heterogeneity and limit load of a weld joint with longitudinal weld crack on the J-integral and failure assessment curve, International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping, 75, pp 625-632, 1998. 17. A Haddi and D Weichert, Elastic-plastic J-integral in inhomogeneous materials, Computational Materials Science, 8, pp 215-260, 1997. 18. J Neves and A Loureiro, Fracture toughness of welds effect of brittle zones and strength mismatch, Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 153-154, pp 537-543, 2004. 19. ASTM Standards, E1737-96 Standard test method for J-integral characterisation of fracture toughness, Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Section 3, Vol 03.01, pp 957-980, 1998. 20. K H Schwalbe, J Heerens, U Zerbst, H Pisarski and M Koak, EFAM GTP02 The GKSS test procedure for determining the fracture behaviour of materials, GKSS, 2002.

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