Automated fine grid technique for measurement of large-strain deformation maps

The fine grid technique has been a standard engineering tool for measuring large strains for many years. The sample surface is marked with a grid, and the deformation of this grid allows the deformation of the sample to be monitored. However, it has never been easy quantitatively to analyse the strain across the whole of a specimen's surface. We describe here an automated approach in which digitised images of a sample prepared with a grid are analysed by the Fourier transform method. This provides phase maps which, when unwrapped, yield planes representing the two in-plane specimen coordinates. An iterative technique follows these deforming planes from one frame to the next as the specimen deforms, allowing displacement fields to be calculated. Numerical differentiation gives strains across the specimen surface. Gerchberg iteration is used to provide immunity to errors resulting from holes or tears in the specimen surface. The method is demonstrated on a propellant simulant containing burn holes (a cylinder of diameter 10 mm; grid PITCH = 76 μm), loaded in compression across a diameter. All in-plane components of strain are calculated up to strains of approximately one-third. Displacement accuracy is of order 1 μm.