Optical measurement of the specimen deformation at high strain rate

During recent years, the investigation of the strain-rate-dependent properties of materials has become more and more important. The experimental techniques used to establish the specific dynamic behavior of materials all have in common that the acquisition of information concerning the deformation of the specimen is cumbersone and often questionable. Mostly, only limited information on the spatial distribution and time evolution of the deformation in specimen can be obtained. In this paper, a non-contact, optical technique is presented, providing the time evolution and spatial distribution of the axial deformation in specimens during a high strain rate test. The deformation of a line grid attached to the specimen is recorded during an experiment by means of a rotating drum camera. The time history of the axial displacements is subsequently derived by an advanced technique based on digital geometric moiré combined with a phase-shift method, specially developed to this purpose. The technique can be applied to a wide range of materials and high strain rate tests, and is illustrated by means of a split Hopkinson tensile bar experiment on a steel sheet specimen.