Evaluation of true stress in engineering materials using optical deformation measurement methods

The aim of the paper is to evaluate a method of determining true stress in the steel sample subjected to static axial tensile on a universal testing machine. The tensile specimens were made of steel ST3, which was chosen because of its relatively high plastic deformations. Strain measurement was performed using traditional extensometers and additionally a non-contact optical deformation measuring system. Material properties were obtain by the extensometer measurements. The optical equipment registered the investigated sample through the optical system composed of two cameras and calculated a three-dimensional model of the material deformation in time. Displacement fields in axial and radial directions were determined with Digital Image Correlation method (DIC). Then the logarithmic axial strain map and radius shrinkage map in the area of the neck were obtained. Characteristic dimensions of the neck: curvature and width were also measured. It allowed determination of cross-section area changes in the real time, and in the result, calculation of actual true stress in the material during failure process. In this case Bridgman's and other scientists' formulas of stress distribution in the neck were applied. A numerical model, where material properties of finite elements were described by the Johnson-Cooke material model, was developed in LS-PrePost software. The FEM model was computed in LS-DYNA solver. The output tensile curve and neck curvature radius were compared with relevant data obtained from the optical measuring system.