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STP 1323
Nontraditional Methods of
Sensing Stress, Strain, and
Damage in Materials and
Structures: Second Volume
ASTM
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Foreword
This publication, Nontraditional Methods of Sensing Stress, Strain, and Damage in Ma-
terials and Structures: Second Volume, contains papers presented at the symposium of the
same name held in Kansas City, Missouri, on 17 November 1999. The symposium was
sponsored by ASTM Committee E8 on Fatigue and Fracture. The symposium co-
chairpersons were George F. Lucas, MTS Systems Corporation, Peter C. McKeighan, South-
west Research Institute, and Joy S. Ransom, Fatigue Technology Incorporated.
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Contents
Overview vii
F R A C T U R E M E C H A N I C S AND S T R U C T U R A L INTEGRITY
S T R A I N AND D I S P L A C E M E N T M E A S U R E M E N T T E C H N I Q U E S
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Real-time Phase Analysis Methods for Analyzing Shape, Strain and Stress--
v. MORIMOTOAND M. FUJIGArO 153
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Overview
A mechanical test is of little value without some type of sensor to (a) control the test,
(b) provide a measurement of physical behavior or (c) indicate when the test is completed.
The most common sensors are those that measure force, displacement and strain. Although
many sub-classifications of these devices exist, industrial development of new force, dis-
placement and strain sensors is ongoing, often driven by a new application where the pa-
rameters exceed the limits of the currently available sensors. Perhaps a good parallel example
of this is the ceramics development that occurred during research concerned with the now
defunct high-speed civil transport. Had this aircraft not been envisioned, several of the current
high temperature materials would likely not exist.
The focus of this symposium is the development and application of nontraditional sensors.
For instance, several novel methods to measure strain in a body are available using non-
contacting techniques. In particular, there has been a large amount of work using vision-
based sensors to measure the deformation field on a material or structure. Although this is
only one example, there are other new, novel methods of measuring parameters that may
directly correlate with some form of damage within the material or structure. The purpose
of this symposium is to assess the state of the art of these sensing methods and examine
their future potential use as standardized tools within the testing communities. Encouraging
use of these new sensing methods and extending them into industrial application will pre-
sumably be a consequence of the symposium.
This symposium, held in November of 1999 in Kansas City, is the second in a series of
symposia concerned with nontraditional methods of sensing stress, strain and damage. The
first, STP 1318, was held in May of 1996 in Orlando, Florida and was preceded by two
workshops on the same topic in earlier years. These Symposia and Proceeding Workshops
were instigated by task group E08.03.03 on Sensors, which is a task group of the committee
on Fatigue and Fracture and its subcommittee on Advanced Apparatus. The scope of this
task group is to develop standards and encourage technology interchange concerning mea-
surement sensors that are used in determining fatigue and fracture characteristics of materials
and structures.
Perhaps one of the major differences between the first and second symposium (a span of
three and a half years) was the increase in capability apparent in personal computers. A
close examination of all of the papers in this symposium will show that at the heart of all
of the systems presented was a computer. As we all know, the speed of the CPU's has been
doubling every two years to eighteen months (Moore's Law). However what became apparent
during the symposium was not the pivotal role that increased processing speed was playing
but rather the enormous impact of infinitely available, low cost RAM and storage space.
This is probably most clearly evident for vision-based sensors that manipulate and interpret
images. Greater RAM allowed more on-the-fly computations and high-speed storage space
(gigabytes plus) implying enhanced flexibility.
The twelve papers included in this STP are very diverse, both from the viewpoint of the
applications considered as well as concerning the sensors applied. Four of the papers included
in this STP utilize imaging systems to infer deformation fields. Helm, Sutton and Boone use
their 3-D system to characterize fatigue crack growth for aluminum panels under tension-
torsion loading. Towse et al. describe a general purpose, 2-D non-contacting extensometer
derived from video images and capable of tracking multiple targets at high speed. Two other
vii 2012
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viii NONTRADITIONAL METHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
papers, Smith and Bay and Nicollela et al. examine strain fields in biological material (bone)
using image correlation techniques.
Two papers focused primarily on acoustic emission techniques: McKeighan et al. exam-
ined crack nucleation and growth from defects in titanium and Ma and Takemoto considered
thermal fracture in coatings subjected to cyclic laser irradiation. Two other papers focused
on fiber optic methods of measuring strain and deformation. Chen and Sirkis examined the
costs and benefits of fiber optic versus conventional electric strain gages. Conversely Tu et
al. measured long-term creep deformation using quartz optical fiber marking, remote mon-
itoring and image processing.
The remaining four papers examined relatively unique applications and sensors. Suhling
and Jaeger present work where the structural reliability of IC chips is measured using pie-
zoresistive sensors bonded to the chip substrate. Morimoto and Fujigaki present work con-
cerning the real-time phase analysis of Moire images to analyze shape, strain and stress. The
final two papers concern damage measurement. Ranganathan et al. examines methods for
quantitative fractography where the fracture surface of a failed specimen can be used to
assess loading conditions that led to failure. Finally, Burkhardt and Crouch present a mag-
netic nonlinear harmonics approach to detect localized plastic deformation in pipelines.
Organizing these papers in some cogent manner is a challenge in view of the diversity of
applications, methods, sensors and focus. Nevertheless, the approach adopted is intended to
address the focus of the papers. In the first section, Fracture Mechanics and Structural
Integrity, the papers that talk about cracks (either crack growth or fracture) or general stress-
strain behavior are included. The papers that address the damage state of a material are
included in the section entitled Damage Evolution and Measurement whereas the final section
considers Strain and Displacement Measurement Techniques.
Following the symposium, a brief panel discussion was held focussing on issues such as
where sensor development was going, what was spurring sensor development and what
ASTM standardization activities could assist this process. This was a lively discussion and
it is succinctly summarized at the conclusion of this book after all of the technical papers.
The technical community is clearly faced by some technical challenges--first and foremost
being the cost of new sensors and the magnitude of the effort required to develop them.
ASTM can play an important role in this process by insuring that the standards are available
to assess the performance of sensors once developed. However the breadth of the standards
required for this and covering sensor technology not yet even discovered is awe inspiring.
The editors would like to express their sincere appreciation to all of the authors and co-
authors responsible for the papers included in this STP and the presentations made during
the symposium. Furthermore we would like to recognize the efforts of the reviewers whose
high degree of professionalism and timely response ensures the quality of this publication.
Finally, the editors would also like to express their sincere gratitude to ASTM planning and
editorial staff for their assistance with the symposium as well as their critical input to this
special technical publication.
Finally, it should be noted that Tait S. Smith, co-author of the paper "Experimental Mea-
surement of Strains using Digital Volume Correlation" formerly with the University of Cal-
ifornia, Davis, received the "Best Presented Paper Award" for his excellent presentation at
the symposium. This honor was bestowed based upon the critiques of five seasoned profes-
sionals in the audience.
Peter C. McKeighan
Southwest Research Institute
San Antonio, TX
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Symposium co-chairman and editor
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Fracture Mechanics and Structural Integrity
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J. D. Helm, L M. A. Sutton, 2 and M. L. B o o n e 2
1Chief Engineer, Correlated Solutions, Inc.; 300 Main Street; Suite Cl13-N;
Columbia, SC 29208
2Professor and former graduate student, respectively; Department of
Mechanical Engineering; University of South Carolina; Columbia, SC 29208
3
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4 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
INTRODUCTION
where the relative displacement components, Au and Av, in the x-direction (along
original crack direction) and y-direction (perpendicular to crack), respectively, are
computed at a specific distance behind the current crack tip by the equations;
where u a~~ (V ab~ a n d u be~~ (V bel~ a r e the displacements in the x-direction (y-
direction) for points located above and below the existing crack line, respectively,
at a fixed distance behind the current crack tip. In this work, and in previous
work, the authors selected the distance behind the crack tip to be lmm.
It is well known that flaws growing in aerospace structures oftentimes are
9 subjected to a combination of mixed mode 1/11/111conditions. In thin fuselage
material, these complex crack tip conditions are due to local, out-of-plane motion
[7] of the unconstrained cracked surfaces. The out-of-plane deformation will
occur under either internal pressure or tensile loading [8].
To develop a better, physical understanding of the crack growth processes
that occur under mixed mode loading, as well as provide a quantitative set of
measurements for use in model verification, a series of tension-torsion [9,10]
laboratory-scale experiments using thin sheet, 2024-T3 aluminum specimens
have been performed. During these experiments, the crack tip opening
displacement data was acquired using a state-of-the-art, three-dimensional
computer vision system. In the following sections, the test specimen is
presented along with the experimental procedures used to perform the
experiments. Next, a brief summary of the three-dimensional computer vision
method is given. Then, results from a series of tension-torsion experiments are
presented, including (a) the first known three-dimensional COD data and (b)
typical strain fields acquired just prior to stable crack growth. Finally, a short
discussion of the results is presented.
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HELM ET AL. ON CRACK GROWTH IN THIN ALUMINUM PANELS 5
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6 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
Figure 2 graphically illustrates the large deformations that occur prior to and
during stable crack extension as the rectangular specimen is quasi-statically
loaded in tension and torsion; fatigue pre-cracking did not result in large
specimen deformations. To measure the three-dimensional vector
displacements for points on the specimen surface in Fig. 2, a unique digital
image correlation system (DIC-3D) was developed specifically for this
experiment. The DIC-3D system is capable of measuring the full, three-
dimensional surface displacement field for a structure deforming in three-
dimensions [8,9], including the presence of large in-plane and out-of-plane
rotations, large displacements and large strains.
To make accurate displacement and shape measurements with a 3-D vision
system, both (a) high
quality calibration of the
system and (b) a
matching process that
accounts for both lens
and perspective effects
when determining the
optimal deformation
parameters are required.
Figure 3 shows a typical
3-D vision system.
In our work, the
camera and lens systems
are modeled as a pinhole
device with a correction to
account for Seidel lens
distortion [9-11]. Figure 3: Typical system for three-dimensional
The pinhole camera displacement measurements.
projection equations that
govern the use of these cameras typically require that the imaging characteristics
of a camera are modeled by five parameters. In this work, the parameters are (1)
pinhole distance (phd), (2,3) location of the center of the image (Cx, Cy), (4) lens
distortion parameter, K, for Seidel correction and (5) the aspect ratio, X, of the
sensors. In addition to these parameters, six parameters (Xo, Yo, Zo, and a, 13, y)
are required to describe the relationship between a camera and the coordinate
system of the calibration grid. Here, (Xo,Yo,Zo) describe the position in space of
the grid relative to the camera and (a,l~,y) describe the angular orientation of the
grid relative to the camera.
Calibration of the two-camera computer vision systems determines the
relative position and orientation of the camera relative to the grid, as well as the
operating characteristics of both cameras. The calibration system is based on a
series of images of a grid with known line spacing [10, 11]. Each camera is
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HELM ET AL. ON CRACK GROWTH IN THIN ALUMINUM PANELS 7
calibrated to the grid individually. Since the positions of both cameras are known
relative to the same grid, their relative orientation and position are also known.
To calibrate each camera in the stereo-vision system, an image of the grid is
taken. The camera is then moved perpendicular to its sensor plane and a
second image is taken. Non-linear optimization is used to obtain the parameters
that best describe the position and operating characteristics of the camera. The
process is then repeated, without moving the grid, for the second camera.
Verification tests are discussed in detail in Reference [11].
Once calibration is completed, the stereo vision system can be used to
measure both the shape of the object surface (profiling) and also the full field,
three-dimensional displacement measurements. Similar to two-dimensional
image correlation, the three-dimensional measurement system uses a random
pattern bonded to the surface to provide a unique set of features to map image
locations from one camera to the other. Software, designated DIC-3D, has been
written to perform the process of optimal matching of subsets in both cameras to
locate the position and orientation of this region on the object. The analysis uses
two pairs of images taken of the surface of the object by camera one and
camera two, with each pair of images acquired at the same time. The two pairs
of images are used to obtain the three-dimensional surface displacement field by
employing a small square section of the image taken by camera one before
deformation as the "reference" image. Using a "projection with back-projection"
process developed by the authors, both the initial position of the subset on the
object (e.g., the surface profile) and the three-dimensional surface displacement
of the same subset due to deformation can be measured.
Cross-correlation is used to establish an error measure and obtain the best
match of the reference gray level pattern to corresponding patterns in each of
the images. The error function is optimized to determine the initial position and
displacement of a specific subset on the surface of the object. By continuing the
analysis on other portions of the image in camera one, both the full-field profile
and the full-field, three-dimensional displacements of the surface of the object for
the entire field of view shared by both cameras are measured. A complete
explanation of the 3D image analysis process is given in [11].
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8 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
W bet~
aW = W ab~ -
(4)
Following procedures outlined previously [1-6], COD was measured at 1 mm
behind the current crack tip in this work. To quantify COD accurately in this
region behind the current crack tip, the DIC-3D system was used to image a
region approximately 4mm by 4mm in size. Due to both the high magnification
required and the need to follow the moving crack tip, special considerations were
used when setting up the two-camera system. These considerations included
(a) camera mounting, (b) system stability and (c) crack-tip tracking.
The camera mounts used for these tests were specially designed to reduce
any motion of the camera and lenses by incorporating the mount into the C-
mount to Canon lens adapter, while providing full support for the lens system.
Special care was used to align the camera mounts with the translation stages.
To obtain camera translation that was perpendicular to the sensor plane, both
camera mounts were adjusted (using thin shims) until the translation of the
camera produced a displacement field indicating a nearly pure radial dilation of
the image.
To achieve overall stability in the vision system, the cameras were attached
to an extruded aluminum cross bar. The honeycomb construction of the cross
bar created a lightweight, yet rigid, support member for the camera system. In
addition to the rigid cross bar, the connecting mount securing the cross bar to the
calibration fixture and to the translation stage was re-designed to minimize any
bending forces produced when clamping the system to the holding fixtures.
To track the crack tip region during stable crack extension, the vision system
was mounted on a four-axis translation/rotation system. The system was
capable of translating in all three directions, as well as rotating about a vertical
axis to adjust for torsion/twisting of the specimen. Moving and rotating the entire
system maintained a focused view of the crack tip area throughout the crack
extension process.
Finally, translation tests were performed to assess the accuracy of the
system. For our tension-torsion experimental setup, calibration and translation
tests indicate that the standard deviation error in each displacement component
was +/- 1 ~.m. This error estimate was obtained by fitting a least square constant
vector displacement to the measured data for each translation test. It is worth
noting that conversion of displacement errors to strain error estimates is difficult
due to the dependence of strain errors on (a) the form of the functional fit to the
measured displacement data and (b) the gage length used to estimate strain,
this is part of an on-going research effort to quantify potential errors in the 3D
measurement methodology.
After completing the alignment and calibration processes, image data was
acquired as follows. First, prior to loading the specimen, a series of overlapping
images of 4mm by 4mm areas located approximately 38 mm ahead of the initial
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HELM ET AL. ON CRACK GROWTH IN THIN ALUMINUM PANELS 9
crack position were acquired as reference images for later strain measurements.
The camera system was then translated to observe the initial crack tip region.
During loading, images were acquired of the crack tip region. The system was
translated and rotated during the experiment so that the crack tip area could
continue to be imaged as the crack grew.
The three-dimensional surface displacement fields were converted to in-
plane strain fields in the vicinity of the initial crack tip region using the Lagrangian
strain formulation in terms of the displacement gradients
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
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10 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
For ST/Sp = 3.32, typical results for the in-plane surface strain fields (~w, ~=x,
s~) just after initiation of crack growth are shown in Figure 6. For ST/Sp = 0.00
and 3.32, Figure 7 shows the fracture surfaces after complete separation has
occurred.
Figure 4: COD versus crack extension for combinations of tension and torsion
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HELM ET AL. ON CRACK GROWTH IN THIN ALUMINUM PANELS 11
Figure 6: Crack tip strain fields just after crack growth, ST/SP = 3.32
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12 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
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HELM ET AL. ON CRACK GROWTH IN THIN ALUMINUM PANELS 13
Figure 4 clearly shows that for all ST/Sp, the average COD _= 0.118 mm for
&a _> 10 mm. This value is somewhat larger than measured for L-T specimens
under mixed mode 1/11loading [1-4]. The initial transient in COD values has been
observed by many investigators [1-4], and is widely known to be related to three-
dimensional crack tip conditions that stabilize after crack growth of approximately
1-2 specimen thickness. As was observed in previous Mode 1/11tests, the initial
transient in COD was a clearly defined rapid increase to a maximum value,
followed by a decrease to an average value.
As shown in Figure 7, the specimen experienced large shape changes
during loading. Figure 6 shows that the surface strain fields are qualitatively
similar to those expected for planar, through-thickness flaws growing in the
presence of large plasticity. Specifically, the opening strain field is large just
ahead of the crack tip, Exx has the opposite sign consistent with the requirement
for incompressibility and ~xy is concentrated along bands on either side of the
surface crack direction. However, as shown in Figure 7, the fracture surface is
not planar. The crack plane transitions to a slant as the initial crack extension
processes are occurring. In this context, interpreting the measured surface
strain fields becomes more difficult. Given the complexity of the processes
occurring during crack extension in the tension-torsion specimen, it seems clear
that a good use of the measured fields would be for validation of FEA model
predictions. Once validated, the models can be used to obtain three-
dimensional field data to better understand how the fracture process is
proceeding.
Finally, it is noted that for ST/Sp > 0, slant fracture such as is shown in Figure
7 always occurred in a manner that tended to cause overlapping and
interference of the opposing crack surfaces. Though several reasons may be
conjectured for this observation, detailed three-dimensional crack growth
simulations using the measured crack paths are now underway to provide
quantitative stress fields and strain fields in the crack tip region for determining
the conditions required for crack advance.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Dr. James C. Newman, Jr., Dr. David S. Dawicke,
Dr. Charles E. Harris and Dr. I. S. Raju from the Mechanics and Materials
Branch at NASA Langley Research Center for their technical advice and support
of this research. Without their sincere efforts to help us, this work would not
have been possible. In addition, the financial support of NASA EPSCoR
program through NCC5-174 is deeply appreciated.
References
[1] Amstutz, B.E., Sutton, M.A., Dawicke, D.S. and Newman, J.C., Jr., "An
Experimental Study of COD for Mode 1/11Stable Crack Growth in Thin
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14 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
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P. C. McKeighan, I A. E. Nicholls, t L. C. Perocchi, 2 and R. C. McClung 1
Sensing Crack Nucleation and Growth in Hard Alpha Defects Embedded in Ti-
6AI-4V Alloy
Reference: McKeighan, P. C., Nicholls, A. E., Perocchi, L. C., and McClung, R. C.,
"Sensing Crack Nucleation and Growth in H a r d Alpha Defects Embedded in Ti-
6AI-4V Alloy," Nontraditional Methods of Sensing Stress, Strain, and Damage in
Materials and Structures: Second Volume, ASTM STP 1323, G. F. Lucas, P. C.
McKeighan, and J. S. Ransom, Eds., American Society for Testing and Materials,
West Conshohocken, Pa, 2001.
Introduction
The processing of premium grade titanium alloys that are used for fan and
compressor rotors and disks in aircraft jet engines occasionally includes upsets that can
result in the formation of metallurgical anomalies known as hard alpha (HA). These
anomalies are nitrogen-rich alpha titanium that are brittle and often have microcracks
and microvoids associated with them. Although rarely observed, these anomalies can
lead to uncontained engine failures such as the fatal incident of a DC-10 at Sioux City
in 1989.
The current safe-life philosophy for life management of commercial turbine rotors
does not account for undetected anomalies such as HA. Past work [I] has shown that
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16 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
The synthetic defect specimens were created artificially using techniques pioneered
to refine NDE methods and develop inspection standards [5]. Since the complex
process used to create the artificial defect specimens is described in detail elsewhere
[4], only the most relevant, primary steps will be described herein. Arc-melted Ti-N is
hot isostatically pressed (HIPped) to create monolithic defect cores that are electro-
discharge machined (EDMed) into cylindrical defect cores of various diameters and
lengths. A diffusion zone is then created around the defect core by imbedding the core
in a piece of rotor-grade Ti-6-4 and again HIPping. The cylindrical core / diffusion
zone assembly is then again EDMed from the block and placed into a mating cavity in
another block of Ti-6-4. A top surface is then electron beam welded in place and the
block is HIPped for a third time. Results from an ultrasonic inspection are combined
with precision grinding to yield a block suitable for machining specimens. Once
processing was complete, the approximate yield strength of the Ti-6-4 material was
measured in the range of 870-925 MPa.
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McKEIGHAN ET AL. ON SENSING CRACK NUCLEATION 17
One of the advantages with the synthetically manufactured anomalies is the ability
to vary different defect condition parameters. The overall variables examined in this
study include the following:
9 defect source - synthetically manufactured or naturally occurring,
9 defect position - surface connected (visually observable) or subsurface, internal
defects completely surrounded by Ti-6-4 base metal,
9 defect e x t e n t - a large and small diameter case (see Table 1 for details), and
9 defect composition - low, medium and high levels of nitrogen content (1.6%,
2.7% and 6% by weight, respectively).
Unfortunately, the high cost and extensive labor required to produce the specimens
dictated that a full matrix, exercising the various combinations of variables, was not
possible. Only a limited number of specimens were tested, some under static loading
conditions and others subjected to fatigue cycling. A full matrix defining the defect
variables and including all of the test conditions is shown in Table 2.
In the case of the synthetic defects, the defect variables such as composition, size
and geometry can be controlled. However, since it is unknown how well these synthetic
defects mirror the behavior of natural HA defects, a limited amount of testing was also
performed using naturally occurring defects to assess consistency and, if apparent,
differences. Two specimens, a surface (RMI-E1) and subsurface (interior, RMI-FI)
geometry, were machined from contaminated billet study material provided by the
Engine Titanium Consortium [6].
All testing, regardless of whether loading was static or fatigue, was performed on an
oversize, tensile-type specimen with a total length of 150 ram, The reduced section had
a gage length of 25.4 mm, width of 25.4 mm and thickness of 12.7 mm. The cylindrical
defect was oriented with the major axis of the defect perpendicular to the loading
direction and in the thickness direction. The internal defect was nominally positioned in
the center of the specimen. Conversely, the surface connected defect was oriented
similarly but with the defect exposed on the surface. Low stress grinding was used to
machine the surface of the specimen where the circular-shaped defect was exposed.
Although the testing was highly non-standard, it was performed in the spirit of the
relevant static and cyclic ASTM standards (E8 for static tensile testing and E466 for
cyclic fatigue testing). During the static testing, the strain rate was controlled to insure
quasi-static loading rates, typically on the order of 140 MPa/minute. It was not
uncommon to periodically pause during the static loading to inspect the specimen and
record acoustic data. During the fatigue testing, load was applied in the form of a
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Table 2 - Matrix of synthetic defect testing (fatigue cycling was at an R-ratio of O.05-0.1 except for marker bands
which were at O. 7).
z
Defect Position Loading Loading History o
Specimen Defect Size Nitrogen Composition z
.-4
'-n
ID small large low reed high interior surface Type
# # # static Om~ = 345 MPa -I
HA-SL-BI
# d # static am~x = 520 MPa
HA-SL-A2 z
,f # # static Om~ = 760 MPa I""
HA-SL-A1
HA-SL-C 1 d d d static Omx = 275 MPa followed by,
m
fatigue 24 kcyc at One,= 275 MPa -r
# # # static Or~ = 690 MPa 0
HA-IL-F 1
# # # static Om~ = 690 MPa followed by,
HA-IS-D1
0"TI
fatigue 20 kcyc at Om~x= 550 MPa
# # # fatigue 10 kcyc Or~=345 MPa (plus marker band) m
HA-IS-E1 z
# # # static Om~ = 690 MPa
LLS-T z
# d static Om~ = 825 MPa if)
LMS-T
# # # static Om~, = 825 MPa
SMS-T "-n
# # # static Om~ = 760 MPa m
SHS-T
# # static om~ = 760 MPa 6O
LHS-T
# # fatigue -'4
LHS-B 5 kcyc at o ~ = 3 4 5 MPa
# # # static Om~ = 825 MPa l___
LLI-1 z
# # d static ~m~ = 690 MPa
LHI-1
# # # static Om~ = 825 MPa
SHI-1
d" # d fatigue 25 kcyc Om~x=345 MPa (plus marker band)
LHI-2
4" d" # fatigue 10.4 kcyc Om~= 520 MPa (plus two marker bands)
LMI
# # # fatigue 20 kcyc ~ - - 520 MPa (plus marker band)
LLI-2
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McKEIGHAN ET AL. ON SENSING CRACK NUGLEATION 19
sinusoid with a load ratio in the range 0.05-0.10. Cyclic frequencies varied between 1
and 5 Hz, depending on the load magnitude.
Sensing Methods
During the conduct of this program, five methods were examined to understand the
cracking behavior in the test specimens. Three methods specifically relate to damage
measurement (visual, rnetallographic sectioning and acoustic emission sensing) and two
methods infer damage by measuring some other type of phenomena (electric current
field in the potential drop method and transmitted sound waveform in the ultrasonic
method). Of these methods, the only truly definitive indicator of damage is the physical
observation inherent in the visual and metallographic methods. None of the others can
be used for a definitive assessment of cracking or crack size without correlating
information derived visually. Although the ultrasonic method was used during the
preliminary phase of the program as detailed in reference [4], it was not used in the
more extensive second phase and is consequently omitted from further discussion
herein. It was not used due to consistency and repeatability issues, due in all probability
to implementation method.
Damage was visually tracked in the surface defects by using a low power travelling
microscope mounted on a vernier scale to measure feature lengths. For the case of
internal defects, visual observation was not possible unless the defect was sufficiently
cracked to cause large regions of plasticity on the outer polished faces of the specimen.
Prior to testing, the surface defect specimens were mechanically polished and
chemically polished/etched with 50 mL HNO3, 40 mL 1-120 and 10 mL HF. This was
followed by a 6 micron diamond paste mechanical polish to produce a smear-free
surface.
To understand better the state of an interior defect that had been subjected to
loading, specimens were serially sectioned and metallographically examined to quantify
cracking behavior and determine how it varied along the length of the defect. Although
destructive in nature, this sectioning approach proved to be an effective method for
determining the extent of cracking. After sectioning and rough mechanical polishing,
an etchant of 85 mL 1-I20, 10 mL HF and 5 mL HNO3 was used to highlight the grain
structure. The section was then photographically documented and the sectioning
continued to gain a three-dimensional sense of damage progression inside the defect.
The electric potential drop (PD) technique has been used quite successfully for a
number of years to measure the initiation and propagation of cracks. With this
technique the disturbance in the potential field caused by a discontinuity (crack) is
measured in a current-carrying body (the specimen). As the crack grows, the effective
cross-sectional area of the specimen decreases and the resistance increases. Given a
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20 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
constant current input, the voltage difference between two points on either side of the
crack will also increase.
Since the first application of the PD technique nearly 45 years ago [7], the challenge
has proven to be deriving closed-form or empirical expressions suitable for calibration
[8]. The method can be used effectively for multidimensional crack problems to track
crack shape, although the calibration again becomes a paramount issue [9].
Nevertheless, the method remains one of the most robust and accurate non-visual crack
length measurement techniques currently available [10]. One of the primary benefits of
the PD method is that, given that the appropriate instrumentation is available, the
method is easier to implement than many others (e.g., specimen compliance). PD data
are single-valued voltages (pulsed on peak load) and as such require minimal
processing.
During this program, a pulsed direct current, dual probe-set potential drop unit was
used to monitor electric potential. In a dual probe-set configuration, the voltage
monitored is proportional to the ratio of the voltage from probes immediately adjacent
to the crack to a voltage from a remote set of probes (hence automatically correcting for
slight current input perturbations as well as temperature changes). The remote probes
were located on the current input probes on the ends of the specimen. The inner probes
consisted of spot welded platinum wire (0.13 mm diameter) on the surface of the
specimen nominally +_2.54 mm from the center of the defect on the face of the sample.
The optimum potential drop response is manifested when (a) the crack occurs
between the two inner probes and (b) in close proximity to the probes. In fact, it is even
possible that PD voltage would decrease with cracking depending on where the
cracking is relative to the probes. Furthermore, the presence of the defect could itself
cause an electrical perturbation that might interfere with PD measurements. IXtfing this
program, the PD method was applied to detect potential field change so as to infer crack
growth as opposed to physically providing an indicator of crack size. In order to detect
this change, the gains on the preamplifiers in the potential drop system were set quite
high so as to provide the maximum sensitivity to change.
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McKEIGHAN ET AL. ON SENSING CRACK NUCLEATION 21
signals that are recorded. Clearly one of the major limitations of AE monitoring is the
absence of a definitive physical link between the crack growth process and an acoustic
parameter (e.g., events, energy level or energy amplitude). More recent AE work [12]
has been successful in linearly relating acoustic emission events and amplitude to crack
length or a relatively large range of crack lengths during fatigue testing.
Two separate acoustic emission systems were used during this program. Initially, a
Physical Acoustics Corporation (PAC, Lawrenceville, N J) LOCAN 320 system was
used in conjunction with two 19.1 mm diameter wide-band acoustic microphones
mounted on opposite ends of the specimen gage length. The majority of the acoustic
data were recorded with a new generation PAC MISTRAS 2001 system used in
conjunction with six NANO-30 acoustic emission transducers (7.6 mm diameter)
surrounding the gage length of the specimen. The microphones chosen optimized both
size and frequency response characteristics. The frequency range for the microphones
maxed out at 750 kHz, well above the maximum required herein. A photograph of the
specimen is shown in Figure 1 and illustrates the positioning of the acoustic emission
and potential drop leads.
The newer generation MISTRAS system operates at a higher baseline sample rate
and resolution and is configured with software to locate acoustic events by triangulating
the data obtained from the multiple, redundant microphones. The software also records
not only acoustic "hits" but also acoustic "events," where an event is defined through a
correlation of hits from multiple microphones in a pre-defined spatial window. All
acoustic data exceeding user-set thresholds were written to disk; this allowed the user to
replay a test and modify analysis parameters. However this enhanced flexibility was
costly in terms of data storage as it was not uncommon to generate in excess of a
gigabyte of data during a fatigue test.
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22 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
Acoustic emission systems provide somewhat unique output, very much dependent
upon the characteristics of the measurement system. The measurement system includes
components such as the crystals (microphones), signal processing hardware, data
acquisition strategy and signal interpretation software. In the past decade, several
acoustic measures have become somewhat standardized and accepted by the technical
community. Perhaps the best example of this is the quantity "acoustic energy," or more
appropriately the measured area under the rectified _signal envelope (MARSE).
Although this could be converted to a true energy, for acoustic systems, it is a relative
energy of a normalized signal, and hence unitless.
Acoustic energy (MARSE) is a measure of the magnitude of an acoustic signal. It
is an attractive parameter since it depends upon both amplitude as well as duration.
This two-dimensional nature provides obvious advantages over more simplified
acoustic measurements such as counts or events. Furthermore, acoustic energy is not
dependent upon threshold level settings which can otten influence some of the other
parameters used to quantify acoustic signatures. The disadvantage with acoustic energy
is the extensive processing (either through software or signal processing on-the-fly)
required to measure it. In the context of this paper, wherever the term "acoustic energy"
is used, it is actually the MARSE energy measure provided by the MISTRAS 2001 AE
systen~
Prior to discussing the data obtained during the static and fatigue loading o f the
defect specimens, it is worthwhile briefly reviewing the metallurgical characteristics of
the synthetic defects (more fully described in reference [4]). The core of the defect is
nitrogen-rich titanium which is surrounded by a diffusion zone in which the nitrogen
level drops off rapidly in a radial fashion. Levels of 1% by weight of nitrogen are
typical at 50 microns. The defect core has a relatively constant hardness, approximately
2.2 times greater (in excess of Re = 64) than the base metal level.
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McKEIGHAN ET AL. ON SENSING CRACK NUCLEATION 23
Figure 2 - AE and PD datafrom surface defectsfor (a) a large, low nitrogen defect and
(b) two other uncracked, undamaged specimens (medium nitrogen defecO.
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24 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
Data from some of the internal defect specimens are shown in Figure 4 illustrating
the influence of both defect size and nitrogen level. The acoustic activity observed for
the interior defects is approximately five times less than in the surface defect case.
Although the data trends are similar for the different cases, the large, high nitrogen
defect tends to crack at a lower stress level. Whereas for the surface defects the AE
events tended to increase steadily with loading, the interior defects tend to exhibit low
emission until high stresses (600-750 MPa) are achieved. A similar conclusion can be
reached by using the 75-100 millivolt potential drop threshold derived from Figure 2(b)
for the no-cracking case. Presumably, the ability to load an embedded defect to higher
stress levels must be a consequence of compressive residual stresses due to a mismatch
of thermal expansion properties between the defect and surrounding Ti-6-4.
Metallographic sections from two of the specimens are shown in Figure 5
illustrating the damage state after testing. The nature of damage in the internal defect
specimens differed from that observed in the surface defect specimens. Either the core
and diffusion zone were extensively cracked and shattered, as in Figure 5(a) and (b), or
the cracks were less numerous and smaller in length such as in Figure 5(c). Defect
shattering presumably occurred since the damage onset was delayed to higher energy,
higher stress conditions.
The acoustic activity from the two high nitrogen specimens in Figure 4(b) exhibits a
rapid magnitude increase during the last loading step. The corresponding acoustic event
location plots for the last two stress levels, illustrated in Figure 6 for the LHI-1
specimen and showing a burst of acoustic activity in the central region of the specimen,
is indicative of the HA core shattering. In general, more extensive damage was noted in
higher nitrogen defects, presumably indicative of a more brittle and less forgiving core.
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McKEIGHAN ET AL. ON SENSING CRACK NUCLEATION 25
Figure 4 - Data from (a) potential drop and (b) acoustic emission for
three internal defect specimens loaded statically.
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26 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
Figure 6 -Acoustic event location mapping at two stress levels for a high nitrogen
defect specimen that exhibited defect core shattering similar to that shown in
Figure 5(a). The burst of acoustic activity at the higher stress level is
indicative of core shattering.
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McKEIGHAN ET AL. ON SENSING CRACK NUCLEATION 27
Figure 7 - Data recorded during fatigue testing of a large surface defect in terms of (a)
acoustic emission, potential drop and visually measured crack length, (b) acoustic
frequency variation and (c) frequency as a function of relative energy magnitude.
the defect core and diffusion zone, the lowest energy acoustic events occur at a high
frequency. Conversely, when cracking occurs in the base metal, the acoustic emission
tends to occur at a more fixed frequency independent o f energy magnitude. Although
the data are few and repeatability has not been assessed, the differences observable in
Figure 7(c) are useful for diagnosing where damage occurs.
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28 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
AE and PD data from one of the first, lowest stress fatigue tests on an internal defect
specimen (small defect size, high nitrogen) are shown in Figure 8. Both measures of
acoustic activity were of similar magnitude to the surface defect data (Figure 7(a)) and
exhibited a rapid increase over the first 20% oftbe applied cycles followed by a more
gradual plateauing. However the PD data exhibited virtuafly no change during cycling.
After cycling, the specimen was broken open and examined for evidence of fatigue
cracking. The region surrounding the defect exhibited ductile tearing with no evidence
of any fatigue cracking into the base metal. Due to the nature of cracking in the defect,
no conclusions could be drawn after static failure regarding fatigue cracking in the
defect.
Similar results and an absence of cracking were obtained from the first internal large
defect specimen. This implies that the acoustic data recorded during these tests
represent a lower bound of the energy and events required to fully crack the defect prior
to propagation into the base metal. Based on these data, a minimum of 2000 events
(small internal) and 6000 events (large internal) are required with total cumulative
acoustic energy in the range of 1-3(106) to result in (some degree of) defect cracking.
These levels are roughly validated with data from another fatigue test specimen
(large, internal defect) shown in Figure 9. The PD change indicated crack progression
for the last 2000 cycles of growth. Conversely, the plot of acoustic events and energy is
relatively smooth with no perturbation that can be clearly related to a change in
conditions. Using the earlier described acoustic threshold data, the event count exceeds
the threshold for the last 2000 cycles while the energy exceeds its threshold for the last
4000 cycles of growth. Presumably, this is a reasonable estimate of the earliest that
crack propagation into the base metal could have occurred from the defect.
Figure 8 - Fatigue test results (acoustic emission and potential drop) for a small,
interior defect specimen that did not exhibit any crack progression beyond
the defect and into the base Ti-6-4 metal.
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McKEIGHAN ET AL. ON SENSING CRACK NUCLEATION 29
Figure 9 - Fatigue test results (acoustic emission and potential drop) for a large,
interior defect specimen that exhibited greater amounts of base metal cracking.
During fatigue cycling, high R-ratio marker bands were applied to create artifacts on
the fracture surface suitable for post-test interpretations of crack progression. The
fracture surfaces for the specimen whose data are shown in Figure 9 as well as that from
another internal defect specimen are illustrated in Figure 10. The most effective
marking was achieved with the LMI specimen shown in Figure 10(b) with the two
marker bands. Moreover, the marking evident on the LLI specimen, Figure 10(a),
clearly illustrates the discontinuous nature of cracking. Zone 1 shows that the crack had
enveloped approximately 2/3 of the defect with at least two separate crack initiation
sites.
In addition to the synthetic defects discussed so far, two natural defects were fatigue
tested. A photomicrograph of one of these naturally occurring defects, in this case the
surface defect, is shown in Figure 10(c). A close examination of Figure 10(c) shows
that the defect is actually a void with the irregularly shaped diffusion zone a result of
the complete diffusion of the nitrogen core into the surrounding Ti-6-4 material.
Clearly, the character of the natural defect differs from the synthetic defects examined
herein, and in fact the stress levels required to result in cracking were higher for the
natural defect. This was evident despite the fact that numerous, pre-existing
microcracks were observed surrounding the void of the natural, surface defect.
The recorded data and fracture surface of the natural internal defect are shown in
Figure 11. The rapid increase in potential drop data-suggests that more significant
levels o f crack growth (presumably into the base metal) definitely occurred during the
last portion of the 690 MPa block, although it is impossible to definitively state when
the growth actually started. Nevertheless, the basic trend of the acoustic data recorded
during fatigue testing of the natural defect is consistent with that observed for the
synthetic defects. Acoustic events and energy initially increase rapidly, followed by a
slower increase as the levels reach an apparent upper bound magnitude. The similarity
of the magnitudes of both the acoustic energy and events is striking when comparing the
synthetic internal defect case (Figure 9) to the natural internal defect case (Figure 11).
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30 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
Figure 10 - Photomicrographs of (a-b) exposed fracture surfaces for two interior defect
specimens after testing illustrating crack propagation and (c) a naturally occurring
surface defect viewed from the surface prior to testing. Zone l for inset (a) illustrates
the primary crack growth with failure eventually caused by overcycling during the
marker band. Conversely two marker bands can be observed in inset (b) following
propagation into the base metal surrounding the defect. The absence in inset (a) of a
diffusion zone surrounding the defect as observed more clearly in inset (lo) suggests that
the DZ/base metal interface must have cracked first to expose the surface shown.
F i g u r e 11 - Acoustic emission and potential drop data shown with the subsequent
fracture surface of a naturally occurring, internal defect that has been subjected to
fatigue cycling. Although the nature of the natural anomaly differs from the foregoing
synthetic defects, the trend of the observed data is relatively consistent.
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McKEIGHAN ET AL. ON SENSING CRACK NUCLEATION 31
Finally, the long, relative life of the natural interior defect is notable: the specimen
sustained over 90,000 cycles at various stress levels exceeding 340 MPa and including
13,000 cycles at 690 MPa.
The potential drop and acoustic emission data were used qualitatively in this study
to infer overall cracking behavior. Extending this further to quantitative interpretations
of cracking is extremely difficult, in part due to the (initially) discontinuous nature of
defect cracking and the variety of three-dimensional crack geometries observed herein.
This is especially true for the potential drop method due to the close proximity of the
surface probes, high gain employed (both to maximize sensitivity) and the variable,
three-dimensional distance between the probes and growing crack.
In fact a close examination of the PD data from the internal defect specimens
(Figures 8, 9 and 11) illustrates at least an initial decrease and sometimes a more
sustained, cyclic decrease in signal magnitude. Although the sustained decrease might
have been a consequence of asymmetry between the external surface probes and the
internal damage, the exploratory PD data shown in Figure 12 (for an uncracked
specimen manufactured from a variety of materials) suggests other effects may have
been responsible. The trend of the steel and aluminum is as expected; following an
initial settling in, the PD signal exhibits steady behavior with fatigue cycling. Titanium,
on the other hand, exhibits more unusual behavior with the PD signal changing as a
consequence of applied load and also steadily decreasing with time. This reproducible
cyclic variation is quite large and is nominally equivalent to what could be a relatively
large surface crack. Clearly, this degree of variation could impact quantitative
interpretation of potential drop data; however the reason for this highly unusual
behavior is unknown.
f l t l n l u m / i d l m l : Ore,z = 690 MPa
aluminum: O.m = 400 MPa
0.10
0.05.
alumRJum
0.00.
~4L05
~ -0.10
..11.15
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32 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
One reason that the acoustic emission data may prove more promising for
quantitative interpretation is that the method is relatively insensitive to the proximity of
the acoustic microphones to the region of damage. In a recent publication [12], Gong
et al. linearly correlated acoustic emission hits with crack length (nominally crack
surface increment or, effectively, growth rate) for fatigue crack propagation in plane-
sided, through-cracked specimens. The fracture mechanics stress intensity factor (SIF)
can consequently be used to correlate results between different specimens since the SIF
range is directly related to fatigue crack growth rate. Therefore, it is reasonable to
assume a similar linear relationship should apply herein for surface or internally cracked
specimens since, according to reference [13], the stress intensity factor in this case
varies with the radius, r, of the circular crack in the form r It2 (as opposed to crack length
air2). However for the propagating cracks considered herein, since the surface and
internal geometries were so irregularly shaped (ellipses, semi-circular or other more
unusual shapes) the crack length parameter used for correlation is crack front length.
Furthermore, it follows from intuition that acoustic emission should scale linearly with
the crack front; under identical growth conditions, a crack twice as long should emit
twice as many emissions as a crack half as long.
Crack front length (effectively the circumference of the crack) and acoustic
emission events were recorded for five surface and internally cracked specimens at
failure, This data, plotted in Figure 13(a), does indeed illustrate a linear trend between
these two parameters. The absence of a linear trend during the initial portion of the data
represents the part of the acoustic response indicative of distributed damage when
defect core and diffusion zone microeracking occurs, prior to full crack coalescence and
propagation into the base metal of the test specimens. The empirical fit in Figure 13(a)
can further he used to infer the acoustic event activity required to crack an equivalent
diffusion zone perimeter of the small defect (3140 events predicted) as well as the large
defect (4830 events). These predictions agree well with the acoustic event thresholds
noted earlier (2000 and 6000 events) that were based on observation of cycled but
uncracked defects.
It is worthwhile noting that the data included in Figure 13(a) encompass a range of
crack configurations, defect sources (synthetic and natural), and effective loading
conditions. The empirical curve fit in Figure 13(a), derived based upon data at failure
when crack size and shape were definitively known, is used to predict the marker band
size based upon acoustic events in Figure 13(b) for the LMI specimen. Clearly, the
prediction of marker band size in Figure 13(b) is an excellent validation of the empirical
approach given the uncertainties and assumptions employed in the approach. The
relative prediction error (shown to he equivalent to a radial error of 0.25-0.30 mm) is on
the order of the inherent variability in estimating feature sizes from the fracture surface.
In summary, this analysis provides a framework, admittedly only for the limited data
available, for how acoustic emission data can he used effectively to predict crack size.
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McKEIGHAN ET AL. ON SENSING C R A C K NUCLEATION 33
(a)
50
m
measurements ~
E
E (b)
40
t~ - marker band size /
E 40
e " (specimen LM/) j
E
/
t-
0 @
.J
/.
3o
20 9 / /ength= -9.78+ 5.67(10"3)e v e n t s
3 "D
f 0.25 - 0.30 ~ n error
~ 2s / on markerbandradius
10 . . . . I , , , , I . . . . I . . . . I . . . . ,/,; . . . . : . . . . : . . . . :.
I I I I
Figure 13 - Quantitative correlation of(a) acoustic emission events with crack front
circumference for numerous surface and internally cracked specimens and (b) the
subsequent prediction of crack marker band size in an internally cracked specimen.
Conclusions
1. The variation of acoustic emission frequency alone is not a clear indicator of the
location of cracking. However when frequency is decoupled from acoustic energy,
differences between defect and base metal cracking can potentially he detected.
2. Under static loading conditions, the hard alpha core and diffusion zone in synthetic
surface defects tends to crack at stress levels less than 140 MPa. However crack
propagation through the full diffusion zone is delayed until stress levels of 340-
690 MPa are achieved. Internal defects can sustain much higher stress levels
(typically in excess of 550 MPa) before significant cracking occurs and when
damage does occur it is not uncommon for the defect shattering or large amounts of
interface cracking.
3. Under fatigue loading conditions, crack coalescence and growth occurs rapidly in
surface defect specimens. Conversely, the internal defects exhibited much greater
resistance to crack propagation into the base metal. Both sizes of high nitrogen
defects were subjected to fatigue loading at 345 MPa (R = 0.1) for either 10 or
25 kcycles with no observed crack growth into the base metal.
4. Unfortunately, the matrix of testing was neither sufficiently robust nor populated
with sufficient replicate tests to make definitive conclusions regarding the specific
effects of defect composition variables. Nevertheless, it appears that any influence
of defect composition is a second order effect masked in this study by the more
primary influences of the other major variables such as defect type (interior or
surface) or defect size (small and large).
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34 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
5. Both acoustic emission and potential drop methods proved effective for sensing the
onset of crack progression especially into the base metal. Preliminary analysis
further suggests that acoustic emission event data may also be used effectively to
estimate crack size. A linear relationship between crack front length and acoustic
events was used successfully to predict the size of two marker bands on a single
specimen.
Acknowledgments
This work was funded by the FAA with Grant No. 95-G-041 and administered by
the FAA Technical Center in Atlantic City, NJ. The support of Messrs. B. Fenton,
J. Wilson and T. Mouzakis (FAA personnel) is acknowledged, along with the assistance
of Dr. G. Leverant (SwRI program manager). Furthermore, the efforts of SwRI
colleagues Messrs. H. Saldana, I. Rodriguez, S. Salazar (metallurgical) and Dr. A.
Minachi (NDE) are also acknowledged.
References
[1] Dillard, A. B., Clark, K. R., Denda, T., Hendrix, B. C., and Tien, J. IC,
"Reduction of Fatigue Life by Melt Inclusions in Ti-6AI-4V," Proceedings of the
Conference on Electron Beam Melting and Refining - State of the Art, 1992,
Reno, Nevada, October 1992, pp. 277-281.
[2] Lcverant, G. R., Littlefield, D. L., McClung, R. C., Millwater, H. 1L, and Wu,
J. Y., "A Pmbabilistic Approach to Aircraft Turbine Material Design," ASME
International Gas Turbine and Aeroengine Congress, Paper 97-GT-22, June
1997.
[3] Millwater, H. 1L, Fitch, S. H. K., Wu, Y.-T., Riha, D. S., Enright, M. P., Leverant,
G. R., McClung, R. C., Kuhlman, C. J., Chell, G. G., and Lee, Y-D., "A
Probabilistically-based Damage Tolerance Analysis Computer Program for Hard
Alpha Anomalies in Titanium Rotors," submitted and accepted for publication,
The 45~ ASME International Gas Turbine and Aeroengine Technical Congress,
Munich, Germany, May 2000.
[4] McKeighan, P. C., Perocchi, L. C., Nicholls, A. E., and McClung, R. C.,
"Characterizing the Cracking Behavior of Hard Alpha Defects in Rotor Grade Ti-
6-4 Alloy," Fatigue Behavior of Titanium Alloys, R. R. Boycr, D. Eylon, and G.
Lutjering, Eds., The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society, 1999, pp. 349-356.
[5] Gigliotti, M. F. X., Perocchi, L. C., Nieters, E. J., and Gilmore, R. S., "Design and
Fabrication of Forged Ti-6AI-4V Blocks with Synthetic Ti-N Inclusions for
Estimation of Detectability by Ultrasonic Signal-to-Noise," Review of Progress in
Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation, Vol. 14, 1995, pp. 2089-2096.
[6] Leverant, G. R., et al.,"Turbine Rotor Material Design," Final Report delivered to
the Federal Aviation Administration under Grant No. 95-G-041, August 1999.
[7] Barnett, W. J. and Tmiano, A. R., "Crack Propagation in the Hydrogen-Induced
Brittle Fracture of Steel," Transactions of the AIME, Vol. 209, No. 4, April 1957,
pp. 486-494.
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McKEIGHAN ET AL. ON SENSING CRACK NUCLEATION 35
[8] McKeighan, P. C. and Smith, D. J., "Determining the Potential Drop Calibration
of a Fatigue Crack Growth Specimen Subject to Limited Experimental
Observations," Journal of Testing and Evaluation, JTEVA, Vol. 22, No. 4, July
1994, pp. 291-301.
[9] Advances in Crack Length Measurement, C. J. Beevers, Ed., EMAS Cradley
Heath, UK, 1982.
[10] Shanmugbam, S. and Liaw, P. IC, "Detection and Monitoring of Fatigue Cracks,"
ASM Handbook Volume 19 on Fatigue and Fracture, ASM International, 1996,
pp. 210-223.
[11] Lindley, T. C. and Mclntyre, P., "Application of Acoustic Emission to Crack
Detection and Measurement," Advances in Crack Length Measurement, C. J.
Beevers, Ed., EMAS Cradley Heath, UK, 1982, pp. 285-343.
[12] Gong, Z., DuQuesnay, D. L., and McBride, S. L., "Measurement and
Interpretation of Fatigue Crack Growth in 7075 Aluminum Alloy Using Acoustic
Emission Monitoring," Journal of Testing and Evaluation, JTEVA, Vol. 26, No. 6,
November 1998, pp. 567-574.
[13] Tada, H., Pads, P. C. and Irwin, G. R., The Stress Analysis of Cracks Handbook,
Second Edition, Paris Productions Incorporated, St Louis, MO, 1985.
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Adam Towse, 1 Christopher Setchell, 2 Kevin D. Potter, 1 Andrew B. Clarke, 1 John H. G.
Macdonald, 3 Michael R. Wisnom, 1 and Robert D. Adams 4
Reference: Towse, A., Setchell, C., Potter, K. D., Clarke, A. B., Macdonald, J. H. G.,
Wisnom, M. R., and Adams, R. D., "Use Experience With a Developmental General
Purpose Non-Contacting Extensometer With High Resolution," Nontraditional
Methods of Sensing Stress, Strain, and Damage in Materials and Structures: Second
Volume, ASTM STP 1323, G. E Lucas, P. C. McKeighan, and J. S. Ransom, Eds.,
American Society for Testing and Materials, West Conshohocken, Pa, 2001.
Abstract: An improved form of video extensometry has been developed using the simple
technology of CCD cameras. The system is capable of tracking multiple targets at high
speed with sub-pixel accuracy using interpolation algorithms. Output in the form of the
(x,y) location of each target is available, ensuring that the applicability of the system is
not just for tmiaxial testing, but for many other forms of experimental strain analysis and
displacement measurement. Examples of the use of the system are included: uniaxial
testing of low and high modulus materials, shear strain measurement in adhesive joints
and displacement measurement of long span bridges.
Nomenclature
x x co-ordinate of the template y y co-ordinate of the template
adhesive shear strain t adhesive layer thickness
da corrected displacement of the adhesive layer in adhesive joint shear test
I Research Student, Senior Research Fellow, Research Student and Professor respectively.
Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Bristol, University Walk,
BRISTOL, UK
Research Assistant. Department of Computer Science, University of Bristol, Merchant
Venturers Building, BRISTOL. UK
3 Lecturer. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Bristol, University Walk,
BRISTOL, UK
4Professor. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bristol, University
Walk, BRISTOL, UK
362012
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TOWSE ET AL. ON NON-CONTACTING EXTENSOMETER 37
Introduction
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38 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
The system tracks and records the (x,y) spatial locations of a number of visual targets
on the structure or specimen under consideration. A typical visual target consists of a
number of high contrast concentric circles, viz.: ~ . A video camera is positioned such
that the movement of the target is within the camera field of view. The output from the
camera is fed into the tracking system where it is digitised at a rate of 25 frames per
second to a resolution of 768 by 512 pixels. Before tracking can begin, the user must
define each of the targets to be tracked, to a maximum of eight targets. This involves
using a cursor to draw a rectangular box around each target, with the resulting sub-image
stored in memory and known as the template. To track a target the system has to search
each image for the region which most resembles the target's stored template. The location
of the best matching region subsequently provides the new (x,y) co-ordinates of the
target. The target will be equally well tracked whether it is moving in the x direction, the
y direction, or a combination of both.
There is insufficient time to search the whole image for each template and,
consequently a prediction algorithm is employed. This algorithm examines the position of
the template from the previous n frames and performs some simple extrapolation to
predict where the template is likely to be in the next frame. Only the portion of the image
within the vicinity of the predicted position is searched for the template. This allows the
tracking to be performed quickly, up to the full 25Hz frame rate from the camera.
An interpolation algorithm is used to achieve sub-pixel resolution. When searching the
image for the region that best matches the template, a correlation function is used. This
returns a score of how well the template matches the underlying image when the template
is at a position (x,y) in the image. The image is then searched for the (x,y) which gives
the best value of the correlation function. This function is then evaluated for each of the
eight neighbours of this point. A biquadratic equation is then fitted to these nine samples
using a least squares error technique. The interpolated position of the template is then
found by differentiating the fitted function and calculating the position of the optimum
fit.
During tracking, the system writes to disk a file which contains, for each frame, the
sub-pixel (x,y) co-ordinate of each target. In addition to this data, the system logs the
value on each input of a three channel A/D converter, allowing a record of external
analogue voltage inputs, such as load cell output.
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TOWSE ET AL. ON NON-CONTACTING EXTENSOMETER 39
The images produced by all optical systems introduce some distortion between the
object and the image. With wide angle or fisheye lenses these distortions are immediately
obvious. With high quality conventional lenses the distortions are at a much lower level,
but it can not be assumed that they are absent.
I f a pair of targets in fixed relation to each other is traversed across the image field, the
measured distance between them is seen to reduce slightly as they move away from the
optical centre of the lens. The level of this reduction depends on factors such as the
quality of the lens and the focal length, as well as the distance from the optical centre of
the lens. This means that calibration for these optical effects is needed each time the
optical set-up changes, due to moving the camera, changing the focal length etc.
Calibration for optical effects is carried out as follows. Firstly the camera is set up to
be perpendicular to the image plane and is locked in that position. The camera is then
focussed on a set of orthogonal lines that cover the area to be used for measurement. The
lines in the resulting image are found not to be exactly straight. Using the measured line
trajectories and standard equations for optical distortion, correction factors are derived
that convert image position relationships to sample position relationships. These sample
position relationships can remain in relative terms, so that strains can be extracted
directly, or the known dimensions of the orthogonal grid can be used to convert them into
absolute dimensions.
This technique gives a full-field calibration of the whole of the image plane. The
software for this calibration takes approximately 20 seconds to perform the necessary
computations. There is, in addition to the generic distortion that all lenses will show, the
possibility of distortions that are specific to the individual lens to be used, or to other
inconsistencies in the system. These can be taken into account by a subsequent calibration
if the very highest level of resolution is required. In this case a pair of targets are
traversed across the image field and the measured distance between them is mapped. As
the true distance between them is known to be fixed any very small, residual, changes in
the distance can be used to define a calibration curve for that trajectory on the image.
Fig 1 shows unfiltered data for the change in distance between two targets in fixed
register to each other as they are traversed across the image. This data was obtained after
carrying out a calibration for optical aberration, but no other inconsistencies have been
calibrated out. The data presented here covers 50 pixels of movement and a total of 120
data points were taken. For each data point the absolute deviation from the mean has been
calculated and converted into a proportional deviation based on an initial gauge length of
500 pixels.
ASTM Standard E83, Verification and Classification of Extensometers, covers the
classification of conventional extensometers. It divides extensometers into various classes
depending on the maximum error of indicated strain. Whilst the approach taken to
characterise the video extensometer does not conform to the ASTM standard it is possible
to compare the errors in fig 1 with the standard. The maximum proportional error in fig 1
is 0.00006, which would put the video extensometer into the second or B 1 category.
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40 NONTRADITIONAL METHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
0.0001
i / RMS deviation
Proportional
deviation from
mean for 500
0000051 ~__.../ . . . . . .
pixels initial
distance
-00000
-0.0001
Movement of targets pixels
Fig 1. Deviation from mean versus target movement for two targets of a fixed distance
being traversed across the image field.
Also shown on fig 1 is a line drawn at the calculated root mean square (RMS) value of
the deviation. In proportional terms the RMS deviation is 0.000018 (18microstrain) for a
500 pixel initial target to target distance or 0.009 pixels in absolute terms (on the image
plane). That is to say that the RMS deviation is less than 1/100th of a pixel.
The data discussed above and shown in fig 1 was obtained from the latest standard of
the correlation algorithms and associated computer hardware. The case studies referred to
in the next section utilised an earlier standard of software and hardware which was not
capable of such high levels of resolution. Despite this it will be shown that even at this
earlier standard the video extensometer was capable of giving reliable and accurate
performance. Where resolution is noted in these case studies the resolution figures have
been estimated by taking a suitable trendline through the data and calculating the
deviation between individual measured points and the trendline, an RMS value has then
been taken from the deviations from individual points. These resolution values should
therefore be taken as indicative of the performance of that standard of the extensometer
rather than being a rigorous measure of resolution.
Case Studies
To check the validity of the system in comparison to accepted methods of strain
measurement, a test on mild steel was carded out. A mild steel dogbone specimen was
tested in an Instron 1341 under displacement control, with a clip gauge (Instron model
2620-603), strain gauge (model FCA-3-11 by Tokyo Sokki Kenyujo Co Ltd, gauge factor
2.12) and video extensometer targets all mounted in the gauge length.
The output from the clip gauge and strain gauge was monitored by a Dialog data
logging unit with the video extensometer system monitoring displacement from the
templates. Four templates were tracked in a square pattern as shown in Fig. 2 - this figure
was taken from the video recording of the test. The use of four templates allows checking
for in-plane bending of the specimen by comparison of the axial strains from each side of
the dogbone, as well as two measures of the Poisson's ratio. The use of the video was for
future re-analysis of the test using the video extensometer.
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TOWSE ET AL ON NON-CONTACTING EXTENSOMETER 41
The stress-strain curves from the three extensometry devices are shown in Fig. 3,
along with the Poisson's ratio measurement from the strain gauge and the video
extensometer.
It may be seen that there is very little difference between the three methods of axial
strain measurement, but the Poisson's ratio curve from the vision system shows
more scatter than the strain gauge.
In the elastic region, the longitudinal tensile strains are less than 0.1% ensuring that
the transverse strains resulting from Poisson contraction will be around 0.03%. Due to the
placement of the targets needing allowance for overall translation of the specimen during
test without the targets moving off the camera field of view, the resolution that was seen
in this particular test was around 0.05%. Consequently, the Poisson's ratio data below
0.1% longitudinal strain is unreliable, although the trend of increasing Poisson's ratio is
evident. It is worth noting that the high stiffness and small displacements inherent in a
test of mild steel make this a difficult validation exercise, requiring optimum resolution
from the video extensometer for good data.
Calibration of the vision system using both the doubly integrated accelerometer output
on a cable stayed bridge, and also 2D displacement monitoring on an earthquake shaking
table was carried out. These results, described in reference [3], prove the accuracy of the
system for displacement tracking, and therefore strain measurement, is comparable to
traditional methods.
To demonstrate the applicability of the system, four additional examples are given.
These four examples are not exhaustive - many more applications for 2D tracking can be
imagined; the four mentioned here are just some of the applications examined to-date.
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42 NONTRADITIONAL METHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
3OO
i
250
i
1 . .
i
200 _
150.
100_ ]
I..- . . . . . . c~p g.uoe
5O
0 i i i i
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Engineering Stnlln (%)
1 ...............................................................................................................................................................................
0.9
0.8
0.7
~ 0.6
"~ 0.5
w
w 0.4
0.3
0,2
~ ;
0.1
0
0.2 0.4 0,6 0.8
Longitudinal Englneedng Strain (%)
Fig 3. Comparison of stress-strain response and Poisson's ratio for the three measurement
devices
Three sizes of bulk adhesive specimens (figure 4) were tested under uniaxial tension
using the video extensometer to monitor the strain. Due to the localised stiffening effect
of strain gauges, and the fact that the smaller specimens were too small to be strain
gauged, the use of the video extensometer was critical. Fig. 4 shows the specimen
geometry.
The smallest specimen had a gauge length of only 3.75mm with a width of 0.75mm,
hence the two 'U' profiles shown in Fig, 4 were necessary to protect the gauge length
during mounting in the test machine. Once the specimen was mounted, the 'U' profiles
were cut away with a hand-held diamond wheel cutter to leave the only load path between
the jaws through the specimen gauge length. All three specimen sizes were marked with
four templates in a similar fashion to that shown in Fig. 2, although with the smaller
specimens only solid dots of ink could be applied, rather than the concentric circles
shown in Fig. 3. The system tracked these targets acceptably well, although the degree of
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TOWSE ET AL. ON NON-CONTACTING EXTENSOMETER 43
resolution was seen to be less (1/20th pixel resolution). Further details are given
elsewhere [9].
Fig. 5 shows the resultant stress-strain curve and Poisson's ratio measurement for the
smallest specimen size, along with a screen shot of the templates used in the test. The
shape of the Poisson's ratio curve is a consequence of the polymeric nature of the
material, and has been noted in previous work [ 10]. Furthermore, tests on this adhesive
system using strain gauges have shown the same curve for Poisson's ratio, although both
the tensile and transverse strains are reduced by the stiffening effect of the strain gauge.
This implies that, in this test, strain gauges, even when stiffening the base material, are
still capable of correct measurement of Poisson's ratio. This may not be the case for other
setups and should be reviewed on a case by case basis.
Fig 5. Tensile stress-strain curve, Poisson's ratio and target definition for smallest
specimen size
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44 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
Tests were undertaken on a novel form of unidirectional carbon fibre reinforced plastic
(CFRP) material, manufactured by Neptco Inc. under the trade name 'Graphlite'. The
material is provided in circular rods of 0.7mm and 1.7mm diameter in a pre-cured form of
Intermediate Modulus carbon fibre in an epoxy matrix. It was required to measure the
tensile and compressive response of the 0.7mm diameter rod, and also to determine the
Poisson's ratio of the rod during axial testing. The rods were marked by placing four
small white targets (Fig. 6) on the gauge length of the specimen, and by using the video
extensometer system with a high magnification lens it was possible to obtain an image
that filled the available capture area with the relevant section of the specimen.
By tracking the movement of this square array of templates it was possible to calculate
both longitudinal and transverse strain of the specimen and hence calculate Poisson's
ratio.
A summary of previously unobtainable data is shown in the form of a stress strain
curve for the 0.7 mm rod, Fig. 7. Figure 7 shows the expected non-linearity in the stress-
strain behaviour of CFRP with a substantial reduction in stiffness at high compressive
strains. The results achieved with this new form of non-contacting strain measurement
have compared favourably with larger diameter rods of the same material [11] in which it
is possible to attach strain gauges to verify the system.
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TOWSE ET AL. ON NON-CONTACTING F_.EXTENSOMETER 45
Fig 8. Double lap joint geometry. Inner adherend 3mm thick, outer adherend 1.5mm
thick, adhesive bond line 0.7mm thick
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46 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
The adherend materials were unidirectional Intermediate Modulus CFRP. The purpose
of the front and rear adhesive fillets and reverse tapering of the adherends was to reduce
the through-thickness peel stresses in the CFRP. A white dot was placed on the central
adherend as close as possible to the bondline interface, with a corresponding dot placed
opposite on the outer adherend. As the resolution of the vision system relies on using as
much of the available image from the camera as possible, each joint was marked at only
one location, and the lens on the camera zoomed in so as to fill the field of view. Dots
were placed at the front, middle and rear of the parallel overlap region of the joints, as
shown in Fig. 9. The overall dimensions of the joint were measured using an
instrumented microscope, with the position of the dots and the bondline thickness
between the dots noted.
Fig 9. Markings on the double lap joints, showing front, middle and rear markings
The DLJ was mounted in the testing machine, and the master templates were captured
taking as much care as possible to ensure that the centre of the templates corresponded to
the points between which the distances were measured on the instrumented microscope.
This was necessary to allow for calculation of the shear strains in the adhesive after the
test was completed.
The test was then carried out, with the (x,y) locations of the dots recorded along with
overall machine load. To determine the adhesive shear strain, a correction must be made
for the compliance of the adherends, as some of the displacement recorded is due to
interlaminar shear in the composite, as the centroid of the dots was not on the interface
between adherend and adhesive. This was calculated using FEA as no other analytical
solution was quickly available. Due to the very close proximity of the dots to the interface
(typically less than 0.2mm), the correction for adherend compliance was found to be
small. It should be noted that any error in the matching the template centres to the points
at which the distances were measured on the instrumented microscope only directly
influences the level of this small correction factor. The adhesive shear strain was
calculated by the following formula (where d a is shear displacement in adhesive and t is
adhesive layer thickness), both d a and t are expressed in pixels.
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TOWSE ET AL. ON NON-CONTACTING EXTENSOMETER 47
tany = d ,
t
It was seen that the majority of the displacement of the dots was in the loading
direction, with 'peel' displacements so small as to be ignored in the calculation of the
distance moved by the dots. A plot of the applied load vs. the resulting adhesive shear
strain is given in Fig.10 for three joint tests (front, middle and back).
30
25
2o
_~ is
10 ~ 9 % ) 1
5 7 z3~ , !'-~'-
Back(86
-"0--Front (19:~:I
0 5 10 15
(%)
Engineedng shear slrain
It may be seen that there is less shear strain in the centre of the joint than at the ends
for the same applied load. This is expected from the 'bath-tub' distribution of shear in an
adhesive joint. The shear strains for the two outermost measurement positions would be
expected to be very similar, figure 10 shows the strain outputs from the two positions to
be essentially identical, providing additional confidence in the video extensometry. This
data was then used to correlate the FEA results and make judgements as to the
applicability of the material models used.
A first generation video system was originally developed [13] for monitoring
displacements of the Humber Bridge [ 1], a suspension bridge with a 1420m main span.
Improvements were then made to give the system [3] which was installed on the central
cable-stayed bridge of the Second Sevem Crossing (456m main span) [2].
The objective of the monitoring on both bridges was to measure both static and
dynamic displacements to understand the performance of such structures more fully and
to improve numerical modelling techniques. The fundamental natural frequency of such
bridges is of the order of 0.1Hz, which is in the limit of the range measurable with
accelerometers. Whilst pseudo-static displacements from effects such as the weight of
traffic, the steady component of wind loading and temperature effects are also of interest,
so a direct displacement measurement system was required for this application.
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48 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
The equipment on the Second Severn Crossing comprised three video cameras which
were synchronised together and with a data acquisition computer logging outputs from
other instruments including accelerometers, anemometers and temperature sensors. Since
the vision system was under development at the time of testing the outputs from the
cameras were recorded onto video tape and then processed on the system back in the
laboratory. Two or three camera outputs were multiplexed as alternate fields onto the
same video tape. Modes of vibration up to approximately 1Hz contribute significantly to
the displacement in this case, so a sampling frequency of several hertz was required. The
full frame rate of 25Hz was more than adequate, although the multiplexed rate of 12.5Hz
was sometimes used.
The cameras were situated at the base of one of the main pylons, on very stiff brackets
to minimise camera movement. Lenses of focal length 800mm were used to focus on a
field of view of approximately 1.5m by 1.1m near the centre of the main span, over 200m
away. Circular targets of reflective material on a matt black background were used, which
were illuminated to enable tracking at night and to minimise variation in the brightness of
the targets. Simultaneous tracking of targets on the north and south sides of the bridge
deck using two cameras enabled the pure vertical and torsional components of motion to
be distinguished. The third camera pointed directly up the pylon to a target at the top to
establish the relationship between deck and pylon displacements.
Typical outputs of the vision system and integrated accelerometer data are shown in
Fig. 11.
~" 10
E 0 '~ ~': ~.
~ - 10 ~i f' ,~~J'~i'~i'll"
-2O
~ -30
~ -40
~ -50
> -60
-70 4 4
0 50 100 150 200
Time (s)
5
~4
;3
~o
-2
5O 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60
Time (S)
Fig 11. Comparison between displacements measured by vision system and calculated
from accelerometer for typical deck motion of the Second Severn Crossing
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TOWSE ET AL. ON NON-CONTACTING EXTENSOMETER 49
An extended period of tracking is shown first, along with a selected sample of the
displacements between 50 and 60 seconds. It can be seen that for periods up to
approximately 10s the agreement is good, with the error being less than 0.5mm
(approximately 1/10 pixel). For longer periods there does seem to be a drift between the
displacements calculated from accelerometer readings and those from the vision system.
The characteristics of the vision system and accelerometers are such that the drift was
probably arising from the accelerometer readings, but this cannot be independently
verified. The origin of the small perturbations in the magnified plot for the vision system
is not fully understood, some could be real movement, equally optical aberrations in a
200m long path from camera to target could be important. In this case the dynamic
displacements can be reasonably estimated from accelerometers (fundamental bridge
frequency 0.34Hz), the longer period movements from traffic, wind pressure and
temperature are more likely to be reliably measured by the vision system.
Summary
The vision system discussed in this paper is the culmination of work over many years
at Bristol University. Initial versions of the software ran on bespoke hardware using
transputer chip technology. The current version has been ported across to conventional
PC based hardware to make it more reliable and easier to use, as well as improving the
interpolation algorithms to maximise the resolution and permitting automatic calibration
for optical aberrations. The use of PC based hardware means that the computer hardware
costs in the region of 3000 pounds sterling at April 2000 prices. The results outlined here
in terms of system accuracy could be improved by the use of CCD cameras with higher
resolution than the 768 by 512 pixel camera used to-date.
The advantages and disadvantages of the use of the video extensometry system
described here are discussed below.
Advantages
Displacements can be measured at a number of points on the specimen, Poisson
contractions or shear strains can be measured easily.
Scale insensitive, measurements can be made, from microscopic to civil engineering
scales.
No direct contact is required so that measurements can be made on samples in extreme
or aggressive environments.
Measurements can be made on delicate specimens such as biological materials without
any possible influence from the measuring equipment.
Measurement can continue up to the point of failure without risk of damaging
equipment.
Proper choice of the initial distance between targets permits maximum resolution over
small strains or measurements to very large strain levels.
Pattern matching approach allows the use of natural features on the sample as targets,
targets do not have to be of a regular geometry.
System resolution comparable to conventional means of extensometry.
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50 NONTRADITIONAL METHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
Equipment cost is moderate and the necessary computer equipment can be utilised for
other functions than extensometry.
Disadvantages
System measures an image rather than directly on the specimen. Calibration is needed
for optical aberrations, although this calibration is quick to carry out and a software
solution is available.
The video extensometer system cannot be calibrated as a stand-alone unit as the
specific lenses, focal distance etc will influence the optical aberrations.
If the image plane of the CCD and the sample plane are not parallel an error will be
introduced into the measurement. The camera should be set up accurately for optimum
accuracy. Any error due to inaccurate set-up can easily be calibrated out for a specific line
of measurement, but is not easy to calibrate out over the full field. A software solution to
calibrate out this source of error over the whole field is under development.
The maximum frame rate is set by that of the camera, with 25Hz being most common.
Very rapidly moving targets may be 'lost' by the system. Any target which leaves the
image field is lost and live re-scaling is not possible. However, very large displacements
can be coped with by the correct selection of the initial set-up
The current system does not meet the requirements of the highest classification of
conventional extensometers. Improvements in CCD camera technology may relieve this
limitation in future years.
It has been demonstrated in the preceding sections that the video extensometry system
has applications that extend into many fields of engineering. The use of an interpolation
algorithm allows a CCD camera system to have similar resolution to strain gauges and
clip gauges, but with substantially greater applicability and reduced costs in application.
The most useful aspect of the system is the tracking of templates in two dimensions,
as the uses it may then be put to are many and diverse, as has been demonstrated. For
many materials tests, the non-contacting aspect of the system is likely to be important, as
high-temperature and corrosive environment tests can be monitored. This of course
assumes the specimen under consideration may be viewed from a location where the
camera can be positioned without damage.
References.
[ 1] Stephen, G.A., Brownjohn, J.M.W. and Taylor, C.A. Measurements of Static and
Dynamic Displacement from Visual Monitoring of the Humber Bridge. Engineering
Structures, 1993 15 197
[2] Macdonald J.H.G., Dagless E.L., Thomas B.T. and Taylor C.A. Dynamic
Measurements of the Second Severn Crossing, Proc. Inst. Civil Eng.: Transport, 1997
123 241
[3] Macdonald J.H.G., Taylor C.A., Thomas B.T. and Dagless E.L., Real-time Remote
Monitoring of Dynamic Displacements by Computer Vision, In 6th Soc. Earthquake and
Civil Eng. Dynamics Conf., PP. 389-396, Oxford, March 1998
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TOWSE ET AL. ON NON-CONTACTING EXTENSOMETER 51
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Narayanaswami Ranganathan, 1 Nicolas Gerard, 1 Abdellah Tougui, 1 Ren6 Leroy, 1
Mohamed Benguediab, 2 Mohamed Mazari, 2 Yves Nadot 3 and Jean Petit 3
Reference: Ranganathan, N., Gerard, N., Tougui, A., Leroy, R., Benguediab, M.,
Mazari, M., Nadot, Y., and Petit, J., "Analysis of Fatigue Crack Propagation by
Quantitative Fractography," Nontraditional Methods of Sensing Stress, Strain, and
Damage in Materials and Structures: Second Volume, ASTM STP 1323, G. E Lucas,
P. C. McKeighan, and J. S. Ransom, Eds., American Society for Testing and Materials,
West Conshohocken, Pa, 2001.
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RANGANATHAN ET AL. ON QUANTITATIVE FRACTOGRAPHY 53
Previous studies have shown (for example [4]) that in thin plates subjected to
fatigue crack propagation tests, shear lips are developed on either side of the fracture
surfaces. The size of the shear lip increases with the maximum stress intensity factor,
K ~ , in a fatigue cycle. Thus measuring the shear lip size permits the estimation of this
fracture mechanics parameter. However, under variable amplitude conditions, the
relationship between the shear-lip size and the stress intensity factor becomes more
complicated. Moreover, the shear-lip formation is usually correlated to the existence of
plane stress conditions near the specimen edges and as such this technique cannot be
applied to cases where plane strain conditions prevail.
Ever since the observations of Forsyth [5] concerning the formation of fatigue
striations, different authors have tried to correlate striation spacing to the stress intensity
factor amplitude, AK. The study of Hertzberg [1], indicates that striation spacing should
be related to the effective stress intensity factor amplitude, AK cfr, which represents the
value of AK corrected for closure effects. A recent study [6] indicates that the striation
aspect ratio, represented by striation height to width ratio, depends upon the load ratio
R (ratio of minimum to maximum loads in a fatigue cycle), at a given AK. Thus the
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54 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
The method developed by the authors is based on the fact that for a polycrystalline
material subjected to mechanical loading, all the grains do not undergo the same local
stresses because of the differences in orientation of individual grains with respect to the
remote loading axis. As a result different locations in the fracture surface may indicate,
different fracture mechanisms (this translates, physically, changes in the Schmid factor
from grain to grain). For aluminum alloys subjected to fatigue, the predominant facies
observed are crystallographic facets, striations and dimples which are described
below[2,10].
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RANGANATHAN ET AL. ON QUANTITATIVE FRACTOGRAPHY 55
(I) Ductile striations ($1), (2) Fragile striations ($2), (3) Pseudo-cleavage (H.B.)
(4) Dimples (DO and (5) Dimples (1)2).
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56 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
2024 T351 alloy near threshold and in moderate to high AK levels for aluminum lithium
alloys, in air [2,11, 12].
These facets are also crystallographic in nature and owe their name to the typical
Herringbone shape (see Figure lb).These facets are observed when at least two (111)
slip planes activated. The cracking is along a (100) plane with concomitant crack growth
in two mutually orthogonal <100> or <110> directions [12,13].
Striations
Previous studies have shown that two kinds of striations are observed - ductile and
fragile striations. Ductile striations (S0 correspond to the kind of striations for which the
striation spacing is comparable to the crack growth rate. These striations are associated
with a plastic blunting process occurring at the crack tip [14]. Ductile striations are
observed in the 2024 alloy for crack growths greater than 8 10.8 m/cycle, for tests in air
[2].
Fragile striations, (S2)have a more "broken appearance" whose spacing remains
constant independently of the macroscopic crack growth rate [2,15]. It has been
suggested that these fragile striations represent also a part of the static component
leading to fracture [15].
Dimples
Dimples are also of two kinds, small circular dimples (D0 and large elongated
dimples with a broken inclusion inside (D2). The first kind of dimples are observed at
moderate AK levels in the 2024 alloy, and are associated to environment associated de-
cohesion around intermetallic phases or dispers6ides [10]. Elongated dimples (D2) are
formed by static de-cohesion around large precipitates or by particle rupture. Their
aspect ratio, representing the length to width ratio increases with K ~ [Z 10].
Careful examination of fracture surfaces indicates that, for a given loading
condition and at a given crack length ( i.e. for conditions where the fracture mechanics
are essentially the same ) more than one of the above mentioned fractographic features
can be observed on the fracture surface which corroborates the fact that locally, at the
scale of a grain size, the fracture mechanisms can be different. Examples of fractures
surfaces in the aluminum alloy 2024 T351 are shown in Figures la and lb, where the
most of the significant fractographic features are identified.
In the previous study [10], it was shown that the spatial distribution of these
significant fractographic features depends the loading conditions. To quantify the
eventual effects of loading conditions represented by the stress intensity factor amplitude
AK and the load ratio R, CA tests using compact tension specimens were carded out at
five different load ratios, using 12 mm thick compact tension specimens.
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RANGANATHAN ET AL. ON QUANTITATIVE FRACTOGRAPHY 57
io0
(a) --o--Striations (S1+$2) R=0.1
--*- Dimples (01)
-'-~'- Dimples (02)
80
60
, //.
40 9 //
.//
20
I
0 20 30 4O
K=.~,:(MPaqm)
(b) 1 o o
- - ~ Striations ( S l + S 2 ) R=0.7
---*--Dimples (01)
. . . . ,z.- Dimples (02)
80
./r
ii
60 /
/
/
#, 40
2O
ol f
10
I'1 1" /
20
1~ 1
30
" ~ - "~T i
4.0
K,-..,, (MPa.~/m)
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58 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
(a)
100
20
x.. --~ & j-J & /./-''/"
t l /""
I I I I r f r
10 20 30 40
(b)
100
. . . . I ' 'r'=l' I . . . . I . . . . I . . . .
80 o 0.01
O -[3"--- 0.7 I
t'~
.,,.
60
+
"--"40
N 20
0 , , , i I , , , , | , , ~ , I , , , , I , , , ,
0 I0 20 30 40 50
K~x (MPa,dm)
Figure 3 Quantitative analysis of(a) Dimples (Dj et Dz) expressed in terms of Km~
(b)H.B. and striations
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RANGANATHAN ET AL. ON QUANTITATIVEFRACTOGRAPHY 59
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60 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
Experimental Details
The tests described in the present study were carded out on thin sheets (1.6mm
thick) of the 2024 T351 alloy and an aluminum lithium alloy 8090 CT851. The
composition and mechanical properties of the two alloys studied are given in Table la
and lb respectively.
For the 2024 alloy, the average grain size is on the order of 100 I.tm x 50 ~tm x 10
l~m in the long, transverse and short directions. For the 8090 alloy the grain size is 100
~tmx 100~m x 30~tm.
CA fatigue crack growth tests were carded out for different R ratios ranging from
0.1 to 0.7. The tests were carded out in air using center cracked specirnens, 80mm wide
and 1.6mm thick. The specimens were tested in the L-T oriemation.
Alloy Li Cu Mg Mn Zr Fe Si Ti Zn Na
2024T351 4.26 1.45 0.63 0.02 0.21 0.1 0.04 0.1 -
8090CT51 2.34 1.14 0.55 0.1 0.14 0.05 0.03 0.03 0.001
The stress intensity factor is estimated according to the formula given below [17]
see- (1)
K= BV2W 2
where
P is the applied load,
B, the specimen thickness
or, the normalized crack length = 2a/W, with
a, the half crack length and
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RANGANATHAN ET AL. ON QUANTITATIVE FRACTOGRAPHY 61
V A fatigue crack growth tests were carded out on these alloys using the transport
aircraft wing loading spectra ac30 and ac20. The test spectrum contains 1000 different
flights and each flight contains, in an average 22 cycles per flight for the ac30 spectrum
and about 206 cycles for the second spectrum. Both the spectra are derived from the
same statistical distribution o f loads on a hypothetical transport aircraft. The ac30
spectrum represents maximum load omission. Thus the basic difference between these
two spectra is that the ac20 spectrum contains more low load levels, as can be seen in
Figure 4, which gives the distribution o f loads for the two spectra studied.
The specimens were pre-cracked by constant amplitude loading at R =0.1 up to a
half crack length o f 4 mm at a maximum stress o f 93 MPa. Then the ac20 spectrum was
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62 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
applied until a half crack length of 12mm was reached. The maximum load for this VA
test conditions was the same as that used for pre-cracking.
Then the ac30 spectrum was applied with reduced loads at a maximum stress of
46.5 Mpa. The test using this spectrum was carried out up to a half crack length of
about 30 mm. These conditions were chosen to cover a K ~ p range of 10 to 23
MPa 4 ~ for both the spectra, using a single specimen. ~ is estimated using equation
(1) with the load P equal to the maximum load in the spectrum (occurring once per
spectrum pass) and the current crack length.
The load variations were applied to the specimen using an Instron fatigue testing
machine driven by a computer. The loads applied to the specimens were within 5% of the
expected values (the differences can arise out of specimen response variations to the
input signal due to compliance changes [18]). Compressive loads were truncated to a
level of 50N in order to avoid specimen buckling. The test frequency was 20Hz and all
tests were carded out in laboratory air (at about 20~ ).The crack length was monitored
using KRAK gages with a precision of 0.01 mm on one side of the specimen, and on the
other side optical measuremems (for verification) were made with a traveling microscope
(X25). The crack lengths measured using crack gages were within 0.5mm of those
measured optically. The crack growth rate, Aa/flight, was determined by the secant
method [17], i.e.
a(i)- a(i- 1)
Aa / flight = (2)
N (measure)
where,
a(i) is the current crack length
a(i- 1), the previous crack length and
N(measure) is the crack length measurement interval, typically 100 flights.
After fatigue tests, the broken specimens were examined in a scanning electron
microscope and the spatial distribution of significant fractographic features were
determined using the method described above. For a given crack length (i.e. at a given
Km~xvalue ) three measurements were made, typically, at a magnification of X600. The
area observed is about 82000 Ixm2. This corresponds to the area covered by about 16
grains for the 2024 alloy and 10 grains for the 8090 alloy. This represents about 50% of
the grains across the thickness. The position for fractographic analysis (at a given crack
length) was chosen randomly near the mid section of the specimen away from the outer
surfaces.
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(a) (b) -5
10
10 -~.
-11
1 0 .6
z
~3 -6 63
"G" 10
z
-r
o 7
1o Z
m
z
F
110 " 8 0
.? Z
I0 O
C
Z
--t
1 0 .9
<
rn
"13
"n
0
10 "1~ I 0 "8
5 10 20 30 10 15 20 25
3o
5K (MPa.4m) K,~x~p(MPa.~/m) "u
=r
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64 NONTRADITIONAL METHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
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RANGANATHAN ET AL. ON QUANTITATIVE FRACTOGRAPHY 65
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66 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
Figure 5a shows the crack growth resistance obtained from constant amplitude
tests. It can be seen that the crack growth rate depends upon the AK value and the load
ratio R. The results are quite comparable to previous results on the same alloy [19].
Figure 5b shows the relationship between crack advance per flight with respect to the
maximum stress intensity factor, ~ for the two studied spectra. At a given value of
K~o~, crack growth rate under the spectrum ac20 is about 3 times faster than under the
spectrum ac30.
Typical fracture surfaces for CA conditions are next given in Figure 6. The fracture
surfaces are covered with pseudo-cleavage facets, striations and dimples as observed
before on thicker plates. But in thinner plates (in the present study), another facies are
observed which cannot be classified in the categories mentioned above. These facies are
called sheared areas as indicated in this figure.
In Figure 7, fractographs obtained for VA tests with the ac30 spectrum are given.
The fracture surface is covered with practically the same kind of features as for constant
amplitude tests. However, for variable amplitude tests, almost no sheared areas are
observed.
Figures 8a and 8b, present the results of the quantitative fractographic analysis for
CA and VA test conditions. In Figure 8a, pseudo-cleavage facets are grouped with
striated areas, as they are observed generally in similarly oriented grains (see also [10]
and [20]). Also, to distinguish between striations and pseudo-cleavage facets,
observations have to be made at higher magnifications (up to x5 000 or higher), making
the fracture surface examination time consuming. The main idea behind the technique
developed here is to make rapid observations of fracture surfaces at low magnifications
of about x500. The following observations can be made:
CA conditions
At R = 0.1, the cyclic slip features like HB and striations are observed in the range
4 MPa ~ < K ~ , <22 MPa ~fm, while the same features are observed in the range 8
MPa ~ < K ~ <40 M P a d m at R =0.7. Thus the range of K ~ in which the two
features are observed depends upon the R value. At a Kmax of about 10 MPa x/-m, the
area covered by these two features is about 50% at R=0.1 while it is on the order of 70
% at R=0.7. With respect to the fracture surface coverage by dimples, the results are not
as significant as for thicker plates (compare Figures 3 and 8). Despite this fact, it can be
seen that the effects of loading parameters K ~ and R can be evaluated by studying the
spatial distribution of the significant fractographic features, thus confirming previously
obtained results. Incidentally, the sum of the areas represented in Figure 8 does not reach
100% as sheared areas are not represented here.
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RANGANATHAN ET AL. O N QUANTITATIVE F R A C T O G R A P H Y 67
(a)
I II " "
,,, .................. ~.+.~Y.:+.:.+._....+ ....... ~..o..~__+ ....... +..........
......................
~i. .
~ '-L~........................
...................... ~ ...-- ................
....
~ ...............
.....
iO
~+
40
c~ _ _ . , ~ . ~ . , . -
20
'-oAC2+ l i i i
-.-QAc3o l ............................... ~................... i......................
. . . . . i 9 i . ,. 9 t + +
10 20
Kmax,Km~sp (Mpa.qm)
(b)
100
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2024 T351
i .................... i .................... i ....... t e,o
80
i i ] AR:0 7
40
20
i , , , , z . . . . , . . . .
0
0 10 20
Km~,K~,~p(Mpa.~/m)
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68 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
i) For VA tests, the space occupied by the predominant facies, represented by pseudo-
cleavage and striations is much higher than that observed for CA tests.
ii) The sum of the space occupied by psedo-cleavage and striations and by dimples
reaches almost 100% for VA tests. It should be noted for CA tests the area occupied by
"sheared areas" is not represented in Fig.8a.
iii) In the ~ range examined, the space occupied by striations and pseudo-cleavage is
about 5 to 10% higher for the ac20 spectrum than for the ac30 spectrum and
concomitantly dimples occupy a higher space for the ac30 spectrum.
iv) It can be seen that at comparable K ~ values, the space occupied by the predominant
facies (liB + striations) are about 30 to 40 % higher for the variable amplitude loading
than for CA tests.
Based on the results in Figure g, it is difficult to establish a correspondence
between these two test conditions. This result is apparently in contradiction with
previous results in thick plates [10] where it was possible to compare the areal coverage
of significant fraetographic features for CA and VA test conditions for the same alloy.
This result indicates that thin sheets tested under VA conditions have a particular
behavior.
The fatigue crack growth resistance curves under CA conditions is given in Figure
9a. Comparing Figures 5a and 9a, it can be seen here that the effect of R ratio is more
significant on this alloy than for the 2024 alloy. The crack growth rates are the lowest for
R =0.1 and the highest at R =0.7, throughout the AK range examined. For R =0.5, a
transitional behavior is observed : at low growth rates (da/dN < 10-8 m/cycle) the crack
growth rates at R =0.5 and 0.1 are comparable, while at higher growth rates the
behaviors at R=0.5 and 0.7 are comparable.
Figure 9b shows the relationship between crack advance per flight and K ~ v the
two studied spectra. As for the 2024 alloy, crack growth rates differ by a factor of 3x for
the two spectra (see Figure 5b for comparison).
Typical fractographs at for CA conditions are shown in Figure 10. In this material
and in the studied CA test conditions practically no dimpled or striated areas are
observed (see also Figure 6 for the 2024 alloy). The fracture surface is marked by the
presence of large out of plane blocky crystallographic facets (CF) and pseudo-cleavage
facets. By chemical etching and by examining electron back scattering patterns, some of
these large crystallographic facets have been identified to be close to (111) plane [12,20
and 21].
Typical fractographs for tests under VA conditions are given in Figure 11. Under
these loading conditions the fracture surface is almost entirely covered with Pseudo-
cleavage and striations and practically no facets are observed.The disappearance of facets
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RANGANATHAN ET AL. ON QUANTITATIVE FRACTOGRAPHY 69
Is}
I~ . . . . . . i i,,, i i , , ;. . . . . . . ;
J:i ~ i ! i i i~i,!L ! i i i :iii i [ ' i i
i
Iiiii ; ~ ~ i iiHT~LW; ~ i i ::i':i~ i i i [ I
li
T_!! {~
1
".
i
!
il]]~" ~
OWWll
~
~]im-: i
i
i B iI ~
I
Z"
O q S ! ~ / m ) ~qS!g/~V
(D 0 0 '0 0
0
.r.. .r,.
(010,~0/tu) NP~P
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70 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
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RANGANATHAN ET AL. ON QUANTITATIVE FRACTOGRAPHY 71
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72 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
under VA loading conditions has been previously observed in an Al - Li alloy and has
been attn'buted to a particular change in micro-mechanism [21].
Figuresl2a and 12b give the results of quantitative fractographic analysis for CA
and VA conditions. The following observations can be made.
CA conditions
It can be observed here that the range of K~, covered by a particular fractographic
feature is significantly different for the three R ratios studied. Also, for a given R value
at low K ~ levels, the fracture surface is almost covered by HB facets and as K ~
increases CF facets appear and they become more and more predominant. Differences
can be highly significant between the different test conditions, as shown in Table 2
below. Thus the spatial distribution of significant fractographic features again is
representative of the test conditions represented by K~, and R.
It should he remarked here that area covered by CF increases with K~, at a given
value of R. This marks a significant difference from the kind of crystallographic facets
found only near threshold in the 2024 alloy or in other aluminum alloys containing
coherent precipitates in vacuum [2], for which the number of facets decreases as K ~
increases.
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RANGANATHAN ET AL. ON QUANTITATIVE FRACTOGRAPHY 73
Ca)
100 - -
E]AC30
- - . . . . . . , . . . . l + + + . . . .
0 S 10 15 20 25
Kr~x, K~x~p ( M p a A m )
(b)
100 . . . . !
80
..: +,+i l ............... i........... " + + "............
- IIR=O.Sl +/ + + _
60 . ,,.o., I ........... ~ ~ + + + " .......
. . . . . . >AC+O I ....... ~ - - .......................
CJ + _+,o,, ,./ ..............
: i - i
.....................+..........
40
20 .........................
...................... +................ ~ .......... + + ; + iii+ii+iii:::-+
........ , +
_ , . . . i , . ~ - ~ ':-' ....
0
0 S 10 15 20
Km~, Km~.p(MImAm)
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74 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
Discussion
To push this analysis further, life estimations were made using a linear summation
technique, i.e., for a given K value, the crack advance under VA loading, Aa/flight, is
estimated by
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RANGANATHAN ET AL. ON QUANTITATIVE FRACTOGRAPHY 75
90
80
O l] HB + striations (CT)
O 121 Dimples (CT)
O O HB + Striations (CC'
70 X Dimples (CCT)
60
50
40 1:1
30
s
20
-x"fi •
10 I I I J I i i I I I I I I I [ I I I I -[
10 15 20 25 30
K ~ M P a x/-m
da/dN is determined according to the crack growth law established for thick specimens,
i.e.
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{a) (b) I O" s "q
Z
0
Z
"11
3 "
t~
--4
Z
10 .6 r-
E rn
E ..-I
"-"2 0
c~ r.o
o 0
"1"1
E
m
r.,) Z
i 0 -7
Z
1
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10' 1 0L 1 0~ 1 04 1 0s 1 06 --t
:73
m
N u m b e r o f flights
--I
21o
i0-81
lu 15 20 25
Kmaxsp(MPa. qm)
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RANGANATHAN ET AL. ON QUANTITATIVE FRACTOGRAPHY 77
K ~ range in [3
MPa4~
6< K~x<l 0 0.47
10< K ~ < 1 7 0.047"K~
Km~>17 0.8
The summation [represented by equation (3)] carded out through the whole
spectrum (i.e. 22547 cycles for the ac30 spectrum ), from the initial to the final crack
length. Retardation effects due to overloads were not considered, as under the studied
spectra, the most severe overload corresponds to an overload ratio o f 1.6 at a nominal
load ratio o f 0.54. Under such conditions the retardation effects are minimal [25].
Figures 14a and 14b compare respectively, the estimated and measured evolutions of
the crack length versus the number of flights and the crack advance per flight. The
estimations are very close to the reality and the life estimated is 105000 flights which is
within 28% of the measured life of 134000 flights. Similar results are obtained for the ac20
spectrum as well [20].
In the case o f the 8090 alloy, it was mentioned above that comparison between the
fracture surfaces under CA and VA conditions was not possible due to changes in
mechanisms observed under VA conditions. In this material, striations are observed
under VA conditions which were totally absent under CA conditions while facets are
present under CA conditions that are not observed under VA conditions. This unusual
behavior is exploited further to estimate life for this material under VA conditions.
As a first step, life estimations were made according to the crack growth law
established for thin sheets (hypothesis -1). The method used is as follows:
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78 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
A1G in R
MPa4~
6.5 0.1
7 0.5
4.5 0.7
Comparing tables 3a and 4b it appears that the differences between the constants
for the two alloys are not significant. This confirms that CA behavior of ahnninum alloys
can be expressed in terms of a unique law representing the relationship betwween the
crack growth rate and Aider [26]
The results are given in figures lSa and 15b, for the ac30 spectrum. It can be seen
here that the estimated life is about twice as the measured one and the estimated crack
growth rates are 1.5 to 4 times lower than the measured ones. This results indicates that
under VA test conditions crack grows faster than that obtained by linear crack growth
estimation.
For the life estimation presented above, it was assumed that crack closure levels
for a given AK is the same for CA and VA conditions. However this assumption
apparently is not true as indicated by fractographic observations.
Facets are typically along a (111) plane and from a grain to grain this plane is not
oriented in the same direction and as such the crack profile exhibits large changes in
direction leading to high levels of crack closure under CA conditions [12,20,21]. Under
VA conditions, striated areas are extremely flat, as compared to faceted areas oly'~3rved
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(a) (b)
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bTgure 15 Comparison o f experimental results and estimations 8090C-7"851 alloy -estimation hypothesis- 1
(a) Crack length evolution (b) Crack growth rate "M
CO
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80 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
under CA conditions. Under such a situation crack closure levels should be much lower
than under CA conditions. This etfect can be associated to a decrease of fracture profile
roughness under VA conditions as compared to CA conditions [27]. Certain load
displacement curves recorded during the tests verified this hypothesis. Analysis of results
obtained showed that the U factor for VA conditions, for the ac30 spectrum is 1.33x
what is estimated from equation (510) at comparable AK values. These measurements and
analysis were carded out only for the ground-air-ground cycle.
A second estimation was made considering the value of U under VA conditions are
33% higher than that under CA conditions, for a given AK level. If the estimated value of
U, (by equations (5a and 5b), following this assumption is greater than 1, it was assumed
that there was no closure (U = 1). The results are given in Figures 16a and 16b
(hypothesis - 2).
It can be seen here that the life estimation, with this hypothesis is within 3% of the
measured one. The crack growth estimations fall within the scatter of experimental
values except for low K ~ v values. This indicates that the assumptions made on the
decrease of closure levels under VA conditions (based on phenomenological
observations) are acceptable. The results of life estimations for the two spectra are given
in the table below.
Table 5 Life estimations (in number of flights) for the 8090C T851 alloy using the two
hypotheses
1 2 3 4 ratio ratio
Load Measured Estimation Estimation (2/3) (2/4)
spectrum life hypothesis - hypothesis -
1 2
ac30 43 500 82 000 42 400 0.53 0.97
ac20 14 000 22 000 18 900 0.63 0.73
It should be remarked that a good life estimation under VA conditions should lead
to acceptable remits for crack length and crack growth rate evolution [22], a criterion
met with in the present study. It should be noted here that life estimation models under
variable amplitude loading conditions, usually take into account overload induced
retardation [22], and such they cannot take into account crack acceleration effects as
observed in this study, which is due to a particular change in crack growth micro-
mechanism. The effect of this change in micro-mechanism was detected by quantitative
fractographic analysis and associated crack closure measurements.
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Crack length (mm)
o ~ .... ~=+,, ,? .... ? .....
i .[ ~ - i [ i ~ .i i ', .i [ . . i . o ....
- i ~ii[ - +~ii i ii[...ii.[::iii:i.i[.iii~: o :i::
z i + + !"" i i i i [ ~ i ii ~" ~J' '
-m ~ ::++:+ T::T ~:i+=:+: .....+++ +++T . . . . -~
i i + r ;~ ii ' ~ t ~ ~'~ ....
::::i:::i:i ~:: :]::~}::i :[::L:i:i ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
~ ~ iiii:+i:::i:i:!:ii:i~i:~: i: +:i:+::+ i :ii:i i ~ i::!::i: i
+=" ~ " [ !!~| i 'i I T i ; 1 [ + T i i ["
....i++i i~l ii !
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Aa/flight (m / flight)
,-+
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0
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|
'i :
i
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9~
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i i i i'=i+i! i"l~oo, : ~:
I
, ,
~
,+,,+,,,,
!!i+i i ,~~
::
! i!i !+, I
,~. 0 , :. ] :: ': i ]::i[ :: i 9 0o550i : ~ ] ,
9 ] ! ~?i[~ i ; !~'0 Ol~!! ! ! ! ! !~i:l
i i ! i~iii " ,t
1.9 AHdVHIDOIOVH-I 3AIIVIIINVNO NO "'IV 13 NVHIVNVONVI::I
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82 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
Conclusions
References
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RANGANATHAN ET AL. ON QUANTITATIVE FRACTOGRAPHY 83
John E. Masters and Leslie N. Gilbertson, Eds., An~rican Society for Testing and
Materials, Philadelphia, 1993, p.3.
[8] Kobayashi, T., Shockey, D.A., Schmidt, C.G. and Klopp, R.W., "Assessment of
fatigue Load Spectrum from Fracture Surface Topography," International Journal of
Fatigue, 1197,p. s237.
[9] Sunder, 1~, Prakash, R.V. and Mitchenko, E.I., "Fmctographic Study of Notch
Fatigue Crack Closure and Growth Rates," Fractography of Modern Engineering
Materials(2), ASTM STP 1203, John E. Masters and Leslie N. Gilbertson, Eds.,
American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, 1993, p.113.
[10] Ranganatha~ N., Benguediah, M., Henaff, G. and Adiwijayanto, F., "Qunatitative
Fracture Surface Analysis of Fatigue Crack Propagation Under variable Amplitude
Loading," Fractography of Modern Engineering Materials(2), ASTM STP 1203, John
E. Masters and Leslie N. Gilbertson, Eds., American Society for Testing and Materials,
Philadelphia, 1993, p.71.
[11] Dickson, J.I., Groulx, D., Li, S., and Tromans, D., 'q'he Fractography of Stress
Corrosion Cracking of 310 Stainless Steel: Crystallograhic Aspects and the Influence of
the Stress Intensity Factor," Material Sciences and Engineering,, Vol.94, 1987, p. 155.
[12] Ranganathan, N., Li, S.Q. and Bailon, J.P., "On Micromechanisms of Fatigue Crack
Growth in the 8090 T651 Alttminium-Lithium Alloy," Materials Science and
Engineering, Vol.A187, 1994, p.37.
[13] Lynch, S.P., "Herringbone patterns on Fracture Surfaces," Scripta
metallurgica, VoL20, 1986, p. 1067.
[14] Laird C. and Smith, G.C., "Crack Propagation in High Stress fatigue,",
Philolosophica Maazineg, Vol.7, 1962, p.847.
[15] Nix, K.J. and Flower, H.M., "The Use of Electron Optical techniques in the Study
of fatigue in High strength aluminl'um alloy 7010," Materials, Experimentation and
Design in Fatigue, Sherrnfl, F. and Sturgeon, J.B., Westbury House Pub., surrey, U.K.,
1979, P.85.
[16] Underwood, E.E. and Stark, E.A. jr., "Quantitative Stereological Methods for
Analyzing Important Microstructural features in metals and Alloys," Fatigue
Mechanisms ASTMSTP 675, J.T. fong Ed., American Society for Testing and Materials,
Philadelphia, 1979, p.633.
[17] Standard Test method for Measurement of Fatigue Crack Growth Rates, E647 -
86a, American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia.
[18] Ranganathan, N., Guilbon, G., Jendoubi, K., Nadeau, A. and Petit, J., "Automated
Fatigue Crack Growth Monitoring : Comparison of Different Crack-Following
Techniques," Factors that Affect the Precision of Mechanical tests, ASTM STP 1025, R.
Paipmo and H.G. Weiss, Eds., American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia,
1989, p.77.
[19] Wanhill, R.J.H., " Low Stress Intensity fatigue Crack growth in 2024-T3 and
T351," Engineering Fracture Mechanics,V ol.30, no.2, 1988, p.233.
[20] Adiwijayanto, F., "Etude comparative des m~canismes de Fissuration par fatigue
des alliages d'aluminium, 8090c T851 et 2024 T351," 1994 Thesis - Universit6 de
Poitiers.
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84 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
[21] Ranganatha~ N., Adiwijayanto, F., Petit, J. and Bailon, J.P., "Fatigue Crack
Propagation Mechanisma in an Akan~'um Lithium alloy," Acta Metallurgica and
Materialia, vol.43, no.3, 1995, p.1029.
[22] Wanhill, R.J.H., and Schijve, J., "Current Status of Flight Simulation Fatigue Crack
Growth Concepts," Fatigue Crack Propagation under variable Amplitude Loading, J.
Petit, D.L. Davidson, S. Suresh and P. Rabbe Eds,, Elsevier Applied Publishers,
London, 1988,p.309
[23] Elber, W., "Fatigue Crack closure under Cyclic Tension," Engineering Fracture
Mechanics, Vol.2, 1970, p.37.
[24] Ranganathan, N. and Desforges, J.R., "Equivalent Constant Amplitude Concepts
Examined Under Fatigue Crack Progation by Block Loading," Fatigue and Fracture of
Engineering Materials and Structures, vol. 19, no.8, 1996, p.997.
[25] Ranganathan, N.,Petit, J. and de Fouquet, J., "On the Influence of Initial ?K level on
the Post Overload Crack propagation behavior," Advances in fracture Research, S.R.
Valluri, D.M.R.Taplin, P.Ramarao, J.F.Knott and R.Dubay, Eds., Pergamon Press, U.K.,
vol.3, 1984, P.1767.
[26] Petit, J., Henaff, G. and Sarrazin-Baudoux, "Atmospheric Influence on fatigue crack
Propagation,", Engineering aganist Fatigue, J .H.Beynon, M.W.Brown, T.C. Lindley,
R.A.Smith and B.Tomkins, Eds., A.A. Balkerna pubs., Brookfiled, USA.
[27] Sehitoglu, H. and Garcia, A.M., " Contact of Nonflat Crack surfaces During
Fatigue," Advances inFfatigue Crack closure Measurement and Analysis: Second
volume, ASTM STP 1343, R.C. McClung and J.C. Newman, Jr., Eds, American society
for Testing and Materials, West Conshohocken, PA, 1999, p.367.
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Damage Evolution and Measurement
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Daniel P. Nicolella, l Arthur E. NichoUs, 1 James Lankford, 1 and Dwight T. Davy2
Reference: Nicolella, D. E, Nicholls, A. E., Lankford, J., and Davy, D. T., "A
Comparison of Macroscopic to Microstructural Strain Fields in Cortical Bone,"
Nontraditional Methods of Sensing Stress, Strain, and Damage in Materials and
Structures: Second Volume, ASTM STP 1323, G. E Lucas, E C. McKeighan, and
J. S. Ransom, Eds., American Society for Testing and Materials, West
Conshohocken, Pa, 2001.
Abstract
Introduction
87 EST 2012
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88 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
the cement line with crack propagation[I, 2], the dependence of bone density and
microstructural orientation on bone fracture [3-5], and the role ofmicrocracks in bone
fracture behavior [6]. It has also been shown that bone behaves like a brittle
microcracking material [7,8] and that these microcracks, on the order of tens or
hundreds of microns in size, may stimulate a bone remodeling response [9,10].
Bone mechanotransduction, the mechanism whereby bone senses mechanical
stimuli, is not well understood. Several candidate theories suggest that it is the
response of the osteocyte to either direct mechanical stimulus [11-14] or an indirect
stimulus resulting from deformation of the bone matrix, such as streaming potentials
[15-16], or fluid flow induced shear stress [17-19]. In all these cases, there is a need to
understand the relationship between the global, or whole bone level, applied mechanical
stimulus and the local microstructural, or tissue level, strain field associated with a
particular physical process.
The goal of this study was to explore the use of a full field deformation and strain
measurement system in order to develop a better understanding of the relationship
between globally applied loads and deformations to local, microstructural and cellular
level strains in cortical bone.
Methods
Two dimensional surface displacements and strains in cortical bone were quantified
using a unique displacement mapping system based on digital photogrammetry called
DISMAP [20]. Digital photogrammetry is a technique that allows the measurement of
material surface displacements by comparing images of a specimen taken at two distinct
stress states [21-24]. To use the system, an array of measurement points is digitally
superimposed on a digital micrograph taken of the specimen in the reference state,
thereby defining where displacement measurements are to be made (Figure 1). The
user defines the measurement grid density by indicating the number of grid columns and
rows. The image processing system "trains" on (stores in memory) a small area based
on the unique surface texture surrounding each measurement point in the reference
image. A local search is then performed to find the best matching area in the second
(deformed) image. The user defined train and search regions are square and the sizes
of these regions generally depend upon available surface detail and material
displacement magnitude.
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NICOLELLA ET AL. ON STRAIN FIELDS IN CORTICAL BONE 89
r(u,v) =
where r(u,v) defines the degree of correlation between the image areas, I is the target
(stressed) image region, Mis the model (reference) image region, Mj is the model pixel
location (xi, yi), I~, is the target pixel location (u + x,, v + yi), Nis the number ofpixels
in the model image where i ranges from 1 to N. The trained image area is a square
array ofpixels (with sides N) around each measurement grid point. A correlation value
ofr = 1 indicates a perfect match, r = 0 no correlation, and r = -1 is a perfect mismatch
[20]. Tiffs algorithm determines the position of the deformed material points with
respect to the undeformed image. Rotations are not accounted for with this algorithm,
however, the images are aligned manually to remove rigid body rotations prior to
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90 NONTRADI'I'IONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
analysis. All image processing functions are performed with custom software running
on a commercially available image processing computer (CONGNEX 2000, Natick,
MA) that incorporates a proprietary image processing co-processor [25,26]. The
COGNEX system uses the correlation index (r) within the search region to interpolate
between pixel locations to calculate fractional pixels and estimate subpixel displacement
position. The sub-pixel interpolation and minimization algorithm is internal to the
COGNEX system and is proprietary. The accuracy of the search procedure using this
system has been shown to be better than 0.25 pixels [20], resulting in strain resolution
of between 133 and 564 microstrain when used in this application [27]. This procedure
also minimizes differences in image contrast or texture. Variations in surface contrast
or texture between image sets are also accounted for by adjusting the train and search
parameters accordingly. Typical train and search sizes are on the order of 19X19
pixels and 35X35 pixels, respectively, and the user can adjust these sizes. The
COGNEX 2000 uses a built-in digitizer with a image resolution of 576(H)X448(V)
pixels with an 8-bit gray level to capture the images. Upon determination of the
displacement components for each measurement point, the full, in-plane, two-
dimensional strain tensor is calculated by numerically differentiating the displacement
field [24]. Therefore, the resolution of the strain is a function of the pixel resolution of
the digital cameras used.
To investigate the relationship between globally applied stresses and local tissue
level deformations and strains in cortical bone, two modes of specimen loading were
investigated: wedge-loading ofa pre-cracked specimen and tensile loading of an
uncracked dog bone shaped specimen. In both cases, cortical bone specimens were
prepared from a fresh bovine tibial bone. For the cracked specimen, rectangular
sections were milled producing samples that were flat and parallel to within
+/-0.0254 mm. Afier machining, each sample was polished using standard
metalurgical polishing techniques to a surface finish of 3 ~un. The initial crack was
created by pre-cracking a flat, edge-notched longitudinally oriented piece of bovine
cortical bone with a razor blade; the razor blade was slowly inserted into the notch until
a crack approximately 250 ~tm in length was created at the notch tip. Specimens were
tested at 23~ and kept wet with normal saline. Images of the unloaded, but pre-
cracked specimen were taken with a Polaroid camera attached to an inverted
metallographic microscope at magnifications of200X, 500X, and 1000X. The
razorblade was re-inserted into the specimen approximately 500 ~tm from the crack tip,
thus opening the microcrack approximately 220 ~tm, and corresponding images were
obtained of the stressed specimen at the same magnifications. All micrographs were
digitized using a flatbed scanner (Arcus II, AGFA, Woburn, MA).
Tensile specimens were fabricated by pinning and clamping the milled sections
between two hardened steel patterns, and milling by hand the final dog bone geometry.
Specimens were machined using a miniature milling machine and were continuously
irrigated during the machining process. After machining, each sample was polished
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NICOLELLA ET AL. ON STRAIN FIELDS IN CORTICAL BONE 91
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92 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
Resu Its
Microcrack Specimen
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NICOLELLA ET AL. ON STRAIN FIELDS IN CORTICAL BONE 93
~= ~ +6"z +,~1oP2
(where ~l and e2 are the principal strains) over this area shown in Figure 3 reveals a
region o f high tissue strains present at the crack tip; strain in this region reaches a
magnitude of approximately 3.0% (30,000 ~ ) . Figure 4 shows a contour plot of the
effective strain superimposed on a micrograph of the specimen. The measurement grid
spacing used, 11 lam, captures the complexity of the strain field at this microstructural
level revealing the effects ofmicrostructural features such as osteocyte lacunae. Local
strain concentrations on the order of 1.0% strain are associated with osteocyte lacunae,
as shown in Figure 3 as a local peak in the strain field near (x = 10 ~trn, y = 25 I~m) as
well as in the bottom left of the contour plot in Figure 4.
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94 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
Tensile Specimen
Figure 5 shows a contour plot of the effective strain field superimposed on a digital
rnicrograph of the surface of the tensile specimen. A globally applied stress of 76 MPa
that resulted in a global strain of 0.37% (3700 ~ts) was applied to the specimen. The
measurement grid area used for this analysis was approximately 400 gm by 300 gm,
with a grid spacing of approximately 30 ~tm. As shown in the figure, specific micro-
structural features are clearly visible, including osteocyte lacunae and a haversian
system passing through the specimen at an oblique angle at the bottom left of the
image. The structural features are clearly visible, including osteocyte lacunae and a
haversian system passing through the specimen at an oblique angle at the bottom left of
the image. The local strain field is notably heterogeneous, resulting in regions of
extreme local strain gradients as shown in Figure 6. The effective strain in the region
of the haversian system reaches approximately 8,250 ~ts.
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NICOLELLA ET AL. ON STRAIN FIELDS IN CORTICAL BONE 95
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96 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
Discussion
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NICOLELLA ET AL. ON STRAIN FIELDS IN CORTICAL BONE 97
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Mr. Jim Spencer for his technical assistance with
the DISMAP system This work was supported by NIH Grant AR43785 and the
Southwest Research Institute Advisory Committee for Research.
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98 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
References
[1] Advani, S. H., Lee, T.-S., and Martin, R. B., "Analysis of Crack Arrest by
Cement Lines in Osteonal Bone," American Society of Mechanical Engineers,
BED, Vol. 3, 1992, pp. 57-58.
[2] Guo, X. E., Liang, L. C., and Goldstein, S. A, "Micromechanics of Osteonal
Cortical Bone Fracture," Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, Vol. 120,
1998, pp. 112-117.
[3] Behiri, J. C. and Bonfield, W., "Orientation Dependence of the Fracture
Mechanics of Cortical Bone," Journal ofBiomechanics, Vol. 22, 1989,
pp. 863-872.
[4] Feng, Z. D., Rho, J. Y., and Ziv, I., "Mode II Fracture Toughness of Cortical
Bone - A Comparison of Longitudinal and Transverse Crack Propagation,"
American Society of Mechanical Engineers, BED, Vol. 29, 1995, pp. 419-420.
[5] Norman, T. L., Vashishth, D., and Burr, D. B., "Fracture Toughness of Human
Bone Under Tension," Journal ofBiomechanics, Vol. 28, 1995, pp. 309-320.
[6] Vashishth, D., Behirk J. C., and Bonfield, W., "Crack Growth Resistance in
Cortical Bone: Concept of microcrack toughening," Journal of Biomechanics,
Vol. 30, 1997, pp. 763-769.
[7] Schaffler, M. B., Choi, K., and Milgrom, C., "Aging and Matrix Microdamage
Accumulation in Human Compact Bone," Bone, Vol. 17, 1995, pp. 521-525.
[8] Zioupos, P. and Currey, J. D., "Extent of Microcracking and the Morphology
of Microcracks in Damaged Bone," Journal of Materials Science, Vol. 29,
1994, pp. 978-986.
[9] Burr, D. B., Martin, R. B., Schat~ler, M. B., and Radin, E. L., "Bone
Remodeling in Response to in vivo Fatigue Microdamage," Journal of
Biomechanics, Vol. 18, 1985, pp. 189-200.
[10] Martin, R. B. and Burr, D. B., "A Hypothetical Mechanism for the Stimulation
of Osteonal Remodelling by Fatigue Damage," Journal of Biomechanics,
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[11] Lanyon, L. E., "Osteocytes, Strain Detection, Bone Modeling and
Remodeling," Calcified Tissue International, Vol. 53, 1993, pp. S 102-S 106.
[12] Kimmel, D. B., "A Paradigm for Skeletal Strength Homeostasis," Journal of
Bone & Mineral Research, Vol. 8, 1993, pp. $515-$522.
[13] Mullender, M. G. and Huiskes, R., "Proposal for the Regulatory Mechanism of
Wolffs Law," Journal of Orthopaedic Research, Vol. 13, 1995, pp. 503-512.
[14] Mullender, M. G. and Huiskes, R., "Osteocytes and Bone Lining Cells: Which
are the best candidates for mechano-sensors in cancellous bone?" Bone,
Vol. 20, 1997, pp. 527-532.
[15] Gross, D. and Williams, W. S., "Streaming Potential and the Electromechanical
Response of Physiologically-Moist Bone," Journal ofBiomechanics, Vol. 15,
1982, pp. 277-295.
[16] Hastings, G. W., ElMessiery, M. A., and Rakowski, S., "Mechano-Electrical
Properties of Bone," Biomaterials, Vol. 2, 1981, pp. 225-233.
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NICOLELLA ET AL. ON STRAIN FIELDS IN CORTICAL BONE 99
[17] Owan, I., Burr, D. B., Turner, C. H., Qiu, J., Tu, Y., Onyia, J. E., and Duncan,
ILL., "Mechanotransduction in Bone: Osteoblasts are more responsive to fluid
forces than mechanical strain," American Journal of Physiology, Vol. 273,
1997, pp. C810-C815.
[18] Smalt, R., Mitchell, F. T., Howard, R. L., and Chambers, T. J., 1997,
"Induction of NO and Prostaglandin E2 in Osteoblasts by Wall-Shear Stress but
not Mechanical Strain," American Journal of Physiology, Vol. 273, 1997,
pp. E75 I-E758.
[19] Weinbaum, S., Cowin, S. C., and Zeng, Y., "A Model for the Excitation of
Osteocytes by Mechanical Loading-Induced Bone Fluid Shear Stresses,"
Journal ofBiomechanics, Vol. 27, 1994, pp. 339-360.
[20] Franke, E. A., Wenzel, D. L., and Davidson, D. L., "Measurement of
Microdisplacements by Machine Vision Photogrammetry (DISMAP)," Review
of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 62, 1991, pp. 1270-1279.
[21] Davidson, D. L., Arrowood, R. M., Hack, J. E., Leverant, G. R., and Clough,
S. P., "Micromechanisms of Crack Growth in a Fiber-Reinforced, Titanium-
Matrix Composite," Mechanical Behavior of Metal Matrix Composites, J. F.
Hack and M. F. Amateau, Eds., TMS-AIME, Warrendale, PA, 1983, pp. 117-
142.
[22] Davidson, D. L. and Lankford, J., "Effects of Aluminum Alloy Microstructure
on Fatigue Crack Growth," Materials Science & Engineering, Vol. 74, 1985,
pp. 189-199.
[23] Lankford, J., Davidson, D. L., and Chart, K. S., "Influence of Crack Tip
Plasticity in the Growth of Small Fatigue Cracks," Metallurgical Transactions
A-Physical Metallurgy & Materials Science, Vol. 15A, 1984, pp. 1579-1588.
[24] Williams, D. R., Davidson, D. L., and Lankford, J., "Fatigue-Crack-Tip Plastic
Strains by the Stereoimaging Technique," Experimental Mechanics, Vol. 20,
1980, pp. 134-139.
[25] Franke, E. A., Davidson, D. L., McFaUs, D. S., Michalsky, D. L., and Lusth,
J. C., "Stereoimaging by Machine Vision," Southwest Research Institute Report
14-9407, San Antonio, TX, 1986.
[26] Franke, E. A., Davidson, D. L., and Wenzel, D. L., "Automated Displacement
Measurements: System Development," Southwest Research Institute Report
5-9483, San Antonio, TX, 1988.
[27] Nicolella, D. P., Nicholls, A. E., Lankford, J., and Davy, D. T., "Machine
Vision Photogrammetry: A technique for measurement ofmicrostructural
strain in cortical bone," Journal ofBiomechanics, Vol. 34, 2001, pp. 135-139.
[28] Fondrk, M., Bahniuk, E., Davy, D. T., and Michaels, C., "Some Viscoplastic
Characteristics of Bovine and Human Cortical Bone," Journal of
Biomechanics, Vol. 21, 1988, pp. 623-630.
[29] Davidson, D. L. and Nagy, A., "Low-Frequency Cyclic-Loading Stage for the
SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope)," J.Phys.E (Sci.Instrum.), Vol. 11, 1978,
pp. 207-210.
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100 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
[30] Davidson,D. L. and McClung, R. C., "Local Constraint Near Fatigue Cracks in
Alloys and Particulate Composites," International Journal of Fracture,
Vol. 84, 1997, pp. 81-98.
[3 l] Davidson,D. L., "The Observation and Measurement of Displacements and
Strains by Stereoimaging," Scanning Electron Microscopy, Vol. 11, 1979,
pp. 79-86.
[32] Peters, W. H. and Ranson, W. F., "Digital Imaging Techniques in Experimental
Stress Analysis," Optical Engineering, Vol. 21, 1982, pp. 427-431.
[33] Sutton, M. A., Wolaters, W. J., Peters, W. H., Ranson, W. F., and McNeill,
S. R., "Determination of DisplacementsUsing an Improved Digital Image
Correlation Technique," Computer Vision, 1983, pp. 133-139.
[34] Davidson,D. L. and Lankford, J., "Fatigue Crack Tip Strains in 7075-T6 by
Stereoimaging and their Use in Crack Growth Models," ASTMSTP 811, 1983,
pp. 371-399.
[35] Davidson,D. L., "A Model for Fatigue Crack Advance Based on Crack Tip
Metallurgical and Mechanics Parameters," Acta Metallurgica, Vol. 32, 1984,
pp. 707-714.
[36] Lee, C., Peters, W. H., Sutton, M. A., and Chao, Y. J., "A Study of Plastic
Zone Formation by Digital Image Processing," Int.J.Plast., Vol. 3, 1987,
pp. 129-142.
[37] McNeill,S. R., Peters, W. H., and Sutton, M. A., "Estimation of Stress
Intensity Factor by Digital Image Correlation," Eng.Fract.Mech., Vol. 28,
1987, pp. 101-112.
[38] Lee, C., Chao, Y. J., Sutton, M. A., Peters, W. H., and Ranson, W.F.,
"Determination of Plastic Strains at Notches by Image-Processing Methods,"
Exp.Mech., Vol. 29, 1989, pp. 214-220.
[39] Sutton, M. A., Turner, J. L., Bruck, H. A., and Chae, T. A., "Full-field
Representation of Discretely Sampled Surface Deformation for Displacement
and Strain Analysis," Experimental Mechanics, Vol. 31, 1991, pp. 168-177.
[40] Han,G., Sutton, M. A., Chao, Y. J., and Lyons, J. S., "A Study of Crack
Blunting and Crack Growth in Thin SEC Specimens of 304 Stainless Steel by
Computer Vision," Proceedings of SEM Spring Conference on Experimental
Mechanics, Dearborn, MI, June 7-9, 1993.
[41] Han,G., Sutton, M. A., and Chao, Y. J., "A Study of Stationary Crack-tip
Deformation Fields in Thin Sheets by Computer Vision," Experimental
Mechanics, Vol. 34, 1994, pp. 125-140.
[42] Burr, D. B., Milgrom, C., Fyhrie, D., Forwood, M., Nyska, M., Finestone, A.,
Hoshaw, S., Saiag, E., and Simkin, A., "In vivo Measurement of Human Tibial
Strains during Vigorous Activity," Bone, Vol. 18, 1996, pp. 405-410.
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Gary L. Burkhardt 1 and Alfred E. Crouch l
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102 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
Because of the significant risk of property damage and personal injury from pipeline
failures, a method is needed to detect the damage. Because dents can also "re-round"
from internal pressurization of the pipe, they are not detectable from geometry alone.
Pipelines are currently inspected for corrosion damage using internal inspection devices
called "smart pigs" [2], and an inspection method is needed that can be employed on a
pig and can detect localized deformation and stresses directly. Ultimately, it is desired to
quantify the damage in terms of potential to cause pipeline failure.
NLH Method
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BURKHARDTAND CROUCHON NONLINEARHARMONICSMETHOD 103
Magnetic
induction,B
~~1~t ~Sinusoidal
magneticfield
strength,H
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104 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
2.5
_8% Compressive
Compre~ive ~ 0%
.• 1.5
8%Tensile
,T
0.5
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
-*"'sI~ Plastic
cO
Compression Tension
deformation in tension. The top curve was taken as a function o f tensile stress with no
plastic deformation, and the response increases from approximately 12 to 24 mV over the
range of 0 to 280 MPa stress. After the specimen was plastically deformed 5%, the
response shifts to a lower amplitude. The signal then drops to about 6.5 mV at 0 stress
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BURKHARDT AND CROUCH ON NONLINEAR HARMONICS METHOD 105
25.0
No Plastic Deformation~
> 20.0
E
"lO
-i
15.0 o P.D ( T e n s i o n ~
t-
~E
10.0
-1-
.--I ~ 8 ~ P.D. (Tension)
5.0
z
i i
~176 lOO.O 200.0 300.0
Stress (MPa)
Figure 5 - - N L H response to stress and plastic deformation.
and then increases to about 16 mV at 280 MPa. For 8% plastic deformation, the response
drops to lower values. Overall, uniaxial tensile plastic deformation causes the response to
drop, and uniaxial tensile stress causes it to increase when the magnetization direction is
aligned with the stress or deformation.
NLH Instrumentation
The NLH probe configuration is shown in Figure 6. The probe consists of an exci-
tation coil and a sensing coil wound on a ferrite core. The ferrite core used for the experi-
ments reported here was 2.5 cm long by 0.6 cm wide. The probe is placed in close prox-
imity to the specimen, as shown in the figure. A sinusoidal current at a given frequency
drives the excitation coil, which generates the magnetic field applied to the specimen.
The magnetic induction in the specimen is sensed by the voltage induced in the sensing
coil. A block diagram of the NLH method is shown in Figure 7. A signal generator oper-
ating at the desired excitation frequency (10 kHz for the experiments described in this
paper) drives a power amplifier, which drives the excitation coil in the NLH probe. The
output from the sensing coil in the probe is filtered to reduce the excitation frequency
content, and this signal is then input to a lock-in amplifier that is phase referenced to the
excitation frequency. The lock-in amplifier provides in-phase and quadrature outputs of
the signal from the NLH probe. From these outputs, the phase and magnitude of the NLH
signal can be computed. For the experiments described in this paper, the signal magni-
tude was computed and recorded.
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106 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
Excitation
/~ A A / i /i /~ /~/A (i coil
InllllLl
VVVV VI
f
Ferri
Core
te
Sensing
Coil,~,,~ I
Specimen
Figure 6 - - N L H p r o b e configuration.
SIGNALGENERATOR
AND PHASEREFERENCE
pOWERAMPLIFIER
i .,.IN-PHASE
OUTPU'F
IX)CK-IN AMPLIFIER
.~QUADRATURE
/ OUTPUT
EXCITATION
COIL
SEN~ING
COIL T
H]GHPASSOR
BANDPASSFILTER
~ ~ . . . ~ - ~ PIPE W A L L
Specimens
NLH experiments were performed to measure the NLH response to dents and gouges
o f various severities in pipeline steel. The specimens consisted o f pipe sections made o f
X-52 and X-70 steel with a diameter of 61 cm and a wall thickness o f 0.71 cm. Gouges
and/or dents were introduced into the pipe while it was under internal pressure. Some
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BURKHARDT AND CROUCH ON NONLINEAR HARMONICS METHOD 107
"re-rounding" of the dents occurred after they were introduced because of the internal
pressure; this is typical of mechanical damage introduced into operating pipelines. The
specimens were made by Battelle Memorial Institute in a hydraulic fixture. The pipe was
clamped into the fixture and internally pressurized with water. An indenter was pressed
radially into the pipe surface under controlled hydraulic loading, and the load and dis-
placement of the indenter were monitored. Axial hydraulic rams provided a translation of
the indenter either while it was being radially loaded or after reaching full radial extent.
A sharp cutting tooth was extended from the contact surface of the spherical indenter to
create a gouge as the indenter was axially translated. Sections of the pipe containing the
defects were then removed from the pipe.
The defect set is described in Table 1; dimensions of the dent and gouge portions of
the defects are given separately. Seven defects were manufactured. Dent depths ranged
from 0 for Defect 28, which consisted of a gouge only, to 3.7 cm for Defects 31 and 29.
The dent depths were measured before re-rounding occurred. Gouge depths ranged from
0 for Defect 87 to 0.21 cm for Defect 28. All of the defects produced distortion on the
inside surface of the pipe except for Defect 28.
Photographs of some of the defects from the outside of the pipe are shown in Fig-
ures 8 through 10. Figure 8 shows a circular dent (Defect 87), Figure 9 shows a combina-
tion gouge and dent (Defect 84), and Figure 10 shows a gouge without a dent (Defect 28).
Experimental Setup
An experimental setup was established to acquire NLH data from the pipe specimens
by scanning an NLH probe on the inside surface of the pipe (as would be done in a pipe
inspection pig). The probe was spring-loaded against the pipe surface, and the probe was
scanned by a lead-screw-driven slide assembly. Data were digitized as a function of
probe position along the length of the pipe specimen. The probe was indexed circumfer-
entially by manually moving the entire fixture after each scan. Figure 11 shows the NLH
probe, suspension, and scanning system positioned on a pipe specimen.
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108 NONTRADITIONAL METHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
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BURKHARDT AND CROUCH ON NONLINEAR HARMONICS METHOD 109
Modeling work that is in progress for related work on dents was used as a guide to
stress and plastic strain distributions. Although the calculations do not cover the exact
dent configurations in the specimens described previously in this paper, the results are
qualitatively useful to help understand the stress and strain patterns around the defects.
The model geometry is shown in Figure 12 with the indenter used to produce the defect
contacting the outside of the pipe. Only one quarter of the geometry was used due to
symmetry. The dimensions of the flat surface of the indenter which is placed against the
pipe were 10 cm x 2.5 cm. The pipe diameter used in the model was 30.6 cm (compared
to 61 cm for the actual specimens), and the wall thickness was 0.46 cm (compared to 0.71
cm for the actual specimens). The internal pressure was 6.2 MPa when the indenter was
applied. Before re-rounding, the dent depth was 3.8 cm.
Figures 13 and 14 show the hoop plastic strains and elastic stresses, respectively,
versus position in the axial (X in Figure 12) direction; these are the values obtained after
re-rounding of the dent and release of internal pressure. The plastic strains are highest
near the center o f the dent and fall off sharply in the region of 6.3 to 7.6 cm, approxi-
mately the location o f the end of the indenter. At further distances, the plastic strains are
very small. Figure 14 shows, however, that the hoop stress is still significant at greater
distances until it falls to zero and reverses sign at about 14 cm. Calculations o f the axial
strains and stresses also showed that plastic strains are primarily confined to the region of
the actual dent, but the stresses extend significantly outward from that region. Thus, it is
expected that the NLH response will be influenced primarily by plastic deformation
effects in the immediate vicinity of the dent or gouge and by residual stresses away from
that region.
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110 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
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BURKHARDT AND CROUCH ON NONLINEAR HARMONICS METHOD 111
Experimental Results
NLH data were obtained for each of the damaged areas shown in Table 1 over a scan
area having dimensions of approximately 25 by 40 cm. Because the data were obtained
from two different specimen materials, the NLH signal for the X-70 material was cor-
rected to that of the X-52 material so that both can be compared on the same scale. Fig-
ure 15 is a contour plot of NLH signal magnitude showing the response to a dent (Defect
87). The approximate boundary of the dent is shown by the ellipse in the figure. (Note
that the dent is actually circular, but the shape is distorted in the figure because the axes
do not have equal scales.) The NLH magnitude decreases from approximately 1100 to
1200 in the region well away from the dent to approximately 200 near the center of the
dent. Figure 16 shows the response for Defect 28, which is a gouge with no material
distortion on the inside surface of the pipe. The signal decreases to about 550 in the
region of the defect, and the NLH response extends significantly past the defect bound-
ary. The responses from both of these defects can be compared to that of undamaged
material shown in Figure 17. Although there is some variation in the response from this
material, the signals from the damaged material are significantly lower and therefore eas-
ily recognizable compared to undamaged material.
Figure 18 shows the NLH responses from all specimens for a single scan in the axial
direction with the probe positioned over the defect centerline. The undamaged material is
shown by Defect 0 and is a relatively flat line. All of the specimens with
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112 NONTRADITIONAL METHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
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BURKHARDT AND CROUCH ON NONLINEAR HARMONICS METHOD 113
1600.0 i
1400.0
1200.0
8
E 1000.0
?,
O
r~ J //
800.0
600.0
400.0
",', "-\N,,~,',.','" ,;' ./ ',./Z4'
, ,
cO 200.0
5
Z
4 29 /
0.0
"~ . . . . . . --/86
-200.0 I I I I I
defects yield a significant dip in response below the undeformed material baseline; this
dip extends well past the deformed boundary of the defect. (Note that the magnitude can
be negative because of the material correction.) In some cases (e.g., Defect 86), the signal
increases above the baseline at greater distances.
Because NLH responds to the difference between axial and hoop stresses for biaxial
stress conditions, analysis of the response is very difficult, particularly without a detailed
understanding of the stress distributions for the defects tested which consist of either
dents, gouges, or both. Because the signals decrease in the region of the defect, the NLH
response is indicating a net difference in hoop and axial conditions of either plastic defor-
mation in tension and/or elastic stress in compression. Based on the modeling presented
earlier (for different conditions), it appears that the response is dominated by plastic
deformation effects near the defect and by elastic stresses beyond the defect boundary.
For some defects, such as Defect 86, there is also an increase in signal beyond the bound-
ary, indicating a tensile elastic stress condition.
Although understanding the stress and deformation levels is difficult at this time, a
very important result of this work is that NLH is very effective for detection of defects
containing localized deformation. In particular, Defect 28, which is a gouge without a
dent and which is not deformed on the inside surface, was clearly detected. Thus, this
method is very promising as a detection method for pipeline mechanical damage defects.
Conclusions
The NLH method was shown to be an effective candidate method for detecting local-
ized plastic deformation arising from mechanical damage to pipelines. The method can
detect damage from dents, combinations of dents and gouges, and gouges without associ-
ated deformation on the inside surface of the pipe. Because the response extends well
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114 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
past the defect boundary, the defect can be detected without scanning directly over it.
Currently, the response is not sufficiently well understood to allow characterization of
stresses and deformations, but can be readily interpreted to allow detection.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Tom Bubenik at Battelle Memorial
Institute, Mr. Lloyd Ulrich of the Office of Pipeline Safety, and Mr. Harvey Haines at
GRI for their cooperation and support of this NLH project. Other contributors at South-
west Research Institute included Mr. David Jones and Dr. Yi-Der Lee.
References
[1] Davis, R. J., Bubenik, T. A., and Crouch, A. E., "The Feasibility of Magnetic Flux
Leakage In-Line Inspection as a Method to Detect and Characterize Mechani-
cal Damage," Final Report GRI-95/0169, GRI, Chicago, IL, 1996.
[2] Crouch, A. E., "In-Line Inspection of Natural Gas Pipelines," Topical Report GRI-
91/0365, GRI, Chicago, IL, May 1993.
[3] Bozorth, R. M., Ferromagnetism, IEEE Press, Piscataway, NJ, 1993.
[4] Kwun, H., and Burkhardt, G. L., "Electromagnetic Techniques for Residual Stress
Measurements," Metals Handbook, Ninth Edition, Volume 17, Nondestructive
Evaluation and Quality Control, ASM International, Metals Park, OH, 1989,
pp. 159-163.
[5] Kwun, H., and Burkhardt, G. L., "Nondestructive Measurement of Stress in Ferro-
magnetic Steels Using Harmonic Analysis of Induced Voltage," NDTlnter-
national, Vol. 20, No. 3, June 1987, pp. 167-171.
[6] Kwtm, H., "Investigation of Techniques for Bulk Stress Measurement on Exposed
Pipelines--Phases I and II," Final Report to the Pipeline Research Committee
of the American Gas Association, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio,
TX, 1993.
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Strain and Displacement Measurement Techniques
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Tait S. Smith I and Brian K. Bay l
Introduction
Methods
Specimen CT Scans
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SMITH AND BAY ON DIGITAL VOLUME CORRELATION 1 19
The microCT system used for this work is located at Henry Ford Hospital,
Detroit MI. It is a cone-beam microfocus magnification radiography system using an
image intensifier coupled to a CCD camera as the detector [1,2]. The X-ray source
utilizes a tungsten target and was operated at 50-60 kVp. The time required for a single
scan was 1.5 hours. The CT data volumes produced contain approximately
500x500x500 voxels with 8 bits of depth. The voxels produced by the CT system are
cubic and with the scanning geometry used for this study, the voxels are 35 gm on a
side.
X-ray tomograms of each specimen were taken before loading and after
application of successive nominal compressive strains. For strained scans, the specimen
was compressed to the nominal strain then it was allowed to relax for 30 minutes and
finally it was scanned while still strained. The initial scan of the specimen in an
unstrained condition is the baseline image volume that other deformed scans are
compared against using Digital Volume Correlation.
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120 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
mesh of the specimen geometry (Patran 8.5, MSC, Los Angeles, CA) in the coordinate
system of the microCT data. The node locations are then used as positions to make
measurements. This allows the DVC results to be viewed on the original mesh.
One of the greatest challenges in using cellular solids in design is accounting for
the strain concentrations that occur around interfaces, holes and fasteners. We created a
simple strain concentration by drilling a 5 mm diameter hole transversely through a
15 mm diameter cylindrical sample (Figure 2). A target nominal compressive strain of-
1% was applied and the strain distribution was measured using DVC. The displacement
vectors measured using DVC at each end of the specimen near the platens were used as
displacement boundary conditions on a homogeneous isotropic finite element model of
the specimen geometry. The nodes in the FEA mesh are used as positions to make
DVC measurements, therefore strain tensor information is known at the same locations
in space. Strain distributions from the DVC and FEA results were then compared.
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SMITH AND BAY ON DIGITAL VOLUME CORRELATION 121
were extracted from the undeformed and deformed data volumes and rendered to show
the mechanisms of cell deformation.
ResuLts
The general strain pattern measured using DVC is qualitatively what would be
expected from the geometry (Figure 3). The transverse hole generates a strain
concentration with large minimum principal strains on the sides of the defect with a
maximum value of-2.19%. The FEA result also shows the strain concentration on the
sides of the transverse hole as is expected. However, the FEA result underestimates
both the magnitude of the strains (maximum value of-1.87%) and the volume within
which the strains are elevated near the edge of the transverse hole. The DVC and FEA
strain fields show general agreement in the overall strain pattern especially away from
the strain concentration. The specimen was actually loaded to -0.63% nominal strain as
Figure 4 - Minimum principal strain distributions for two specimens showing the
development of the strain pattern as the specimen transitions from elastic into
plastic behavior. Darker regions represent high strain magnitudes.
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122 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
determined from the DVC measured displacements at the ends of the specimen. This
nominal strain is within the elastic range of the material. However, it is not appropriate
to interpret the apparently plastic strains at the edges of the strain concentration as true
yielding of the material since the continuum assumption is violated.
Failure Specimens
The target nominal strains were not reached due to difficulties in controlling the
loading apparatus. The main source of problems was due to the specimen platens not
being exactly parallel. This caused the LVDT to measure displacements that
corresponded to rotation of the platen rather than to compression of the specimen.
However, the specimens reached two elastic strain levels and one plastic level. The
minimum principle strain distributions show the progression as the specimen is loaded
from the elastic region into the plastic region (Figure 4). Surface strains are illustrated,
but the same information is available throughout the sample interiors. The development
of high strain regions in the material begins during elastic level strains and these regions
go on to form the basis for the failure zones. However, the correspondence between
elastic and plastic strains patterns is not simple.
Histograms of the minimum principal strain distributions show that the
distribution of strain is narrow for elastic level behavior and becomes very distributed
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SMITH AND BAY ON DIGITAL VOLUME CORRELATION 123
after plastic failure (Figure 5). Note the different strain bins used in each histogram.
Subvolumes were extracted from one of the specimens before and after plastic
deformation in a location of high strain as determined from the DVC fringe plot (Figure
6). The subvolume renderings show the local deformation mechanism of a unit cell.
This particular unit cell is collapsing in the vertical direction and shows some struts
bending and others buckling.
Discussion
The homogeneous isotropic finite element model of the specimen treats the
aluminum foam material as a continuum. A continuum model of a foam material is
valid only when the volume of the material is much larger than the unit cell dimensions
of the foam and is only valid several characteristic lengths away from any interface (a
hole, inclusion, bonded material, etc.). This is a condition that is easy to satisfy for
materials such as solid metals, but not for most composites and foams. Typical cell
sizes in the aluminum foam are 1.2 mm which is about one-quarter the transverse hole
diameter. Therefore the continuum assumption is violated in the vicinity of the
transverse hole which is precisely where it is most important to have accurate
information and overestimates the stiffness of the material in the neighborhood of the
defect.
The process of drilling the hole through the material perforates some of the cells
in the foam. When attempting to make predictions about the behavior of the material
near a geometric discontinuity, the precise location of the perforations with respect to
the material cells becomes critical. It is also likely that some cells are more sensitive to
perforations than others. This sensitivity could be a function of the imposed stress field.
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124 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
Failure Specimens
Limitations/Future Work
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SMITH AND BAY ON DIGITAL VOLUME CORRELATION 125
the soft X-rays and affects the noise level in the images. The old detector in the current
CT system could be improved by replacement with a new image intensifier and CCD.
The issues with regard to the CT system will be addressed by this lab in the near
future. A NFS grant has funded the construction ofa CT system with an integral
loading apparatus in our laboratory. This new scanner will address the limitations
mentioned above. It will incorporate a microfocus cone-beam source and an image
intensifier coupled to a CCD as a detector. The specimen stage will be built into a
standard materials testing loading frame with rotational degrees of freedom added.
Currently, digital volume correlation uses only translational degrees of freedom
during the minimization. DVC is actively being developed and rotational and straining
degrees of freedom will be added soon. The addition of additional degrees of freedom
should improve the strain results from DVC.
The results presented in this paper show that full-field three-dimensional strain
fields can be measured using high resolution CT data sets and applying the DVC
method. The results are only preliminary and further studies will be done to better
characterize and further develop the experimental methodology, and to continue with
applications. One goal of complex material characterization is the ability to do
predictive modeling of material failure. A traditional constitutive model probably will
not provide the answers. Models will most likely involve continuum modeling,
microarchitectural characterization, and statistical analysis.
Acknowledgments
References
[1] Reimann, D.A., Flynn, M.J., and Hames, S.M. "A Flexible Laboratory System for
3D X-ray Microtomography of 3-50 mm Specimens," SPIE 3D Microscopy."
Image Acquisition and Processing, Vol. 2412-26, 1995, pp. 1-10.
[2] Reimann, D.A., Hames, S.M., Flynn, M.J., Fyhrie, D.P., "A Cone Beam Computed
Tomography System for True 3D Imaging of Specimens," Applied Radiation
and Isotopes, 48(10-12), 1997, pp. 1433-1436.
[3] Bay, B,K., Smith, T.S., Fyhrie, D.P., and Saad, M., "Digital Volume Correlation:
Three-Dimensional Strain Measurement Using X-ray Tomography,"
Experimental Mechanics, 39(3), 1999, pp. 218-227.
[4] Sutton, M.A., Wolters, W.J., Peters, W.H., Ranson, W.F., and McNeill, S.R.,
"Determination of Displacements Using an Improved Digital Correlation
Method," Image and Vision Computing, 1(3), 1983, pp. 133-139.
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126 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
[5] Chu, T.C., Ranson, W.F., Sutton, M.A., and Peters, W.H. "Applications of Digital-
Image-Correlation Techniques to Experimental Mechanics," Experimental
Mechanics, 25(3) 1985, pp. 232-244.
[6] Lyons, J.S., Liu, J., and Sutton, M.A., "High-Temperature Deformation
Measurements Using Digital-Image Correlation," Experimental Mechanics,
36(2), 1996, pp. 64-70.
[8] Geers, M.G.D., de Borst, R., and Brekelmans, W.A.M., "Computing Strain Fields
From Discrete Displacement Fields in 2D-Solids," International Journal of
Solids and Structures, 33(29), 1996, pp. 4293-4307.
[9] Zhu, Y., Drangova, M., and Pelc, N.J., "Estimation of Deformation Gradient and
Strain from Cine-PC Velocity Data," IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging,
16(6), 1997, pp. 840-851.
[10] Gibson, L.J. and Ashby, M.F., "Cellular Solids: Structure and Properties." 2nd ed.,
Oxford, Pergamon Press, 1997.
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Jeffrey C. Suhling I and Richard C. Jaeger2
Introduction
Stresses due to thermal and mechanical loadings are often produced in IC chips that
are incorporated into electronic packages. They typically occur due to non-uniform
thermal expansions resulting from mismatches between the coefficients of thermal
expansion of the materials comprising the package and the semiconductor die.
Additional thermally induced stresses can be produced from heat dissipated by high
power density devices during operation. Finally, mechanical loadings can also be
transmitted to the package through contact with the printed circuit board to which the
package is mounted. The combination of all of the above loadings can lead to two-
dimensional (biaxial) and three-dimensional (triaxial) states of stress on the surface of the
die. If high power density devices within the package are switched on and off, these
stress states can be cyclic in time causing fatigue. All of these factors can lead to
premature failure of the package due to such causes as fracture of the die, severing of
connections, die bond failure, solder fatigue, and encapsulant cracking.
Piezoresistive stress sensors are a powerful tool for experimental structural analysis of
electronic packages. Figure 1 illustrates the basic application concepts. The structures of
interest are semiconductor (e.g. silicon) chips that are incorporated into electronic packages.
The sensors are resistors, which are conveniently fabricated into the surface of the die using
current microelectronic technology. The sensors are not mounted on the chips like
conventional metallic foil or semiconductor strain gages. Rather, they are an integral part of
the structure (chip) to be analyzed by the way of the fabrication process (see Fig. 2).
Electrical isolation between the doped surface resistor and the bulk of the chip is maintained
by reversing p-n junction diode formed between the resistor and substrate regions. In
conductors such as silicon that exhibit the piezoresistive effect, the electrical resistivity
changes when the material is subjected to stress or pressure. Thus, stresses in a chip
produce measurable resistance changes in the sensors. Therefore, the sensors are capable of
providing non-intrusive measurements of surface stress states on a chip even within
encapsulated packages (where they are embedded sensors). Similar to conventional bonded
foil strain gages, the doped active region of a piezoresistive sensor is typically designed
using a serpentine pattern, in order to achieve acceptable resistance levels for measurement
(see Fig. 3). Resistor sensors with nominal dimensions of only a few microns are now
possible with the submicron minimum feature sizes available in current semiconductor
fabrication technologies. However, the sensors utilized in most current packaging
applications have nominal in-plane dimensions of 10-100 ~tm on a side.
The piezoresistive behavior of semiconductors such as silicon has been known for many
years [1-2]. The earliest applications of resistor sensors on IC chips for stress measurement
in plastic encapsulated electronic packages were made at Texas Instruments in the early
1980's [3-4]. Many potential applications exist for piezoresistive sensors in the
microelectronic packaging industry including qualifying of manufacturing processes,
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SUHLING AND JAEGER ON SILICON IC CHIPS 129
guiding material selection, and evaluating reliability. If the utilized piezoresistive sensors
are calibrated over a wide temperature range, thermally induced stresses can be measured.
Finally, a full-field mapping of the stress distribution over the surface of a die can be
obtained using specially designed test chips, which incorporate an array of sensor rosettes.
In this paper, the state-of-the-art in the area of silicon piezoresistive stress sensor test
chips is reviewed. Discussions are made of sensor theory, calibration methods, and
packaging applications.
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130 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
AR
-- =
( z % a , )l,2 + (z,2~a,c,)m,2 + ( ~.3a(Ta
, , ) n ,2
R
+2 (rc4~cyr,)ln+2
. . . . (~sc,
. a. , ).m n. +. 2 (. ~ s ., a. a ) I m (1)
+ [ a I T + a 2 T ~ + ...]
where ~'~a (or, fl = 1, 2,..., 6) are the off-axis temperature dependent piezoresistive
coefficients, a l , c~e,.., are the temperature coefficients of resistance, T =Tm - Tref is the
difference between the measurement temperature and reference temperature (where the
unstressed resistance R is measured), and l; m ; n" are the direction cosines of the
conductor orientation with respect to the x'~, x'~, x'a axes, respectively [5-7]. In Eq. (1) and
future indicial notation expressions, the summation convention is implied for repeated
indices, and reduced index notation has been used for the stress components
X3
~
x~ [~10]
x;
2[010
X2
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SUHLING AND JAEGER ON SILICON IC CHIPS 131
The 36 off-axis piezoresistive coefficients in Eq. (1) are related to the three unique on-
axis piezoresistive coefficients ~ri1, ~i~, zr~ (evaluated in the unprimed coordinate system
aligned with the crystallographic axes) using the transformation
p -1
z ,~ = T ~ r z r ~ T ~ (3)
where
'r- z~2 z~2 0 0 07
Z12 n'H n:~2 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 n~ 0
0 0 0 0 0 ~
is the six by six transformation matrix whose elements are related to the direction cosines
of the primed coordinate directions with respect to the unprimed coordinate directions. The
inverse of this transformation matrix can be expressed as
m~ m~ m~ 2 m, m3 2 m2 ma 2 ml me
[T~ff =
n le n~ n~ 2 nl n3 2 n~ n3 2 n~ n2 (6)
In Eqs. (5,6), the direction cosines for the axes of the primed coordinate system are
given by
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132 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
When the primed axes are aligned with the unprimed (crystallographic) axes, the
transformation matrix in Eq. (5) reduces to the 6 x 6 identity matrix. Thus, Eq. (3) reduces
to
AR
-- = [E11 IT11 + E12 (IT22 + Ga3)]l 2 + [ E l i ~22 -t- ~12 (~11 "~ IT33)Jm 2
R
+ [ z n tree + z~2 (cr11 + (r22)] n 2 + 2 ~44 [r lm + r In + a23 rnn] (10)
+ [OtlT + o~2T 2 + ...]
where l, m, n are the direction cosines of the conductor orientation with respect to the
unprimed (crystallographic) axes. Equation (10) demonstrates that the resistance change of
an arbitrarily oriented silicon resistor depends on all six stress components. As will be
shown below, resistive sensor rosettes can be fabricated in certain silicon wafer planes that
take advantage of this property and allow several stress components to be extracted from
monitoring resistance changes.
For a given wafer orientation, Eq. (1) can be used to obtain the resistance change
equation for an arbitrarily oriented in-plane resistor. In the current rnicroelectronics
industry, it is most common for silicon devices to be fabricated using (100) silicon wafers.
A general (100) silicon wafer is shown in Fig. 5. The surface of the wafer is a (100) plane,
and the [001] direction is normal to the wafer plane. The axes of the natural wafer
coordinate system x ' l = [110] and x'2 = [110] are parallel and perpendicular to the
primary wafer fiat. To use Eq. (1), the off-axis piezoresistive coefficients in the primed
coordinate system must be evaluated using Eq. (3) by substitution of the unprimed values
in Eq. (4) and the appropriate direction cosines. For the unprimed and primed coordinate
systems shown in Fig. 5, the direction cosines are
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SUHLING AND JAEGER ON SILICON IC CHIPS 133
1 1 (11)
[alJ]= "4~ q~
0 0
R 2 2
l
aee cos r
(12)
2 tr'H + 2 tY'ze sin e 0
where
have been introduced and ~ is the angle between the x'l -axis and the resistor orientation.
Equation (12) indicates that the out-of-plane shear stresses tr'~s and o"e3 do not influence
the resistances of stress sensors fabricated on (100) wafers. This means that a sensor
rosette on (100) silicon can at best measure four of the six unique components of the stress
tensor. All three of the unique piezoresistive coefficients for silicon ( z n, z~2, ~r44) appear
in Eq. (12). These parameters must be determined before stress component values can be
extracted from resistance change measurements
The other common silicon crystal orientation used in semiconductor fabrication is the
(111) surface. A general (111) silicon wafer is shown in Fig. 6. The surface of the wafer is
a (111) plane, and the [111] direction is normal to the wafer plane. The principal
crystallographic axes x~ = [100], x2 = [010], and x~ = [001] do not lie in the wafer plane and
have not been indicated. As mentioned previously, it is convenient to work in an off-axis
primed wafer coordinate system where the axes x'1, x'e are parallel and perpendicular to
the primary wafer fiat. Using Eq. (1), the resistance change of an arbitrarily oriented in-
plane sensor can be expressed in terms of the stress components resolved in this natural
wafer coordinate system. The off-axis piezoresistive coefficients in the primed coordinate
system must be first evaluated by substituting the unprimed values given in Eq. (4) and the
appropriate direction cosines for the primed coordinate directions with respect to the
unprimed (crystallographic) coordinate directions into the transformation relations given in
Eq. (3)'. For the primed coordinate system indicated in Fig. 6, the appropriate direction
cosines for the primed axes are
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134 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
1 1 O"
45 4~
1 1 2 (14)
[aJ =]
4g .z
1 1 1
45 45 45
where ~b is again the angle between the x'~-axis and the resistor orientation. The
coefficients
Rosette Design
From Eq. (12), it can be seen that the resistance change of an in-plane sensor
fabricated on (100) silicon depends on four components of stress ( cr'11, o"ee, o"33, cr'~e )
and the orientation of the sensor. Likewise, from Eq. (15) it can be seen that the
resistance change of an in-plane sensor fabricated on (111) silicon depends on all six
stress components and the orientation of the sensor. Because of this, it seems natural to
assume that the potential exists to design a four element rosette on (100) silicon capable
of measuring four stress components, and a six element rosette on (111) silicon capable
of measuring all six stress components. However, it can also be proved theoretically that
when considering all possible orientations at a point that there are only three unique
sensor responses on any given silicon plane [4]. Therefore, it appears that it is not
possible to design a rosette that can measure more than three stress components. The
above discussion pertains to rosettes formed with identically doped sensing resistors.
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SUHLING AND JAEGER ON SILICON IC CHIPS 135
The full potential of multi-element sensor rosettes to measure up to six stress components
can be achieved by using dual-polarity sensing elements fabricated with both n-type and
p-type silicon. Since the piezoresistive coefficients of the n-type and p-type resistors are
different, there can be up to six unique sensor responses in dual-polarity rosettes.
Besides the ability to measure two additional stress components, theoretical analysis
has established that properly designed sensor rosettes on the (111) silicon wafer plane
have other advantages relative to sensors fabricated using standard (100) silicon [5-7]. In
particular, optimized sensors on (111) silicon are capable of measuring four temperature
compensated combined stress components, while those on (100) silicon can only be used
to measure two temperature compensated quantities. In this discussion, temperature
compensated refers to the ability to extract the stress components directly from the
resistance change measurements (without the need to know the temperature change T).
This is a particularly important attribute, given the large errors that can be introduced into
non-temperature compensated stress sensor data when the temperature change T is not
precisely known [8-9]. Furthermore, it has been established theoretically that the (111)
surface represents the optimal plane because it offers the opportunity to measure the
highest number (four) of stress components in a temperature compensated manner
(considering all possible silicon wafer orientations) [6]. The four stress components that
can be measured in a temperature compensated manner using (111) silicon sensors are
the three shear stress components and the difference of the in-plane normal stress
components. Temperature gradients across the sensor rosette are typically neglected
because of the thermal conductivity of silicon is very high. Discussion of many other
issues involved in using piezoresistive sensors has been given by Sweet [10].
Fig. 6 - (111) silicon wafer. Fig. 7 - Four element rosette on (100) silicon.
A four element dual-polarity sensor rosette on (100) silicon capable of measuring four
stress components is shown in Fig. 7. It contains a 0-90 ~ p-type resistor pair (_R1,p and
Re, p ) and a _-/-45~ n-type resistor pair (R3," and R4, . ). It has been demonstrated [8-9] that
this choice of sensor orientations minimizes thermally induced errors as well as those due
to resistor misalignment, and permits accurate temperature compensated measurement of
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136 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
p i
the values of the in-plane normal stress difference (o'1~ -o-22) and the in-plane shear
stress cry2.
Application of Eq. (12) to the various resistor orientations gives the following
relations between the resistance changes and the stresses at the rosette site
AR1 + i
R1 2 2
(17)
R2 2 2
AR3 = Zs (try1 + cr'22) + ZDa~2 + ~1~a'3a + a'/T
Ra
AR4 = z~ (cry1+ a'22)- z~a~2 + ;z,~a'aa + a~T
R4
where the notations z s = (z,1 + z,e ) and ZD = (Z,, -- z,e ) have been introduced, and
superscripts n and p are used on the piezoresistive coefficients to denote n-type and p-type
resistors, respectively. The expressions in Eq. (17) can be inverted to yield equations for
the four stress components a'11, r o"3a, o"~2 in terms of the resistance changes of the
n n n
sensing elements, the piezoresistive coefficients zl~, zrle, zt~, ~ ,p z~e, and the
temperature change T. Combination of these expressions also leads to two temperature-
compensated resistance-stress expressions
The piezoresistive coefficients needed to solve for the stress components can be
measured using a combination of uniaxial and hydrostatic pressure calibration testing [11-
12]. A photograph of a fabricated four element dual-polarity rosette is shown in Fig. 3.
The eight element dual-polarity rosette on (111) silicon illustrated in Fig. 8 contains p-
type and n-type sensor sets, each with resistor elements making angles of ~ - 0 , + 45,90
degrees with respect to the x'~-axis. This sensor has been developed by the authors for
measurement of the complete state of stress at points on the surface of a packaged
semiconductor die. It has been optimized to measure four stress components in a
temperature compensated manner, and can be readily calibrated using uniaxial and
hydrostatic testing. A six element rosette (without the -45 ~ resistors) can also be used to
extract the complete stress state. However, including the two extra resistors allows for
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SUHLING AND JAEGER ON SILICON IC CHIPS 137
more convenient bridge measurements of the resistance changes and better stress
measurement localization [7].
Repeated application of Eq. (15) to each of the piezoresistive sensing elements leads to
the following expressions for the stress-induced resistance changes
Rz ~ Z )
+ ( B [ - B ~ ) a ' 1 2 + [ a T T + a~T" + ...]
A Ra = B] a'lJ + B'] a'2, + B'~ a'aa - 2 4-2(B'~ - B~) a',a
Ra
+ [a'~T + a~T" + ...]
aR,_(B'~+B~
E [-""~)~H, + (Y,,)+B~(T'aa-2~I2(B~-B~)fY',a
, .
,a R , ( 8'; + B~ "~ , ,
R6 , , , /
Rs
(
- B IP - B ,P) a 91~ + [ a f T + a~TZ + ...]
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138 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
Superscripts n and p are used on the combined piezoresistive coefficients to denote n-type
and p-type resistors, respectively. For an arbitrary state of stress, these expressions can be
inverted to solve for the six stress components in terms of the measured resistance changes
~ARI
(~11 2 [(B21' - B~p ) B3n + (B~p - BaP ) B2" "1" ( B aP - B 2p) B ~n] 2[(B'~ + B])B~ - ( B ~]+ B~)B~]
R3 J L R5 + L R~ R3 J L Rs R7
n n
2[(B2p _ B~)B~+(B~
p p_ p
Bz)B~+(Bap_ p
Bz)B~] 2[(B7+ B2)
" B3" - (B1P + B2)
P B'~]
, = R~ J L R5 R7
n) p p + p n
2[(B7 + B2 B3 -(B] B2)Ba]
(20)
, . . . . [,~R, ,,R~I , .... ,V aR, ~R,I ]
o-s~ =-g-. -c~,,- BrJB-------~
? ~'B---~:B~.~m + - B----~B-~ ]
, .42/ L Rz R3 J L R5 R7 J
cr 2~= - " ---S_----F--W+ p_ ~, - ~ _ - - ' S -
81 (B2 BI)B3 (B~ B3)B~+(B~ B2)B~~- "
~'~2 = p p n
2{(Be - BI) Ba + ( B ~]- B~) B~ + ( B~ - B~) B'I]
From the expressions in Eq. (20), it is clear that the extraction of the three shear stresses
t t t
o'12,cr13,cr23 from the measured resistance changes is temperature compensated
(independent of 73. Evaluation of the three normal stress components requires
measurement of the normalized resistance changes of the sensors and the temperature
change T experienced by the sensing elements. The temperature coefficients of resistance
o~1,a2,.., must also be known for each doping type. They can be obtained using thermal
cycling calibration experiments where the resistances of the sensing elements are monitored
as a function of temperature. The measured resistance change versus temperature response
is fit with a general polynomial to extract the temperature coefficients of resistance.
Typically, only first and second order temperature coefficients are needed [7].
The authors [8-9] have previously discussed several sources of errors when using
piezoresistive sensors including sensor misalignment, transverse sensitivity, and temperature
change. Errors due to sensor misalignment and transverse stress sensitivity can be
minimized using properly designed resistors and well chosen rosette orientations. Of most
serious concern are the difficulties in obtaining accurate temperature change values over the
long time spans typical of measurements made with piezoresistive sensors (e.g. before and
after die encapsulation). It has been demonstrated that temperature measurement errors of
as little as 0.25 ~ can cause serious errors (5-10 MPa) in the experimental values of the
stresses extracted with non temperature compensated formulas such as the first three
expressions in Eq. (20). Thus, it has been recommended to restrict measurement efforts to
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SUHLING AND JAEGER ON SILICON IC CHIPS 139
Sensor Calibration
The unique piezoresistive coefficients of the silicon resistive sensors must be calibrated
before stress component values can be extracted from resistance change measurements
using formulas such as appear in Eqs. (18,20-21). For example, the expressions in Eqs.
(20-21) for the eight element (111) silicon rosette in Fig. 8 indicate that a calibration
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140 NONTRADITIONAL METHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
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SUHLING AND JAEGER ON SILICON IC CHIPS 141
procedure must be performed to determine all six of the combined piezoresistive parameters
B I , B~, B ] , B f , B~, B~ prior to using the sensor rosette for stress measurements. A
combination of uniaxial and hydrostatic pressure testing can be utilized to complete this
*' r , .
task. For example, if a known uniaxial stress crn = rr is applied in the x 1 -direction, the
expressions in Eq. (20) for the 0-90 ~ oriented sensors yield the following resistance changes
AR5 = B f a + a f T AR7 = B ~ a + e t f T
R5 Rr
From these expressions, it is clear that the constants B~, B~, B f , B f can be easily
determined through a controlled isothermal application of uniaxial stress to a sensor rosette
while monitoring the resulting resistance changes.
It can be easily seen using Eq. (15) that characterization of material constant B3 for
(111) sensors requires the die to be subjected to a controlled stress state which has non-zero
out-of-plane normal or shear stresses. Hydrostatic calibration has proven to be the most
expedient method to satisfy this condition. If a sensor rosette is subjected to hydrostatic
pressure (c;'11 = ~'22 = or'a3 = - p ) , the relations in Eq. (20) give
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142 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
In our hydrostatic testing procedure, a high capacity pressure vessel has been used to
subject a single die to triaxial compression [12]. As indicated by Eq. (23), temperature
compensated hydrostatic measurements cannot be made so that temperature changes
occurring during testing is a potential problem. It has been observed experimentally that
the hydraulic fluid temperature change due to a 14 MPa pressure change is about 0.8 ~
Because of the relatively large temperature coefficients of resistance of silicon, the
temperature effects must be removed from hydrostatic calibration data before evaluating
the piezoresistive pressure coefficient ~ = -(BI+B2+B3). To remove the temperature-
induced resistance changes, an accurate determination of the temperature coefficient of
resistance (TCR) al of a sensor must be done prior to pressure coefficient measurement.
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SUHLING AND JAEGER ON SILICON IC CHIPS 143
Typical resistance change with temperature behavior for unstressed p-type resistors in
the BMW-2 test chip were recorded using an oven where the temperature could be
controlled to 0.1 ~ Using the measured data, an average value of t ~ = 2110 x 10-6
1/~ was found. Once TCR measurements were completed, the die were subjected to
hydrostatic pressure. During these tests, the resistances of the sensors and the fluid
temperature were monitored at every load step. The hydraulic fluid temperature was
measured with a precision thermister positioned very close to the die surface (within 5
mm). The thermister and die surface are believed to be at the same temperature because
of their close proximity in the center of the symmetrical pressure vessel where
temperature gradients in the fluid are small, and because of the high thermal conductivity
of silicon. In addition, the system was allowed to equilibrate for several seconds before
measurements were taken at a given pressure. Localized heating due to power
dissipation in the sensor is negligible, and is in fact much smaller than conventional
metal foil strain gages due to the lower excitation voltages utilized (less than 1 V) and
much higher unstressed sensor resistances (12-15 ks Typical resistance change with
pressure behavior is depicted in Fig. 14. If the temperature of the fluid didn't change
under pressure, the raw data curve in Fig. 14 should have been linear according to eq.
(23). Nonlinearity was present because of the nonlinear variation of the hydraulic fluid
temperature during pressurization. Adjusted resistance versus pressure data were
obtained by subtracting the temperature induced resistance change (arT) from the total
resistance change at each and every data point. As observed in Fig. 15, the adjusted
resistance change data are linear with fluid pressure, supporting the accuracy of the
procedure to remove the temperature effects present during the measurements. The slope
of the curve in Fig. 15 is the piezoresistive pressure coefficient ~ = -(BI+Bz+B3). For
this example, a value of ~ = 27 (1/TPa) was extracted.
Test chips incorporating piezoresistive stress sensors can be used in a variety of ways to
evaluate assembly and packaging technologies. They are useful for measuring processing
induced die stress as a function of various manufacturing variables. In this role, they can be
used to guide material selection processes (e.g. encapsulants). In addition, test chips can be
used for in-situ stress measurements during processing or final end use of the electronic
component. When using (111) silicon sensors, interfacial shear stresses between the die
surface and encapsulant can be monitored as a tool for delamination detection and
monitoring of interfacial crack growth. Finally, stress test chips can be used measure the
changes in die stresses occurring during various types of electronic packaging reliability
testing such as thermal cycling, thermal aging, HAST (highly accelerated stress testing), and
long term moisture adsorption. In such applications, the changes in stress are often a direct
indication of the damage that has occurred in the encapsulant or die attachment material
contacting the chip. To make transient stress measurements during changing environmental
conditions, the dependence of the piezoresistive coefficients on temperature and/or moisture
must be know. The temperature dependence of these material constants has been found to
be relatively small [8], but the moisture dependence has not yet been explored.
In the following sections, brief examples are provided of several of our applications of
piezoresistive stress sensors to the assembly and packaging of microelectronics. In each
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144 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
case, the experimental measurement approach is critical since it is very difficult if not
impossible to predict accurately the mechanical response using numerical simulation
methods (e.g. finite element analysis). The challenges with the finite element approach
include such issues as unknown material constitutive behavior of the encapsulants during
solidification, difficulty in predicting delamination initiation and three-dimensional crack
growth, and lack of models for material damage and degradation of materials such as
viscoplastic encapsulants and solders.
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SUHLING AND JAEGER ON SILICON IC CHIPS 145
In our work, (111) silicon test chips have been used to characterize the variation of
die stress throughout the COB packaging process [13]. A typical specimen assembly
with encapsulated test chip is shown in Fig. 17. The initial sensor resistances of all
sensors were recorded when the test chips were in wafer form. The rosettes were later
characterized after die attachment, and throughout the cure cycle of the liquid
encapsulant. Using the measured data and appropriate theoretical equations, the stresses
at sites on the die surface have been calculated. Also, preliminary three-dimensional
nonlinear finite element simulations of the chip on board packages were performed, and
the stress predictions were correlated with the experimental test chip data. Figure 18
shows typical room temperature data for the out-of-plane shear stress components and
two different trials performed with different encapsulants. In this illustration, the small
squares represent the size and locations of the sensor rosettes, and the numerical data are
average values from the 15 samples used in each trial. From the data, it is clear that the
interfacial shear stresses when using the FP4650 encapsulant were reduced typically by
20% relative to the observed values for the FP4450 material. The observed reductions in
the in-plane die surface stresses were typically 20-40% [13]. The out-of-plane shear
stress magnitudes are relatively small for both encapsulants when compared to the
magnitudes of the in-plane stress components. However knowledge of these stress
components is critical for the determination of the integrity of die/encapsulant interfaces
or for the detection of interface delaminations.
In Fig. 19, typical stress variation during the encapsulant cure process is shown.
Several effects can be clearly seen including the cure shrinking that occurs during the
temperature hold at 165 ~ and the stress buildup that occurs during assembly cooldown.
The data in this experiment were taken over a period of 2.5 hours. When performing
such continuous measurements with fixed instrumentation over long time periods, our
experience is that the stress variations can be resolved accurately to the order of 0.1 MPa
or less, including effects of instrumentation drift. However, when there are long delays
between measurements (e.g. while waiting for another assembly step to be completed in
another facility), and possibly multiple sets of instrumentation are involved, the changes
in stress magnitude that can be accurately resolved are higher, typically on the order of 1-
2 MPa.
In conventional plastic encapsulated packages, chips are first attached to a metal lead
frame using a silver filled epoxy adhesive. Small diameter gold wires are then used to
interconnect electrically the small bond pads on the silicon die to the thin metallic leads.
The assembly is then encapsulated in an injection molding machine, and the metal legs are
shaped in a forming die. Once assembled, several plastic encapsulated packages are
typically surface mounted to a printed circuit board using solder. One of the most common
plastic encapsulated electronic packages is the quad flat pack (QFP) as shown in Fig. 20.
QFPs with up to 300 leads are now routinely used in the microelectronics industry.
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146 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
In our plastic package studies, calibrated and characterized (100) and (111) test chips
were encapsulated in 240 pin QFPs [14]. The post packaging room temperature
resistances of the sensors were then recorded, and the stresses on the die surface were
calculated using the measured resistance changes and the appropriate theoretical
equations. The presence of delaminations between the die surface and the encapsulant
was explored using C-mode scanning acoustic microscopy (C-SAM). Stress test chips
fabricated with (111) silicon have shown great potential for detecting delaminations and
for aiding the understanding of stress distributions in delaminated packages. For
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SUHLING AND JAEGER ON SILICON IC CHIPS 147
example, Fig. 21 shows the distribution of the total out-of-plane shear stress on the die
surface of a partially delaminated QFP. The delaminations began at the four comers of
the die, and the delamination boundary (as determined via C-SAM) is shown as a curved
,* t
line. In non-delaminated chips, the out-of-plane (interracial) shear stresses 613 and Ge3
are relatively small, except very near the die edges. For example, in our measurements
shown in Fig. 18, the measured magnitudes of these stresses in chip on board packages
were typically in the range of 0-6 MPa. However, in the delaminated QFPs, the
magnitudes of these stresses became very high (up to 50 MPa). This was especially true
at non-delaminated rosette sites that were very near the edge of the delamination region.
Rosettes in the delaminated regions were found to have failed (open circuit) due to the
delamination damage.
Fig. 19 - Typical variation of die stress during the encapsulant cure cycle.
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148 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
Fig. 21 - Total out-of-plane shear stress data for a typical delaminated die.
In a ceramic pin grid array (PGA) package, a silicon chip is bonded within the cavity
of a multilayer ceramic package with metal pin leads using a die attachment adhesive.
Fine aluminum wires are used to provide the interconnections from the die bond pads to
the metal traces on the PGA housing, and the cavities are typically sealed using Kovar
lids and an Au-Sn eutectic pre-form. Figure 22 shows a photograph of a typical PGA
package (lid removed) with attached (111) silicon stress test chip.
Fig. 22 - Pin grid array (PGA) package with stress test chip.
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SUHLING AND JAEGER ON SILICON IC CHIPS 149
In our investigation, test chips were attached to the PGA packages using six high
temperature die attachment adhesives designed for avionic applications [15]. The
adhesive systems included silver filled glasses, polyimide pastes, thermoplastic films, and
gold germanium adhesives. The resistances of the sensors were recorded at room
temperature before and after die attachment. The induced thermal stresses at sites on the
die surface have been calculated using the measured resistance changes and
piezoresistive theory. A comparison of the room temperature die stresses caused by the
different die-attachment materials has been made.
After the initial stress measurements, thermal aging and thermal cycling tests were
conducted on the packages. The thermal aging consisted of subjecting the packages to
2000 hours of exposure at 260 ~ The thermal cycling experiments consisted of
exposure to 1000 thermal cycles from -55 to 260 ~ A ten-minute dwell was used at the
high and low temperature extremes, with a ramp rate of 20 ~ per minute in the transition
periods. The various die attachment materials were further evaluated by observing the
changes in stress that occurred during these reliability tests. For example, the thermal
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150 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
aging and thermal cycling test results for one of the die attachment adhesives are shown
in Fig. 23 and Fig. 24, respectively. From the data, it is seen that this adhesive survived
the thermal aging tests but experienced gradual damage (stresses reduced gradually
during the aging process). However, the same material failed the thermal cycling tests
(stresses quickly changed to zero indicating loss of adhesion). In both sets of tests, the
primary failure mode was observed to be die attachment adhesive cracking,
Fig. 24 - Effects of thermal cycling from -55 to 260 ~ on die surface stresses
(0: before cycling, 1: after 300 cycles, 2: cq2er 600 cycles,
3: after 1000 cycles).
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SUHLING AND JAEGER ON SILICON IC CHIPS 151
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Semiconductor Research Corporation, the Alabama
Microelectronics Science and Technology Center (AMSTC), and the Center for
Commercial Development of Space Power and Advanced Electronics with funding from
NASA, Auburn University, and its industrial partners.
References
[I] Bridgman, P. W., "The Effect of Pressure on the Electrical Resistance of Certain
Semi-Conductors," Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
Vol. 79, No. 3, 1951, pp. 125-179.
[2] Smith, C. S., "Piezoresistance Effect in Silicon and Germanium," Physical Review,
Vol. 94, No. 1, 1954, pp. 42-49.
[3] Spencer, J. L., Schroen, W. H., Bednarz, G. A., Bryan, J. A., Metzgar, T. D.,
Cleveland, R. D., and Edwards, D. R., "New Quantitative Measurements of IC
Stress Introduced by Plastic Packages," Proceedings of the 19th Annual Reliability
Physics Symposium, IEEE, 1981, pp. 74-80.
[4] Edwards, D. R., Heinen, G., Bednarz, G. A., and Schroen, W. H., "Test Structure
Methodology of IC Package Material Characterization," Proceedings of the 33rd
Electronic Components Conference, IEEE, 1983, pp. 386-393.
[5] Bittle, D. A., Suhling, J. C., Beaty, R. E., Jaeger, R. C., and Johnson, R. W.,
"Piezoresistive Stress Sensors for Structural Analysis of Electronic Packages,"
Journal of Electronic Packaging, Vol. 113, No. 3, 1991, pp. 203-215.
[6] Cordes, R. A., Suhling, J. C., Kang, Y., and Jaeger, R. C., "Optimal Temperature
Compensated Piezoresistive Stress Sensor Rosettes," Proceedings of the
Symposium on Applications of Experimental Mechanics to Electronic Packaging,
American Society of Mechanical Engineers, EEP-Vol. 13, 1995, pp. 109-116.
[7] Suhling, J. C., Jaeger, R. C., Wilamowski, B. M., Lin, S. T., Mian, A. K. M., and
Cordes, R. A., "Design and Calibration of Optimized (111) Silicon Stress Sensing
Test Chips," Proceedings oflNTERpack '97, Kohala, HI, 1997, pp. 1721-1729.
[8] Jaeger, R. C., Suhling, J. C., and Ramani, R., "Thermally Induced Errors in the
Application of Silicon Piezoresistive Stress Sensors," Advances in Electronic
Packaging 1993 - Proceedings of the 1993 ASME International Electronic.
Packaging Conference, Binghamton, NY, 1993, pp. 457-470.
[9] Jaeger, R. C., Suhling, J. C., and Ramani, R., "Errors Associated with the Design,
Calibration of Piezoresistive Stress Sensors in (100) Silicon," IEEE Transactions
on Components, Packaging, and Manufacturing Technology - Part B: Advanced
Packaging, Vol. 17, No. 1, 1994, pp. 97-107.
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152 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
[10] Sweet, J. N., "Die Stress Measurement Using Piezoresistive Stress Sensors," Thermal
Stress and Strain in Microelectronics Packaging, J. Lau Ed., Von Nostrand
Reinhold, 1993, pp. 221-271.
[11] Jaeger, R. C., Beaty, R. E., Suhling, J. C., Johnson, R. W., and Butler, R. D.,
"Evaluation of Piezoresistive Coefficient Variation in Silicon Stress sensors Using
a Four-Point Bending Test Fixture," IEEE Transactions on Components, Hybrids,
and Manufacturing Technology (CHMT), Vol. 15, No. 5, 1992, pp. 904-914.
[12] Kang, Y., Mian, A. K. M., Suhling, J. C., and Jaeger, R. C., "Hydrostatic Response
of Piezoresistive Stress Sensors," Application of Experimental Mechanics to
Electronic Packaging - 1997, EEP-Vol. 22, ASME, International Mechanical
Engineering Congress and Exposition, Dallas, TX, 1997, pp. 29-36
[13] Zou, Y., Suhling, J. C., Johnson, R. W., and Jaeger, R. C., "Complete Stress State
Measurements in Chip on Board Packages," Proceedings of the 1998
International Conference on Multichip Modules and High Density Packaging
(MCM '98), Denver, CO, 1998, pp. 425-435.
[14] Zou, Y., Suhling, J. C., Jaeger, R. C., and Ali, H., "Three-Dimensional Die Surface
Stress Measurements in Delaminated and Non-Delaminated Plastic Packaging,"
Proceedings of the 48 th Electronic Components and Technology Conference
(ECTC), Seattle, WA, 1998, pp. 1223-1234.
[15] Zou, Y., Lin, S. T., Suhling, J. C., and Jaeger, R. C., Lin, S. T., Benoit, J. T., and
Grzybowski, R. R., "Die Surface Stress Variation During Thermal Cycling and
Thermal Aging Reliability Tests," Proceedings of the 49th Electronic
Components and Technology Conference (ECTC), San Diego, CA, 1999, pp.
1249-1260.
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Yoshiharu Morimoto 1 and Motoharu Fujigaki 2
Real-time Phase Analysis Methods for Analyzing Shape, Strain and Stress
Reference: Morimoto, Y., and Fujigaki, M., "Real-time Phase Analysis Methods for
Analyzing Shape, Strain and Stress," Nontraditional Methods of Sensing Stress,
Strain, and Damage in Materials and Structures: Second Volume, ASTM STP 1323, G. F.
Lucas, P. C. McKeighan, and J. S. Ransom, Eds., American Society for Testing and
Materials, West Conshohocken, Pa, 2001.
Keywords: moire, fringe pattern, grating projection, phase, shape measurement, real-
time
Introduction
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154 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
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MORIMOTO AND FUJIGAKI ON REAL-TIME PHASE ANALYSIS 155
explained by using the sampling theory and the Fourier transform of the image of the
specimen grating[13], or by using the geometric relationship between the grating lines
and the reference grating lines / the scanning lines[14].
By using the scanning moire method, let us show a method to measure the shape
of an object. Figure 1 shows the principle of the method for obtaining contour lines by a
projector and a CCD camera. The CCD camera takes images of the deformed grating on
an object projected by the projector. The positions of both the camera lens and the
projector lens are set at the same position of the normal directions of the lenses. The
normal directions of both the camera image plane and the film plane of the projector are
set to the z-direction. The magnifications of the lenses of the camera and the projector
are set so that the pitch of the projected grating in the image becomes an integral
multiple ofpixels of the CCD camera or the image processor.
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156 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
In Fig.l, the solid lines and the broken lines from the projector mean bright parts
and dark parts of the projected grating, respectively. Solid lines from the camera mean
rays to each pixel sampled at a regular interval on the image plane in the camera by
thinning out pixels. The intersections between solid lines from the projector and solid
lines from the camera make a plane whose normal direction is along the z-direction. A
bright fringe appears in the place of the CCD camera or the image processor.
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MORIMO-I'O AND FUJIGAKI ON REAL-TIME PHASE ANALYSIS 157
Figure 5- Schematicfor
explaining phase -difference
scanning moire method.
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158 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
can. Figure 6(a) shows a grating image when a sawtooth wave grating is projected on
the object. In Fig. 6(b), the fringe pattern shows contour lines obtained by the phase-
shifting scanning moire method. The line with the same brightness shows a contour,
i.e. an equal-height line. Figure 6(c) shows the phase distribution of the projected
grating. Figures 6(d) and (e) are the projected grating and the contour, respectively, after
deformation of the can. The sawtooth wave shows the direction of increasing height.
Since the brightness depends on the reflectance of the object, the brightness does not
show the accurate phase. Figure 6(t") shows equal-displacement contour lines by
PDSMM between before and after deformation.
where A(x, y) and B(x, y) are the background bias, and the amplitude of fringes,
respectively. O(x, y) is the phase distribution on the object, a is a given shifted phase
value and it is zero in the initial state.
When G(x, y) is the phase distribution on a fiat plate and Oh(X, y) is the phase
distribution on the object. The phase-difference
r (x, y) = tan" [-{13 (x, y) - I, (x, y) } / {12 (X, y)- I o (X, y)}] (4)
Tsukamoto[19] developed a polarized Michelson interferometer observing three
phase-shifted images simultaneously and calculating the initial phase distribution. A
similar equation is also obtained from three phase-shifted grating patterns.
The authors developed the phase-shifting method using Fourier transform[26].
The phase values are analyzed from several images obtained by phase-shifting while the
phase is shifted from 0 to 2n. Though the accuracy is high, it is difficult to obtain phase
values in real-time because of time-consuming for calculation of Fourier transform.
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MORIMOTO AND FUJIGAKI ON REAL-TIME PHASE ANALYSIS 159
+
: !~J I I
+1 III I !1+
!1 !1"
9" !.="I ,,"-~'-~ I ~ r '..
i = l " ' I ~, I " I '5, I >
0 ~/2 n 3rc/2 2~ ct
(a) Brightness change ofprojected Ronchi grating at a pixel point during phase-sh(fting
• fo(Ct)
-1
r,12~
Ai BI CI
2~ ret
D
oi:2
(b) Weightfunction fo with phase 0 (c) Weightfunction f~ with phase ~r2
S
2~ 2n
(d) Relationship between initial phase r (e) Relationship between initial phase r
and integration values SO and integration values S~
Figure 7- Schematicfor explanation of PSM/CR.
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160 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
Next, the application to shape analysis for a plaster cast of a human teeth bed with
false teeth[27]. The specimen is set between two reference planes a and ]3 and the
reference plane are removed. Rectangular waves of the x- and y-directional gratings are
projected onto the specimen with phase shifting of the gratings. In this case, three
gratings with different pitches are projected to unwrap the phases uniquely. The pitches
are 24, 28 and 32 pixels. Figure 9(a) shows an image in the case of 32 pixels pitch for
the x-direction.
Figure 9(b) shows the wrapped phase distribution obtained by the above method
in the case of 32 pixels pitch for the x-direction. Figure 9(c) shows distribution of z-
directional component of the 3-D coordinates of points on the surface of the specimen
obtained as a result of the measurement after subtracting the phase distribution of a fiat
reference plate from the unwrapped phase distribution.
The real-time phase analysis system for obtaining wrapped phase distribution can
be developed by this algorithm.
Integrated Phase-Shifting Method (IPSM)
The weight functions used in the PSM/CR are separated into four parts A, B, C
and D, as shown in Fig. 7(a). The calculation of the correlation is obtained by
calculating the integration of the brightness of the phase-shifted grating in each part of
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MORIMOTO AND FUJIGAKI ON REAL-TIME PHASE ANALYSIS 161
Fig. 10 and adding or subtracting the four integrals. A CCD (charge coupled device)
camera charges electron in each pixel of the CCD sensor during a frame period (1/30
seconds). The output signal from the pixel is proportional to the integral of the charge,
i.e. the average brightness during a frame period (1/30 seconds). By considering this,
the phase-shifting method using correlation with rectangular functions is extended to a
new phase analysis method, that is, the integrated phase-shifting method using a CCD
camera.
The phase-shifting speed is adjusted so that the time for one cycle of the phase-
shifting of a grating is equal to the time for four frame periods of the CCD camera.
The explanation and the algorithm of this method are changed from Ref 22 so that
it is not necessary to separate the region of the initial phase.
A rectangular function R(x) at the position x is defined as follows
[
R(x) = ~ 1 (cos x > 0)
- 1 (cos x < 0) (8)
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162 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
The brightness change I(t, (p) at a point with an initial phase # (phase when t = O) at time
t is expressed as
where I 0 and 11 are the high and low brightness values of the rectangular function,
respectively.
Figure 10(a) shows the brightness change at a pixel point of the CCD camera
during one cycle of the phase-shifting. The areas A, B, C and D in the figure are given
as the integral of the function during each frame period. The brightness charged
during each frame period T (1/30 seconds) is recorded as the brightness value at the
corresponding pixel point of an image memory in every frame period. Therefore the
brightness values corresponding to each frame period are denoted as A, B, C and D,
respectively
A = I(t, r (
= T I o + ~/2 ~
t, i
B = f ; r I(t, r = TI o
(8)
D=
f"
T
I(t, (~)dt = TI1
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MORIMOTO AND FUJIGAKI ON REAL-TIME PHASE ANALYSIS 163
With shifting the phase of a Ronchi grating projected on an object, four frames of
the deformed grating on the object are recorded by a CCD camera during one cycle of
the phase-shifting. The brighmess at a pixel point of the image shows the integral of the
brigbmess during a frame period. The phase is analyzed from the continuous four
brightness data A, B, C and D of the pixel point using Eqs. (9)-(12). A table for
obtaining the initial phase ~_from X and Y corresponding to the position of Fig. 11 is
prepared beforehand. The table provides the result easily. As the calculation is very
simple, it is possible to make a real-time phase analysis system for measuring shapes.
The accuracy is also high because of phase analysis.
In order to measure a shape by the IPSM, at first, the phase distribution #0 of the
projected grating on a standard fiat plate normal to the z-direction is analyzed. Then, the
phase difference between the phase distribution q~of the projected grating on the object
and the phase distribution ~0 on the standard fiat plate is calculated. The phase-
difference shows equal-height lines of the object from the standard fiat plate.
An image processing board is developed for this method. The flow of the signal
processing is shown in Fig. 12. Images of an object with a deformed projected grating
are recorded by a CCD camera. The image signal integrated dfiring 1/30 seconds is
converted to digital signal by an A/D converter and stored in frame memories. The
data A, B, C and D of the last four images with 1/30 seconds interval are stored in the
frame memories A, B, C and D, respectively. The phase value on each pixel point is
calculated using a table. The table gives a phase value from an X value and a Y value.
The phase distribution of the grating projected on the standard flat plate is stored
on the frame memory E beforehand. The current phase image at every 1/30 seconds is
subtracted by the values of the corresponding pixel point of the frame memory E. The
phase-difference distribution corresponds to the height distribution. The image of the
phase-difference is stored on frame memory F and displayed on a monitor TV in real-
time.
The vertical and horizontal synchronizing signals of the CCD camera are used to
synchronize the phase-shift amount of a grating projector. When a separate phase
shifter can adjust the shift speed to the frame speed of the CCD camera, it is not
necessary to use the synchronizing signals.
The photograph of the electronic circuit board for the real-time IPSM is shown in
Fig. 13.
This method is applied to shape measurement of a hand with an electric light bulb.
Figure 14(a) shows one of the images during phase-shifting. The phase distribution is
shown in Fig. 14(b). The phase difference distribution showing equal-height distribution
is shown in Fig. 14(c).
This method is also applied to the shape measurement for a moving human body.
Figure 15 shows the height distribution of a face of a man obtained in real-time.
This method is useful even if the material of an object has uneven brightness or
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164 NONTRADITIONAL METHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
luster because the use of a grating with rectangular brightness can detect the brightness
change.
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MORIMOTO AND FUJIGAKI ON REAL-TIME PHASE ANALYSIS 165
Conclusions
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166 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
References
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MORIMOTO AND FUJIGAKI ON REAL-TIME PHASE ANALYSIS 167
Mechanical Engineers (Translation in English), Vol. 27, No. 233 1984, pp. 2347-
52.
[14] Morimoto, Y. and Hayashi, T., "Scanning Moire Method," Proc. of the
International Symposium on Photoelasticity, Tokyo, Springer-Verlag, 1986, pp.
47-52.
[15] Morimoto, Y., Yang, I. H. and Gu, C. G., "Scanning Moire Method for Obtaining
Smooth Fringe Patterns," Optics and Lasers in Engineering, Vol. 24, 1996, pp. 3-
17.
[16] Fujigaki, M., Kim, W. G. and Morimoto, Y., "Shape Measurement by Phase
Shifting Scanning Moire Method," Proc. of International Conference on
Advanced Technology in Experimental Mechanics, Wakayama, Japan Society of
Mechanical Engineers-MMD, 1997, pp. 161-164.
[17] Kim, W. G., Fujigaki, M. and Morimoto, Y., "Development of System for
Displaying Equal-height and Equal-displacement Contours without Noise by
Phase-shifting Scanning Moire Method," Proc. of 2nd Workshop on Intelligent
Mechatronics (in Japanese), Japan Society for Precision Engineering, 1997, pp.
29-34.
[18] Morimoto, Y. and Fujigaki, M., "Real-time Phase Distribution Analysis of Fringe
Pattern," SP1E Vol. 3407, 1998, pp. 34-39.
[19] Tsukamoto, K., "In situ Observation of Solid-liquid Interface by Newly Developed
Real-time Phase-shift Interferometry," Oyo Buturi (in Japanese), Japan Society of
Applied Physics, Vol. 63, No. 7, 1994, pp. 713-716.
[20] Arai, Y., Yokozeki, S. and Yamada, T., "High-speed Two-dimensional Fringe
Analysis using Frequency Demodulation," Optical Engineering, Vol. 36, No. 9,
1997, pp. 2489-2495.
[21] Kato, J., Yamaguchi, I., Nakamura, T. and Kuwashima, S., "Video-rate Fringe
Analyzer Based on Phase-shifting Electronic Moire Patterns," Applied Optics,
Vol. 36, No.32, 1997, pp. 8403-8412.
[22] Morimoto, Y. and Fujigaki, M. and Toda, H., "Real-time Shape Measurement by
Integrated Phase-Shifting Method," Proc. of Interferometry '99, Poland, SPIE,
Vol. 3744, 1999, pp. 118-125.
[23] Fujigaki, M., Morimoto, Y. and Toda, H., "Small Displacement Analysis of Micro-
Accelerometer by Integrated Phase Shifting Method," Proc. oflnterferometry '99,
Poland, SPIE, Vol. 3744, 1999, pp. 101-108.
[24] Morimoto, Y., Seguchi, Y. and Suese, N., "Analyzer of Displacement and Strain
Distributions using Moire Method," Experimental Techniques, Vol. 15, No.9,
1991, pp. 36-39.
[25] Morimoto, Y., and Fujisawa, M. "Fringe Pattern Analysis by Phase-shifting Method
using Extraction of Characteristic," Experimental Techniques, 20-7, 1996, pp.25-
29.
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168 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
[26] Fujigaki, M. and Morimoto, Y., "Automated Shape Analysis for Multiple Phase
Fringes by Phase-shifting Method using Fourier Transform," Proc. of the 11th Int.
Conf. on Experimental Mechanics, Oxford, 1998, pp. 711-714.
[27] Fujigaki, M. and Morimoto, Y., " Shape Analysis of Teeth Bed by Phase-shifting
Method Using Correlation," Applied Mechanics in the Americas PACAM, VoL6,
AAM and ABCM, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1999, pp. 113-116.
[28] Morimoto, Y., Morimoto, Y. Jr., and Hayashi, T., "Separation oflsochromatics and
Isoclinics Using Fourier Transform," Experimental Techniques, 17-5, 1994,
pp.13-16.
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Shiping Chen 1 and James S. Sirkis I
Reference: Chen, S., Sirkis, J. S., "Strain Gauges, Fiber Optic versus Electric,"
Nontraditional Methods of Sensing Stress, Strain, and Damage in Materials and
Structures: Second Volume, ASTM STP 1323, G. E Lucas, P. C. McKeighan, and J. S.
Ransom, Eds., American Society for Testing and Materials, West Conshohocken, Pa, 2001.
Abstract: Electric strain gauges have been the sensor of choice in structure monitoring
applications. Recently, with the invention of fiber optic Bragg gratings and the rapid
advance of the telecommunications industry, optical strain sensors based on fiber Bragg
grating are increasingly challenging the dominating position of the electric gauges. In this
paper, we first discuss the performance and cost issues of typical electric strain sensing
systems. This is followed by a description of the operating principles of fiber optic Bragg
grating based strain sensors and a new digital spatial and wavelength domain
multiplexing (DSWDM) technology for the interrogation of large scale, Bragg grating
based sensor arrays. By comparing the performance and costs of electric and fiber Bragg
grating based strain sensing technology at system level, we conclude that the fiber optic
strain sensing system is not only superior in performance but also provides lower cost per
sensor for applications that require more than 35 sensing points. Finally, a number of
structure monitoring applications currently under investigation in the Smart Material and
Structures Research Laboratory at University of Maryland are presented.
Key words: strain sensing, fiber optics, Bragg grating, strain gauges, smart structures,
structure monitoring
Introduction
Strain measurement has been the key to structure monitoring applications. The
electric foil strain gauges have been the sensor of choice for strain measurement for
several decades. For the application of large structure monitoring, the electric foil gauge
based technology has several problems. These include long-term drift, high installation
and maintenance cost and reduced resolution due to electromagnetic interference (EMI),
etc. On the other hand, fiber optic Bragg gratings invented 20 years ago have shown great
potential as a new strain measurement tool with distinct capabilities such as high
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170 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
resolution, high dynamic range, absolute measurement, serial multiplexibility and high
bandwidth. However, the high cost of fiber optic components and interrogation
instrument have been hindering the realization of such potential. Recently, the rapid
advance in the optical fiber telecommunications industry has substantially reduced the
cost of fiber optic components. Here in Smart Materials and Structures Research Center
at University of Maryland, we are developing new interrogation technology to address
Bragg grating based sensor arrays. This system is especially suitable for the monitoring
of large and complex structures. It enables the fiber optic based strain gauges to compete
effectively with electric ones not only in terms of performance, but also on the basis of
cost in this application area.
The foil strain gauge has been widely used for strain measurement. Its wide
acceptance is owing to the fact that the transducer is low cost and has a compact flat
configuration providing easy bonding and minimum intrusion to the host structure. In
addition, it offers a good strain resolution ( - 5 ~ ) with temperature compensation
capability. However, there are several unresolved issues when this technology is applied
to the monitoring of large structures.
Firstly, most modern structure monitoring applications require real-time, multi-
position strain monitoring. For large and/or complex structures, such as bridges, ships
and airframes, the sensor array has to cover a very large physical space. Each foil gauge,
however, has to be addressed via two copper wires. With the increase of sensing points
and structure size, the amount of cabling increases dramatically. This brings a number of
problems including the increase in installation and maintenance cost, reduction in
reliability, deterioration in measurement resolution due to EMI and increase of self-
weight, which could be detrimental for aerospace systems. Fig. 1 shows a typical 50-
gauge strain sensing system, in which, the interrogation unit (la) measures 4 feet x 3 feet
x 2 feet in size and the bridge connection panel is 5 feet by feet in size. Ensuring correct
and reliable connection of this massive wiring is a very challenging task during
installation and operation. Secondly, the output of foil gauges drift over long term. [1]
Vibrating wire gauges
have to be used for
applications involving
long-term, intermittent,
absolute strain
measurement with a
significant increase in
cost. Finally, the foil strain
gauges are perceived as a
low cost technology in
comparison with the fiber
optic solutions. However,
although the cost of a
normal foil strain Fig. 1 A 50 channel foil strain gauge interrogation system.
(a) Interrogation unit, (1o)Bridge connection panel
transducer is low (~$5
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CHEN AND SIRKIS ON FIBER OPTIC VERSUS ELECTRIC GAUGE 171
[2]), any useful system for multipoint structure monitoring would have to include other
devices, such as bridge amplifier, filter, muliplexer, A/D converter and chassis etc. The
cost per sensing channel then becomes considerably higher. Taking an existing product
(System 5000) from Measurements Inc. as an example, [2] a typical multi-channel system
would consist of a Strain Sensor Card 5110 (five channels per card at $975), Scanner
5100 (four cards per scanner at $2255) and Computer Interface Card plus software (at
$5950). The cost per channel for a 100-channel system would be $380 per channel
excluding the computer and cabling cost. The hardware cost for a high bandwidth (up
tol0kHz) system would be even higher, to more than $1000 per channel. As we will
discuss later, at this price level, a fiber optic based system can be very competitive.
In-line fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) were developed as narrow band optical filters for
the telecommunications industry. As many as 64 high speed communication channels are
now routinely be put on the same optical fiber link. This is made possible with
wavelength division multiplexing using Bragg grating or equivalent spectral filtering
technology. This intrinsic multiplexing capability also renders in-fiber Bragg gratings one
of among the most promising new fiber optic technologies developed during the last
decade [3]. This section provides background material on Bragg grating sensors so that
the proposed smart barrel technology can be placed in the proper perspective.
2 a = 2An 1)
Both the fiber refractive index (n) arid the grating pitch (A) vary with changes in strain
(e=) and temperature (/iT), such that the Bragg wavelength shifts left or right in
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172 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
al 8
2)
18
where as and afare the coefficients of thermal expansion of the structural material and
fiber, respectively, and ~" is the thermal-optic coefficient, and Pe is the strain-optic
coefficient [5]. For standard Bragg grating sensors bonded to a steel structure, the Pe in
Equation 2 is 0.79/~e and [PJas-CtF)+~] equals 17.79x106/~ From these values, it is
clear that there is a cross-coupling between temperature and strain sensitivity as I~
produces a change in Bragg wavelength equivalent to 22.5/.z~. This level of thermal
apparent strain is unprecedented in resistance strain gage applications, and must be
accounted for. The most common method of de-coupling this cross-sensitivity is to
employ dedicated temperature sensors in the system and then eliminate the temperature
induced "apparent strain" mathematically. As
shown in Fig. 3, these dedicated temperature
sensors are normally Bragg gratings
packaged in microtubes (-lmm in diameter)
that shield them from strain loads.
Consequently they respond only to Fig. 3.. An embeddable Bragg grating temperature
temperature changes [6]. sel'lsor.
Multiplexing
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CHEN AND SIRKIS ON FIBER OPTIC VERSUS ELECTRIC GAUGE 173
different Bragg wavelength given by 2B, = 2nAi, where 2Bi and A~ are the Bragg
wavelength and pitch of the ith grating, respectively. For example, the measurement field
at grating 2 in Fig. 4 is uniquely encoded as a perturbation of the corresponding Bragg
wavelength, 2B2. Note that this multiplexing scheme is completely based on the optical
wavelength of the Bragg grating sensors. Using a digital spatial and wavelength domain
multiplexing technique developed at SMSRC, up to 30 Bragg grating sensors can be
multiplexed along a single length of optical fiber.
Self-Referencing
The Bragg grating is typically 0.5-1cm in length residing inside the core of the
optical fiber. Because of its intrinsic nature, a Bragg grating does not alter the physical
appearance and mechanical properties of the optical fiber. Since Bragg gratings are used
in telecommunications systems, they have been subjected to a battery of humidity,
temperature, and strain cycling tests. Environmental tests conducted to date suggest that
temperature, humidity, and strain have limited influence on the optical and mechanical
characteristics of Bragg gratings [7]. Tests thus far reported in the open literature include
(1) 1000 hours of 80 at 85 percent relative humidity at 40~ (2) 1000 thermal cycles
from -40~ to 85~ (3) 512 thermal cycles from 21 ~ to 427~ and (4) 1.4 million strain
cycles from 0 to 2,500/ze. In addition, Bragg grating strengths in excess of 4.83 GPa (a
factor o f - 7 higher than carbon steel) have been demonstrated [8].
Cost
At present, FBG are commercially available at $100 - $200 each, which is cheaper
than vibrating wire gauges but more expensive in comparison with foil gauges. Gratings
for sensing applications do not require the high spectral quality demanded by today's
telecom market. With mass production, the cost of sensing grade Bragg grating could be
as low as $20. The digital spatial and wavelength domain multiplexing (DSWDM)
technology we will present here will enable the Bragg grating based system, even with
today's pricing, to be competitive in cost for applications that require large scale sensing
arrays.
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174 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
DSWDM Technology
Most FBG sensor work so far has been done in 1.51am wavelength region mainly
because FBGs in this region were the ones first on the market. FBGs in 0.8~tm region
have been available for some time, and their quality and fabrication cost are similar to
those in 1.5~tm region. The use of 0.8~am FBGs has two significant advantages. First,
most solid state imagers operate.in the 0.4~am ~ l ~ a region and offer great benefits in
FBGs interrogation and second, there are more powerful fiber compatible, broadband
optical sources available in 0.8~m region. These enable more FBGs to be serial
multiplexed along a fiber.
Since strain sensing is the predominant application in structure monitoring, we will
use FBG strain sensor array as an example. The "combined measurement range" of all
FBG strain sensors along a single length of optical fiber is directly proportional to the
number ofFBGs mulip lexible along the fiber channel. This range, R, can be expressed as
R = W/Z (3)
where W and ~, is the bandwidth, i.e. full width at half maximum (FWHM) and the
central wavelength of the source using in the sensor array. In 1550 nm region, the most
widely used Erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) source has a typical bandwidth of 35
nm. In 800 nm region, on the other hand, superluminescent diodes (SLDs) with
bandwidth up to 60 um are commercially available [9]. Bring these figures into Equation
3, it can be seen that the combined strain measurement ranges are 23000 I-~ and 75000 p~
in 1550 nm and 800 um regions, respectively. This means that with the same strain range
for each sensor, the number ofFBGs multiplexible alone a single fiber in 800 nm region
is 3.2 times more than that in 1550nm range.
Although there are SLDs with wider bandwidth than that of EDFA in 1550nm
region, their output power are too low for a sensing network with multiple number of
optical fiber channels. In 800nm region, however, solid state imagers provide extremely
good sensitivity, which, according to the power budget calculations in a later section, is
more than enough for the application described
in this paper.
A special two-dimensional (2D) CMOS
image sensor will be used in the interrogation
instrument of the sensor system. The CMOS
imager is a type of newly developed solid state
image sensor, which is fast becoming a major
challenger to traditional CCD (charge coupled
device) imagers. The CMOS (complementary
metal-oxide semiconductor) technology is the
world's standard in the making of semiconductor
chips. Because of this, CMOS image sensors Fig. 5 Photo ofFugal5 CMOS imager
enjoy many advantages over CCDs, including from IMEC.
lower cost, miniaturization, lower power
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CHEN AND SIRKIS ON FIBER OPTIC VERSUS ELECTRIC GAUGE 175
System Configuration
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176 NONTRADITIONAL METHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
Performance Analysis
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CHEN AND SIRKIS ON FIBER OPTIC VERSUS ELECTRIC GAUGE 177
A,r = W E / C (6)
where W is the FWHM of the source, C is the total number of the effective pixel columns
in the image sensor chip, and E is the sub-pixel interpolation resolution using centroid
method. A computer simulation has been carded out to estimate the interpolation
resolution in the CMOS imager with logarithmic conversion characteristics. In the
simulation, the optical intensity profile of the light spot was presumed to be Gaussian and
the optical noise on the profile was simulated by adding a random number to the pixel,
which is within the limit of a certain percentage of the optical intensity at this pixel. The
simulation result shown in Fig. 8 is the statistical average of 1000 computer generated
seeds, which reveals that the spot size on the imager is an important factor of the
interpolation resolution and the optimum spot size is 7x7 pixels. At this spot size and a
noise level of 8%, an interpolation resolution of 0.018 (1/56) pixel can be achieved. This
resolution can be enhanced by choosing an imager with larger number ofpixei columns
and/or a source with smaller FWHM. However, there is a tradeoff with the scale because
a wider FWHM enables more FBGs to be incorporated along a fiber channel. Using
values of E=l/50, W=60nm and C=512 established above, we estimate that the spectral
resolution of the system will be in the range of 2.3pm, which translates to a resolution of
41.m for FBG strain sensors in 800nm region.
N = W/(R,Ab+wb) +1 (7)
where wb is the spectral width taken up by a spot, which is measured as wb=KW/C and K
is the spot size. Considering Rc=2000pJz (+10001xe), W=60nm, ~,b =800nm, C=512 and
K=7, the maximum number of FBGs multiplexible along a fiber channel is 25. It worth
noting that +10001ae used in the calculation is a typical strain range in a majority of
structure monitoring cases. If the strain range increase or decrease, the number of FBG
multiplexible alone a single fiber would decrease or increase, respectively. With a spot
size of7x7 pixels, it is possible to accommodate a fiber channel in every 10 rows of
pixels. A 512x512 pixel imager is, therefore, capable of interrogating up to 50 fiber
channels. The total number ofFBGs multiplexible in the array is therefore 50x25=1025!
It should be pointed out that this is the MAXIMUM scale. The actual number of FBGs
that can be accommodated in the network may be determined by other factors, as
discussed in the following sections.
S p e e d -- The maximum sample rate to any FBG in the array is limited by the
photoreceptor time constant of the imager, which is inverse proportional to the light
density on the pixel. From the data provided by the manufacturer of the Fugal5 CMOS
imager, the maximum sample rate can be expressed as
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178 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
where d is the average light density within a bright spot on the imager in W/m 2. In the
proposed system shown in Fig. 2, this density can be expressed as
P w 1
d =e (9)
4M W K2 p 2
where P is the total output power of the source, w the spectral FWHM o f a FBG, p the
pixel pitch, KxK the pixel size and e the power efficiency of the entire optical system,
which includes the insertion loss at couplers, bulk grating efficiency, etc. The rest of
symbols have previously been defined.
Bring Equation 6 into 5 and assuming P=8001xW, w = 0.2nm, K=7, p= 12.61xm and
e =10%, maximum sample rate can be calculated to be
This equation represents a tradeoffbetween the maximum speed and scale. At the
maximum scale (M=50), the maximum sample rate is 2.2kHz.
System Time Budget -- The scale and speed figures presented above are absolute
maximums. The actual achievable scale and speed of the system are most likely limited
by the system time budget. Although every FBG sensor in the proposed system can be
addressed independently, they all compete for one important system resource: time,
which can be budgeted using the following expression:
where subscript i represents a particular FBG in the network, f is the sample rate for that
FBG, t is the time taken for one sample. Whilefmust be smaller than the maximum
sample rate discussed above, the t is limited by pixel rate of the imager or the
computation time to calculate the centroid. Because the data acquisition and calculation
can be done in parallel, the slower of the two sets the limit.
The time taken to acquire all the pixel data o f a FBG, t, can be expressed as
t = G/fp (12)
where fp=5MHz is the pixel read-out rate of the CMOS imager and G is the total number
of pixels the computer has to read for centroid calculation. Because the light spot is
constantly moving along a pixel row of the imager and the computer has to locate the
cluster first before reading out relevant pixels. This is a necessary operation overhead.
There are many ways to find out the location of the cluster with minimum overhead. The
most conservative method would be to read out a row ofpixels near the center of spots
and locate clusters by a preset threshold. The average number ofpixels the computer has
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CHEN AND SIRKIS ON FIBER OPTIC VERSUS ELECTRIC GAUGE 179
algorithm and a high level language program Speed (sample rate to each node)
was approximately 10~ts on a Pentium
Fig.9 Limits on the performance of the
200MHz PC without MMX. It is estimated proposed system
that a processing speed boost of at least four
is possible by streamlining the program.
With the fast advance of microprocessor technology, there is ample inexpensive
computing power available. We are confident that computation time can be easily
brought down to a level well below the FBG access time and will therefore not become
the bottleneck of the system speed.
As discussed before, the proposed system is capable of addressing each FBG in the
array with different sample rates. However, in order to delineate the performance of the
proposed system in reference to other standard measurement systems, let's first assume
every sensor in the array has the same sample rate (hence access time). Equation 11 can
then be rewritten to become
where S =NxM is the total number of FBGs in the array and fis their uniform sample
rate. Comparing Equations 10 and 13, it can be seen that the system will not exceed the
absolute maximum sample rate limited by optical power unless S<3.
The performance limits and tradeoffs discussed above can be presented graphically
in Fig. 9. Note both vertical and horizontal axes are in logarithmic units. With a simple
soft'ware reconfiguration, the interrogation instrument can be adapted to any network with
a speed/scale combination within the shadowed area in the lower left comer of the first
quadrant. This feature is very important because different structure monitoring
applications have different requirements on scale and speed of the sensing network. For
example, vibration detection may demand a dozen nodes each sampled at 10kHz while
deformation detection requires a modest sample rate of 100Hz. The proposed system has
the distinct flexibility to provide a wide range of different sample rates to different
sensors in the same network.
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180 NONTRADITIONAL METHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
Preliminary Experiments
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CHEN AND SIRKIS ON FIBER OPTIC VERSUS ELECTRIC GAUGE 181
It is, of course, difficult to predict the price of a fiber optic strain sensing system
based on the DSWDM technology at this early stage of concept development. However,
the hardware cost of such a system on one-off basis is in the order of $15k. Assuming a
50% margin and a $120 price tag for Bragg gratings, the proposed system with 35 sensors
would cost 2x$15k+35x$120=$34.2k in hardware, which is less than $1000 per sensing
channel, cheaper than a high-end foil gauge system (bandwidth to 10kHz) described in
the early part of this article. When the sensing channel grows to more than 115, the cost
per channel of proposed Bragg grating based sensor system becomes less than
(2x$15k+115x$120)/115=$380, which will beat even the low end foil gauge systems. It
is worth pointing out that these costs only refer to hardware cost for sensors and the
interrogation instrument, there a r e
additional substantial savings in cabling
and maintenance. Work has been on-
going on a simplified system in the cost
range of $5000, which accepts a single
fiber that contains up to 30 serially
multiplexing FBG strain sensors. Such
a system will be very competitive to
electric foil gauges for applications that
require smaller number of strain
sensors.
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182 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
Conclusion
Acknowledgement
The authors acknowledge the support of The Office of Naval Research, System
Planning and Analysis Inc and The Engineering and Physical Science Research Council
(UK) for this project.
Reference
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CHEN AND SIRKIS ON FIBER OPTIC VERSUS ELECTRIC GAUGE 183
[8] Varelas, V., Limberger, H.G., Salathe, R.P. and Kotrotsios,C., "UV-Induced
Mechanical Degradation of Optical Fibres," Electronics Letters, Vol. 33, No. 9,
1997, pp. 804-806.
[9] Superlum Ltd web page, .www,superlum.ru
[10] C-Cam Technologies web site, www.vector-intemational.be/C-Cam/index.htm
[11] Chen, S., Hu, Y., Zhang, L., Bennion, I., "Digital Wavelength and Spatial Domain
Multiplexing of Bragg Grating Optical Fiber Sensors", Proc. of OFS 12, ISBN 1-
55752-514-5, 1997, pp.448-451, Williamsburg, USA.
[12] Hu, Y., Chen, S., "Multiplexing Bragg Gratings Using Combined Wavelength and
Spatial Division Techniques With Digital Resolution Enhancement", Electronic
Letters, Vol.33, 1997, pp.1973-1975.
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Shan-Tung Tu, 1 Jian-Ming Gong, t Xiang Ling, ~and Xiao-Yuan He2
Reference: Tu, S.-T., Gong, J.-M., Ling, X., and He, X.-Y., "Long-Term Measurement
of Local Creep Deformation by Optical Fiber Marking and Remote Monitoring,"
Nontraditional Methods of Sensing Stress, Strain, and Damage in Materials and
Structures: Second Volume, ASTM STP 1323, G. F. Lucas, P. C. McKeighan, and J. S.
Ransom, Eds., American Society for Testing and Materials, West Conshohocken, Pa, 2001.
Keywords: Local deformation, high temperature, quartz optical fiber, image analysis,
weld, creep measurement
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TU ET AL. ON OPTIC FIBER MARKING/REMOTE MONITORING 185
The basic idea of the method is to create multiple marks on the specimen surface
where deformation localization may occur. Deformation is then measured between the
marks by a remote monitoring system. As the oxidation is very significant at high tem-
perature, any surface feature may be corroded and become very unclear after a certain
period of time. The use of optical fibers as measuring marks provides a new possibility.
The quartz optical fiber consists of a highly refractive quartz core in the center and
a low refractive coat around it. It is now common sense that when a ray of light enters
optical fiber that is basically perpendicular to one end of the optical fiber, it is exported
without much attenuation from the other end. In case of bending, quartz optical fibers still
possess a good light conductivity. On the other hand, the quartz optical fiber has good
heat resistance. High temperature has little effect on its light conductivity and its working
temperature can be above 1000~ It should thus be very advantageous to use the quartz
optical fiber as the measuring marks.
Based on the above considerations, a quartz optical fiber with light solidifying coat
is thus used in the present study. The selected quartz optical fiber has an outer diameter of
140~tm and a core diameter of 110~tm. The fibers can be stuck to a narrow region of a
cross-weld specimen, such as weld metal and HAZ region.
Quartz optical fibers are stuck to a side surface of a test specimen by use of refrac-
tory ceramic gum. The gum covers the fibers and should be as thin as possible to make
sure that the marks follow the specimen deformation. Raying ends of quartz optical fibers
form dot-shaped marks by irradiating the other ends with small power helium-neon laser.
Distance changes between the dot-shaped marks are obtained by technique of distant im-
age formation and digital image analysis, which allows the local creep deformation
measurement in a small region less than 0.3 • 0.3 mm.
The lightened marks at high temperature are transformed into digital images with
the help o f a CCD video camera. The background has lower gray level, and the marks
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186 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
have a much higher gray level (referred to as light spots) in the image, as shown in Fig. 1.
If the shapes and positions of the light spots have been determined by image analysis
technique, the distance between the spot centers can easily be obtained. And displace-
ments between the marks are acquired according to the relative change of the distance.
In practice, the first important thing in the image analysis is the extraction of the
regions of light spots from the digital images. The image segmentation method is usually
employed for this purpose. Both point- and region -dependent techniques can be used for
segmentation[4]. In the present investigation, the images are of 256 gray-levels, the vast
majority of which belong to lower gray level background while the rest are much higher
gray level regions of light spots, as shown in Fig. 1. The point-dependent technique is
considered appropriate for segmenting the above-ascribed images.
The point-dependent technique extracts regions from an image by thresholding the
gray levels. The key of this technique is to determine an optimum threshold. The thresh-
olds can be set automatically in the processing. Let Zmbe the optimum threshold value of
gray levels, andf(x, y) the gray level function of an image. The regions of light spots are
determined by using the following expression
f=(x,y)={f(oy ) If f(x,y)>Z m
If f(x,y) < Z m (1)
where Zmis obtained by the mode method[5].
The regions of the light spots can be accurately extracted from the obtained images,
even though thresholding is not yet the most advanced technique of segmentation.
The image being processed has the following features: (1) gray-level values of the
light spot region remains almost unchanged; (2) there is a sudden change between gray
level of the extracted region and the background as the gray level of the image back-
ground is set to zero; and (3) the shapes of the marks can be rather irregular as the cutting
process may introduce some irregularities and the outer shape of optical fiber may not be
perfect.
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TU ET AL. ON OPTIC FIBER MARKING/REMOTE MONITORING 187
In order to measure the distance change between the marks, one have to decide
appropriate reference points. In this study the region centers are selected. On the basis of
the region extraction, the center of a region can be explicitly obtained by the region-
center method, which allows the measuring precision reaches subpixel level. Fig. 2 shows
a sketch of a region, where Mis the region width, N the region height, the center coordi-
nate (x', y~ is given by
N-I M-I
~ x" gray[x] [Yl
Xt ~ y=O x=O
N-1M-1
~,,gray[x] [y]
y=O x=0
N-1M-I (2)
)-', ~ y. gray[x] [y]
y , = y=o 3=0
AI-IM-I
~ gray[xl[y]
y=O x=O
In order to realize long-term and high precision measurement of local creep defor-
mation, a remote monitoring system is set up, which utilizes the merits of quartz optical
fiber, advanced long distance microscope and computer image analysis techniques. A
sketch of the system is shown in Fig. 3.
The measurement of the local deformation involves basically the following steps:
(1) a number of quartz optical fibers are stuck onto the measured specimen, and served as
dot-shaped marks after one end of the fibers is irradiated by a laser beam; (2) the light-
ened marks are received by a long distance microscope and imaged on CCD target; (3)
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188 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
the signals of the marks are transferred into a computer by A/D converting with the help
of image processor; and (4) the received digital images are automatically processed by
the designed software. A computer software has been developed with C ~ language on the
basis of above-mentioned principles. A user-friendly interface of the software is shown in
Fig. 4. In order to minimize the measuring errors caused by the resolution of CCD cam-
era, the marks are monitored two after two by moving the travelling microscope.
Error Analysis
The accuracy of the measuring system is primarily limited by the precision of the
testing machine, system hardware and image analysis software, for instance, errors
caused by location uncertainties when sampling, discrete error due to correlative opera-
tion of digital image, error due to temperature deviation in a heat furnace and so on. For
long-term measurement of creep deformation, the system zero shift ~hould be considered.
Under the condition of no loading at a same temperature, images sampled at different
times should be the same in principle. If there exists a so-called zero shift, however, the
images will differ from each other. The zero shift is thus obtained by comparing the dis-
tances between light spots in the two images. The calibration shows that the zero shift
does not exceed 0.05 pixel in general. Most o f zero shifts are in the range of 0.02-0.04
pixel. The strain measurement error due to zero shift can be calculated according to the
following equation:
8
e .... = - - (3)
vA
where ~is the zero shift, A the total CCD pixels in one direction, and r/the ratio of
distance between measured marks to A. In most cases, the CCD pixels can be used up to
70%. For a CCD camera with a total pixel area of 512 x 512, the strain zero shift is ac-
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TU ET AL. ON OPTIC FIBER MARKING/REMOTE MONITORING 189
cordingly in the range of(55 ,,~ 110) ~te. I f a 1024 • 1024 pixel CCD camera is used, the
strain zero shift will be reduced by half.
The system accuracy depends greatly on the resolution of the CCD camera. Our
developed software allows the estimation of subpixel position through the calculation of
fractional pixels leading to a subpixel interpolation accuracy of 0.1 to 0.25 pixel. In the
worst case, the total displacement resolution is about two times the subpixel interpolation
accuracy. If the displacement resolution is 0.3 pixel and r/is 70%, the system strain re-
solution will be 837 p,~ for a 512 • 512 CCD camera and 418 ~t~ for a 1024 x 1024 CCD
camera according to equation (3). The system accuracy basically satisfies the requirement
of long-term creep deformation measurement. The use of higher CCD resolution will
certainly improve the measuring accuracy.
In order to study the long-term creep behavior of the constituent parts of the
weldment, the developed method is applied to the measurement of creep deformation of
different parts in 1Cr0.5Mo cross-weld specimens. The 1Cr0.5Mo base metal (normal-
ized plus tempered) plates of 20ram in thickness were welded by manual metal arc
welding using similar ESAB OK 76.18 electrodes. The post weld heat treatment was car-
ried out at 700 ~176 for 2 hours. Plate type cross-weld specimens including the base
metal, weld metal and heat-affected zones (HAZ) were machined from the weldment.
The specimen thickness is 3ram 15 quartz optical fibers were stuck onto the regions of
base metal, weld metal and HAZ respectively, as shown in Fig. 5. Uniaxial creep tests
were carried out at 550~ with stress levels of 110 MPa, 145 MPa and165MPa.
Base
- - Weld Metal Metal
o:
Optical Fibers
14.5 rnm
The measured creep curves in the form of creep strains versus time are shown in
Figs. 6, 7 and 8 for the base metal, weld metal and HAZ respectively.
It is seen that the measurement provides reasonable smooth curves. Even in the
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190 NONTRADITIONAL METHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
case of small strain (Figure 8), the data deviation due to system resolution is generally
smaller than 60~tE, which verifies the accuracy of the measuring technique. The minimum
creep strain rates versus applied stress are illustrated in Fig. 9 for different material parts
in the cross-weld specimens. Test results show that the base metal exhibits a higher creep
strain rate at higher stress levels compared with the weld metal and HAZ, while the weld
metal exhibits a higher creep strain rate than the base metal and HAZ at lower stress lev-
els (less than 120MPa). Although it is creep-hard at higher stress levels, the weld metal is
creep-soft at lower stress levels for post weld heat treatment condition. It is predicted that
creep failures may occur in HAZ of weldments due to stress enhancement and creep
cavitation[o].
3 t ~ 1"5t
Base metal, 550 C Weld metal, 550 C
9 9 165 MPa 9 165 MPa
2 -e 9 145 MPa ~ 1,o 9 145 MPa
.~ 9 9 IlOMPa 9 110 MPa
o o.o_ J i L i
300 600 900 1200 1500 300 600 BOO 1200 1500
"nine ( hours) Time, ( hours )
Fig. 6 - - Creep curves of base metal Fig. 7 - - Creep curves of weld metal
o.a
1
HAZ, 550 C
to ~
1Cr0.5Mo, 550 C m// j
9 Base metal
i 9 165
~ o.e =B 9 145 MPa
9 IlOMPa 1~
9 We,dm~,
9 H A Z ~
//~
I
O.2f
300 6O0 too 1200 10F50 i
100 ,
150 ,
200 250
Time ( hours) S~'ess, MPa
Fig. 8 - - Creep curves of HAZ Fig. 9 - - Minimum creep strain rates vs.
applied stress
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TU ET AL. ON OPTIC FIBER MARKING/REMOTE MONITORING 191
evaluated for different stages of creep. Figs. 10 and 11 illustrate the results for the stress
levels 145 MPa and 110 MPa. It is seen that the maximum strain occurs in the weld
4~5mm away from the weld center line. Another strain peak is located in the intercritical
part o f HAZ. It should be noticed that the maximum creep strain rate occurs in the inter-
critical part of HAZ in the later period of creep, which implies that the creep strain may
accumulate much faster in it. In practice, creep ruptures have occurred mostly in the HAZ
part.
4 5r
145MPa, 550~
110 MPa, 550"
----- 42h
3
4~ - - i - - 282h
--e-- 192h
s F - * - 660h
r --&-- 33611
to 3I /~ - A - 902h
= --0-- 1308h
2 Weld 9 ,L HAZ . 9 Base
/ \ I t Metal
Weld ~r= HAZ ~ 1 ~ Base
O 1
/.\ ,I I ~3 I I M~tal
11 I/M \i I I
Concluding Remarks
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the supports provided by the China Natural Science
Foundation (Contract No. 59875039) and Foe Ying-Tung Education Foundation.
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192 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
References
[ 1] Tu, S.-T., Gong, J.-M. and Ling, X., "Mechanical Behavior of Laboratory Cross-
Weld Specimen and its Relation with the Practical Cases at Elevated Temperature,"
ActaMetall. Sinica, Vol. 12, 1999, pp. 82-88.
[2] Xie, H.-M. and Dai, E-L., "Experimental Study of Moire Method in Application to
the Measurement of Metal Creep," Mechanical Strength, Vol. 16, No. 4, 1994, pp.
27-30 (in Chinese).
[3] Kishimoto, K. and Shinya, N., "Electron Moir6 Method for Measurement of High
Temperature Deformation," Proc. of the 2nd Japan-Sino Bilateral Symposium on
High Temperature Strength of Materials, Nagaoka, Japan, 1995, pp. 71-76.
[4] Gonzalez, Rafael C. and Wintz, P., Digital lmage Processing, First Edition,
Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Massachusetts, 1977.
[5] Rosenfeld, A. and Kak, A. C., Digital Picture Processing, First Edition, Academic
Press, INC., New York, 1976.
[6] Storesund, J. and Tu, S. T., "Geometrical Effect on Creep in Cross-weld Speci-
mens," lnt. J. Pres. Ves & Piping. Vol. 62, 1995, pp. 179-193.
[7] Laha, K., Bhanu Sankara, R. and Mannan, S. L., "Creep Behavior of Post-Weld
Heat-Treatment 2.25Cr-lMo Ferritic Steel: Base, Weld Metal and Weldments,"
Material Science and Engineering, A, Vol, 129, 1990, pp. 183-195.
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X.Q. Ma t and M. Takemoto ~
Abstract: An advanced acoustic emission (AE) system was used to monitor the
degradation progression of plasma sprayed thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) subjected
to cyclic infrared laser irradiation. AE signals recorded by a displacement-type sensor
were utilized to determine the fracture dynamics of the coatings by a waveform
simulation. The results indicated that coating damage was induced quickly during the
cooling period of the cycling tests, and most AE events were classified into Mode-I
fracture. Following the initiation of vertical Mode-I cracking in the coatings,
delamination (Mode-I and II) occurred under the laser irradiation over 70W. The
estimated source parameters revealed that the fracture and frequency depend on coating
thickness, structures and heating conditions, and the thermally induced damage in the
TBCs can be reduced by reducing the thickness of the ZrO2 coating and further
applying the bond layer.
Keywords: Thermal barrier coating, plasma spray, laser irradiation, acoustic emission,
thermal shock, fracture dynamics.
Introduction
Recently, the rise in operating temperature and energy of power systems has been
accommodated effectively by application of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) [1, 2].
However, TBCs tend to suffer cracking and delaminations because of intrinsic
dissimilarities in physical and thermal properties between ceramic and metal as well as
thermal cycling. The predominant failure modes are based on thermomechanical failure
and thermochemical failure [3, 4]. Moreover, in diesel and rocket engines where there is
no severe thermochemical effect such as oxidation, but spalling has been identified to
limit the use of TBCs. Consequently, more effort has been conducted to investigate the
thermal fracture mechanisms of crack initiation and propagation in TBCs under
simulated conditions. A burner rig test has been used to study the resistance and
durability of TBCs, but it has the disadvantage of combining the degradation effects of a
thermal cycle and chemical oxidation. In this study, laser beam irradiation was used for
investigating the fracture behavior of TBCs under well-controlled conditions, with the
focus aimed to clarify failure mechanisms in the TBCs with different thickness and
structures through dynamics analysis by an inverse processing of acoustic emission
(AE) signals. We introduce how the fracture dynamics and progression are determined
by quantitative AE waveform (out-of-plane displacement) simulation, and used to
elucidate the fracture mechanisms in the TBCs under cyclic laser irradiation.
s
Tik ( x ,x ,t - t' )bk ( x',t' )dS
--oo
where
When the source volume ( A Abk ) is infinitesimal compared to the outer boundary,
Equation 1 can be rewritten as follow.
Ui(x,t) = Tik(X,t;x',t')*bkAA(x',t') 3
where the symbol* denotes a convolution integral in time
In practice, a forward approach or waveform simulation is used to determine the
fracture dynamics at a given location instead of a direct deconvolution integral. For an
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MA AND TAKEMOTO ON CYCLIC LASER IRRADIATION 195
assumed source with a rise time A tr and crack volume V0, source wave is expressed by
the Equation 4.
Experimental Details
Three kinds of TBCs were deposited on AISI304 stainless steel. Table 1 shows
the materials and structures of the TBC specimens used in the laser irradiation tests, in
which the NiCoCrA1Y ( Ni-8.63A1-
23.98Co-20.18Cr-3.84Ta-0.6Y) bond Table 1-Specimens used in the shock tests.
layer and the ZrO2 (ZrO2-8%Y203) top
No Bond coating Top coating
layer were deposited by low pressure
plasma spray (LPPS) and atmospheric
plasma spray (APS), respectively. The 1 NiCoCrAIY ZrO2 (310/z m)
2 None ZrO2 (310 u m)
No.1 specimens was prepared with a
3 None ZrO2 (850 # m)
NiCoCrA1Y bond coating of 3401am,
and the No.2 and 3 specimens without
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196 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
a bond coating. The fracture behavior and damage progression o f the TBC specimens
were examined under cyclic laser irradiation conditions. Each cycle consisted o f 5
seconds of heating followed by 60 seconds of cooling with laser beam shut off. A total
of 5 cycles were carried out. The laser irradiation and AE monitoring system are shown
schematically in Figure 1. A CO2 laser beam with a single mode (TEM00) was used as
heating source, and the irradiated region has a diameter of 4mm at a defocused distance
o f 24mm. The thermal shock test was performed under selected laser irradiation
conditions, in which laser power was increased from 20 to 100W with a step size o f
10W. The surface and interface temperature were measured simultaneously by using
two Pt-Rh thermocouples, one inserted at the bond/top coating interface and another
mounted on the surface o f the top coating. The measured points deviated from the
center of heated zone about l mm in order to obtain an average temperature. The AlE
monitoring system was composed of a displacement-type sensor (PAC, $9208), a
sensitive resonant-type sensor (PAC, PICO), a wide hand preamplifier, a multi-channel
digitizer, a PC computer and a workstation. The resonant sensor triggered the
displacement-type sensor to detect the out-of-plane displacement, and the detected
signal was pre-amplified, digitized, then stored in a PC computer. All the data
processing was carried out on a workstation. The microstructures of the irradiated
specimens were examined by optical and scanning electron microscopes.
Table 2-AE counts in the TBCs under different laser irradiation conditions
Specimen Total AE count
Laser power, W
No. Coating 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
1 NiCoCrAIY/ZrO2(310 lz m) 0 1 3 5 6 4 6 5 9
2 ZrO2(310 # m) 0 2 3 6 8 7 6 8 13
3 ZrO2(8501zm) 0 2 7 3 II 15 13 12 16
cycles, this implies that there is a critical laser power for the initiation of cracking in the
coatings. As for the higher laser powers over 30W, AE event counts tend to increase
with increasing laser power. It is noted that the AE counts for the thick TBC is much
larger than those for thin TBCs, especially under a higher laser power above 50W. For
the No. 1 and 2 specimens with a ZrO2 layer of 310~rn, the introduction of a bond layer
appears to reduce the AE counts in the No. 1 specimen. Due to a relatively long dead
time ( i.e. the time during when the AE system can not monitor the next AE event ) of
the digitizing system (-10ms), some AE signals may not be recorded during the rapid
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MA AND TAKEMOTO ON CYCLIC LASER IRRADIATION 197
cooling period of the cycling, but the important features of the fracture behavior can be
concluded from the recorded AE signals as previous studied indicated [7, 8].
The measured surface temperature (Figure 2(A)) increased from 1050 to 1750~
with increasing laser power from 30 to 80W. In the case of laser power over 80W, the
surface temperature was estimated by extrapolating the data measured below 1750~
due to incapability of measurement by Pt-Rh thermocouple. The interface temperature
varied from 750 to 1450~ in the No.1 and 2 specimens and from 500 to 1080~ in the
No.3 specimen while laser power increased from 30 to 100W. The maximum
temperature differences varied in the range of 350 to 6 5 0 ~ in the No.1 and 2
specimens, and 550 to 1050~ in the No.3 specimen. Therefore, a much higher
temperature gradient was observed in the thick TBC.
Figure 2-Temperature profiles measured in the thick TBC specimen during a cycle.
(A) On the surface, and (B) At the interface.
In order to obtain detailed information about the fracture behavior of the TBCs
during the shock tests, the monitored AE responses were classified into possible fracture
modes and the crack source parameters were estimated by an inverse processing of the
AE signals. In Figure 3, possible fracture types (Type A to G) are shown schematically
together with the simulated waveforms of the out-of-plane displacements at the sensor
($9208) position. For the simulation the fracture source parameters are assumed as a
rise time At~ of 1 U s and a crack volume V0 of 2x10 15 m 3, and the propagation
distance (denoted as P.D.) as 12mm. The fracture modes are defined by the crack
normal mi and Burgers vector bk. Types A, B and C represent the Mode-I cracking, and
Types D, E, F and G the Mode-II cracking. It is noted that the polarity of longitudinal
wave (P-wave) is negative for Mode-I fracture (Types A, B and C), but positive for
Types F and G (Mode-II). Types D and E (Mode-II) show negative polarity, but can be
distinguished from Mode-I by the polarities of following shear/longitudinal wave
(SP-wave) and shear wave (S-wave).
The frequency of AE events during the shock tests and the relevant fracture modes
are presented in Figure 4. Two important features are observed, one is that most AE
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198 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
signals were emitted during the cooling period; another is that Mode-I cracking is
predominant among the classified AE signals. The AE signals almost were monitored
during each cycle of the shock tests at a laser power above 60W, and more AE signals
were detected in the No.3 specimen during the first three cycles, but for the No. 1 and 2
specimens AE counts appear to increase with increasing cycling numbers. The result
showed that the No.3 specimen was much susceptible to degradation at the earlier
period of the shock tests. For the No,1 and 2 specimens, there is no obvious difference
in the AE counts when laser power is below 70W, but the AE counts detected in the
No.2 specimen tended to exceed those monitored in the No.1 specimen under higher
laser power. In addition, the resonant sensor detected more AE signals, and provided
additional evidence for more AE signals emitted in the No.2 specimen.
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MA AND TAKEMOTO ON CYCLIC LASER IRRADIATION 199
interfacial delamination. In the case that the AE responses are quite similar in
waveforms for different types of cracking such as Type B and C in Figure 5, the
measurement of polarity distribution and simulation of artificial crack source combined
with metallographic observation were used to reduce the uncertainty. The estimated
source parameters are presented in Figure 6. It is noted that the rise times for Mode-I
cracking vary in the range of 1 to 3/~ s for the No. 1 specimen, and 1 to 7 tz s for the
No.2 and 3 specimens. The No.1 specimen has a typical crack volume of less than
2x10"~Sm3, and there is no difference in source parameters for Mode-I and II fractures
(Figure 6(A)). In contrast, the No.2 specimen has a different rise time of 3-7 tz s and
1-3 tz s for Mode-I and II cracks, respectively. In Figure 6(C), some larger crack
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200 NONTRADITIONAL METHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
i0"*2 x l O"~2
1 [ t~ ~|r =3.0 tlS ]
Type A
(bk=i,O,O)
~.~. t" t I I t|
(mi=1,0,0) 0 5 i0 15 20 0 5 10 15 20
x10 .l~. Time, Its xlO'n Time, Its
-2 0 z .~ 0 = , -is
I
Type C ~ o
(b~:=o,o.l) -o:~
(mi=o,o,1) 0 5 i0 15 20 0 5 i0 15 20
xl0 "is Time, Its x10 43 Time, gs
E 7 . 5 ~
2.5
6 [~t,=3.2~ /, t
0 = " "
Type D
(bk=1,0,0)
m -lo
(mi=o,1,0)
0 5 I0 15 20 0 5 i0 15 20
xl0 "L2 Time, ~s xl0"n Time, p.s
1.0 (E) E
0.0
o . 5 ~
Type E ~ 0.0 : -0.5
(b~,=o3,o) ~ -1.0
-0.6 -i.o
-1.5
M o d e II(rn~=i,o,o) -1.5 -2.0
0 5 I0 15 20 0 5 10 15 20
x.10"~ Time, Its x.10"z~ Time, ~s
2.o
.., 1.0
~ 30 ~t,.4.sus ,-,
E 20 ~Vo.194x10?r~
t
Type F 0.0
(b~=~,0,0) ~ -1.0 0.0
-2.0 ~ -1.0 ,
(mi=0,0,1)
0 6 10 15 20 0 5 i0 15 20
xl0 a'~ Tim% ~ts xlOa-~ Time, Its
E 2.o
.~ 1.0 / \ vo.2.o,,o ,,,
0.0
Type G -1.0
Co~:=o4,o) ~ -2.G
(mi=o,O,l) I I I I[
0.0~--j ' , ,
0 5 10 15 20 0 5 i0
15 20
Time, pa Time, ~s
Figure5-Some detected (left) and simulated (righO waveforms for the Mode-I and II
cracks in the TBC specimens. (A) No.3 specimen, P=8OW, P.D.=I 7ram,
(B) No.1 specimen, P=9OW, P.D.=I4mm, (C) No.1 specimen, P=7OW, P.D.=2Omm,
(D) No.2 specimen, P=9OW, P.D.=15mm, (E) No.3 specimen, P=7OW, P.D.=17mm,
(F) No.3 specimen, P=9OW, P.D.=21ram, (G) No.2 specimen, P=8OW, P.D.=15mm.
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MA AND TAKEMOTO ON CYCLIC LASER IRRADIATION 201
volumes (>5x10"lSm3 ) due to Mode-II cracks in the No.3 specimen are estimated under
laser power over 80W, indicating extensive delamination during the shock test. The
results of the estimation of source parameters revealed that the fracture and frequency
depend on coating thickness, structures and heating conditions, and the thermally
induced damage in the TBCs can be reduced by reducing the thickness of the ZrO2 top
layer and further applying the bond layer.
,0
Mode (A)
'o 9 Mode II
6
E
O
>
9 t
O
0 1 ~ 4 5
Source Rise Time,/1 s
30 ~ 25
-= 25 . (C)
To 20
"~ 20
x 15
-i
>O ot,
a~ 5
o o
0
0L,~,..,.. ~' , 9 O 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
0 I 2 3 4 5 6 7 81 92 1'0"1'1
Source Rise Time,/1 s Source Rise Time,/1 s
In order to confirm the relation between fracture mode and relevant waveform of
the out-of-plane displacement by experimental methods, Mode-I and II fractures were
simulated by using artificial crack sources. Using a line-focused YAG laser irradiation
(half value duration 5ns; power 2mJ; size 0.04mm x 3mm), a Mode-I crack was
simulated by adiabatic thermal expansion in the direction normal to the line. As shown
in Figure 7(A), the laser beam was line focused on the surface of the No.3 specimen in
the direction of the surface normal or on the side surface. The former simulates the
Types A and B, and the latter the Type C. A displacement-type sensor was mounted on
the lower surface of the substrate at a propagation distance o f 24ram. Because of
unknown source parameters for the adiabatic thermal expansion, the source parameters
were estimated from the measured displacement due to a Type A crack, and used for
computing the displacements of Types B and C cracks. The detected and simulated
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202 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
displacements due to a Mode-I crack are given in Figure 8. The values o f A t~ and V0
were estimated as 2.5 # s and 2.2x10 Is m 3, respectively. The detected displacements
generated by the P-, SP-and S waves appear to be comparable to the computed values,
and the rise times o f the P-waves agree well, but the monitored amplitudes are slightly
larger than the computed data for Types B and C cracks. This is a consequence o f using
the Green's function o f substrate steel, while the crack occurred in the surface layer o f
the coating. Utilization o f an experimental transfer function, including combining effect
o f a coating and substrate, will provide more accurate source parameters.
Figure 7-Schematic setup for Mode-I and Mode-H cracks induced by a line-focused
YAG laser beam (.4) and a shear-mode PZT element (B), respectively.
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MA AND TAKEMOTO ON CYCLIC LASER IRRADIATION 203
Mode I
Detected ~vaveform Simulated waveforrn
xlO.12 xl0 "t2
. 1 . 5 ~ 9-.0 ~ " S
0.5 l"~ A
0.0 o.o
10
,
IIlf
15 20
TypeB
(ml=0,1,0)
(~=o,Lo)
"6.o~
~ 4.0
2.0
.o:o
0 5 10
,
15
,
20
xto.~.~ Time, gs XJ.O
.--t3 T i m e J ItS
. 1.5 . 8.0
1.0 6.0f S
0.5 4.0 I- SP/VI
~ 0.0
~ -0.5 TypeC r 0.0
"~ -1.o
9~ -1.5 I I I
(mt=0,0,D
(bk=0,0A)
.m -4.0 t 2.73X10 "-
5 10 15 20 -6.0 0I 5J. 10i 15i 20
Time, Its Time, Its
The microstructures of the TBC specimens were observed after the thermal shock
tests. The surface morphologies are obviously influenced by the heating conditions. At
laser power was below 60W, as shown in Figure 10(A), the cracks were initiated mainly
in the irradiated zone, and then propagated into the heat-affected region. Accordingly,
vertical cracks (Mode-I) were observed in the cross-sections of the ZrO2 layer, but no
serious delamination was observed in any specimens (Figures ll(A) and (C)). With
increasing laser power up to 90W, a melted zone was formed in the center of the
irradiated region due to the Gaussian distribution of laser power density (Figure 10(13)).
It was observed that more cracks were generated in the center and edge of the melted
zone, and also in the adjacent heat affected zone. These cracks occurred during the
cooling period of the cycles. These results also were consistent with those of increasing
AE event counts at higher laser power. Under the laser irradiation of 90 W and 100W,
the ZrO2 coating spalled locally along the edge of melted zone in the No.3 specimen
(Figure ll(D)), and at the bond/top coating interface in the No.1 specimen (Figure
10(B)). From the metallographic examination, it also is noted that the number of
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204 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
observed cracks is much smaller than the AE counts recorded. This implies that a
cracking in the specimens experienced different stages of microcrack initiation and
growth, and propagated into macrocrack responding to the cross-section cracking in the
ZrO2 layer and delamination at the bond/top coating interface. The AE system had
monitored and characterized well the cracking processes.
Figure l O-Surface morphologies o f the specimens subjected to the thermal shock tests.
(,4) No.1 specimen, P = 50W, and (13) No.3 specimen, P = 90W.
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MA AND TAKEMOTO ON CYCLIC LASER IRRADIATION 205
Normally, transient stress is developed in the TBC specimen during the heating or
cooling period of a shock test, and the initiation of surface cracking is related to larger
tensile stress due to a larger temperature gradient across ZrO2 layer during cooling. The
maximum cooling rate was measured just after laser beam-off, so this examines the
burst in acoustic emission that occurred during cooling. At low laser powers AE events
almost were observed during each cycle of the test, indicate that the vertical cracking
was initiated on the surface and progressed toward heat-affected zone steadily. At high
laser power (>80W), the specimens are subjected to a larger transient thermal stress
upon cooling, and the interface delamination resulted from different opening (Mode-I)
and shearing deformation (Mode-II) which was consistent with the results of
waveform simulation. As the transient stress is proportional to temperature gradient,
the No.3 specimen suffered more serious degradation than the No.1 and 2 specimens.
These results revealed that the cracking and delamination had a tendency to occur in the
thick ZrO2.
From the AE counts and crack volume values, it is postulated that the specimens
with or without a bond coating have different cracking characteristics. Typically the
No. 1 and 2 specimens have a ZrO2 layer with the same thickness, but large number of
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206 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
AE events with large crack volumes were emitted in the No.2 specimen without a bond
coating. It is sure that the bond coating has little influence on transient temperature in
the sample, for its thermal properties are comparable to those of the substrate. Therefore,
the change in AE features is ascribed to the role of the bond coating in relieving
transient stress. The interface temperature was measured over 650~ corresponding to
laser power in excess of 50W, which is in the range of the brittle/ductile transition
temperature (BDTT) of NiCoCrA1Y bond layer [9]. Consequently, the thermal stress
induced by the laser irradiation was partially released by a ductile deformation of the
bond coating, and reduce cracking tendency in the specimens.
Conclusions
Plasma sprayed thermal barrier coatings with different thickness and structures
were subjected to cyclic laser irradiation, and their sequent fracture progression and
dynamics determined by an acoustic emission source inversion processing. The major
conclusions from the results include:
1. The majority of acoustic signals were emitted during the early cooling period of the
cycles, and cracking was monitored during most of the cycles when laser power is
over 30W.
2. Due to the delamination and rapid propagation of vertical cracks, the severity of
coating failure increased with increasing laser power over 70W, especially after the
formation of a melted zone in the irradiated ZrO2 coating.
3. Mode-I fracture was identified as the predominant fracture type corresponding to
vertical cracking, and Mode-II fracture occurred after Mode-I fracture initiated in the
thick TBC or at the thin ZrO2 layer/bond interface.
4. The tendency to cracking and delamination increased with increasing thickness of the
ZrO2 coating due to a built-up of high transient temperature gradient, but further
application of a bond coating reduced the coating damage through a mechanism of
thermal stress relief.
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences and
Ministry of Culture and Education.
References
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MA AND TAKEMOTO ON CYCLIC LASER IRRADIATION 207
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Panel Discussion Summary
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STP 1323-EB/Apr. 2001
A panel discussion was conducted for an hour following the symposium presentations. The panel
consisted of the following individuals:
The function of the panel participants was to help guide the discussion and instigate audience
participation. Toward this end, a series of questions were first posed to the audience. These questions
and some of the audience/panel response are summarized below:
What standards activities can be undertaken to transition methods from "laboratory techniques"
to more applicable "industrial techniques"?
9 ASTM Standards on new systems will make it easier for industry to accept results or developments
from new sensor systems.
9 However if ASTM were to specify particular systems, it may stifle creativity concerning design of
new or improved systems. Rather than specifying systems, the process of developing a sensor needs
to be described.
9 In order to achieve ASTM action, a committed person is required who wants the standard and can see
the process through to completion in two to three years. While guiding the process, this individual would
need to overcome a variety of technological and political issues.
9 Standards are typically written or modified when people are performing similar tests and not
achieving the same answer.
9 A major question that needs to be overcome is: "How can people have faith in home-built systems?"
Industry needs standards that enable calibration of these types of home-built systems to add credence
to the development process and demonstrate through some well-defined method that reliable data can
be generated using the system.
9 However there are serious obstacles to calibration standards. For instance, how do we calibrate new
visual measurement systems? With the many visual measurement methods available, how do results
of these systems compare both with each other as well as with currently available systems? It may
turn out that some nontraditionaI sensors may be un-ealibratable. For example, video systems have
many variables and an enormous number of degrees of freedom not well suited to conventional
calibration.
9 A standard guide for non-contacting methods is needed for starters; with a definition of terms t.
~Editors Note: Since this symposium was held, the standard practice entitled Standard Guide for
Evaluating Non-Contacting Optical Strain Measurement Systems has been balloted and approved by
ASTM membership. This document will be included in the next publishing of the ASTM standards.
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212 NONTRADITIONALMETHODS OF SENSING STRESS/STRAIN
What will be needed to take current developments of these new sensors to ensure
they are viable, generally useful and economically available for use in laboratory
or other applications?
9 The amount of funding available for basic research is currently limited and shows no sign of
becoming more available. Obviously this makes it harder to implement new systems into existing
laboratories.
9 If industry is aware o f an existing technology, it has the potential to he integrated. However the basic
problem remains: how does industry become aware of a technological development? In this sense
ASTM can help by sponsoring symposia such as this that act to make users more aware of the
technologies that are available for sensors.
9 In the early 1970's the Air Force funded a process of standard development that led to E647, the standard
commonly used for fatigue crack growth rate measurement. It would be useful if the government once
again saw the importance of funding standards development.
What new methods / technique / sensing strategy has yet to realize its full potential
in terms of nontraditional sensing?
9 A new area to examine is how damage is defined (fracture mechanics based?) and what methods can
be used to find this damage. This in essence could drive subsequent design methods.
9 We need a standard that can be used to validate data, albeit some type of new image or other
technology. People will misuse technology if they do not understand it, or make improper decisions
based on unknowns in the technology if not given some appropriate guidance.
9 ASTM needs proactive and fruitful liaisons to other committees, for example the SEM Experimental
Mechanics Group or VAMAS or ISO organization. Although these linkages do exist, it is difficult
for excellent informatinn/technology sharing to occur when the personnel involved are not intimalely
aware of what the Sensor group within ASTM E08 is doing.
What potential applications, not yet addressed with nontraditional methods, are
expected to be in the f u t u r e ? W h a t is t h e p r i m a r y r o a d b l o c k to t h i s happening
and what can we in the technical community do about i t ?
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PANEL DISCUSSION SUMMARY 213
What is the role of: universities, government labs, private industry (large concerns
and start-ups) in developing and commercializing new nontraditional sensors?
* Universities need to push new technology into their undergraduate teaching so that the technology, is
available for companies when they hire fresh engineers from school.
9 The university role is for the transfer of technical information and new sensor strategies. Getting into
new techniques is a huge challenge for private industry and independent labs who, by their basic
business nature, can not leverage the technological advance into product uniqueness.
9 Government labs need additional funding to develop and use new systems. This will hasten the
transfer of the new systems to industry.
9 SBIR/STTR funding bridges the gap between university and high tech companies. We need to
identify these companies and partnerships.
* Small businesses do not know what new-tech stuff is out there. ASTM assists in our knowing by
sponsoring symposia such as this. Nevertheless, the question remains: How can we get the
information presented here into our own facilities and how do we tap into the brains of people who
can help us develop these resources? A solution to getting the information to the right people would
be for ASTM members to post problems, perhaps on a website. Other people, perhaps researchers at
Universities or other engineers, can then examine these postings and recommend solutions based
upon their experience. This is a method that marries the source of the problem to the person that can
help solve the problem. Perhaps somebody like ASTM could sponsor this type of forum and method
of collaboration.
9 Small businesses with the ability to develop and rapidly advance new technology are the major
driving force in sensor technology development. But these new high tech companies are not going to
tell you what they have until they are selling the product. This is one reason why it is so important to
insure that government funding is involved with the creation of these sensors or strategies. This will
mitigate the ownership issue by insuring that all have access to the new methods/sensors.
Joy S. Ransom
Fatigue Technology Inc.
Seattle, WA
Symposium co-chair and editor
Peter C. McKeighan
Southwest Research Institute
San Antonio, TX
Symposium co-chair and editor
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