Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 July 2020
We have developed a technique for measuring small strains during in-situ tensile tests in a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The technique uses pattern recognition algorithms to locate markers on a gridded sample before and after deformation. The distortions in the grid are used to calculate the strains at each of the markers. The strains are then displayed in contour plots and correlated with the microstructure of the sample to help understand the local progression of strain as a function of applied load and microstructure.
Tensile experiments were performed on gridded notched and unnotched samples of a Ti-48Al-2Cr- 2Nb alloy (at%) in a Philips XL-30 FEGSEM using a 10,000 N Kamrath-Weiss in-situ straining stage. Gold was evaporated onto the samples through nickel grids with a mesh size of 17 μm. Electron backscatter images of the samples taken during testing were analyzed using a set of, interactive routines written in the Interactive Data Language (IDL).