Volumetric strain measurement of polymeric materials subjected to uniaxial tension

A novel method for measuring and calculating volumetric strain in circular cylindrical uniaxial tension samples made from polymeric materials is proposed. It is shown that special considerations must be taken when calculating volumetric strain when a sample is in a postnecking state. Solely based on surface data, the key feature of the proposed correction is that it allows for an inhomogeneous distribution of longitudinal strain through the diameter of the sample, where a more traditional approach would be to assume a homogeneous distribution. These two approaches are evaluated by applying them to data from a close‐to‐incompressible steel sample. Whereas the proposed method indicates only a small positive increase in volume, the assumption of a homogeneous distribution results in substantial negative volumetric strains. Applying the two methods to tension samples made from HDPE and PVC, where plastic dilatation is nonlinear, again shows an initial negative volumetric strain for HDPE with the assumption of a homogeneous longitudinal strain. The proposed method predicts close‐to‐zero early‐stage volumetric strain for the same test. The differences are more subtle for samples of PVC. Micrographs obtained with scanning electron microscope show that the dilatation of PVC is related to voiding of the material around filler particles, while the underlying mechanism for HDPE is less clear. The results indicate that earlier reports of negative volumetric strain in polymers subjected to uniaxial tension might be artefacts of the implicit assumption made when calculating the volumetric strain.acceptedVersio

μDIC: An open-source toolkit for digital image correlation

We here present a Digital Image Correlation toolkit, formulated as a Python package. This package aims at providing a complete toolkit for performing DIC analysis on experimental data, performing virtual experiments, as well as a framework for further development. A suite of tools for generating synthetic speckle images, modelling of sensor artefacts and deformation of images by displacement fields, are included. The virtual experiments are used as a part of the accuracy assessment of the toolkit as well as for testing during development. B-spline elements are employed for the discretisation of the displacement fields and allow the polynomial order and degree of continuity to be controlled by the user

Volumetric strain measurement of polymeric materials subjected to uniaxial tension

A novel method for measuring and calculating volumetric strain in circular cylindrical uniaxial tension samples made from polymeric materials is proposed. It is shown that special considerations must be taken when calculating volumetric strain when a sample is in a postnecking state. Solely based on surface data, the key feature of the proposed correction is that it allows for an inhomogeneous distribution of longitudinal strain through the diameter of the sample, where a more traditional approach would be to assume a homogeneous distribution. These two approaches are evaluated by applying them to data from a close‐to‐incompressible steel sample. Whereas the proposed method indicates only a small positive increase in volume, the assumption of a homogeneous distribution results in substantial negative volumetric strains. Applying the two methods to tension samples made from HDPE and PVC, where plastic dilatation is nonlinear, again shows an initial negative volumetric strain for HDPE with the assumption of a homogeneous longitudinal strain. The proposed method predicts close‐to‐zero early‐stage volumetric strain for the same test. The differences are more subtle for samples of PVC. Micrographs obtained with scanning electron microscope show that the dilatation of PVC is related to voiding of the material around filler particles, while the underlying mechanism for HDPE is less clear. The results indicate that earlier reports of negative volumetric strain in polymers subjected to uniaxial tension might be artefacts of the implicit assumption made when calculating the volumetric strain

Volumetric strain measurement of polymeric materials subjected to uniaxial tension

A novel method for measuring and calculating volumetric strain in circular cylindrical uniaxial tension samples made from polymeric materials is proposed. It is shown that special considerations must be taken when calculating volumetric strain when a sample is in a postnecking state. Solely based on surface data, the key feature of the proposed correction is that it allows for an inhomogeneous distribution of longitudinal strain through the diameter of the sample, where a more traditional approach would be to assume a homogeneous distribution. These two approaches are evaluated by applying them to data from a close‐to‐incompressible steel sample. Whereas the proposed method indicates only a small positive increase in volume, the assumption of a homogeneous distribution results in substantial negative volumetric strains. Applying the two methods to tension samples made from HDPE and PVC, where plastic dilatation is nonlinear, again shows an initial negative volumetric strain for HDPE with the assumption of a homogeneous longitudinal strain. The proposed method predicts close‐to‐zero early‐stage volumetric strain for the same test. The differences are more subtle for samples of PVC. Micrographs obtained with scanning electron microscope show that the dilatation of PVC is related to voiding of the material around filler particles, while the underlying mechanism for HDPE is less clear. The results indicate that earlier reports of negative volumetric strain in polymers subjected to uniaxial tension might be artefacts of the implicit assumption made when calculating the volumetric strain