The experimental detection of localized necking is an important issue in sheet metal forming. Today, the most common and extended techniques are strain-based methods using digital image correlation (DIC). The present work discuses a thermal methodology to detect the onset of necking in metals based on the analysis of the temperature gradient using digital infrared thermography (DIT). A series of tensile tests of H240LA-O3 high-strength steel of 1.2mm thickness is analysed using DIC and DIT techniques. It is proposed that necking initiates when the temperature difference at a reference distance from the necking point reaches a critical value, which allows identifying the necking time and estimating the limit strains from the visible images using circle grid analysis
