DIC Strain Measurements at the Micro-Scale in a Semi-Crystalline Polymer

• DOI: 10.1007/s11340-013-9753-2
• Publication Date: 2013-05-09T15:22:46Z
• Authors: J. M. Teixeira Pinto; F. Touchard; S. Castagnet; C. Nadot-Martin; D. Mellier
• Keywords: Digital image correlation; Polypropylene; Strain (injury); Microscopic scale

To improve physical motivation of mechanical modeling for semi-crystalline polymers, a better understanding of micro-mechanisms and a quantification of the mechanical response at the microstructure scale are needed. Strain field evolutions during deformation would be useful information but experimental techniques are still lacking for these materials. In this paper, an in-situ Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique in the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) was developed to access strain fields at the spherulitic scale of a polypropylene. The evolution of strain heterogeneities during deformation were analyzed and correlated to the microstructure.