Preliminary Study on the Onset of Necking Detection Using DIT in Tensile Tests

Abstract

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.