A novel methodology for estimating tensile properties in a small punch test employing in-situ DIC based deflection mapping

Determining tensile properties from small punch test is being pursued actively in the nuclear industry due to the limited volume of material such tests use compared with standard tests which can be critical when considering active or development samples. One of the crucial challenges in harnessing the full potential of this technique is formulating methodologies which correlate the small punch specimen’s deflection to equivalent uniaxial tensile properties. Existing approaches for correlation rely on deflection obtained from a single point on the small punch test specimen, used with empirical equations to make the correlation. However, the deflection and strain accumulation in a small punch specimen is highly heterogeneous and data from a single point does not represent the gross deformation evolving in the specimen. This data when used in conjunction with the empirical formulations for deriving equivalent uniaxial tensile properties, would not result in accurate identification of material properties. In this work we offer an alternative approach which uses the full field deflection of the specimen mapped through in-situ digital image correlation. The use of digital image correlation combined with inverse finite element analysis augments the existing method of material properties identification from single point deflection data thereby significantly improving the reliability of the measurements.