Deformation analysis of ferrite/pearlite banded structure under uniaxial tension using digital image correlation

The ferrite/pearlite banded structure causes the anisotropic behavior of steel. In this paper, digital image correlation (DIC) was used to analyze the micro deformation of this microstructure under uniaxial tension. The reliability of DIC for this application was verified by a zero-deformation experiment. The results show that the performance of DIC can satisfy the requirements of the tensile deformation measurement. Then, two uniaxial tensile tests in different directions (longitudinal direction and transverse direction) were carried out and DIC was used to measure the micro deformation of the ferrite/pearlite banded structure. The measured results show that the ferrite bands undergo the main deformation in the transverse tension, which results in the relatively weaker tensile properties in the transverse direction than in the longitudinal direction. This work is useful to guide the modification of the bands morphology and extend the application scope of DIC.