FEATURE

Experimental Characterization of Active Materials Series

Tips and Tricks for Characterizing Shape Memory Wire Part 5:

Full-Field Strain Measurement by Digital Image Correlation
B. Reedlunn1 , S. Daly1 , L. Hector, Jr.2 , P. Zavattieri3 , and J. Shaw4
1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2 Chemical Sciences and Materials Systems Laboratory, General Motors R&D Center, Warren, MI
3 School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
4 Department of Aerospace Engineering, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Keywords Abstract
Digital Image Correlation, Strain, Fatigue,
Material Behaviors This is the fifth paper in a series on the experimental characterization of
shape memory alloy (SMA) wires. In this installment we focus on the use
Correspondence
of digital image correlation (DIC) to measure the strain field on the surface
B. Reedlunn,
of the wire. After a brief overview of the principles and mathematics behind
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Michigan, 2350 Hayward St., DIC, two different thermo-mechanical tension tests using DIC are presented
Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA to demonstrate the technique. The first experiment consists of Joule heating
Email: [email protected] a shape memory (SM) wire to induce the shape memory effect, using 2-D
DIC to measure the strain field. The second experiment measures the response
Received: August 25, 2010; accepted: of a superelastic (SE) wire to mechanical cycling at room temperature, using
November 29, 2010
3-D DIC to measure the strain field and an infrared camera to measure the
doi:10.1111/j.1747-1567.2011.00717.x temperature field. In addition to describing the experimental results, attention
is paid to specimen preparation and the two experimental setups. Many of the
challenges and precautions associated with using DIC are discussed, along with
practical recommendations for specimen speckle patterns, digital photography,
and data post processing.

Introduction and SE wire with austenite finish temperature

Af < 20◦ C).1 Part 2 reviewed potential methods to
This is the fifth paper in our series, providing obtain fundamental sets of isothermal mechanical
recommendations for the thermo-mechanical char- responses.2 Part 3 highlighted stress-induced strain
acterization of shape memory alloy (SMA) wire. localization and phase-front propagation that can
Part 1 provided an introduction to the marten- occur during uniaxial tension SE.3 Part 4 provided
sitic transformations that are responsible for the details on the thermo-mechanical coupling effects in
shape memory (SM) effect and superelasticity (SE), the superelastic responses of SMA wire that cause
and demonstrated the calorimetry and thermo- loading-rate and ambient media sensitivities.4
mechanical responses of two typical NiTi SMA alloys
One of the techniques for full-field strain mea-
(SM wire with austenite start temperature As > 20◦ C
surement mentioned in Part 2 was digital image
correlation (DIC). Here, we will discuss how to
apply DIC measurement to the characterization of
Editor’s Note: This ET feature series is intended as an introduction to this SMA wire. This is a powerful technique that gives
exciting area of experimental mechanics. It aims to increase awareness the full-field strain distribution across a specimen,
of active materials and to promote their consistent characterization by
unlike conventional extensometry that gives a strain
disseminating best practices from leading researchers in the field. Each
article in the series will address the characterization of one commercially averaged over a single gage length. We will start
significant active material. Series editors: Nilesh D. Mankame and Paul with some background and fundamentals of DIC,
W. Alexander. describe the setup and specimen preparation, and

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62 Experimental Techniques 37 (2013) 62–78 © 2011, Society for Experimental Mechanics
B. Reedlunn et al. Tips and Tricks for Characterizing Shape Memory Wire Part 5

then show results from two experiments using some- to measure in-plane deformations of nominally planar
what different setups, one on preconditioned SM wire samples.
and one on SE wire. The basic concept underlying DIC involves compar-
ing two digitized images of a specimen surface, taken
at different times, to obtain a quantitative, point-
Digital Image Correlation Fundamentals
by-point mapping of the surface deformation. The
Digital image correlation (DIC) is a noncontact optical surface deformation is obtained by optimizing a cross-
method used to measure full-field displacements correlation function to match the local gray-scale
on the surface of an object by tracking the intensity values of a reference image and a subse-
nonuniform random surface patterns of a specimen. quent image of the deformed specimen. Commonly,
The technique is fast, robust, scalable, and provides an a sequence of images is captured and correlated to
accurate method to determine the surface geometry, obtain the evolution of the object’s surface deforma-
displacements, and strains of a deforming object. tion with time. The reference image is usually taken
See Refs. 5 and 6 for further reading. It is to be the first image of the undeformed specimen
particularly useful to quantify strain fields that are to calculate the total displacement and Lagrangian
distinctly nonuniform, such as those arising from strain between it and any later deformed configura-
stress concentrations, and geometric or material tion. Alternatively, to aid correlation adjacent pairs
heterogeneities/discontinuities. (Note that standard of images in the sequence can be compared, and the
DIC algorithms are not well suited to sharp strain or reference image is updated in time to give incremen-
displacement discontinuities, such as kinks or cracks, tal displacements and strains between it and the next
but this is being overcome via new techniques.7,8 ) image.
For our case of uniaxially loaded SMA wire, large, The specimen surface, either covered by a natural or
but finite, strain gradients exist due to phase an artificially applied pattern, is digitized into a spatial
transformation. distribution of pixel intensities to apply a correlation
The DIC method was first developed in the function. The images are not compared pixel by pixel,
early 1980s by researchers at the University of but rather by matching local distributions of pixel
South Carolina.9 – 11 Initially, DIC was created to intensity subsets between reference and deformed
measure in-plane deformations of flat surfaces using images. For simplicity, the following describes how
a single camera (two-dimensional [2-D] DIC). As 2-D DIC is performed. Summarizing sections of
the methodology developed and computing power Chapter 5 in Sutton et al.,5 the optimal match
grew over the years, the technique was improved between subsets can be achieved by minimizing a
and expanded to three-dimensional (3-D) DIC in chosen correlation function, S, such as the simple
the late 1980s and early 1990s, using two or more
sum of squared differences criterion,
synchronized cameras to track the 3-D position of
points on nonplanar objects (developed by McNeill,
I

Luo, Faugeras, Chao, Sutton, Helm, and others12 – 14 ).
S= [Gi − Fi ]2 , (1)
Both 2-D and 3-D DIC methods calculate surface
i=1
displacements and their gradients, from which surface
Lagrangian strains, velocities, accelerations, and
strain rates can be calculated. (Note that 3-D DIC where Fi = F(xi ) represents the gray-scale value at
should not be confused with volumetric DIC, where pixel i at position xi = (xi , yi ) in the reference image,
displacements and other quantities inside the material and Gi = G(x∗i ) represents the gray-scale value at pixel
are measured, often using X-ray tomography,5,15 or i at position x∗i = (xi∗ , y∗i ) in the deformed image. The
confocal microscopy.16 ) The basic principles behind summation ranges from the first (i = 1) to the last
the DIC method have no inherent length scale pixel (i = I) in the subset. Frequently this criterion is
or time scale. Practical limitations on the use of improved by adjusting for lighting variations between
DIC are imposed by the accuracy of measurement the reference subset and current subset. If a subset
techniques at smaller length scales and high speeds, moves between areas of different lighting intensities,
but substantial progress has been made in expanding say from an area of high illumination to shadow, the
the limits of DIC as better microscopy and high- gray-level values should scale uniformly. Thus, we
speed photography instrumentation have become can replace G with b G in Eq. 1, where b is a scaling
available. Although 3-D DIC has obvious advantages, parameter. The optimum value of b can be found for
2-D DIC remains a very useful and cost-effective tool each subset by minimizing S with respect to b, by

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Experimental Techniques 37 (2013) 62–78 © 2011, Society for Experimental Mechanics 63
Tips and Tricks for Characterizing Shape Memory Wire Part 5 B. Reedlunn et al.

calculating ∂v
∂y ) that were calculated for each subset (p2 , p3 , p4 , p5 ),
 I the displacement gradients are typically recalculated
∂S
=2 [b Gi − Fi ] Gi = 0, from the displacements (u, v) at the center of each
∂b subset (a grid point). This way the displacement
i=1
I gradients at a point depend on the neighboring grid
Fi Gi
⇒ bopt = i=1 I 2
. (2) points, rather than relying entirely on the correlation
i=1 Gi analysis of one subset. From the gradients, Lagrangian
Substituting bopt Gi for Gi in Eq. 1, yields the strains (2-D here) can be determined by
normalized sum of squared differences,    2 
 J 2 ∂u 1 ∂u 2 ∂v
I εxx = + + ,
 j=1 Fj Gj ∂x 2 ∂x ∂x
S= J Gi − Fi . (3)  
j=1 Gj
2  2 
i=1 ∂v 1 ∂u 2 ∂v
εyy = + + ,
At this point, it appears that a pixel in the reference ∂y 2 ∂y ∂y
image can be matched to a location in the current  
1 ∂u ∂v ∂u ∂u ∂v ∂v
image only to within a pixel; however, subpixel εxy = + + + . (5)
2 ∂y ∂x ∂x ∂y ∂x ∂y
resolution is achieved by interpolating the gray-
level intensities of the subsets. Put another way, if Note that some degree of spatial smoothing is usually
the subset moves by 0.2 pixels, some of the pixels performed on the displacement gradients (and/or
will remain nearly the same gray-level intensity, strains) to remove the noise amplified by taking
but others near large gray-level gradients will not. derivatives of experimental data.
Using an interpolation scheme allows the matching The 3-D DIC method utilizes two or more cameras
algorithm to resolve this 0.2 pixel movement. that image the specimen from multiple viewpoints,
Also instead of being restricted to summing over in order to additionally capture the out-of-plane
gray-level intensities at exact pixel locations xi in motions. 3-D DIC determines point correspondences
Eq. 1, one can now sum over a list of optimally between the two images acquired from the cameras
placed sample points across a region of interest at the same instant. To measure both the initial
(ROI). shape and the deformation of an object, the relative
The reader may also notice that, as described thus positions and operating characteristics of the two
far, minimizing a chosen S will only produce accurate cameras must be determined through a calibration
results for rigid body translation of the subset. procedure using a series of images of a grid with
Subset rotation and deformation are accounted for a known pattern. Once the calibration parameters of
by introducing shape functions analogous to finite each camera and their relative orientation in space are
element shape functions. The most commonly used determined, the specimen shape can be reconstructed
shape function assumes strains within the subset are using triangulation.18
uniform: In general terms, the main parameters affecting the
    accuracy of the method are the following:
∗ ∗
p0 1 + p2 p3
xi = x (xi , p) = + xi • Specimen surface specularity. Surfaces with ran-
p1 p4 1 + p5
dom, fluctuating, gray-scale intensity distributions
(4)
work best. Surfaces that have a matte color are
where p is a vector of parameters {p0 , . . . , p5 }. This much better than that those that are highly
allows us to write S = S(p). polished/reflective. Also, surfaces with monotone
The optimal match between the reference subset (uniform) or very gradually varying surface inten-
and the current subset is found by minimizing S sities may not work well. Consequently, unless the
with respect to p. The Newton-Raphson method pre-existing surface happens to be satisfactory, one
is currently the preferred means to determine p must often artificially apply a speckle pattern using
(although the recent Levenburg-Marquardt nonlinear paint or some other high contrast medium.
parameter estimation scheme also shows promise17 ). • Camera, lens, and environment. The usual rules for
Once p is found for all subsets, strains can be good digital photography apply here. One must pay
calculated as a post-processing step. The components attention to illumination, field of view (FOV), and
of the displacement u = x∗ − x are (u, v), which depth of field (DOF) throughout an experiment.
correspond to (p0 , p1 ) for the shape functions of Eq. 4. Also, it is usually best to perform DIC with direct
Instead of using the displacement gradients ( ∂u ∂u ∂v
∂x , ∂y , ∂x , line of sight to the specimen surface. Intervening

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64 Experimental Techniques 37 (2013) 62–78 © 2011, Society for Experimental Mechanics
B. Reedlunn et al. Tips and Tricks for Characterizing Shape Memory Wire Part 5

mirrors or other optics that refract light introduce are difficult to avoid. The error induced by out-of-
optical aberrations in the images, so we discourage plane motion can be minimized by either increasing
their use unless the distortions can be corrected the distance between the camera and the object
prior to correlation. when using a standard lens, using a telecentric
• Image spatial resolution versus speckle size. Image lens, or by estimating a functional form of the
quality can be improved by using a high pixel strain error from measurements of out-of-plane
resolution charge-coupled device (CCD) digital displacement at three points on the specimen.20
camera. Speckles should be large enough to An especially poignant example where ignoring
encompass multiple pixels in an image (over- out-of-plane displacements can produce inaccu-
sampled), but should not be so large that images rate measurements in the measurement of Young’s
cannot be correlated with the required spatial modulus of steels is illustrated in Appendix A of
resolution. Saved images should be of a high- Ref. 21.
• Field of view (3-D DIC only). The same material points
quality, uncompressed format, say bitmap or tiff
(not jpeg). should be in view of multiple cameras. This can be
• Gray-scale dynamic range. A higher number of dis- problematic for specimens with large curvatures,
such as for imaging of thin wires of interest here.
crete gray levels (dynamic range) captured by the
Out-of-plane measurement accuracy is improved
CCD camera and data acquisition system is gen-
by placing cameras at relatively large angles to each
erally better, but the usable dynamic range may
other, but small camera angles may be necessary
be limited by illumination and the contrast of
to achieve a sufficient FOV overlap when imaging
the surface pattern. A high bit A/D converter is
cylindrical objects.
advisable, and, if needed, the CCD signal can be
amplified to utilize the full dynamic range of the When using 3-D DIC, the camera-lens system
A/D converter. Incidentally, color CCD cameras are must be optimized to balance DOF and FOV for
not recommended, due to the way the CCDs the specific test under consideration. An insufficient
are physically constructed, where the introduction DOF can cause pattern defocusing due to out-of-
of color introduces a non-monotonic intensity scale plane motion and introduce substantial error in the
and reduces the effective dynamic range. calculated displacement fields. The specimen must
• Frame rate. The number of images taken must be suf- stay in the cameras FOV and stay in focus for the
ficient to resolve the motion of the specimen. More entire testing period. Assuming a fixed lens size, a
images are better, provided one has sufficient stor- reduction in aperture size will improve the DOF but
will require an increase in object illumination. A
age capacity for them. One can always throw out
reduction in aperture size may also cause light to
images, if not needed during post-processing. If an
diffract through the aperture causing an out of focus
insufficient number is taken, the relative displace-
image. An increase in the focal length of a lens will
ments may be too large between sequential images,
also increase the DOF but will decrease the angular
and the cross-correlation scheme may fail. This can
FOV.5
usually be remedied by manually selecting an initial
Other sources of error can arise from poor
guess for the Newton-Raphson minimization of S
pattern quality, poor specimen illumination, lens
described above, but this may be inconvenient. distortions, environmental disturbances, and complex
• Choice of interpolation function. As mentioned pre- testing environments (e.g., submerged specimens,
viously, gray-level intensity values and their high temperature testing). Sizeable error can also be
derivatives between pixels are typically interpo- introduced by the incorrect choice of speckle size and
lated to reconstruct image intensity patterns prior subset size. Sutton et al.5 recommend each speckle
to correlation. Higher order interpolation schemes should fill a 3 × 3 pixel array in the image, as this
increase the accuracy. A dramatic error reduction is gives near optimal spatial over-sampling. They also
achieved when going from a linear to a cubic inter- recommend that each subset contain at least 3 × 3
polation, with rather diminishing improvements for speckles to ensure reasonable matching accuracy.
fifth-order interpolation.19 Typically linear shape functions are used (such as
• Out-of-plane displacements (2-D DIC only). 2-D DIC is those of Eq. 4), so the selected subset must be small
imaged by one camera oriented perpendicular to enough that the strain within the subset can be
the specimen surface and is best used for a pla- assumed constant yet large enough to encompass
nar surface under primarily in-plane deformation. an area that has a statistically different pattern from
In practice, however, out-of-plane displacements the neighboring subsets. Computations show that

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Experimental Techniques 37 (2013) 62–78 © 2011, Society for Experimental Mechanics 65
Tips and Tricks for Characterizing Shape Memory Wire Part 5 B. Reedlunn et al.

if the signal contains a dominant frequency, the as certain polymeric materials, ink can be used to dye
subset size should encompass at least half of this the specimen surface.
local wavelength in order to avoid misregistration A problematic issue during dynamic or extreme
(i.e., aliasing).22 Using a combination of speckle over- temperature testing, particularly under large strains
sampling, accurate interpolation between pixels and and when paint is used to apply the speckle pattern,
image quantization with at least 8 bits can produce is the tendency of the pattern to debond from the
displacement fields with an accuracy of ±0.02 pixels specimen surface. Recent experiments have shown
or better as shown in Ref. 19. that both the maximum surface strain and the
More detailed, step-by-step, recommendations strain rate are important factors when determining
for assembling an experimental setup with DIC if a speckle pattern will debond from a specimen
measurements are provided in section Experiment 2 surface.24 This can be mitigated by cleaning and
Setup. lightly roughening the surface prior to painting,
and by applying the paint immediately prior to the
experiment.
Specimen Preparation Speckle pattern quality can be evaluated through
gray-scale statistics,5,25 where an image intensity
The accuracy of the DIC measurements is especially histogram is plotted with the gray-scale intensity
dependent on the quality of the surface pattern, of a pixel on the x-axis, and the number of pixels
and since the pattern is usually applied artificially, at that gray-scale value on the y-axis. A typical
specimen preparation is worth discussing in some CCD stores 8 bits per sampled pixel, allowing 256
detail. This takes some practice to obtain good possible shades of gray to be recorded, so the x-axis of
results. The speckle pattern must be sufficiently the histogram typically runs 0–255. A non-Gaussian
non-periodic, isotropic, and of high contrast to (bimodal or otherwise skewed) image intensity profile
guarantee the uniqueness of the tracking signature can indicate a poor quality pattern, areas of local
for each subset. Prior work has shown that a smooth reflection, or other issues that can degrade correlation
transition between black and white within a given results. However, a Gaussian distribution alone does
speckle is preferable (as opposed to uniformly black not indicate a high-quality pattern for DIC, as an
speckles on a white background, which fortunately overly smooth intensity could be Gaussian but not
in practice is actually difficult to achieve) for accurate specular. Baseline translation and rotation testing is
measurements, and the pixel-to-speckle ratio must another indicator of pattern quality, where a known
be sufficiently large to enable over-sampling.19,23 Of rigid body displacement is applied to the specimen
course, the pattern application should not alter the and plotted against the DIC-measured displacements
mechanical or chemical characteristics of the sample. to assess the resulting quality of the measurement.
The pattern should have minimal local areas of
reflection, so the use of nonreflective matte paints
Experimental Results
and diffuse lighting is recommended. If there are
persistent reflective or otherwise corrupted pixels in Two experiments will be described below to demon-
the image, then the user should consider removing strate how DIC can be applied to experiments on SMA
these points from the correlation analysis. wire. The first experiment was performed at General
Optimal pattern application methods vary, depend- Motors R&D on Flexinol wire� R
subjected to Joule
ing on the required magnification. For microscale heating using a 2-D DIC setup. The second experi-
measurements, high-quality patterns can readily be ment was performed on SE wire at the University of
obtained by airbrushing. Airbrushes can be purchased Michigan using a 3-D DIC setup.
with different nozzles depending on the desired size
of the pattern, where a smaller nozzle diameter pro-
duces smaller paint droplets (speckles). The pattern Experiment 1: Joule heating response of SM wire
is often applied by lightly coating the sample surface In this first experiment, the deformation result-
with a light paint, letting this dry, then spraying the ing from the martensite-to-austenite (M+ → A)
coated specimen with a dark mist of paint. Reversing temperature-induced phase transformation of SM
the sequence, first dark paint, then light paint works wire was studied with 2-D DIC. In this simple
equally well. (More detailed suggestions for airbrush- setup, a prestrained SMA wire was heated above
ing will be provided in section Specimen Preparation.) its transition temperature at constant load to induce
For materials where paint does not adhere well, such contraction of the wire due to the shape memory

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66 Experimental Techniques 37 (2013) 62–78 © 2011, Society for Experimental Mechanics
B. Reedlunn et al. Tips and Tricks for Characterizing Shape Memory Wire Part 5

(a) was first coated with a fine dusting of white paint

Electrical by holding the aerosol can about 0.3–0.45 m from
Connector
Specimen the specimen and spraying for a few seconds. It was
then sprayed with black paint in a similar manner to
produce the speckle pattern shown in the photograph
of Fig. 1(b). Alternatively, one could use white spray
Hanging paint followed by a sprinkling of fine black laser toner
Mass
powder, but the white and black paint worked well
for our 0.381-mm-diameter wires. The key point here
(b) 1293 px is that speckles should be small enough that multiple
(14.08 mm)
speckles fit within the chosen pixel subset. Thus,
P
one speckle should never exceed the dimensions of
the chosen pixel subset. A grid point is the center
point of a subset where the vector p is calculated.
35 px Keep in mind that uniqueness from grid point to grid
(0.381 mm) 5 px point in the DIC process is only guaranteed (within
a certain numerical tolerance) by the subset of pixels
20 x 10 subset 20 px surrounding each grid point. In other words, the
purpose of the pixel subset is to help the software
Figure 1 Experiment 1—setup: (a) photograph of setup and (b) image find each grid point from image to image.
and schematic of specimen with magnified image (inset) of speckle
During the experiment, the temperature of the
pattern.
wire specimen was increased by Joule heating from
RT to above the Flexinol transformation temperature.
effect. As-received 90◦ C Flexinol wire, 0.381 mm A power supply was connected to both ends of the
(0.015 inches) diameter (obtained from Dynalloy, wire, and the electric current was increased from 0 to
Inc.), was chosen for this experiment. This material 1 A at approximately 0.01 A/s. The current (1 A) was
has a transformation temperature above room tem- then held constant throughout the remainder of the
perature (RT) (Af ≈ 80 − 90◦ C), is preconditioned by experiment until no more deformation was observed,
the supplier for actuator applications (with a max indicating that M+ → A phase transformation had
recommended load of 20 N), and is provided to the ended.
user prestrained at RT. (We should also mention Imaging was performed from above by a single
that this SMA wire has a significant two-way shape CCD camera (Sony XCD-SX900) with a 1280 × 960
memory effect,26 so it will contract upon heating and pixel array and a maximum frame rate of 7 frames/s.
lengthen upon subsequent cooling.) A wire speci- A telecentric lens affixed to the camera captured
men of approximate length 200 mm (8 inches) was images of a central portion of the wire. The DASYLab
placed horizontally on a mounting device with one software package27 was used to control the camera
crimped end fixed to a rigid mount (right end) and and to record the axial load and displacement data.
the other end attached to a 100 g (0.98 N) dead- Images were taken at about 2-s intervals (total of 46
weight via a rigid wire across a pulley as shown in images), and the axial load and displacement were
Fig. 1(a). The axial stress level was small (8.6 MPa), recorded at a sampling rate of 3 Hz.
just enough to keep the wire straight. The wire was After the images were acquired (in bitmap BMP
suspended about 5 mm distance above the bottom format), the SDMAP software (Surface Deformation
surface of the mounting device to avoid any inter- Mapping Program) developed at Yale University28,29
vening contact between the ends. Also, the left end was used to compute the strain fields. The approach
of the wire was allowed to displace significantly as to strain mapping is similar to that of Refs. 30–32.
the wire contracted or elongated, so new material The six parameter affine deformation mapping
could enter or leave the FOV. Care was taken to function of Eq. 4 (constant displacement gradients)
ensure that the central 60–70%, or so, of the wire was employed for the deformation of each 20 × 10
remained in the FOV of the camera during the entire subset. A bicubic spline interpolation was used for
experiment. subpixel gray-scale values. The correlation algorithm
A gray contrast pattern was applied to each wire of Ref. 30 was used, although others are available.
through separate treatments of white and black This was found to be faster than that in Ref. 32 with
aerosol spray paint speckles. In this case, the wire comparable performance.

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Experimental Techniques 37 (2013) 62–78 © 2011, Society for Experimental Mechanics 67
Tips and Tricks for Characterizing Shape Memory Wire Part 5 B. Reedlunn et al.

The DIC analysis computed the strains from the 5

finite deformation formulation, Eq. 5, in terms of the εxx t1
displacement gradients. These were obtained through (%) t2
a post-DIC processing routine (a moving least square 4
filtering routine) of the grid displacements. Small, t3
t4
rectangular pixel subsets (20 × 10) were employed,
instead of the usual square subsets, due to the narrow 3 t5
geometry of the wires. Although the primary interest
was the axial strain, a narrow subset permitted 5 grid t6
2
points, spaced 5 pixels apart, to be analyzed in the t7
transverse direction. The images in the present study
t8
were compared in an incremental fashion, in which 1
the current (deformed) image was compared against t9
t10 t11
the previous (reference) image to give the increment
in the displacement and displacement gradient fields. 0
These were then added to obtain the displacement 0 10 20 30 40 50
and displacement gradient fields relative to the first Image
reference image.
In 2-D DIC of a wire, the cylindrical surface is Figure 2 Experiment 1—average axial strain (εxx ) evolution of Flexinol
projected onto the planar CCD of the single camera, so during Joule heating.
only the crown of the wire is not significantly distorted
by curvature effects. The measurements of εxy and
εyy would not be expected to be accurate near the t1

edges of the wire. Measurements of εxx would be less t2

t3
affected by curvature, but some error may still exist 5 t4
at the edge as the Lagrangian strain εxx in Eq. 5 would t5
t6
include an inaccurate ∂v/∂x as a second-order term.
4 t7
Thus, to be conservative, displacement and strain εxx
fields were computed over a ROI of 1181 × 21 pixels (%) t8
3
centered along the wire crown, rather than across the t9

entire 35 pixel wire diameter. This corresponded to

an analysis grid of 60 × 5 with 20 × 5 pixel spacing, 2 t 10
t 11
as shown in Fig. 1(b). 1200
12
Initially, the reference image was taken at RT (as 1
)
was convenient), so the relative axial strains recorded y (px) x (px
during the experiment were negative. We performed 10
0 0
-10
one last post-processing step by subtracting the axial
strain field of the last image (highest temperature)
to make Austenite the reference configuration, as is Figure 3 Experiment 1—axial strain contours at selected times.
conventional. Figure 2 shows the average strain over
the entire ROI (ε xx ) for each image taken. It shows is essentially constant across the DIC ROI at t1 (with
how the 4.26% prestrain in the martensite (at RT) is some minor waviness). Between times t6 and t8 the
recovered during heating, decreasing gradually, then axial strain became quite wavy (±0.5% strain), espe-
steeply, then gradually again, reaching zero by the cially in the axial direction, and then became flat again
last image. Some points in the figure (solid circles) by time t10 . The cause of the waviness is not known
are tagged at selected times (t1 , . . . , t11 ) to show details with certainty, as we do not know the exact pre-
in subsequent figures. conditioning procedure used for Flexinol wire (which
Figure 3 shows the evolution of axial strain field, is proprietary), but our measurements indicate that
εxx (x, y), along the wire crown for the 11 selected small pockets of material undergo transformation at
times of Fig. 2. Overall, the strain profiles translate different times. We suspect that residual stresses,
downward in the plot as time (and heating) progress creating by the preconditioning, create local hetero-
(similar to the trends in Fig. 2), but it also shows some geneities in the ‘‘driving force’’ which influence local
interesting and unexpected features. The axial strain nucleation sites for early (or late) transformation.

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68 Experimental Techniques 37 (2013) 62–78 © 2011, Society for Experimental Mechanics
B. Reedlunn et al. Tips and Tricks for Characterizing Shape Memory Wire Part 5

Experiment 2: Cyclic shakedown of SE wire

0.762 mm
Epoxy Tab
We now turn to the second experiment to demon- (LE Tag on back) (44 pixels)
strate the cyclic shakedown behavior of SE wire (same
alloy as used in previous parts of this series) at RT,
using 3-D DIC measurements to quantify changes
in recovery strains, along with simultaneous infrared
L
(IR) imaging to quantify changes in latent heat and Le 19 x 19
thermo-mechanical coupling. Subset
Cyclic shakedown of Nitinol is an important aspect
that SMA application engineers must often face
for adaptive structures applications, as repeatable
cyclic behavior is essential for the success of many
devices. Usually, however, as-received NiTi wire
exhibits significant changes in its response, including Figure 4 Superelastic specimen and speckle pattern.
transformation stresses, recovery strains, and latent
heat changes, when subjected to thermo-mechanical possible. This combination of a small opening for the
cycling. This can create difficulties for application paint and high pressure (340 kPa in our case) caused
engineers who wish to design devices, both for the paint to atomize upon exiting the airbrush. The
thermally induced actuation (like the previous airbrush was held about 50 mm away from the spec-
experiment) and isothermal shape recovery (SE). To imen during paint application. To quickly assess the
cope with this, SMA wire is often ‘‘trained’’ prior to resulting speckle pattern, we then took an image of
installation in the device to achieve a desired response the specimen using the cameras and field of view of
through repetitive, carefully controlled thermo- our setup, and confirmed that speckles were approxi-
mechanical cycles that are representative of expected mately 3 × 3 pixels in size as recommended by Sutton
operating conditions. The result is ‘‘shakedown’’ (or et al.5 A magnified view of the resulting image is
cyclic stabilization) to the desired material response shown as the inset of Fig. 4, showing 44 pixels across
(see, e.g., Refs. 26, 33, 34). the wire diameter and a typical 19 × 19 subset used
in the correlation analysis.
Specimen preparation
To have an independent (and confirmatory) mea- Experiment 2 setup
surement of the strain during the experiment and to The experimental setup was similar to that described
control the strain amplitude during cycling, reflec- in our previous articles for a RT superelastic experi-
tive tags were attached to the specimen to use a ment, but with the addition of optical imaging for DIC.
laser extensometer (LE). To get a reliable reading, The front view of a typical imaging arrangement of a
the width of the laser tags must extend beyond the vertically oriented specimen is shown in Fig. 5. An IR
diameter of the specimen (d = 0.762 mm), so tabs camera (Inframetrics ThermCam SC1000 IR imaging
were made of epoxy on the back side of the spec- system with a 256 × 256 pixel array) measured the
imen to affix the LE tags (see left-hand image in specimen’s temperature field. The emissivity of the
Fig. 4). Care was taken to leave the front of the wire painted specimen was measured to be � = 0.91, which
free of epoxy to permit DIC measurements. After is close to the ideal emissivity of 1. The two optical
the epoxy had cured, the specimen was first painted cameras shown on either side of the IR camera are
with a background coat of Golden Airbrush Tita- Pt. Grey Research Grasshoppers (GRAS-50S5M-C).
nium White (#8380), followed by a speckle coat of Each is a rather compact camera with a 2448 × 2048
Golden Airbrush Carbon Black (#8040). These paints (3.45 μm square pixels) black and white CCD. The
were chosen for their opacity, strong contrast, and manufacturer reports the Grasshopper is capable of
good adhesion even under superelastic strains. They 14 bit gray-scale resolution, but the effective (noise
were both applied using an Iwata custom micron-B free) dynamic range was about 8 bits for our setup.
airbrush, which has the smallest nozzle in its class We should mention that single lens reflex (SLR)
(0.18 mm). Through experimentation it was found digital cameras are not ideal for DIC because the
that the smallest speckles were produced by pulling quick movement of the mechanical mirror shutter
the airbrush needle back as little as possible to allow system causes the camera body to shake slightly, as
paint to flow, and setting the air pressure as high as opposed to the electronic frame shutter utilized in

© 2013, GM Global Technology Operations, Inc.

Experimental Techniques 37 (2013) 62–78 © 2011, Society for Experimental Mechanics 69
Tips and Tricks for Characterizing Shape Memory Wire Part 5 B. Reedlunn et al.

the Grasshopper. Tamron CCTV 75-mm focal length the strains from the LE (δe /Le ) or DIC (ε) rather
lenses (as shown in Fig. 5) have been successfully than the global strain (δ/L). The prescribed ‘‘global
used in previous experiments, but here we used strain rate’’ was δ̇/L = ±5 × 10−4 s−1 , which should
75-mm Fujinon HF75SA lenses instead (not shown) be emphasized again, is quite different than the
which had a maximum aperture diameter of 41.6 mm ‘‘local strain rate’’ when transformation fronts are
(vs. 19.2 mm for the Tamron lenses). This meant it propagating.
was possible to rely on the diffuse fluorescent lights In setting up the cameras, many of the same tech-
described below and use very little direct lighting, niques known to any photographer were employed.
which can cause glare. Here is the procedure we used:
The specimen was clamped between hardened steel
1. Clean the lens and protective glass in front of the CCD.
plates within pneumatically actuated grips resulting
in an axial (x-direction) free length of L = 36.96 mm. If a certain area of a speckle pattern will not cor-
It was loaded uniaxially in displacement control by an relate, and there does not appear to be anything
Instron 5585 electro-mechanical, lead-screw driven, wrong with the focus, lighting, or the speckle
load frame, where the lower grip was fixed and the pattern, then the problem may be dust on the lens
upper grip displacement (δ) was controlled and mea- or protective glass in front of the CCD. However,
sured by the load frame’s high resolution optical to correct this one must touch the cameras and
encoder. A 500 N load cell monitored the resultant destroy the calibration. So, prior to camera place-
axial force (P). From the back side, an Electronic ment in the setup, we held white paper in front of
Instruments Research (model LE-05) LE measured the camera, outside of the focal range, and slowly
the elongation (δe ) between the laser tags affixed to a moved it around. The live camera images will
central gage section of initial length Le = 28.57 mm. appear as pure white if the lens and CCD protec-
The upper grip displacement δ̇ = dδ/dt was prescribed tive glass are clean. If, however, gray smudges exist
at a constant rate during loading (δ̇ > 0) and unload- that do not move as the paper is moved, then the
ing (δ̇ < 0). As we have mentioned before in previous lens should be cleaned. If the smudges remain and
parts, some disagreement between local and global they do not move when the lens is rotated inside
strain measurements is typically unavoidable due to its C-mount, then the source of the smudges is
some grip slippage as transformation fronts (localized on the protective glass of the CCD, and blowing
strains) enter or exit the free length. Artifacts from purified compressed air across the protective glass
grip slippage were (mostly) eliminated by reporting should correct the problem.

Laser Extensometer
LE
Top Grip

LE Tag
Specimen

Thermocouple, Ts Thermocouple, Ta Specimen

Direct Light
Direct Lighting Direct Lighting

CCD camera CCD camera

Diffuse Light

IR camera CCD camera

IR camera

15° 15°

(a) (b)

Figure 5 Superelastic experiment setup: (a) photograph of front view and (b) schematic of top view.

© 2013, GM Global Technology Operations, Inc.

70 Experimental Techniques 37 (2013) 62–78 © 2011, Society for Experimental Mechanics
B. Reedlunn et al. Tips and Tricks for Characterizing Shape Memory Wire Part 5

2. Place and orient the cameras. The cameras were

placed on an optical table in front of the testing
frame. In this setup, the bottom grip of our
setup was fixed and the top grip moved with the
crosshead, so the bottom of the FOV was aligned
with the bottom of the specimen and the top
of the FOV included 13% above the top of the
specimen to allow for specimen elongation. The
total FOV height was 45 mm, and the inclusive
angle between the cameras (stereo angle) was
31.4◦ . (In past experiments, as shown in Fig. 5, we
have used 18–20◦ , a somewhat better FOV overlap
between the cameras, but in this case the IR camera
interfered.) At this point, the cameras were rigidly
clamped down, and the data/power cables were
tied down to the camera mounting posts.
3. Focus the cameras and set the aperture. To center the
DOF across the specimen, the aperture was initially
fully opened to f /1.8 (41.67 mm diameter). This
reduced the DOF to its minimum, making it easy Figure 6 Vic-3D calibration grid.
to set the working distance and focus the camera
on the specimen. The aperture was then closed Along with the movement of the crosshead, all six
back down to increase the DOF. Although the degrees of freedom were available to translate and
aperture could be closed down to f /22 (3.4 mm) rotate (approximately ±20◦ ) the calibration grid
to attain the maximum DOF, the image became to generate 40 different pairs of images of the cal-
noticeably blurry after f /8 (9.4 mm). Owing to the ibration grid within various locations of the FOV.
especially small pixels of these cameras (3.45 μm), 5. Set the lighting and exposure time. With the well-
Airy circles from light diffracting through the small known temperature sensitivity of NiTi, special care
aperture were larger than a pixel, causing the must be taken to choose lighting sources that do
blurriness. Close side-by-side comparison revealed not change the temperature of the specimen. Here,
that even an aperture of f /8 produced a slightly we used fluorescent lights behind frosted translu-
blurred image compared to f /5.6 (13.4 mm), so cent plastic (just out of view in Fig. 5(a)), similar to
the aperture was set at f /5.6. From this point on, that of a light box, to produce a diffuse, flat, light.
the cameras were not disturbed and equipment In addition, flexible fiber optic lights (coming in
around the cameras was only touched carefully from the top of Fig. 5) with an adjustable light
when necessary. intensity were used to fine tune the illumination.
4. Calibrate the camera orientations and positions. A 3-D The LE shown in Fig. 5 was placed behind the
DIC analysis requires the precise orientation of the specimen to avoid shining the laser sheet on the
cameras relative to one another. This is typically same side of the specimen as the optical cameras.
performed by taking a number of images with In addition, care was taken to not shine the fiber
both cameras of a known calibration grid in differ- optic lights directly at the LE, as that would affect
ent positions and orientations. Only 5–10 images the extensometer reading. The camera exposure
are required, but more are better to reduce the time was set at 20 ms using the camera control
measurement uncertainty and quantify the effect software, Vic-Snap.35 Given sufficient light, it is
of lens distortions. To calibrate the cameras with- usually better to minimize the motion blur by
out disturbing them, the specimen was removed selecting shorter exposure times. However, we
from the grips, and the calibration grid shown in have found exposure times less than 1 ms with
Fig. 6 was placed in view of the cameras. Having the Grasshopper cameras produce noisy images.
closed down the aperture meant less light was We believe that longer exposure times ‘‘integrate
reaching the CCD, so the lighting and exposure out’’ the noise in the light reaching the CCD sensor.
time were adjusted to compensate. The calibration Given this balance between motion blur and noise,
grid was attached to a three-axis gimble and two our shutter time corresponds to 0.1 pixels or less
micrometer stages, which were held in the top grip. of movement during the exposure. Finally, when

© 2013, GM Global Technology Operations, Inc.

Experimental Techniques 37 (2013) 62–78 © 2011, Society for Experimental Mechanics 71
Tips and Tricks for Characterizing Shape Memory Wire Part 5 B. Reedlunn et al.

selecting an exposure time/lighting combination, compared. On occasions when automatic correlation

saturated pixels should be strictly avoided, as DIC fails in Vic-3D (such as when material leaves the
performs its matching between the reference and FOV then returns), the software allows the user to
deformed subsets using gray-level gradients. If a manually choose a ‘‘seed point’’ in the current image
collection of neighboring pixels are completely to help the software find a correlation match.
white, there is no gradient, and usually will cause
the correlation routine to fail at that location.
Experiment 2 results
6. Perform a trial run. Before running any experiment
it is advisable to take a few images of the specimen In this experiment, the wire was cycled 25 times
while it is static, load these images into the DIC between δe /Le = 7.5% and P/A0 = 6.6 MPa (a small
software, and run a quick correlation. This can help load, just to keep the wire taut) in RT air (22◦ C)
locate problem areas due to lighting glare, inade- at a global strain rate of δ̇/L = ±5 × 10−4 s−1 .
quate speckle pattern, etc. It can also give you a The mechanical response shown in Fig. 7 exhibits
dry run, to test out your camera triggering system. typical superelastic shakedown behavior, where the
Here, the cameras were triggered with a function upper plateau evolves downward in stress and the
generator using a 0.8 s period 0–5 V square wave. residual strain at near zero load ratchets forward
This same function generator signal was also sent in progressively smaller increments with cycling. In
to the data acquisition system that captured the addition, the length of both plateaus decreases, the
load, LE, thermocouples, and crosshead displace- stress–strain response becomes more sigmoid-like in
ment data to synchronize all measurements. shape, and the magnitude of the hysteresis (area
within the loop) diminishes. All these features are
After the experiment, the DIC images were well-known aspects of uniaxial NiTi wire behavior
analyzed using the commercially available Vic-3D (see Ref. 33 for more details).
software36 across an ROI, centered on the crown IR images and DIC images were taken at
of the wire (2114 × 16 pixels). The 3 × 3 rule (3 × 3 1.25 frames/s during the experiment. Figure 8 shows
pixels per speckle with 3 × 3 speckles per subset) an IR and a DIC snapshot at t = 121 s, corresponding
is a good guide to quickly assess speckle size, to δe /Le = 2.75% during the first-cycle upper plateau
speckle spacing, and pixel subset size. In general, in Fig. 7. It shows a single A → M+ front propagating
larger subsets lead to better correlation between the downward that is detected in the IR image as a local
reference image and the deformed image, but subsets
that are too large can result in ‘‘over-smoothing’’ of
the strain fields. Vic-3D uses the same constant strain N=1
shape functions by Eq. 4 as was used in Experiment 0.5
1. Thus, the choice of subset size is a trade-off 5
between the correlation strength and the desired P
spatial resolution of strain inhomogeneities to be A0 0.4
resolved. Our 19 × 19 subset included roughly 3 × 3
speckles and corresponded to a dimensional region (GPa)
0.3 25
of about 0.33 mm × 0.33 mm (or 0.43d × 0.43d in
wire diameters). The analysis grid chosen was
1057 × 8 with 2 × 2 pixel spacing. We used Vic-3D’s
default cross-correlation function, the normalized 0.2
sum of squared differences, Eq. 3. In contrast to
SDMAP in Experiment 1, where the increment
in strain was calculated by comparing the current 0.1
deformed image against the previous deformed
image, Vic-3D calculates the (total) Lagrangian strain
by comparing the current deformed image against 0
the reference (zero strain) image. The incremental 0 2 4 6 8
method produces a better correlation between images,
as for a smaller deformation increment the constant
δe Le (%)
strain in the subset is a better assumption. However,
the incremental method can lead to measurement Figure 7 Experiment 2, superelastic mechanical response to 25 load-
error accumulation as more and more images are unload cycles in room temperature air (22◦ C).

© 2013, GM Global Technology Operations, Inc.

72 Experimental Techniques 37 (2013) 62–78 © 2011, Society for Experimental Mechanics
B.
B. Reedlunn
Reedlunn et
et al.
al. Tips
Tips and
and Tricks
Tricks for
for Characterizing
Characterizing Shape
Shape Memory
Memory Wire
Wire Part
Part 55

IR DIC its scale is the right-hand vertical axis. The axial strain
Upper contour plot was created by averaging the strain across
Grip
the lateral (y) direction of the wire to create a 1-D axial
ε xx (%)
LE profile from each DIC image. A selected sequence at
T ( o C) Tag 10
1.6-s intervals was then stacked side by side (≈ 200
35
images per cycle) and synchronized with time (t)
A- M+ 8
along the horizontal axis. (3-D DIC provides a wealth
30 Front
of information, but here we are mostly interested in
6
axial strains. Other plots of other strain components,
25
such as lateral (εyy ) and shear (εxy ) strains, have
4
also been processed that show similar discontinuities
20
where fronts exists, but are not shown here in the
2
x interest of space.) The temperature contour plot was
15
similarly created from the IR images at 1.6-s intervals
0
(≈ 200 images per cycle). Both fields are shown in
the Eulerian frame (current configuration), so the
y
(a) (b) top of the free length moves up during loading and
down during unloading according to the upper grip
displacement.
Figure 8 Experiment 2, snapshots at t = 121 s of temperature (a) and
axial strain (b) fields during first-cycle loading (A → M+ propagation). During the first cycle, the sharp transition between
high strain and low strain regions in Fig. 10(a)
clearly shows transformation fronts (locations of
8 high strain gradient) traversing the specimen length.
ε As discussed in Part 4, these fronts also manifest
(%) themselves as local temperature changes in the
6 specimen, which can be seen in Fig. 10(b), due
to the exothermic (A → M+ during loading) and
endothermic (M+ → A during unloading) latent
4 heat (enthalpy) exchanges with the environment.
Because stagnant air is a relatively poor heat transfer
2 LE medium, A → M+ transformation creates self-heating
and fronts show up as local hot spots (above RT);
whereas, M+ → A transformation creates self-cooling
DIC
0 and fronts show up as local cold spots (subambient
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 temperatures). We have used this to our advantage
t (103 s) in past work to track the transformation kinetics
in SMAs. At this relatively slow loading rate, a
single A → M+ transformation front starts at the
Figure 9 Experiment 2, cycle 1 comparison of average strains as
top grip where there is a stress concentration due
measured by the laser extensometer (LE) and DIC.
to clamping, and it propagates downward at nearly
constant speed until x/L = 0.1 when the crosshead
hot spot and in the DIC image as a near disconti- motion is reversed. The A → M+ strain jump is
nuity in axial strain from 0.9 to 7.5% (about 2 wire about �εxx = 7.5 − 0.9 = 6.6%. During unloading,
diameters in axial extent). As a confirmatory step, this initial front remains static momentarily until the
we compared the average axial strains between the stress reaches the lower plateau, at which point it
LE tags as measured by the LE and DIC, which track reverses direction, propagating upward until a new
together nicely (Fig. 9). M+ → A front starts from the top grip. These two
Figure 10 shows contour plots of the axial strain fronts then propagate toward each other at about half
field history, εxx (x, t), and temperature field history, the initial speed until they coalesce (annihilate each
T(x, t), during the first five cycles. In each plot the other) at x/L = 0.67, at which point the end of the
wire axial coordinate (x) is normalized by the initial lower stress plateau is reached and further unloading
free length (L), as shown on the left-hand vertical occurs via a uniform strain field. The M+ → A strain
scale. The stress history is overlaid for reference, and jump is about �εxx = 0.3 − 6.0 = −5.7%.

© 2013, GM Global Technology Operations, Inc.

Experimental Techniques 37 (2013) 62–78 © 2011, Society for Experimental Mechanics 73
Tips and Tricks for Characterizing Shape Memory Wire Part 5 B. Reedlunn et al.

1
N=1 2 3 4 5
Loading Unloading
P
1 0.8 A0
x
L (GPa)
P 0.6
A0 +
M-A
Front
0.4
+
A- M
Front 0.2

0 0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8
t (103 s)
xx (%)
(a)
0 2 4 6 8 10
1
N=1 2 3 4 5
P
1 0.8 A0
x
L (GPa)
P 0.6
A0

0.4

0.2

0 0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8
t (103 s)
T ( o C)
(b)
15 20 25 30 35

Figure 10 Experiment 2, cycles 1–5: (a) axial strain field history, (b) temperature field history.

The magnitude of the slope of each strain the local self-heating (or self-cooling) in the specimen
discontinuity (front) in Fig. 10(a) is related to its front and is energetically favorable.
speed (c). Recall from Part 4 that transformation fronts The axial strain field is useful to precisely locate
‘‘prefer’’ to propagate at the same speed according to fronts (compared to the temperature field that is
more diffuse due to axial heat conduction) and
δ̇
c= , (6) to quantify strain jumps, but the temperature field
n �εP is useful to explain the stress history, as was
where δ̇ is the elongation rate, n is the number of shown in Part 4. The thermo-mechanical coupling
front propagating, and �εP is the strain jump across in NiTi is clearly illustrated in Fig. 11, where the
the stress plateau. This is really just a statement of stress closely follows the trends of the temperatures
axial compatibility between the grips, written in rate TA→M+ and TM+ →A , consistent with the Clausius-
form, for steady-state (equilibrium) conditions. As Clapeyron relation, Eq. 1 in Ref. 4, for transformation
new fronts are generated (increasing n) they can stress versus temperature. These transformation front
slow down, since mechanical equilibrium requires temperatures were simply found from the maximum
the axial force to be constant along the length and and minimum temperatures in the gage section
they each contribute to the prescribed the prescribed during front propagation.
global elongation rate (δ̇). On the other hand, if the Returning to Fig. 10(a), one may notice three
strain jump (�εP ) decreases, as it does from cycle anomalies in the strain field history that exist
to cycle, they speed up. In the absence of boundary during all cycles. Two of the anomalies are real
effects or other inhomogeneities that would change disturbances in the strain field caused by the epoxy
the local temperature or stress conditions, all fronts tabs for the laser tags at x/L = 0.13 and 0.86. The
tend to propagate at the same rate, as this minimizes DIC strain measurements capture the fluctuations

© 2013, GM Global Technology Operations, Inc.

74 Experimental Techniques 37 (2013) 62–78 © 2011, Society for Experimental Mechanics
B. Reedlunn et al. Tips and Tricks for Characterizing Shape Memory Wire Part 5

0.6 only εavg = 7.45% (by DIC) in the second cycle due to
P superelastic shakedown, so the crosshead proceeded
P
0.5 A0 40 further during this cycle before δe /Le > 7.5%.
A0 T
The remainder of the cycles exhibited typical
(GPa) ( o C)
0.4 30 superelastic shakedown (and no further significant
TA M
+ grip slippage occurred). As the cycle number (N)
RT
0.3 20 increases, we see an increasing number of fronts
(Fig. 10(a)), probably due to accumulated defects in
TM + A the wire that reduce the energy barriers for strain
0.2 10
localization. One can see that the strains in the
‘‘austenite’’ (low strain) regions evolve to slightly
0.1
increased strains, consistent with the small amount of
residual strain accumulation (see again Fig. 7), which
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 results in a decrease in strain jump across the fronts.
t (103 s) With cycling the upper plateau moves downward in
stress and its length (in time, or equivalently, �εP )
Figure 11 Experiment 2, cycle 1 stress and front temperature histories. decreases. This means that transformation via front
propagation is exhausted at earlier global strains,
in strain caused by the constraint imposed by the consistent with the somewhat higher front speeds
epoxy mass and the slight stress concentration at according to Eq. 6. Further transformation involves a
these locations. The third anomaly consists of two nearly uniform strain field, and the stress rises steeply
slight horizontal streaks (discontinuities) at about to its (nearly) same value at maximum elongation.
x/L = 0.56. The bottom streak does not follow the This is the reason for the progressively larger stress
specimen displacement, while the upper streak does, ‘‘spikes’’ seen at the end of each loading increment.
which indicates a flaw in the CCD that affected both Propagating fronts during later cycles are also
the deformed images and the reference image. This accompanied by progressively less temperature devi-
was confirmed by changing lenses and observing the ations from RT than the first cycle, as shown in
same artifact on a new specimen. The bottom streak Fig. 10(b). The stress history exhibits a number of
was even in the exact same pixel location. Thus, the small jumps and drops, each of which (except for
streaks are an artifact of the CCD imperfection and the grip slippage problem at 500 s in cycle 2) can
should be disregarded. be associated (and explained) by a change in front
The transformation fronts in the second cycle kinetics, in which fronts are created, annihilated, or
propagate along similar paths as in the first cycle. change speed. By cycle 5 there are as many as four
The only significant difference is that the A → M+ A → M+ fronts (during loading) and three M+ → A
front reaches the bottom of the gage length, where, fronts (during unloading), and some fronts even start
as frequently happens, the lateral contraction at the and stop (see the unloading portion of cycle 5), appar-
front caused the wire to slip out of the bottom grip a ently due to inhomogeneous defect accumulation in
small amount. This slippage can be seen as a drop in the wire that affects the local thermodynamic driving
the stress history as the front reaches the lower grip. force for front propagation.
It also created a rigid body translation of the material By cycle 25, as shown in Fig. 12(a), there exist
points between t = 500 s and t = 535 s. Because as many as eight fronts during loading and four
sudden stress drops do occur for other (valid) reasons fronts during unloading, with some again propagat-
in SMA wire, it can often be difficult to determine ing in ‘‘fits and starts.’’ The fronts in the IR images
whether load discontinuities are due to phase (Fig. 12(b)) are now quite muted, although still dis-
transformation or experimental problems. Here, DIC cernible upon close inspection. This occurs for two
clearly identified this as an experimental problem, reasons: (1) the smaller strain jumps and residual
not the actual material response. The transformation strain accumulation indicate that local plasticity has
did not reach the bottom grip during the first cycle locked-in micro pockets of residual martensite, such
but did during the second cycle. The reason was that a smaller fraction of the material (within a given
that the load frame was programmed to reverse wire cross-section) actually participates in the trans-
the crosshead direction when δe /Le > 7.5% (not the formation to release or absorb latent heat, and (2)
global strain). The average strain in the M+ region more fronts during the transformation effectively dis-
reached εavg = 7.53% (by DIC) in the first cycle, but tribute the self-heating and self-cooling more evenly

© 2013, GM Global Technology Operations, Inc.

Experimental Techniques 37 (2013) 62–78 © 2011, Society for Experimental Mechanics 75
Tips and Tricks for Characterizing Shape Memory Wire Part 5 B. Reedlunn et al.

1 10

P
1 0.8
x A0 ε xx 8
L (GPa) (%)
0.6
P 6
t
A0
0.4
4

0.2
2

0 0
7.6 7.7 7.8 7.9 8 0
t (103 s) 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
(a) xL
ε xx (%)
10
(a) 0 2 4 6 8 10

1
ε xx 8
P (%)
1 0.8 A0
x 6
L (GPa)
0.6
4
0.4
P 2
A0 0.2
0
0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
7.6 7.7 7.8 7.9 8
(b) xL
t (103 s)
T ( o C) Figure 13 Experiment 2, cycle 1 axial strain profiles during loading (a)
(b) 15 20 25 30 35 and unloading (b). Shown in the Lagrangian frame.

Figure 12 Experiment 2, cycle 25: (a) strain field history and (b)
Lastly, Fig. 14 shows a comparison of strain εxx
temperature field history.
profiles for cycles N = 1, 5, and 25 during loading at
a selected strain level (δe /Le = 4.5%) midway across
across the specimen. The persistence of only four the upper stress plateau. The three strain profiles cor-
fronts during unloading means the fronts must move respond to times t =117.4 s, 1462.2 s, and 7654.2 s,
relatively quickly to traverse the gage length, and respectively. One can again see the number of fronts
self-cooling still decreases the specimen to as low as (strain jumps) increases and the magnitude of the
18.4◦ C. This causes the stress to steadily decrease dur- strain jumps decreases with cycle number. Comparing
cycles 1 and 25, the strain jump across a A → M+
ing M+ → A transformation (unloading); whereas,
transformation front during loading decreases from
the stress remains relatively constant during A → M+
about �εxx = 6.6% to about 3.5% (= 6.1 − 2.6%),
transformation (loading) where the latent heat was
and the strain jump across a M+ → A transformation
distributed among twice as many (eight) fronts.
front during unloading (not shown) changes from
The contour maps just shown give a good overview
−5.7% to about −3.5% (= 1.5–5.0%).
of the thermo-mechanical behavior, but quantita-
tive data can be somewhat difficult to see, so Fig. 13
shows selected strain profiles at 16-s intervals dur- Summary and Conclusions
ing the first load-unload cycle, all mapped back
to the Lagrangian (reference) frame. The dashed Digital image correlation (DIC) is a modern and
arrows show the progression of profiles in time. (Note powerful experimental technique to characterize
that, as previously discussed, the sharp oscillations at the evolution of deformation in structures. It is a
x/L = 0.13 and 0.86 are due to the LE tags and the technique that is becoming increasingly common
oscillation at x/L = 0.56 is the artifact due to the CCD for macroscale investigations in testing labs, and
imperfection.) its use with optical digital cameras is now well

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76 Experimental Techniques 37 (2013) 62–78 © 2011, Society for Experimental Mechanics
B. Reedlunn et al. Tips and Tricks for Characterizing Shape Memory Wire Part 5

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