Development of a digital image correlation procedure adapted for kinematic measurements in polycrystals: application to the identification of crystal plasticity laws parameters

A digital image correlation procedure adapted to kinematic measurements in polycrystals has been developed in this work to identify parameters of crystal plasticity laws. 2D kinematic measurements are performed on the surface of 316LN austenitic steel polycrystals from a sequence of images acquired using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) during in-situ tensile tests for various mean grain sizes. To enable digital image correlation, a speckle adapted to the microscopic scale is deposited onto the specimen surface by a microlithography process. Spatial distortions resulting from both patterning and SEM imaging techniques are quantified. The knowledge of the microstructure at the surface by electron backscattered diffraction allows for kinematic measurements to be performed using an unstructured finite element mesh taking as support the grain or twin boundaries. This same mesh is then used for the simulation of each tensile test on the experimental microstructure with the measured nodal displacements prescribed as boundary conditions with their time evolution. Two local crystal plasticity laws are considered to simulate the observed strain heterogeneities, namely, the Meric-Cailletaud model and the DD-CFC law developed at EDF R and D. Comparisons between measurements and simulations are performed in terms of displacements, strains but also activated slip systems. Last, an inverse identification method is proposed for the identification of the sought constitutive parameters based on both the local displacement fields and the material homogenized behavior. The parameters associated with isotropic hardening of Meric-Cailletaud law are thus identified for various mean grain sizes. It is also shown that some of the interaction parameters of slip systems can be estimated. (author)