Ultraviolet 3D digital image correlation applied for deformation measurement in thermal testing with infrared quartz lamps

In thermal-structural testing of hypersonic materials and structures, deformation measurement on the front surface of an object directly heated by quartz lamps is highly necessary and very challenging. This work describes a novel front-surface high-temperature deformation measurement technique, which adopts ultraviolet 3D digital image correlation (UV 3D-DIC) to observe and measure the high-temperature deformation fields on front surfaces directly heated by quartz lamps. Compared with existing blue light DIC techniques, the established UV 3D-DIC, which combines UV CCD camera, active UV illumination and bandpass filter imaging, can effectively suppress the strong disturbing light emitted by the quartz lamps and the heated sample itself during heating process. Two experiments were carried out to verify the robustness and accuracy of the developed technique: (1) direct observation of front surfaces of a hypersonic thermal structure sample heated from room temperature to 1050 °C, and (2) front-surface thermal stain and coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) measurement of an Inconel 718 sample up to 800 °C. The well matched strain and CTE results with literature data show that UV 3D-DIC system is an effective technique for front-surface deformation measurement and has great potential in characterizing deformation response of hypersonic materials and structures subjected to transient aerodynamic heating.