Application of Stereovision to the Mechanical Characterisation of Ceramic Refractories Reinforced with Metallic Fibres

Abstract:  Optical methods that yield displacement or strain fields are now emerging significantly in the mechanical sciences. At the Research Center on Tools, Materials and Forming Processes (CROMeP) at École des Mines d'Albi, a binocular stereovision system has been developed that can be used to measure: (a) the three-dimensional (3D) shape of a static object, or (b) the surface strains of an object undergoing some 3D mechanical or thermal stress. In this paper, the application of the stereovision technique to investigate the behaviour of ceramic refractories reinforced with metallic fibres is presented: (i) after the rupture of the sample for assessing the 3D orientation of the fibres in order to correlate a micro-mechanical model of fibre pullout with the macro-mechanical results of tensile tests, and (ii) during a tensile test for measuring the 3D displacement/strain field around a notch.