Measuring the thermal expansion coefficient of tubular steel specimens with digital image correlation techniques

In this contribution it is investigated whether it is possible to measure the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of steel with the aid of the digital image correlation (DIC) technique. DIC is first used to obtain reference values of the CTE of well-known steels (S235 and SS304) on simple geometries (rectangular blocks) within a low temperature interval (up to 120 °C). Although the strains that occur in this process are small, the CTE can be determined with good accuracy if enough images are available. The influence of the different parameters that control the correlation process showed no influence on the results. The values for the CTE are compared to available literature references and strain gauge measurements. The technique is extended to measure within a higher temperature interval (up to 600 °C), three-dimensional geometries (tubular samples), and a third material (SS409). It is shown that also in these cases, the results obtained are reliable. This contribution is part of a larger research effort predicting the residual stress in tubes coming from the welding process with finite element (FE) simulation. The goal of this research is therefore twofold: firstly obtaining the CTE in function of temperature, which can be used as input for the FE simulations; and secondly exploring the possibilities of measuring small thermal strains with DIC.