Comparison of sub-grain scale digital image correlation calculated using commercial and open-source software packages

High-resolution strain mapping is an increasingly prominent technique for characterising the deformation behaviour of metals. In this study, HRDIC analysis was performed on materials exhibiting either more or less intense planar slip, using different software packages to highlight any issues that might arise depending on the algorithm that is used to calculate the displacements. The differences between the algorithms were investigated using frequency distributions, strain profiling and Burgers vector direction analysis to determine their significance in terms of any subsequent interpretation of the data. A dilute zirconium alloy showed maximum strain concentrations of <4.5 and similar to previous comparison studies of different software packages on optical images, little difference was observed in the resulting strain maps. However, in a more highly alloyed two-phase titanium alloy with significant planar slip and strain values of up to 20 times the applied strain, one of the algorithms had difficulty tracking the features particularly at low strains when the difference between the strain in a slip trace is markedly higher than that in the neighbouring region. The consequences of inaccurate displacement data around a slip trace region were highlighted by an incorrect prediction of the Burgers vector when using the relative displacement ratio for slip system identification.