GALCIT Colloquium

Traditional material testing relied on multiple statically determinate specimens to measure yield or failure surfaces. The introduction of digital image correlation (DIC) enabled full-field strain measurements, which combined with forward finite element simulations, accelerated testing but still fell short of fully regularizing constitutive models of metals. To overcome this limitation, we developed an instrument that integrates DIC for full field total strain measurement with energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction (EDXRD) for full field elastic strain measurement in plane-stress specimens. This combined approach allows simultaneous determination of local stress–strain responses within a single specimen, effectively embedding the information of multiple tests into one. By providing unprecedented insights into material behavior under complex stress states, the method regularizes constitutive modeling, accelerates material testing, and enables rapid inverse design of engineering components.