Polarized Image Correlation for Large Deformation Fiber Kinematics

The underlying fiber architecture of soft tissues, like bat wing skin, plays an important role in the material’s overall mechanical behavior. The mesoscopic birefringent fiber architecture of the bat wing skin can be visualized directly under polarized light. This inherent property is the key to the new experimental technique developed in this work: polarized image correlation (PIC). PIC is a technique for determining full field material strains and fiber kinematics of mesoscopically resolved fibrous tissues during biaxial mechanical testing. Not only is the material birefringence used to determine fiber kinematics under finite deformations, but it is also used for image correlation and strain field computation. Pure translation tests performed with PIC verify the accuracy of the technique. A segmental image processing method was developed to solve an experimental issue of changing birefringent properties to construct accurate continuous deformation profiles. By integrating PIC with traditional digital image correlation, both surface and subsurface data give additional insight into through thickness tissue behavior. The PIC technique is applicable to semi-transparent tissues with birefringent mesosopic structures; incorporation of microscopy would resolve smaller fiber structures. Future work includes extending the techniques to three dimensions to analyze curved surfaces.