Bulk evaluation of ductile damage development using high resolution tomography and laminography

Ductile fracture of metals is accompanied at the microscopic scale with the appearance of damage, in the form of small cavities. Damage progress is divided into three distinct and consecutive phases: initiation, growth and coalescence. This article illustrates the use of three-dimensional nondestructive imaging to study this damage development. Two techniques, mainly based on the attenuation of X-rays are now used for this type of studies at high resolution: tomography and laminography. The interest of laminography is that samples with larger dimensions (in the form of sheets) than the conventional tomography ones can be used. Examples of images obtained with the two techniques, as well as quantification using X-ray tomography, are presented.