A simple and effective way to evaluate the accuracy of digital image correlation combined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM-DIC)

Digital image correlation (DIC) is a powerful technique enabling mapping of local strain fields with the spatial resolution down to a few nanometers when combined with scanning electron microscopy. However, the accuracy of strain determination is frequently unknown due to a large number of experimental parameters influencing it. Here we present a simple and time-effective method for quantitative evaluation of uncertainties in strain values obtained by DIC. By imposing a fictive hydrostatic strain a high absolute accuracy of mean strain determination is demonstrated with deviations from the target value below 0.03%. At the same time, the precision decreases strongly with the reduction of the subset and step sizes reflecting a fundamental tradeoff between the spatial resolution and trueness of local strain values.