Abstract
Adeformation analysis method capable of predicting the timing and location of a fracture is introduced. This method measures the in-plane displacement of the sample and makes diagnoses based on a recent theory of plastic deformation. The prediction of a fracture is made by observing a specific optical pattem representing strain localization or analyzing the temporal characteristics of the displacement field. The theoretical basis is described and the performance of the methodis demonstrated for tensile analyses of aluminum-alloy samples. In principle, this method is applicable to any solid-state material that has an inner-structure.
