Digital image correlation for analyzing portable electronic products during drop impact tests

In this paper the feasibility to analyze a guided free fall drop of portable electronic products by optical inspection using digital image correlation is studied. This technology can examine the product on every arbitrary place on its surface and allows the product to make guided free fall drops. For this study, a mobile phone is dropped on a pavement stone under different orientations and heights. The phone is prepared with a speckle and the impact is recorded by using a high-speed camera. A custom made program based on digital image correlation is used to calculate the displacement fields during the impact. Out of these results deformations, strains, G-levels, velocities, energy losses, rotations and bending are calculated. Both local and global phenomena are measured and different impact orientations and heights are examined. The results provide new insights in drop test performance.