Refractory materials exhibit a heterogeneous microstructure consisting in coarse aggregates surrounded by fine grains that form an aggregate/matrix Composite. This heterogeneous microstructure often leads to a complex mechanical behaviour during loading. This paper is devoted to the study, thanks to an optical method, Digital Image Correlation (DIC), of the fracture behaviour of two industrial refractory materials in relation with their microstructure resulting from both the chosen constituents and the sintering process. The aim is here, specifically, to highlight and to characterize the evolution of kinematic fields (displacement and strain) observed at the surface of sample during a wedge splitting test typically used to quantify the work of fracture. DIC is indeed a helpful and effective tool, in the topic of experimental mechanics, for the measurement of deformation in a planar sample surface. This non-contact optical method directly provides full-field displacements by comparing the digital images of the sample surface obtained before and during loading. In the present study, DIC has been improved to take into account the occurrence of cracks and performed so as to better identify the early stage of the cracking behaviour. The material transformation, usually assumed homogeneous inside each DIC subset, is thus more complex and a discontinuity of displacement should be taken into account. Then each subset which crosses a crack can be cut in two parts with different kinematics. By this way, it is possible to automatically find the fracture paths and follow the crack geometries (length, opening).
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