X-ray Residual Stress

X-ray diffraction (XRD) residual stress is a non-destructive method for the determination of residual stress in polycrystalline materials. Stress in materials as a result of treatment, ageing or load can cause unexpected failure of components and therefore affect the durability and safety of these components. The residual stress induces small changes in the crystal lattice in the material in question. XRD performed under a variety of orientations measures the relationship of these changes with respect to direction and is used to determine the related elastic strain. Stress is then calculated from the strain data to provide near-surface (typically a few microns) information.

The X-ray Platform routinely performs X-ray residual stress analysis on metals and alloys, additively manufactured parts and ceramics for academic or industrial research and can accommodate samples of a variety of shapes and sizes.