Energy Resolved Residual Stress Analysis with Laboratory X-Ray Sources

It is well known that existing residual stress fields play an important role for strength and lifetime of components. Consequently there is a great interest in the availability of fast, reliable and possibly nondestructive methods for their determination. In this context, X-ray diffraction methods play an important role in technical practice as well as in scientific research. They are based on the determination of lattice strains from which residual stresses are determined applying Hooke's law with appropriate elastic constants. In this paper – after a short survey of the basic principles – characteristic features of energy resolved methods for laboratory applications compared with angle resolved methods are outlined. A corresponding measuring device is presented and characteristic examples are given to demonstrate the possibilities and limitations of the method.