Measuring the Variation of Residual Stress with Depth: A Validation Exercise for Fine Incremental Hole Drilling

Abstract

Hole drilling along with X-Ray diffraction, is one of the most widely used techniques for measuring residual stress, but the conventional approach is limited in the near surface detail that can be resolved. Because of concerns regarding the levels of induced residual stress that might develop during machining and surface treatment processes, there is significant interest in developing a technique that can obtain near surface residual stress information by the application of fine increment hole drilling. Through a cross comparison with X-ray diffraction and neutron diffraction the procedure of fine incremental drilling has been validated, and the advantages of this technique demonstrated.