You wish to carry out residual stress measurements in your soil masses in the laboratory
What are residual stresses?
Residual stresses are internal stresses that remain in a material or structure in the absence of any external load (force, pressure, or temperature). They result from inconsistencies in plastic, thermal, or chemical deformations generated during manufacturing processes (forging, welding, machining, heat treatment, or additive manufacturing). While surface compressive stresses are generally beneficial for fatigue resistance, tensile stresses can be critical, promoting cracking, stress corrosion cracking, or unexpected dimensional deformations.
Optimize the performance and lifespan of your flowerbeds
Residual stresses from your manufacturing processes (forging, welding, machining, additive manufacturing) directly impact the fatigue and corrosion resistance of your parts. Our laboratory can help you quantify these stresses and ensure the conformity of your products.
Our laboratory residual stress measurement solutions
X-ray Diffraction (XRD): Non-destructive precision
Ideal for surface inspection and compression profiling after shot peening.
- Nature: non-destructive on the surface, semi-destructive for deeper profiles.
- Capabilities: analysis from a few microns to several millimeters deep (via electrochemical polishing).
- Materials: steels, aluminum alloys, nickel, titanium, and ceramics.
- Standard: compliant with NF EN 15305.
Incremental hole method: rapid versatility
An economical solution for obtaining deep stress profiles on a wide range of materials.
- Principle: stress relaxation via micro-drilling (Ø 1.8 mm) combined with strain gauge acquisition.
- Advantages: high-precision automated equipment enabling rapid measurements.
- Standard: compliant with ASTM E837.
Contour method: the complete mapping
The ultimate technique for visualizing stress conditions across the entire cross-section of a solid part.
- Principle: wire electrical discharge machining (EDM) followed by strain measurement using profilometry and finite element analysis.
- Key advantages: enables the identification of core tensile stresses and inconsistencies across thick material.
The FILAB laboratory assists you in measuring residual constraints in the laboratory
The objectives of residual stress measurement
Product control and qualification
Improving sizing
Optimization of manufacturing processes
Maintenance forecasts
Materials eligible for residual stress measurement
The majority of our work involves metals subjected to severe manufacturing constraints:
- Steels and cast irons: construction steels stainless steels, tool steels (after heat treatment, machining, or welding).
- Aluminum alloys: widely used in the aerospace industry for fuselage structures and engine parts.
- Nickel alloys and superalloys: essential for turbine components (Inconel, Hastelloy) subjected to high temperatures.
- Titanium alloys: materials used in the medical device and aerospace sectors.
- Copper and magnesium alloys.
Thanks to the complementary nature of our methods (particularly X-ray Diffraction and Contour), we work on:
- Technical ceramics: to validate sintering or deposition processes.
Crystalline and semi-crystalline materials: the XRD method is particularly effective on these structures. - Composites: for analyzing firing or assembly stresses (primarily using the hole or contour method).
Why choose FILAB for laboratory residual stress measurement
Safran Group Qualification: FILAB has obtained Laboratory Qualification from the Safran Group under procedures GRP-0087, GRM-0123, and TTS-MOP-004. This qualification is regularly renewed following audits conducted by Safran at our facilities, guaranteeing the highest level of standards.
Expertise of Doctors and Engineers: A team specializing in metallurgy and mechanics to interpret your results and support you in optimizing your manufacturing processes.
Personalized support: from defining specifications to data analysis, ensuring real value from your tests.
Our FAQ
Residual stress measurement allows us to:
- understand the origin of deformation or cracking
- improve the lifespan of parts
qualify or optimize a manufacturing process - validate a heat treatment or surface treatment
- ensure the reliability of a component
X-ray diffraction (XRD) is the most commonly used method in industry.
It allows for the measurement of residual stresses at the surface of crystalline materials by analyzing the deformations of the crystal lattice.
This technique is particularly well-suited for:
- steels
- aluminum alloys
- titanium alloys
- superalloys.
Many industrial processes can generate residual stresses, including:
- welding
- machining
- heat treatment
- forming
- coating deposition
- mechanical surface treatments (shot blasting, roller burnishing).
Residual stress measurement is particularly important in sectors where component reliability is critical:
- aerospace
- nuclear
- medical devices
- automotive
- energy
- railway.
Yes.
High residual stresses, particularly tensile stresses, can promote the development of:
- cracks
- stress corrosion
- premature failure
- part deformations.
This is why measuring these stresses is essential during failure analysis or process qualification.
An analysis can be performed in several situations:
- validation of a manufacturing process
- qualification of a heat treatment
- development of a new material
- investigation of an industrial failure
- optimization of the fatigue life of a component
To obtain a quote, you can contact our team via our contact form, by phone, or by email.
Simply tell us your requirements (type of material, desired analysis, applicable standards, urgency, quantity of samples, etc.). We will then send you a personalized technical and pricing proposal within 24-48 hours.
Turnaround times vary depending on the nature of the analysis and the complexity of the expert assessment project.
However, FILAB is committed to providing fast turnaround times tailored to your industrial constraints and urgent needs.
