Introduction to the Characterization of Residual Stress by Neutron Diffraction

Over the past 25 years the field of neutron diffraction for residual stress characterization has grown tremendously, and has matured from the stage of trial demonstrations to provide a practical tool with widespread applications in materials science and engineering. While the literature on the subject has grown commensurately, it has also remained fragmented and scattered across various journals and conference proceedings.

For the first time, this volume presents a comprehensive introduction to stress measurement using neutron diffraction. It discusses all aspects of the technique, from the basic physics, the different neutron sources and instrumentation, to the various strategies for lattice strain measurement and data interpretation. These are illustrated by practical examples. This book represents a coherent unified treatment of the subject, written by well-known experts. It will prepare students, engineers, and other newcomers for their first neutron diffraction experiments and provide experts with a definitive reference work.