Measurement of residual stresses can be carried out using different techniques. Residual stress techniques are based on indirect type of measurements. It means that thanks to the observation of the variation of different mechanical quantities (strain, diffraction) it is possible to evaluate the original stress that has caused this effect.
The available methods can generally be divided into 3 different groups, depending on the damage level that they cause in the specimens under investigation:
non-destructive techniques (X-ray Diffraction) | semi destructive techniques (Hole Drilling, Ring Coring) | destructive techniques (Sectioning, Slitting, Layering and Contour)