The safety of materials and structures can be detrimentally influenced by residual stresses (RS) and defect populations (voids or other features leading to failure) if they are not correctly accounted for in the design. Therefore, the accurate characterization of these features and the consideration of their impact is crucial for the safe design of components. The ability to characterize these features non-destructively enables the direct correlation on resulting mechanical performance. 3D X-ray computed tomography (XCT) is used to resolve and quantitively analyze microstructural features (i.e., voids, porosity). This is often used to assess the capability of the manufacturing route, i.e., additive manufacturing (AM). The non-destructive nature of the method also enables the study of the evolution of damage in materials from such microstructural features [1]. Using in-situ methods such as compression or tension, the propagation of damage from initial microstructure can be assessed, aiding our understanding of which features are detrimental to safety [3]. Diffraction based residual stress analysis methods including high energy X-ray and neutron diffraction can be used to study the residual stress gradients from the surface, subsurface and into the bulk non-destructively. These methods can be used to study the influence of heat treatments on residual stress and can be combined with XCT results to correlate the interaction of residual stresses with microstructural features (i.e., void clusters) [4,5]. 

This talk will give an overview of the capabilities and opportunities of 3D XCT and diffraction based residual stress analysis to close the gap in our understanding of material degradation on mechanical performance, enabling manufacturers to adjust their designs accordingly for safety critical applications. A particular focus will be made on examples where the two advanced techniques are combined to enhance such understanding.

References:

[1] Ulbricht, A. et al, Adv. Eng. Mater., 25: 2023, doi.org/10.1002/adem.202201581

[2] Mehta, B. et al, Materials & Design, 226, 2023, doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2023.111602

[3] Roveda, I. et al, Strain, 2024, e12475, doi.org/10.1111/str.12475