As industries find that the market for their goods and services is often
as closely connected to their quality as to their price, they become
more interested in inspection and quality control. Non-destructive
testing is one aspect of this topic; the subject of this book is a
sub-field of this domain. The techniques for measuring residual stresses
have a long history for a technological subject. Yet, in the last decade
or so there has been renewed and vigorous interest, and, as a result of
this, there has been considerable progress in our understanding and in
our methods. It seemed a proper time to bring the new material together
in an organized form suitable for a course or for self-teaching, hence
this book. After an initial introduction to the qualitative ideas
concerning the origin, role, and measurement of residual stresses, we
follow with chapters on classical elasticity and the relatively new
subject of microplasticity. These are primarily introductory or review
in nature, and the reader will find it important to consider further the
quoted references if he is to be involved in a continuing basis in this
area. There follows a chapter on diffraction theory, and then we fuse
these subjects with a chapter on diffraction techniques for measuring
stresses and strains which at present is our most general tool for
non-destructive evaluation in this area.