Whole-field residual stress measurement in rail using moiré interferometry and twyman/green interferometry via thermal annealing

Abstract

A novel whole-field residual stress measurement technique is developed using moire interferometry and Twyman/Green interferometry coupled with thermal annealing. The technique is successfully applied to residual stress measurement in rail. In the measurement, a high temperature resistant 1200-lines/mm cross grating is made on a rail transverse slice surface. The whole-field residual stress relief is achieved by thermal annealing. Moire interferometry and Twyman/Green interferometry are employed to obtain the in-plane and out-of-plane deformations generated by the residual stress relaxation. The whole-field strain redistribution due to the residual stress relief is calculated, and the whole-field residual stress distribution, including the possible stress concentration, is then obtained. Because of the three-dimensional nature of the residual stress relaxation and the measurement, the three-dimensional residual stress reconstruction sometimes becomes possible based on some plausible assumptions. In this paper, the principle of the experimental theory, technique and procedures are described. Three-dimensional residual stress reconstruction in a rail using a transverse slice is shown. Its comparison to the hole-drilling method with moire interferometry is also presented.