Effects of plasticity on residual stresses measurement by hole drilling method

Since the fundamental relationships of hole drilling method are derived based on elastic behavior of materials (ASTM E837), there are some limits in determination of high residual stresses (higher than half of yield stress). These limits due to the plastic deformations around the hole were caused by high stresses and their concentrations. In this study the effects of plasticity and mechanical behavior of materials on measured residual stresses were investigated. The results show that the errors of measurements are considerable when the behavior of materials is close to elastic-perfectly plastic. Magnitude and direction of high residual stresses also have some effects on the results. We defined weighted mean stress and used in conjunction with effective stress. The results in different cases show that using this method with proper correction coefficients significantly decreased the errors. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.