Residual Stresses Comparison Determined by Short-Wavelength X-Ray Diffraction and Neutron Diffraction for 7075 Aluminum Alloy

High strength Al alloy 7075 is widely used in aeronautic and space domains. However, when the thick plate of 7075 alloy is quenched improperly, large residual stress (RS) will be produced which leads to the loss of performance in resistance corrosion, fatigue and fracture. It is necessary to get the detailed information about residual stress distribution in the quenched plate. Conventional X-ray diffraction, a viable residual stress test method, can only reveal the RS state near surface layer due to limited penetrated depth. RS in the bulk components now can usually be analyzed by neutron diffraction or hard X-ray diffraction of high energy synchrotron in non-destructive way. Here a novel non-destructive method using short-wavelength characteristic X-ray diffraction meter (SWXRD) with the X-ray tube of tungsten anode target to determine the RS within the materials is developed in China. This paper revealed the RS distribution in a 20 mm thick plate of 7075 Al alloy determined by SWXRD and typical neutron diffraction (in LLB laboratory of France). The RS distribution through the thickness of Al plate shows a good agreement with the result determined by SWXRD compared with neutron diffraction.