Automation of a neutron diffractometer for analysis of residual stress inside complex engineering components

Residual stress measurement using neutron diffraction is becoming an increasingly important tool in engineering stress analysis. To this effect, a new generation of dedicated engineering strain instruments are being built at neutron sources, offering considerable improvements in both counting time and spatial resolution. Alongside these improvements, measurements in complex geometry prototype components are increasingly in demand. As a result, there is a strong drive towards integrated sample positioning systems that allow for simplified setup and operating of experiments on components with complex geometries. The present study details work carried out at the ENGIN-X instrument at the UK’s ISIS pulsed neutron source, on measurements in a prototype metal matrix composite (MMC) aircraft wheel, forged from a billet produced through a powder-metallurgy route. The measurement was designed to obtain the macrostress and misfit stresses developed in the matrix and in the reinforcement phase in the wheel during fabrication. The study also demonstrates the use of the SScanSS software for experimental design and implementation, which was developed to complement the advances in the instrumentation of new strain mapping diffractometers. SScanSS simplifies the precise spatial location of the measuring gauge volume inside such complex components