Diffraction analysis of strongly inhomogeneous residual stress depth distributions by modification of the stress scanning method. II. Experimental implementation

The modified stress scanning method [Meixner, Fuss, Klaus & Genzel (2015). J. Appl. Cryst. 48, 1451–1461] is experimentally implemented for the analysis of near-surface residual stress depth distributions that are strongly inhomogeneous. The suggested procedure is validated by analyzing the very steep in-plane residual stress depth profile of a shot-peened Al₂O₃ ceramic specimen and comparing the results with those that were obtained by well established X-ray diffraction-based gradient methods. In addition, the evaluation formalism is adapted to the depth-dependent determination of the residual stresses inside of multilayer thin-film systems. The applicability for this purpose is demonstrated by investigating the residual stress depth distribution within the individual sublayers of a multilayered coating that consists of alternating Al₂O₃ and TiCN thin films. In this connection, the specific diffraction geometry that was used for the implementation of the stress scanning method at the energy-dispersive materials science beamline EDDI@BESSYII is presented, and experimental issues as well as limitations of the method are discussed.