The StressProbe has been successfully used to monitor the change in residual stress due to weld repair. In service weld repair can be attempted but often it is not practical to utilise post weld heat treatment to reduce unwanted residual stresses.

By taking stress measurements before and after welding, the effect of the welding on the stress state can be determined. This provides an opportunity to measure the residual stress state of the component due to welding.

This was demonstrated in the ELIXIR project which was conducted by a European consortium and funded by the European Commission. One of the partners, NDE Technology was a member of the consortium and involved in showing that it is now possible to measure residual stresses, using the StressProbe, in a variety of commonly used welded configurations.

Mapping of residual stress distribution close to severe stress concentrations will require the use of specially designed probes but the effect on the surrounding material can be measured using standard probes.