External reference samples for residual stress analysis by X-ray diffraction

The GFAC (French Association for residual stress analysis) decided in 2007 to work on external reference samples for residual stress analysis by X-ray diffraction as defined in the XPA 09-285 and EN 15305-2009 standards. Seven materials are studied: ferritic steel, martensitic steel, aluminium alloy, titanium alloy, 2 types of Nickel-Chromium alloy and tungsten thin layers deposited on silicon wafers. The purpose of this external round robin campaign is threefold: (i) to give possibilities for each laboratory involved in the campaign test to obtain external reference samples for each material tested, (ii) to validate a common procedure for qualification of external samples and (iii) to commercialise validated external reference samples through the GFAC association. A common approach of X-Ray diffraction parameters, samples geometry and standard procedure has been chosen and adopted by each laboratory involved in these tests. No indication in terms of residual stress calculation method is given; the choice of the method (centroid, middle point, maximum of peak, fitting...) is the choice of the laboratory according to their X-ray diffraction setups, softwares and experience. Once all samples are analysed, values given by each laboratory are compared and analysed.