Residual Stress Measurement

in a Ceramic-Metallic Graded
Michael R. Hill1
Wei-Yan Lin2
Mechanical and Aeronautical
Engineering Department,
University of California,
Davis, CA 95616
e-mail: mrhill@ucdavis.edu
Material
This paper presents experimental measurements of the through-thickness distribution of
residual stress in a ceramic-metallic functionally graded material (FGM). It further pre-
sents an error analysis and optimization of the residual stress measurement technique.
Measurements are made in a seven-layered plate with a base of commercially pure tita-
nium and successive layers containing an increasing proportion of titanium-boride,
reaching 85% titanium-boride in the final layer. The compliance method is employed to
determine residual stress, where a slot is introduced using wire electric-discharge ma-
chining and strain release is measured as a function of increasing slot depth. Strain
release measurements are used with a back-calculation scheme, based on finite element
simulation, to provide residual stresses in the FGM. The analysis is complicated by the
variation of material properties in the FGM, but tractable due to the flexibility of the finite
element method. The Monte Carlo approach is used for error analysis and a method is
described for optimization of the functional form assumed for the residual stresses. The
magnitude and variation of the resulting residual stress distributions and several aspects
of the error analyses are discussed. 关DOI: 10.1115/1.1446073兴

Keywords: Residual Stress, Functionally Graded Material, Compliance Method, Error

Analysis

1 Introduction shortcomings of the compliance method are also addressed. First,

This paper describes an application of the compliance method
to measure residual stress in a titanium 共Ti兲/titanium-boride 共TiB兲
ceramic-metallic functionally graded material 共FGM兲. The recent
literature contains many works demonstrating the importance of
residual stress in the successful processing and performance of
multi-layered or continuously graded material systems. However,
the vast majority of these rely on residual stresses found using
analytical or numerical means 关e.g. 关1–3兴兴. Only a very few stud-
ies have presented measurements of residual stress in FGMs.
Three of these employed diffraction methods at a limited number
of points to compare with numerical residual stress predictions,
and therefore did not obtain spatially refined distributions of stress
关4 – 6兴. Application of the diffraction methods in these materials
often leads to large uncertainty in residual stress, possibly due to
the multi-phase nature of the material 关5兴. Mechanical methods do
not have a significant sensitivity to the presence of variable mi-
crostructure. One recent study employed a mechanical cutting
method to find residual stress in a hollow, graded cylinder, but the
method used was only capable of revealing the linear portion of
the residual stress and did not provide a detailed stress distribution
关7兴. In contrast to these previous efforts, the present work provides
an experimentally determined, detailed profile of residual stress
through the thickness of a seven-layered functionally graded ma-
terial.
To determine the residual stress profile in a graded material, the
compliance method is extended. Although the compliance method
has been previously applied to bilayer systems, the application to
a more complex, multi-layered system has not been presented.
While developing the extension to a multi-layered system, three
1
Corresponding Author.
2
Formerly Graduate Research Assistant; Presently Structural Design
C&D Aerospace, Huntington Beach, CA.
Contributed by the Materials Division for publication in the JOURNAL
NEERING MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY. Manuscript received by the
Division March 15, 2001; revised manuscript received August 22, 2001.
Editor: G. Newaz.
a new analysis provides error bounds on estimated residual stress
resulting from uncertainty in measured strain. Second, the error
analysis is used as a basis by which to systematically determine
the optimal functional representation of the estimated residual
stress field, where previously the functional form was apparently
left to subjective judgment 关8,9兴. Finally, a method is described
for comparing the error-sensitivity of competing experiment de-
signs a priori.
2 Material and Geometry
The material investigated was obtained in plate form, nominally
150 mm square and 17 mm thick, with one surface mostly ce-
ramic, one purely metallic, and the property gradient through-
thickness. This material was prepared by Cercom, Inc. using a
commercially pure titanium metal base plate 关10兴. Tape cast layers
composed of various mixtures of Ti and titanium diboride (TiB2 )
powders were placed on top of this plate and the assembled lami-
nate was hot pressed at 1578 K at a pressure of 13.8 MPa. In order
to facilitate densification at this temperature, a proprietary sinter-
ing aid containing nickel was added to the starting powders. This
material created a liquid phase at 1215 K that also catalyzed the
reaction of Ti and TiB2 to form TiB with virtually no residual
TiB2 . The resulting FGM was composed of seven layers ranging
from pure Ti on one side to 85 volume% TiB on the other. The
composition and nominal thickness of each layer are listed in
Table 1 关11兴. Elastic modulus and Poisson’s ratio were determined
for each layer by slicing thin beams from the FGM. Specifically,
bilayer beams were made from Layers 1 and 2 and from Layers 6
and 7. Trilayer beams were cut from Layers 3, 4 and 5. Longitu-
dinal and transverse strain gages were bonded to the beams which
were then loaded in four-point bending. Composite beam theory
Engineer, was used with the resulting strain data to determine elastic modu-
lus and Poisson’s ratio for each layer as shown in Table 1. Ther-
OF ENGI-
Materials
mal expansion coefficients in Table 1 are interpolated from values
Associate found by Nelson and Ezis using a rule of mixtures 关10兴. Further
details on this material can be found in references 关10–13兴.

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 Table 1 Nominal thickness and mechanical properties of each
layer in the TiÕTiB composite

Thickness, CTE
Layer %Ti %TiB mm E, GPa ␯ 共ppm/K兲
1 共85 TiB兲 15 85 4.0 274.3 0.170 8.69
2 21 79 1.6 247.6 0.182 8.84
3 38 62 1.6 193.7 0.216 9.28
4 53 47 1.6 162.2 0.246 9.68
5 68 32 1.6 139.4 0.276 10.1 Fig. 2 Coordinates and strain gage locations for the slotting
6 85 15 1.6 120.1 0.310 10.5 experiments
7 共CP Ti兲 100 0 4.0 106.9 0.340 10.9

Table 2 Total thickness and observed layer thickness for slot-

ting locations

Total Observed Layer Thickness 共% of Total Thickness兲

Thickness,
Slot mm 1 共85 TiB兲 2 3 4 5 6 7 共CP Ti兲
8-1 16.5 27.4 8.91 7.52 8.00 9.70 10.2 29.3
8-2 16.9 27.2 8.88 7.46 7.93 9.64 10.1 28.6
7-1 16.3 27.0 8.77 7.42 7.85 9.57 10.0 29.6
7-3 17.4 28.5 9.25 7.82 8.28 10.1 10.6 27.8

Fig. 1 „a… Location of samples in larger FGM plate and „b…
measurement locations shown with exaggerated sample ir-
regularity
Residual stresses were estimated in two 6.4 mm samples sliced
from the parent plate using electric-discharge machining 共EDM兲.
The sample locations were parallel to one 150 mm side and near
the center of the plate, as shown in Fig. 1. Details indicated in Fig.
1共b兲 are discussed below. These samples allow measurement of
the component of residual stress normal to the length of the speci-
men, and its distribution through the plate thickness. Since the
plate was fabricated by applying nominally uniform heat and pres-
sure perpendicular to the thickness direction, residual stress in the
plate is likely to be equi-biaxial. Residual stresses in these
samples, then, provide a good indication of residual stress in the
plate, along the axis of the samples.
3 Experimental Technique
Residual stresses are estimated by relaxation, using the 共crack兲
compliance method 关9兴. The general procedure is to gradually cut
through the specimen, measure released strain, and use it to com-
pute residual stress perpendicular to the cut. Strain release is mea-
sured as a function of depth of cut using metallic foil gages.
Cutting is performed using EDM. Calculation of pre-cut residual
stress from gathered strain data is performed using a finite element
based scheme, as explained in the following section.
Experiments are performed at four locations, two on each re-
moved sample. The locations are identified first by the removed
sample and then by the slot location. The two removed samples
are identified as 7 and 8. The two samples were removed from
adjacent locations near the center of the parent plate, as shown
schematically in Fig. 1, and so should contain similar levels of
residual stress. The slots on each sample are identified as 1, 2, or
3 and are located as shown in Fig. 1共b兲. Results are presented for
locations 8-1, 8-2, 7-1, and 7-3.
Careful attention is paid to several aspects of the experiments.
Slot locations are selected to be at least two plate thicknesses from
the sample edges and from other slots, as indicated in Fig. 1共b兲. At
each location, gages are applied near the start of the slot and near
the end of the slot, as shown in Fig. 2. The small distance between
the slot and the top gage 共Gage 1兲 allows good sensitivity to stress
gradients near the start of the cut. Placing this gage in such close
proximity to the slot requires careful trimming of the gage back-
ing material. Slotting is performed with wire EDM while the
sample is submerged in de-ionized water. A waterproofing system
is employed to protect the gages, consisting of two coats, a layer
of acrylic followed by a layer of paraffin wax. For the gage near
the start of the slot, adhesive and coatings are carefully masked to
ensure at least 0.5 mm overlap of each coating, which was found
to be crucial for reliable water resistance and accurate strain mea-
surement.
Strain data are gathered at specified increments of slot depth.
Data are gathered every 0.13 mm 共0.005 in.兲 of depth for the first
0.64 mm 共0.025 in.兲, and every 0.51 mm 共0.020 in.兲 thereafter.
Transduced strain gage signals are produced by typical commer-
cial equipment, and recorded by hand. Cutting is stopped prior to
making each measurement to avoid stray voltages produced by the
cutting equipment.
Geometric variation of the parent plate led to nonuniform ge-
ometry of the removed samples. Two aspects of the sample geom-
etry illustrated in Fig. 1共b兲 will have bearing on the back-
calculation scheme used to estimate residual stress from measured
strain. These are the taper of the specimen thickness from one end
to the other and the skew of the top surface with respect to the
specimen depth. Table 2 shows the overall and layer thicknesses at
each of the slot locations. Total thickness varies due to specimen
taper. Layer thicknesses were observed on a polished sample face
near location 8-1 using a scanning electron microscope in back-
scatter mode. Layer thicknesses at the other slot locations were
found by assuming the CP titanium base-layer was of uniform size
at all locations, and that the other layers changed size in propor-
tion with the remaining thickness 关14兴. Both taper and skew of the
specimens, as shown in Fig. 1共b兲, may have an influence on the
computation of residual stress from measured strain. Maximum
skew of the top surface was found to be 0.28 mm at slot location
7-3. For the first few cuts, the skew will affect the amount of
material removed by EDM and, therefore, the amount of strain
change at the top gage.
4 Analytical Technique
4.1 General Scheme. The procedure for computing residual
stress from measured strain data assumes elastic behavior and
relies on the principle of superposition. For a known residual
stress in the material, it is rather simple to compute the strain
release that would occur due to cutting. For example, a general-
purpose, finite element code can be employed. To find an un-

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 known residual stress distribution, one adopts a set of basis func-
tions to represent the variation of the stress field through-
thickness. Finding the unknown stress distribution is then reduced
to determining a set of amplitudes of the adopted basis 关9兴. In this
work, we employ a Legendre polynomial basis.
The unknown basis amplitudes are found by inversion of a
linear system. The strain change due to slotting depends on the
strain gage location, the cut depth, a, and the distribution of pre-
existing 共residual兲 stress ␴ (x), where a and x are defined in Fig.
2. Using elastic analysis, a ‘‘forward’’ solution is found 关9兴, where
strain, ␧, is computed for a given cut depth, a⫽a i , and residual
stress corresponding to a given basis function, ␴ (x)⫽ P j (x). That
is, the constant C i j is found
C i j ⫽␧ 共 a⫽a i , ␴ 共 x 兲 ⫽ P j 共 x 兲兲 (1)
This analysis is then repeated for all cut-depths and all members
of the adopted basis, providing members of the matrix C i j . If the
actual material response during the experiment is elastic, and the
adopted basis is complete, the measured strain release at cut depth
a i , ␧ im , will be approximately equal to a linear combination of
the results obtained from the forward solutions
␧ im ⬇ 兺C i j A j ⫽␧
ˆi (2)
where ␧ˆ i is referred to as the fitted strain. The unknown amplitude
of each basis function, A j , can then be found by inversion of this
system. Nonsingularity of C i j is assured by using an orthogonal
basis, and excluding basis functions that cause zero strain. Once
the unknown amplitudes are determined, the stress existing in the
body prior to cutting is given by
␴共 x 兲⫽ 兺 A P 共x兲
j j (3)
In application of the compliance method, Eq. 共2兲 is solved for the
A j ’s in a least-squares sense because the number of measured
strains typically exceeds the number of basis functions required to
fit them.
In the present case, the estimated residual stress distribution
should be required to satisfy equilibrium. This requirement fol-
lows from two features of the present work. First, the residual
stress state in the sample is assumed to be two-dimensional. Sec-
ond, the residual stress is estimated across the entire sample. Since
the residual stress state gives rise to no external force, equilibrium
requires the net force and moment caused by ␴ (x) acting over the
slot plane to be zero. A major advantage of using the Legendre
polynomial basis for such problems is that equilibrium is identi-
cally satisfied when the zeroth and first order terms in the basis are
excluded 关8兴. Since we exclude two terms in the basis, a stress
polynomial of order n will have (n⫺1) terms and the estimated
stress will satisfy equilibrium.
The approach just described is not limited to the use of a single
strain gage. In fact, the use of multiple gages provides a signifi-
cant benefit by improving the numerical condition of the linear
system in Eq. 共2兲. For two gages, as in the present study, a com-
pliance matrix is developed for each location and combined into a
partitioned system
Ci j⫽ 冋 册
C i1j
C i2j
(4)
with corresponding measured strain vector
␧ im ⫽ 冋 册
␧ im,1
␧ im,2
(5)
where superscripts 1 and 2 represent each gage location. As will
be explained in the discussion, the use of one strain gage near the
start of the slot and another at the end significantly reduces the
uncertainty in estimated residual stress compared with the use of
only a single gage.
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4.2 Finite Element Modeling. The forward solutions are
preformed using the finite element method 共FEM兲. The analyses
account for residual stress within the body, changing geometry of
the body 共i.e., slot-depth兲, and in the present case the variation of
material properties within the body. Often, samples employed for
the compliance method are rectangular and the modeling is sim-
plified by using plane strain, symmetric models 关9兴. Specimens
removed from the FGM, however, are irregular and their geomet-
ric complexity will have some bearing on the result. The efficacy
of a two-dimensional, symmetric model was investigated in 关14兴
by estimating residual stress for the same slot using three different
models for the forward solutions and comparing results. The in-
fluence of specimen taper 共lack of symmetry about the slot兲 was
found to be negligible by comparing results from plane strain
symmetric and asymmetric models. The effect of surface skew
was investigated by comparing results from plane strain and three-
dimensional symmetric models. This comparison revealed a
change in estimated residual stress, isolated to a small region near
the skewed surface. Because the overall effect on the residual
stress distribution is small, and the cost of the three-dimensional
computation large, two-dimensional models are used in this study.
Mesh refinement was also investigated, and the models employed
herein are adequately converged such that a doubling of mesh
density in all directions results in a negligible change in the com-
puted residual stress. An example plane strain, symmetric mesh is
shown in Fig. 3.
Since elastic behavior is assumed, strain release corresponding
to cutting is simulated by applying traction to the cut faces 关9兴.
The traction vector at a given point on the cut surface is found
from the residual stress tensor acting at that point prior to cutting,
dotted with the inward normal to the surface. It is assumed that
only normal stresses are present relative to the slot face, so that
only the normal traction component is nonzero. This assumption
is appropriate for the FGM because the thermal and plastic defor-
mations giving rise to the residual stresses likely varied only
through the thickness. This assumption is most appropriate away
from the free-edges of the parent plate, where the slots are cut.
The value of the normal traction at a particular point on the cut
surface depends on its location and the distribution of stress.
Nodal loads consistent with the element interpolation order are
computed from the spatial variation of the traction vector.
The analyses are repeated for all slot depths and basis func-
tions. To handle all combinations, a single analysis is divided into
steps, and each step into increments. The slot depth is changed in
the analysis by removing elements from the model in subsequent
steps. The polynomial basis order increases with increment num-
ber within each step. In this way, tractions corresponding to each
basis function are applied to models of the specimen with each
slot depth. Displacement results at nodes corresponding to strain
gage active grid boundaries are post-processed to provide strain
关15兴. Arranging the strains for all steps and increments results in
the compliance matrix, C i j , of Eq. 共1兲. For the case of multiple
Fig. 3 Finite element mesh for a plane strain, symmetric
model for slotting at location 7-3. Slot depth is increased by
removing elements in the right-most layer in succession from
top to bottom.
APRIL 2002, Vol. 124 Õ 187
 strain gages, each sub-matrix in the partitioned system of Eq. 共4兲
is formed by a particular query of the solution database.
Property variations in the FGM are handled by spatially distrib-
uting elastic material properties. The material variation compli-
cates the analysis just described, but the overall approach remains
valid; spatially varying the material properties in the forward so-
lutions is the only change required to handle the FGM. The spatial
distribution is handled by specifying properties at each integration
point in the model, rather than for each element 关16兴. This ap-
proach has the advantage of allowing the nodal locations in the
mesh to follow the actual slot-depths, rather than the layer inter-
faces. The material properties given in Table 1 and layer thick-
nesses in Table 2 are used in the analyses. Individual models were
created for each slot to account for variation of the total specimen
thickness at each location.
4.3 Stress Determination. Residual stresses are determined
from measured strain by inverting Eq. 共2兲. In the present work, the
number of polynomial terms in the stress expansion is approxi-
mately ten, while the number of measured strains is approximately
fifty. The system in Eq. 共2兲 is therefore over-determined, and a
least squares solution is pursued
គ T Cគ 兲 ⫺1 Cគ T 兴 ␧> m
A> ⫽ 关共 C (6)
In this equation, we adopt a matrix notation, with an under-bar
denoting a matrix and an under-tilde denoting a vector. The term
in square brackets on the right hand side of this equation is called
the pseudo-inverse, and provides an approximate solution to Eq.
共2兲 with minimum root mean square error between the measured
and fitted strains 关17兴.
Implicit in the solution of Eq. 共6兲 is an assumed number of
terms in the stress expansion. Although the order chosen has an
impact on the resulting stress distribution, a strategy for selecting
a proper expansion order is lacking from the literature. Two com-
peting influences of the number of terms on the resulting residual
stress distribution deserve consideration in selecting the expansion
order. An increase in the order of the expansion will: 共1兲 improve
the fit to measured strain; and, 共2兲 magnify experimental and lack
of fit errors. The properly selected order will provide the good fit
to strain while not magnifying errors too greatly.
4.4 Error Analysis and Selection of Expansion
Order. The following is the description of a method for order
selection that minimizes uncertainty in the resulting residual
stress. First, Eq. 共6兲 is solved for a range of polynomial expan-
sions with the highest term from second to twelfth order 共since the
constant and linear terms are neglected, the number of terms
ranges from one to eleven兲. Given the set of coefficients for each
polynomial series 共A> in Eq. 共6兲兲, fitted strain, ˜␧> , is computed from
Eq. 共2兲 and an error between measured and fitted strain is com-
puted from
e> ␧ ⫽␧>ˆ ⫺␧> m (7)
Two global error measures are then defined from e> ␧ , the average
and maximum error. The maximum global error is given by the
maximum absolute value among the elements of e> ␧ , and the av-
erage global error by the root mean square of the elements of e> ␧
关18兴. As might be expected, these analyses reveal decreasing glo-
bal error in strain fit with increasing number of polynomial terms,
as indicated by either global measure 共examples are given in the
results section兲. Further, the decrease in global fit-error with in-
crease in number of terms plateaus at some number of terms in the
expansion. While the error in the strain fit is an important param-
eter, the influence of the fit-error on the uncertainty in residual
stress is required to determine an optimal stress expansion order.
Error analysis, based on Monte Carlo simulation, is used to find
the expansion order which minimizes uncertainty in estimated re-
sidual stress. In the error analysis, measured strain is converted to
a randomized strain vector, where each row in the vector corre-
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sponds to a particular slot-depth. The randomized strain vector,
˜␧> m , is computed by adding an uncertainty vector, u> ␧ , to the mea-
sured strains
˜␧> m ⫽␧> m ⫹u> ␧ (8)
Each member of u> ␧ is selected from a zero-mean normal popula-
tion using a random number generator. The standard deviation of
this population, s u,␧ , is taken to be larger of the maximum abso-
lute value in the fit-error, or the measurement resolution 共taken to
be 3 ␮␧兲
s u,␧ ⫽max共 兩 e> ␧ 兩 ,3␮ ␧ 兲 (9)
where the 兩•兩 operator implies the set of absolute values of the
components of the vector. Therefore, the size of the strain uncer-
tainty depends on both the quality of the strain fit and the quality
of the strain measurement. The dependence on the strain fit in-
creases the sensitivity of the error analysis to the order of stress
expansion. With the strain uncertainty population defined, Monte
Carlo analysis amounts to repeatedly solving Eq. 共6兲 for a sample
of random strain vectors, ˜␧> m . Trial analyses with samples of size
N⫽102 , 103 , and 104 indicated that a sample size of 103 was
adequate to obtain converged estimates of the stress uncertainty.
The Monte Carlo results were reduced to provide both point-
wise and global uncertainties in stress for a range of stress expan-
sion order. For a given polynomial order, the Monte Carlo solu-
tions provide N⫽103 separate sets of expansion coefficients. Each
set of coefficients is used to compute residual stress 共using Eq.
共3兲兲 at forty-one evenly spaced values of x, x i , across the slot
location. The standard deviation of the N stresses at each of the
forty-one points provides a vector of forty-one values of pointwise
stress uncertainty, s ␴ (x i ). The root mean square of all pointwise
uncertainties then provides a measure of the average stress uncer-
tainty for all values of x, s ␴ 关18兴.
The error analysis is repeated for a range of stress expansions to
identify the best choice for the expansion order. This optimal or-
der is taken to be that which minimizes the average stress uncer-
tainty, s ␴ . Since s ␴ is minimized, residual stress computed from
the optimal stress expansion order is the best overall estimate of
the unknown residual stress field. Further, pointwise uncertainties
in this residual stress distribution are given by the values of
s ␴ (x i ).
5 Results
Strain release for each of the four slot locations is shown in Fig.
4 and optimal residual stress distributions in Fig. 5. The strain
release at all locations is similar. However, the top strain release
for site 7-1 is smaller than for the other three locations. The bot-
tom gage data show that location 7-1 and 8-1 are similar to each
other and unique from sites 7-3 and 8-2, which are also similar to
each other. The optimal fit to measured strain for location 8-1 is
shown in Fig. 6. Figure 5 shows that the residual stress distribu-
tions at all slot locations are similar. Consistent with the observa-
tions for released strain, there is a similarity in stress at locations
8-1 and 7-1 and at locations 8-2 and 7-3, with the two pairs
differing slightly from each other. The results are also in general
agreement with the results of a simple, elastic cool-down analysis
as discussed below.
Results of error analyses for location 8-1 are typical of all slot
locations, and suffice to illustrate the general properties of the
strain and stress errors. Global error in the strain fit for location
8-1 is shown in Fig. 7. This plot indicates that the best strain fit is
obtained for polynomials of tenth or greater order. Uncertainty in
estimated stress is shown in Fig. 8. Figure 8共a兲 shows the average
and maximum stress uncertainty versus order for location 8-1.
Both global uncertainties indicate that a tenth order stress polyno-
mial is optimal 共i.e., minimizes uncertainty兲. Figure 6 shows
graphically that a tenth order stress expansion provides an excel-
lent fit to the measured strain. Pointwise, average, and maximum
stress uncertainties for a tenth order polynomial are shown in Fig.
Transactions of the ASME

Fig. 4 Strain release at the four slot locations, „a… Top gage,
„b… bottom gage
8共b兲. The pointwise uncertainty is largest near the start of the slot
and decreases with increasing distance from the free-surface. In
fact, the maximum uncertainty is about four times the average
uncertainty, and all other pointwise uncertainties are less than
twice the average. The average uncertainty is 10% of the peak
residual stress. The estimated, tenth-order residual stress distribu-
tion for slot 8-1 is shown in Fig. 5. Error bars on the figure
correspond to the pointwise uncertainties shown in Fig. 8共b兲.
Fig. 5 Residual stress at all locations, error bars for location
8-1
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Fig. 6 Measured strain for location 8-1 and strain fit from a
tenth order stress expansion
Similar analyses at the other three measurement locations lead
to the residual stress distributions shown in Fig. 5. Error analyses
like those described for slot 8-1 indicate eight-and tenth-order
polynomials are optimal for particular locations, as noted in the
plot legend. Error bars are shown in Fig. 5 only for location 8-1,
but all error analyses result in pointwise stress uncertainties which
are very similar to those shown in Fig. 8共b兲.
6 Discussion
6.1 Distribution and Magnitude of Residual Stress. The
trends in strain due to slotting give rise to similar trends in the
estimated residual stresses. Aside from the surface stress, all loca-
tions have similar residual stresses over the first 25% of the plate
thickness (x/t⭐0.25). In the remaining region, x/t⬎0.25, the
measurements fall into distinct pairs, with results for location 8-1
very similar to those for location 7-1, and with location 8-2 simi-
lar to location 7-3. Since slots 8-1 and 7-1 are the closest to the
free edge of the parent plate, it is possible that the two groups of
results are caused by the influence of the free edge of the parent
plate during the thermal process used to form the FGM. Even with
the variability between the two groups of results, the trends for all
four locations are in reasonable agreement with one another.
The magnitude of the residual stresses are large enough to af-
fect material performance. The average peak residual stress is 40
MPa, which is only 11% of the tensile strength of CP-Ti and 4.4%
of the flexural strength of monolithic TiB 关10兴. However, low
fracture resistance of the largely ceramic, TiB-rich layers means
that the residual stress levels can have a significant impact on the
Fig. 7 Global error in strain fit versus stress expansion order
for location 8-1
APRIL 2002, Vol. 124 Õ 189
 The results above also suggest that the optimal order of stress
expansion might be determined without performing the stress er-
ror analyses. For location 8-1, the Monte Carlo error analysis
indicates that a tenth order expansion is optimal for residual
stress. It is noteworthy that this is also the location where the
global strain-fit error plateaus. In fact, examination of the error
trends for the other three locations indicates that the order which
minimizes global stress uncertainty always coincides with the
strain-fit plateau. The four results in this study show that the exact
location of the plateau can be defined as the order where adding
an additional term to the series expansion results in less than a 3
␮␧ change in the maximum strain-fit error. Identifying the optimal
order without performing Monte Carlo error analysis is a signifi-
cant reduction in computational effort. However, a complete error
analysis still provides the best accounting of the uncertainty in
residual stress.
6.3 Use of One Versus Two Strain Gages. Using two
strain gages, one near the start of the slot and one near the end,
greatly reduces the sensitivity of the compliance method to error.
It is possible to compute residual stress from only the back-face
strain gage 共Gage 2 in Fig. 2兲, and several published studies have
used this procedure 关9兴. However, because this gage is insensitive
to stress released for shallow slot depths, larger uncertainty in
estimated stress will result. The increase in uncertainty can be
quantified by repeating the data reduction and error analysis de-
scribed above, but only using data from the back-face strain gage.
While Fig. 9共a兲 shows that it is possible to fit the single strain
gage data to equal accuracy, Fig. 9共b兲 shows that the same strain-

Fig. 8 Uncertainty in estimated stress, location 8-1, „a… Global,

„b… pointwise

effective fracture toughness of flawed geometries. Recently pub-

lished fracture testing results for this material show that residual
stresses altered the measured fracture loads by 34% 关13兴. There-
fore, residual stresses provide important information for integrity
assessment of structures fabricated from this, and probably most,
ceramic-metallic composites.
The residual stress distribution found experimentally is similar
to the results of a simple, thermo-elastic cool-down analysis. Us-
ing properties in Table 1, a finite element analysis was performed
for a unit temperature change, assuming isotropic thermal expan-
sion and elastic response in each layer. The finite element mesh
was similar to that shown in Fig. 3, and the analysis assumed
plane strain. Scaling the resulting stress distribution by ⫺200 K,
to match the peak level of tensile residual stress found in the
experiments, gives the results shown in Fig. 5. The agreement
with the experimental results is surprising since the analysis ig-
nores the variation of CTE with temperature and the effects of
creep and plasticity. The large difference between the 200 K stress
free temperature used for the thermo-elastic analysis and the 1578
K processing temperature used in fabricating the FGM suggests
significant creep and plasticity occurred during cooling.
6.2 Error Analysis and Order Selection. The error analy-
ses provide the dual benefit of estimating likely uncertainty in
residual stress and allowing a quantitative method for selecting
the stress expansion order. For comparing one order of stress ex-
pansion to another, global uncertainty in stress was used, and the
optimal order identified by the minimum uncertainty. The fact that
the average and maximum uncertainty are minimized for the same
order indicates that the selection process is insensitive to the par- Fig. 9 The influence of including the top gage on „a… strain-fit
ticular global uncertainty estimator. error and „b… stress uncertainty

190 Õ Vol. 124, APRIL 2002 Transactions of the ASME

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 fit error produces four times the uncertainty in residual stress. This
demonstrates that two strain gages are preferable for through-
thickness residual stress measurement.
Numerical analysis can indicate whether one system of strain
gages will be less prone to error than another, even without ex-
perimental data. Error in strain-fit causes uncertainty in stress
through Eq. 共6兲. The numerical condition of the inverted matrix in
this equation, C T C, indicates the degree to which measurement or
strain-fit errors will be amplified or attenuated in the estimated
stress. Numerical condition can be quantified by computing the
ratio of the largest to smallest eigenvalue of the matrix, a quantity
known as the condition number 关19兴. A larger condition number
indicates a more singular system and a larger potential for uncer-
tainty in residual stress for a given error in strain. In the present
case, C T C has a condition number of 1281 when two gages are
used, and 12640 when only a single gage is used. Consistent with
the results of the previous paragraph, the condition numbers indi-
cate that the one-gage experiment is more sensitive to error.3 Be-
cause the determination of the condition number requires no ex-
perimental data, the benefit of the two-gage design can be shown
prior to carrying out the experiments. A similar analysis can in
fact be performed during the planning of any relaxation-based
residual stress measurement, and can aid in designing an experi-
ment with acceptable accuracy.
7 Conclusions
This paper presents an application of the compliance method to
estimate residual stress in a layered ceramic-metallic composite
material. The flexibility of the compliance method, using a back-
calculation scheme based on finite element analysis, allows the
application to a layered material. The residual stresses found ex-
perimentally are small compared to the mechanical strength of the
material system, but are large enough to significantly impact the
fracture behavior of cracked geometries. The residual stress dis-
tribution found is similar to that obtained from a simple thermo-
elastic analysis.
The paper further describes an error analysis and proposes a
systematic method for selection of the functional description of
the residual stress distribution. The error analysis indicates that
typical measurement uncertainties produce acceptable error in es-
timated stress. Minimizing the global uncertainty in residual stress
provides an optimal functional description for the residual stress
field. In this work, the scope of the optimization was limited to
different orders of Legendre polynomials. The error analysis fur-
ther provides a basis by which the benefit of the two-gage imple-
mentation of the compliance method can be demonstrated.
3
In fact, the condition numbers can be used to estimate the ratio of uncertainties
for each approach. Because the system is solved using least squares, the condition
numbers suggest that the one-gage design will have approximately 冑12640/1281
⫽3.1 times more uncertainty that the two-gage design. This estimate is close to the
factor of four determined by the full error analysis.
Journal of Engineering Materials and Technology
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Michael B. Prime of Los Alamos
National Laboratory for initial consultations regarding the compli-
ance method, Glaucio Paulino of the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign for providing the FGM samples, and Ryan
Tong of the University of California, Davis for coding the error
analysis routines.
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