example, the sequence of cuts used resembles a combination of the Excision Method and the

Layer Removal Method. A feature of the Sectioning Method is that the surfaces created by the

cuts made in one step are available for use as measurement locations in subsequent steps. As can

be seen in the example procedure, the Sectioning Method is highly destructive and typically the

specimen is reduced to a large number of small pieces. However, the large amount of cutting

allows for residual stress measurements to be made at multiple points of interest within the

original specimen.

Residual stress computations for the Sectioning Method can often be challenging because

each successive cut partially relieves the local residual stresses, leaving an altered residual stress

state to be relieved further by subsequent cuts. us, the residual stress computation procedure

dural capability and precision. Such is the scale of these advances that the modern residual

stress measurement procedures are essentially “new” methods when compared with the early

versions. Modern computer-based computation methods have similarly revolutionized residual

stress computation capabilities, allowing stress evaluations that were far beyond reach in earlier

times. Figure 2.12 illustrates examples of both of these advances. e figure shows relaxation

measurements made using various of the techniques described in this chapter, but done at the

microscopic scale. e “cuts” shown in the images are made using a Focused Ion Beam within a

Scanning Electron Microscope (FIB-SEM). e cut features are less than 0.5 m wide, while

the whole image width spans 15 m. ese are very small dimensions, the first equals the wave-

length of visible (green) light, while the second is about one-fifth the diameter of a human hair.