Manufacturing processes are the most common causes of residual stress.
Another common cause of residual stress is in-service repair or modification. In some instances, stress may also be induced later in the life of the structure by installation or assembly procedures, by occasional overloads, by ground settlement effects on underground structures, or by dead loads which may ultimately become an integral part of the structure. The effects of residual stress may be either beneficial or detrimental, depending upon the magnitude, sign, and distribution of the stress with respect to the load-induced stresses. Very commonly, the residual stresses are detrimental, and there are many documented cases in which these stresses were the predominant factor contributing to fatigue and other structural failures when the service stresses were superimposed on the already present residual stresses. The particularly insidious aspect of residual stress is that its presence generally goes unrecognized until after malfunction or failure occurs.