Patent ID: 8375805

Claim:
A method for evaluating the efficacy of a treatment operation for inducing residual stress along a surface of a part based upon the distortion developed in the part comprising the steps of: creating a verified distortion signature for a reference part having a desired amount of residual stresses induced in the part; coupling the part to be treated to a base effective for securing the part to be treated and attaching the base to an elastically deformable and recoverable material member such that any distortions developed in the part to be treated are communicated in real time to the material member and wherein the material member having strain or deflection sensing means for measuring distortion or strain along the material member; performing a treatment operation on the part to be treated to induce residual stresses along the surface of the part; measuring distortion or strain along the material member to create a collected distortion signature for the part being operated on; comparing the collected distortion signature to the verified distortion signature; and assessing if any deviations between the two signatures exist and, if so, whether those deviations are substantial enough to warrant discarding the treated part.