Surface residual stress detection method for aero-engine blades based on active thermal deformation excitation

Surface residual stress is made on the aero-engine blades by shot peening to improve the fatigue life of the blades. As the service time increases, the surface residual stress is decreasing due to thermomechanical relaxation and the centrifugal load caused by high-speed rotation. Therefore, the surface residual stress detection is of great importance for predicting the remaining life of aero-engine blades. Up to now, efficient and non-contact detection of surface residual stress is still a challenge. In this paper, an active thermal deformation excitation (ATDE) method for surface residual stress is proposed. According to the thermal deformation theory, the thermal deformation of the material is positively correlated with the surface residual stress, and by measuring the thermal deformation the surface residual stress can be detected and evaluated. The theoretical deformation model was established, and simulation models with different surface residual stresses were constructed. A detection system was proposed to detect the blade deformation with different surface residual stresses. Results show that there was a linear relationship between the blade deformation and the surface residual stress from −636 Mpa to −1403 Mpa.