Abstract: The abilit y to accurately evaluate residual stresses will lead to stronger, lighter, longer2lasting and cheapercomponents in aircr aft industry. However, t he common residual stress measurement methods ( e. g . hole drillingmethod and X-ray diffraction met hod) are only useful to measur e the surface or subsurface r esidual stresses. Witht his in mind, the current research program is to introduce t he crack compliance method to characterize interior r esidual stresses in rolled 7075 aluminum plates procured in T73, T7351, T7352 and T7353 temper designations. Experimental results revealed that this newly proposed met hod can be used to evaluate through-thickness r esidual stresses of7075 aluminum plates. It further showed that measured subsurface stresses are mor e sensitive and accurate thant hose obtained by the incr emental hole dr illing method or X-ray diffraction method.

Key words: aluminum alloy, interior residual stress, stress gradient, crack compliance method, evaluation, measurement