Residual stress measurements for cultural heritage.

Abstract

The neutron residual stress analysis can be used as a forensic method for studying non-destructively objects of cultural heritage. A number of case studies on ancient weaponry were collected over the period of the Cultural Heritage Project at ACNS, ranging from the bronze age blades to more recent iron age swords. In the given presentation, the use of the neutron diffraction method is illustrated with these case studies together with the interpretation of the results of stress measurements.