Grain and stress characterization with thermoelastic microscopy

The thermoelastic microscope principle is described, and some applications of this technique to grain and stress characterization in metals are presented. The results demonstrate that the thermoelastic microscope allows anisotropy imaging and stress measurement. With the setup described, both qualitative information (imaging, defect visualization and geometrical characterization) and quantitative information (material or phase analysis using the transfer function, and thermal or elastic constant indirect measurement) can be obtained