Residual stress may be created during the manufacturing process of a material,
or it may accumulate in a structure over many years in operation. In either case,
this stress can have a serious negative effect on a product's quality, durability
and lifetime. Accurate detection of residual stress is an important element of
the quality control process and helps predict the service lifetime of products.

In the past, if you wanted to make highly accurate residual stress
measurements, you had to use an R&D diffractometer because of the accuracy
of the goniometer. However this restricts the weight and size of the samples
you can measure. On the other hand, dedicated laboratory and factory-floor
residual stress analyzers suffer from reduced accuracy due to the nature of their
mechanical designs, while, in their favor, they have the flexibility of measuring
large and heavy parts.

With the AutoMATE II, you now have the best of both worlds. Large and heavy
parts (30 kg with standard manual Z stage; 20 kg with optional automated XYZ
stage) can be measured with high accuracy. This is possible because the X-ray
source and detector arm are mounted on a highly accurate two-axis goniometer
that can position them relative to the measurement site and perform scans with
an accuracy of 0.1 microns when using the automated XYZ stage.

The most advanced new feature of the AutoMATE II lies in an innovative new X-
ray detector. The detector used in the AutoMATE II is the D/teX Ultra1000, an
electronic Si strip detector that has high dynamic range, high sensitivity, and
good energy resolution, as well as not requiring any consumable gas.

About Rigaku

Since its inception in 1951, Rigaku has been at the forefront of analytical and
industrial instrumentation technology. Today, with hundreds of major innova­
tions to their credit, the Rigaku Group of Compan­ies are world leaders in the
fields of protein and small molecule X-ray crys­tallography, general X-ray
diffraction, X-ray spectro­metry, X-ray optics, semi­conductor metrology,
automation, computed tomography, Raman spectroscopy, nonde­structive
testing and thermal analysis.