New X'pert Stress Plus Enables Residual Stress Analysis in Polycrystalline Coatings

PANalytical's new X'Pert Stress Plus 2.0 software package introduces a novel application in X-ray diffraction - the analysis of residual stresses in polycrystalline coatings. The new software is part of a complete solution that includes PANalyticals existing X'Pert PRO hardware platform and the recently extended stress measurement possibilities of X'Pert Data Collector 2.2.

PANalytical's complete solution now enables residual stress analysis of any combination of substrate and polycrystalline coating material. Dedicated techniques allow measurement of nanocrystalline, randomly orientated or highly textured polycrystalline coatings. The substrate can be of any nature: amorphous, polycrystalline or single crystal.
X'Pert Stress Plus 2.0 will be invaluable for industrial research on thin films, coatings and surface layers. Practical application examples are wide ranging and include materials such as titanium carbide on steel, TiAlN coating on tool inserts, surface stresses in ceramics and oxide coatings on glass.

X'Pert Stress Plus 2.0 supports all data used for the analysis of polycrystalline coatings, including grazing incidence measurements and multiple peak analysis. It combines the benefits of the updated X'Pert Stress package with new functionality. The new X'Pert Stress Plus software is dedicated to residual stress analysis in polycrystalline coatings, whereas X'Pert Stress is designed for classical single sin2ø stress analysis. Both packages can be used interactively or run automatically. A wide choice of pattern treatments is available and options for peak position determination are extended.