Residual Stress After Bristle Blasting: the NACE Study
A NACE paper (2014) examined residual stress in steel surfaces after bristle blasting: the process induces compressive residual stress, which is associated with improved fatigue life and crack-growth resistance.
What a preparation method does beneath the surface matters as much as the finish it leaves. This page summarizes the NACE paper (2014) on residual stress in steel after bristle blasting, compared with abrasive blasting.
Download the full document (PDF) ↓
What does it cover?
The paper presents a comprehensive residual-stress analysis of bristle-blasted steel surfaces. Because bristle tips strike and rebound — cold-working the surface rather than eroding it — the process leaves compressive residual stress in the substrate, measured and compared against grit-blasted references.
Why does it matter?
Compressive residual stress resists crack initiation and growth; tensile stress invites it. For fatigue-loaded structures — bridges, rotating equipment, welded connections — the stress state a tool leaves behind is a genuine engineering property, not a footnote. Related: bristle blasting vs shot peening.