The predecessor of this manual was published in 1960 as SAE TR-182 (SAE J784) and was intended to bring together the most recent developments in x-ray techniques for residual stress measurements. At that time, it was evident that the ability to reproduce results among different laboratories was lacking. In addition, the disadvantages of film techniques, particularly with regard to hard steels, had been given much attention. Consequently, the original manual covered almost exclusively diffractometer methods and recommended a fairly uniform technique based on two exposures and peak position determination by a three-point parabola.