The state of residual stresses brought about during and after HIPing is decided by a number of factors, including material properties and the HIP-cycle parameters. The residual stresses following HIPing can be tensile or compressive, depending on the balance of three contributions , i.e. creep, elastic and thermal stresses. The contribution of creep of total stress is always negative (compressive) and by the elastic part always positive (tensile), but the stresses caused by thermal dilatation yield positive or negative stresses depending on the input parameters. Therefore, the general pattern of residual stresses after HIPing is fairly complicated. Usually, however, the sum of the contributions leads to tensile--tangential and compressive radial stresses (in Al, Cu, ceramics).