Residual stress relaxation in typical weld joints and its effect on fatigue and crack growth

Many factors influence the fatigue and crack growth behavior of welded joints. Some structures often undergo fairly large static loading before they enter service or variable amplitude cyclic loading when they are in service. The combined effect of both applied stress and high initial residual stress is expected to cause the residual stresses relaxation. Only a few papers seem to deal with appropriate procedures for fatigue analysis and crack growth by considering the combined effect of variable amplitude cyclic loading with residual stresses relaxation. In this article, some typical welded connections in ship-shaped structures are investigated with 3-D elastic-plastic finite element analysis. The effect of residual stress relaxation, initial residual stress, and the applied load after variable amplitude cyclic loading is revealed, and a formula for predicting the residual stress at hot spot quantitatively is proposed. Based on the formula, an improved fatigue procedure is introduced. Moreover, crack growth of typical weld joints considering residual stresses relaxation is studied.

Relaxation of residual stresses in 20%SiC_w/6061Al composite as-extruded at high temperature

The residual stress in a 20%SiC w/6061Al composite as extruded was investigated by using X ray stress measurement method. It was found that, high residual stress existed in the composite and residual stress distribution in each direction are not uniform. Relaxation process of residual stress in the composite was dynamically measured during annealing at high temperature. It is verified that the relaxation of residual stress obeys the power law at high temperature. With the creep mechanism, the relaxation behavior of residual stresses at high temperature was analyzed. The results show that, the stress exponent and activation energy for stress relaxation of the composite are obviously higher than those of the matrix alloy.

EFFECT OF SUBSTRUCTURE AND RESIDUAL STRESS IN STRENGTHENED LAYER ON FATIGUE STRENGTH OF STAINLESS OR LOW CARBON STEEL

In the strengthened layer of stainless steel after shot peening,there are a great amount of deformation microtwins which may act as structural strengthening factor and prevent the gradual relaxation of surface residual stress during fatigue,so as to keep its rather high level of bending fatigue strength.However,in the strengthened surface layer of low carbon steel, dislocation cell structure is so unstalbe during fatigue that its surface residual stress relaxation cannot be retarded.Therefore,the bending fatigue strength of the low carbon steel can not be improred by shot peening.

Influences of Tool Wear on Residual Stress and Fatigue Life of Workpiece in Hard Cutting Process

Tool wear has an important influence on the residual stress distribution on the machined surface.Also,it will influence the fatigue life of finished workpiece. In this research,the hard turning process of hardened die steel Cr12 MoV was studied by using PCBN tool with considering tool wear. Based on the numerical treatment of residual stress,the dispersion and distribution curves of different tool wear were fitted,and the influence mechanism of tool wear on the residual stress distribution of machined surface was analyzed.Based on the theory of fatigue mechanics and mathematical statistics,the mathematical model for difference of stress dispersion and fatigue life was established. The rotating and bending tests were carried out on the standard parts after cutting process for the workpiece. The influence of tool wear on fatigue life was revealed by fracture surface morphology and fatigue life study. The results provide theoretical support for control of residual stress and the fatigue property of the machined surface under the actual working conditions.

Effect of laser shock processing on residual stress and fatigue behavior of 6061-T651 aluminum alloy

Laser shock processing is a very new technique and an emerging modern process that generates compressive stresses much deeper into the surfaces of metals or alloys. A brief parametric study of the effect of laser parameters on fatigue behavior and residual stress state generated in 6061-T651 alloy specimens was summarized. Residual stress of 6061-T651 alloy was analyzed both before and after laser processing with multishocks. The material remains in compressive residual stress of approximate 1mm in depth which is approximately 10 times deeper than that can be achieved with the conventional technique, and the maximal compressive residual stress at the surface of the sample is about -350MPa. Near the surface, yield strength and hardness are found to be increased by the laser shock. The ratio of fatigue crack initiation life for the laser-shocked to unshocked specimens is found to be 4.9 for specimens. The results clearly show that LSP is an effective surface treatment technique for improving the fatigue performance of aluminum alloys.

INFLUENCE OF RESIDUAL STRESS AND SURFACE MORPHOLOGY ON FATIGUE PROPERTIES OF STEEL 60Mn

Influence of residual stress and surface morphology induced by shot-peening on fatigue behav- ior of a medium temperature tempered spring steel 60 Mn has been studied.The compressive residual stress induced in the near-surface region may improve fatigue limit from 930 to 1010 MPa,and the very high tensile residual stress in the interior may reduce it from 1010 to 940 MPa,whereas the severe surface damage may cause a drop-off of it from 1010 down to 800 MPa.Fatigue cracks initiated in such position where the equivalent Mises stress,including residual stress,exceeded the local strength of the material.The compressive residual stress, induced by shot-peening,may intensify the effect of crack closure,so as to decrease the crack growth rate.

RESIDUAL STRESS CONCENTRATION AND ITS EFFECTS ON FATIGUE LIMIT AND SHORT CRACK GROWTH

Residual stress concentration at a notch depends on both notch geometry and yield strength of the material.It varies through the depth,and its magnitude may be higher than the theoretical one.Compressive residual.stress concentration at the notch of shot-peened specimen of soft material is easily to he relaxed,with the surface damage during shot-peening results in a mi- nor contribution to the fatigue limit.Compressive residual stress increases the crack closure effect at the notch and may lead to a non-propagating crack.

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF EFFECTS ON DELAMINATION NEAR CRACK OF ARALL BY RESIDUAL STRESS UNDER FATIGUE ＆ STATIC LOADS

The delamination near the centre crack of ARALL under fatigue and static loads is investigated, and the effects on delamination by different residual stresses are analyzed. The results show that the situations under the two kinds of loads are different.Under the fatigue load, the typical delamination with crack growth presents symmetrical hi-ellipse-shape, whereas under the condition of static tensile, the edge-effect becomes more evident. Applying a proper pre-stress to the laminate can increase the ability of anti-delamination damage.

Fatigue Life Prediction for SiC/Al Materials Based on Path Planning Algorithm Considering Residual Stress

To explore the influence of path deflection on crack propagation,a path planning algorithm is presented to calculate the crack growth length.The fatigue crack growth life of metal matrix composites(MMCs)is estimated based on an improved Paris formula.Considering the different expansion coefficient of different materials,the unequal shrinkage will lead to residual stress when the composite is molded and cooled.The crack growth model is improved by the modified stress ratio based on residual stress.The Dijkstra algorithm is introduced to avoid the cracks passing through the strengthening base and the characteristics of crack steps.This model can be extended to predict crack growth length for other similarly-structured composite materials.The shortest path of crack growth is simulated by using path planning algorithm,and the fatigue life of composites is calculated based on the shortest path and improved model.And the residual stress caused by temperature change is considered to improve the fatigue crack growth model in the material.The improved model can well predict the fatigue life curve of composites.By analyzing the fatigue life of composites,it is found that there is a certain regularity based on metal materials,and the new fatigue prediction model can also reflect this regularity.

Residual Strength of Stiffened LY12CZ Aluminum Alloy Panels with Widespread Fatigue Damage

Experimental and analytical investigations on the residual strength of the stiffened LY12CZ aluminum alloy panels with widespread fatigue damage （WFD） are conducted. Nine stiffened LY12CZ aluminum alloy panels with three different types of damage are tested for residual strength. Each specimen is pre-cracked at rivet holes by saw cuts and subjected to a monotonically increasing tensile load until failure is occurred and the failure load is recorded. The stress intensity factors at the tips of the lead crack and the adjacent WFD cracks of the stiffened aluminum alloy panels are calculated by compounding approach and finite element method （FEM） respectively. The residual strength of the stiffened panels with WFD is evaluated by the engineering method with plastic zone linkup criterion and the FEM with apparent fracture toughness criterion respectively. The predicted residual strength agrees well with the experiment results. It indicates that in engineering practice these methods can be used for residual strength evaluation with the acceptable accuracy. It can be seen from this research that WFD can significantly reduce the residual strength and the critical crack length of the stiffened panels with WFD. The effect of WFD crack length on residual strength is also studied.

Influence of Fatigue Loading on the Residual Stress Distribution in Prestressing Steel Wires

This paper analyzes the influence of fatigue loading on the residual stress profile in high strength steel wires. To this end, different sinusoidal loads with diverse values of maximum loading level and number of cycles were simulated on wires in which several residual stress profiles had been previously introduced, some of them with a tensile state and others with a compressive state. An analysis was made of the evolution with time of such residual stress laws by comparing them at key instants of loading, that is, at initial instant, at maximum load, at minimum load and at final instant. Numerical results show only a minor influence of fatigue loading on the residual stress profile.

Effect of stress level on fatigue behavior of 2D C/C composites

Laminated carbon fiber clothes were infiltrated to prepare carbon fiber reinforced pyrolytic carbon （C/C） using isothermal chemical vapor infiltration （CVI）. The bending fatigue behavior of the infiltrated C/C composites was tested under two different stress levels. The residual strength and modulus of all fatigued samples were tested to investigate the effect of maximum stress level on fatigue behavior of C/C composites. The microstructure and damage mechanism were also investigated. The results showed that the residual strength and modulus of fatigued samples were improved. High stress level is more effective to increase the modulus. And for the increase of flexural strength, high stress level is more effective only in low cycles. The fatigue loading weakens the bonding between the matrix and fiber, and then affects the damage propagation pathway, and increases the energy consumption. So the properties of C/C composites are improved.

Effect of residual stress on the vibration failure of dissimilar steels joint

Elasto-plastic finite element method is used for the welding residual stress calculation in butt welded joint of carbon steel and stainless steel, fluctuating pressure on the ship hull induced by a propeller is calculated from the actual measurement data. As the result of the superposition of vibration load and welding residual stress, the stress amplitude is reduced slightly in high stress area near the welding line, while the value of stress reduction becomes larger when the welding current increases. On the contrary, the stress amplitude is increased clearly far from the welding line. The welding residual stress obviously reduced the fatigue life of ship structure with the vibration load. The fatigue lives of ship structures under vibration are - 1.75 × 105 （ 110 000 ton product carrier） and - 2.43 × 105 （52 000 ton all-purpose cargo ship） without welding residual stress, while the residual stress exists, the fatigue life is down to - 3 × 104.

Modification of residual stress in Al-[AlBO]_w/Al compound plate

The application of compound parts of Al [AlBO] w/Al not only reduces the cost of the parts but also improves its properties. However, there is a large thermal residual stress between Al and [AlBO] w/Al, and it is harmful for practical application. From the theoretical analyses and experimental results, it was found that by the compressive pre plastic deformation perpendicular to the interface between Al and [AlBO] w/Al, the interlayer residual stress of compound parts can be reduced, while the mechanical properties of compound parts can be improved. [

Residual Stress and Fracture Toughness Study in A516 Gr70 Steel Joints Welded and Repaired by Arc Processes

Structural components made of steel are used in several areas and require welding for assembly. In some situations, repair of the weld bead, also performed by electric arc welding, can be used to correct, and eliminate any discontinuities. However, electric arc welding causes the presence of residual stresses in the joint, which can impair its performance and not meet specific design requirements. In this paper, welded joints made of ASTM A 516 GR 70 steel plates, with a thickness of 30.5 mm, welded by the MAG—Metal Active Gas process (20% CO2) and using a “K” groove were analysed. The joints were manufactured with seven welding passes on each side of the groove. After welding, one batch underwent repair of the bead by TIG welding (Tungsten Insert Gas) and another batch underwent two repairs by TIG welding. Were presented results of the behaviour of the residual stress profile measured by X-ray diffraction and the Vickers microhardness profile in the joints as well the fracture toughness in the conditions only welded and submitted to repairs. The results indicated that the greater number of repair passes reduced the residual compressive stress values obtained in the material manufacturing process and caused a stabilization on the Vickers hardness values. It was concluded that compressive residual stresses did not play a major role in the R-curve results. The presence of discontinuities in the welded joint caused greater influence on the behaviour of the R curve.

New Developed Welding Electrode for Improving the Fatigue Strength of Welded Joints

A new welding electrode, low transformation temperature electrode (LTTE), was introduced in this paper. It was described in design principle, mechanics, chemical compositions of their deposited metal and manufacturing methods. It was proved that the best transformation starting temperature from austenite to martensite of the deposited metal of LTTE was at about 191℃ and it was obtained by adding alloying elements such as Cr, Ni, Mn and Mo. The microstructure of the weld metal of the LTTE was low carbon martensite and residual austenite. The compressive residual stress was induced around the weld of the LTTE and the -145 MPa in compression could be obtained in middle of weld metal. The fatigue tests showed that the fatigue strength of the longitudinal welded joints welded with the LTTE at 2×106 cycles was improved by 59% compared with that of the same type of welded joints welded with conventional E5015 and the fatigue life was increased by 47 times at 162 MPa. It is a very valuable method to improve the fatigue performance of welded joints.

Development of multi-physics numerical simulation model to investigate thermo-mechanical fatigue crack propagation in an autofrettaged gun barrel

In this research,a detailed multi-physics study has been carried out by numerically simulating a solid fractured gun barrel for 20 thermo-mechanical cycles.The numerical model is based on thermal effects,mechanical stress fields and fatigue crack mechanics.Elastic-plastic material data of modified AISI 4340 at temperatures ranging from 25 to 1200℃and at strain rates of 4,16,32 and 48 s^(-1) was acquired from high-temperature compression tests.This was used as material property data in the simulation model.The boundary conditions applied are kept similar to the working gun barrel during continuous firing.A methodology has been provided to define thermo-mechanically active surface-to-surface type interface between the crack faces for a better approximation of stresses at the crack tip.Comparison of results from non-autofrettaged and autofrettaged simulation models provide useful information about the evolution of strains and stresses in the barrel at different points under combined thermo-mechanical loading cycles in both cases.The effect of thermal fatigue under already induced compressive yield due to autofrettage and the progressive degradation of the accumulated stresses due to thermo-mechanical cyclic loads on the internal surface of the gun barrel(mimicking the continuous firing scenario)has been analyzed.Comparison between energy release rate at tips of varying crack lengths due to cyclic thermo-mechanical loading in the non-autofrettaged and autofrettaged gun has been carried out.

Influence of Ultrasonic Surface Rolling Process and Shot Peening on Fretting Fatigue Performance of Ti-6Al-4V

At present,there are many studies on the residual stress field and plastic strain field introduced by surface strengthening,which can well hinder the initiation of early fatigue cracks and delay the propagation of fatigue cracks.However,there are few studies on the effects of these key factors on fretting wear.In the paper,shot-peening(SP)and ultrasonic surface rolling process(USRP)were performed on Ti-6Al-4V plate specimens.The surface hardness and residual stresses of the material were tested by vickers indenter and X-ray diffraction residual stress analyzer.Microhardness were measured by HXD-1000MC/CD micro Vickers hardness tester.The effects of different surface strengthening on its fretting fatigue properties were verified by fretting fatigue experiments.The fretting fatigue fracture surface and wear morphology of the specimens were studied and analyzed by means of microscopic observation,and the mechanism of improving fretting fatigue life by surface strengthening process was further explained.After USRP treatment,the surface roughness of Ti-6Al-4V is significantly improved.In addition,the microhardness of the specimen after SP reaches the maximum at 80μm from the surface,which is about 123%higher than that of the AsR specimen.After USRP,it reaches the maximum at 150μm from the surface,which is about 128%higher than that of AsR specimen.It is also found that the residual compressive stress of the specimens treated by USRP and SP increases first and then decreases with the depth direction,and the residual stress reaches the maximum on the sub surface.The USRP specimen reaches the maximum value at 0.18 mm,about−550 MPa,while the SP specimen reaches the maximum value at 0.1 mm,about−380 MPa.The fretting fatigue life of Ti-6Al-4V effectively improved after USRP and SP.The surface integrity of specimens after USRP is the best,which has deeper residual compressive stress layer and more refined grain.In this paper,a fretting wear device is designed to carry out fretting fatigue experiments on specimens with different surface strengthening.

Effects of laser shock peening on fatigue crack growth rate and fracture properties of AA2524 aluminum alloy

In order to prolong the service life of aircraft skin made from AA2524, the effects of laser shock peening(LSP) on fatigue crack growth(FCG) rate and fracture toughness(K_(c)) of AA2524 were investigated. Multiple LSP treatment was performed on compact tension(CT) specimen from single side and double sides. The surface integrity was measured with Vickers hardness tester, X-ray diffractometer and confocal laser scanning microscope, respectively. FCG rate test and fracture toughness test under plane stress were carried out after LSP treatment. The microstructure features of cross-sections were observed with scanning electron microscope. The results showed that the micro-hardness and residual stress of CT specimens were increased dramatically after LSP treatment. Compared to the base metal(BM), the fatigue life was prolonged by 2.4 times and fracture toughness was increased by 22% after multiple LSP.

Review of the fatigue behavior of hard coating–ductile substrate systems

With the wide application of coating materials in aerospace and other fields, their safety under fatigue conditions in service is important.However, research on the fatigue properties of ceramic hard coatings started late, and a unified standard is yet to be established to evaluate the fatigue life of hard coating–ductile substrate systems.Studies also present different opinions on whether coatings can improve or reduce the fatigue life of substrates.In this paper, the influence of the properties of ceramic coatings on fatigue performance is reviewed, and the effects of coating on the mechanism of fatigue crack initiation in substrates are discussed, aiming to help readers understand the fatigue behavior of hard coating–ductile substrate systems.