Residual stress measurement of Inconel 600 on different welding techniques by using conventional and XRD methods

Abstract

Residual stress is a type of secondary stress that exits even after eliminating all the loads. Components that are fabricated through welding contains residual stresses which are either compressive or tensile. Failure to take into account of these residual stress during welding can lead to stress fatigue cracking, distortion, corrosion cracking, design instances and premature component failures. Residual stress calculations are crucial for distortion analysis, life forecasting and assessment of reasons for failure. This research is aimed at understanding the residual stresses evaluation in Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welded Inconel 600 plates. To evaluate residual stresses values in weldment, the conventional strain gauges are employed. Taking the effects of thermal process and material characteristics into account, results are obtained. On the other hand, residual stress values are also obtained through X-Ray diffraction technique. Residual stress values of conventional strain gauge technique are compared with values obtained through XRD. Both the results are correlated, demonstrating the possible use of conventional strain gauges to estimate residual stress values in the weldments.