Stability of machining induced residual stresses in Inconel 718 under quasi-static loading at room temperature

Abstract

Tensile residual stresses are very often generated on the surface when machining nickel alloys. In order to determine their influence on the final mechanical behaviour of the component residual stress stability should be considered. In the present work the evolution of surface residual stresses induced by machining in Inconel 718 under static loading at room temperature was studied experimentally and numerically. An Inconel 718 disc was face turned employing industrial working conditions and specimens for tensile tests were extracted from the disc. Surface residual stresses were measured by X-ray diffraction for initial state and after applying different loads over the material׳s yield stress. Then, a finite element model based on the surface–core approach was fitted to experimental results and the study was extended to analyse the influence of load level, degree of work-hardening and initial surface conditions. For the studied case, initial tensile surface residual stress (776 MPa) became even more tensile when applying loads higher than the material yield stress, but a shift was observed at the highest applied load (1350 MPa) and initial residual stress was relaxed about 170 MPa. This particular behaviour is associated to the modified stress–strain properties of the machined affected surface layer which was strongly work-hardened. Moreover, if the work-hardened properties are not considered in the finite element model results differ substantially from experiments. Surface residual stress stability also depends on the initial surface residual stress, but the degree of work-hardening induced by the machining process must be considered as well. If the difference between the yield stress of the surface and the yield stress of the core is lower than the initial surface residual stress, the surface begins yielding first and consequently the surface residual stress is decreased. In contrast, if the difference between the yield stress of the surface and the yield stress of the core is greater than the initial surface residual stress, the opposite behaviour is observed.