No abstract

Gas metal arc welding (GMAW) is one of the most used joining method in the industry.However, one of the main problems of this process is the generation of residual stresses which have direct impact on the fatigue life of welded components. Nevertheless, residual stress pattern prediction is complex and requires the simulation of the welding process. Currently, there are different numerical methods to predict the residual stresses generated in GMAW process, being Goldak's method one of the most widely used model. However, the main limitation of these methods is that they require defining many parameters experimentally and consequently this method is not valid during design process.Alternatively, in this work, it is developed a procedure where the heat source is defined based on the welding physics for spray transfer welding. The developed procedure has been validated for a spray transfer multipass butt weld case. Results have shown good correspondence with an average deviation of 9.16% in thermal field and 42 MPa in the final residual stress field. Thus, the developed procedure has been validated as a cost effective alternative method to estimate residual stress pattern in spray transfer multipass welding. Furthermore, the developed method does not require any welding experimental characterization once the efficiency of the used welding machine is defined. The proposed method can be used as a valid tool to optimize the welding process in order to minimize the residual stress field and, consequently, improve the fatigue life.

One of the main problems of gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process is the generation of residual stresses (RS), which has a direct impact on the mechanical performance of welded components. Nevertheless, RS pattern prediction is complex and requires the simulation of the welding process. Consequently, most of the currently used dimensioning approaches do not consider RS, leading to design oversized structures. This fact is especially relevant in big structures since it generates high material, manufacturing and product transportation costs. Nowadays, there are different numerical methods to predict the RS generated in GMAW process, being Goldak's method one of the most widely used model. However, the use of these methods during the design process is limited, as they require experimentally defining many parameters. Alternatively, in this chapter, a new methodology to define the heat source energy based on the spray welding physics is exposed. The experimental validation of the methodology conducted for a multipass butt weld case shows good agreement in both the temperature pattern (9.16% deviation) and the RS pattern (42 MPa deviation). Finally, the proposed methodology is extended to analyse the influence of the thickness and the number of passes in the RS pattern of thick T-joint welds.

Residual Stress (RS) pattern changes considerably depending on the width of the plates and the welding parameters, having effect on the fatigue strength. Most of the standards do not consider them and in some works, yield stress is taken as residual stress value. It results in a very conservative estimation of fatigue life. Authors developed recently a numerical model to predict more properly the value of RS pattern depending on the plate thickness. In a welded joint, considering the RS and alternating axial loads, the evolution of the stresses is multiaxial, becoming necessary its study. Therefore, the aim of this work is to analyse different fatigue indicator parameters (Smith-Watson-Topper, Fatemi-Socie, and Critical Plane implementation of the Basquin equation) in order to predict the fatigue behaviour of butt-weld components. For that purpose, the numerical model to predict the RS pattern in welded joint developed by this research group is used.

Tensile residual stress (RS) peaks near the weld toe accelerate crack generation and propagation stages reducing dramatically the life of welded components. In order to relief RS, components are typically heat-treated. However, heat treatments can affect the microstructure compromising mechanical properties. In addition, their application in big structures is complex due to size limitations. As an alternative, mechanical treatments such as shot peening can be locally applied. Moreover, they generate local compressive stresses in the treated surfaces, which present beneficial effect in the fatigue strength of treated components. In the present work, the contribution of shot peening in the fatigue strength of multipass welded joints is numerically evaluated. For that purpose, first the RS stress pattern of a 3 pass butt weld of 10mm thick, 50mm length S275JR plates is calculated. Following, the application of shot peening in the tensile RS area is modelled and the evolution of RS pattern is analyzed. Finally, the fatigue strength of treated and non-treated butt welds is evaluated.