Study of Residual Stresses in Compact Tension Specimens Fabricated from Weld Metal

Abstract

This paper describes a preliminary investigation into the residual stress levels in welded nickel alloy compact tension specimens used in stress corrosion cracking (SCC) growth rate experiments. Results from this work document the effect of specimen size and location on residual stress profiles, the methodology outlined in this paper is appropriate to determine the degree to which residual stresses affect crack growth measurements made in coupons containing welds. Slitting method residual stress measurements (Hill Engineering and UC Davis) and finite element weld simulation (US Nuclear Regulatory Commission) have been conducted in order to evaluate both the residual stress intensity factor and residual stress profiles for two compact tension coupon blanks containing welds. The two compact tension coupon blanks were provided by Argonne National Lab (ANL) and are similar to coupons used in on-going SCC studies in weld metal. The experimental data and finite element results are in reasonable agreement, showing similar trends in calculated residual stress profiles.

Effect of Strain Hardened Inner Surface Layers on Stress Corrosion Cracking of Type 316 Stainless Steel in Simulated PWR Primary Water

“…The authors' previous work has shown that the slitting and the contour methods are useful for measuring bulk residual stress in CT specimen coupons [23]. The contour method has also been shown to be useful for measuring bulk residual stress in complex nuclear power plant components (e.g., PWR safety relief nozzles) [24][25][26].…”