Evolution of residual stresses in dissimilar steel surfacing layers during process of post-weld heat treatment

Residual stress relaxation during post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) is a thermodynamic process, which is affected not only by the heat treatment process, but also by the welding residual stress. In this study, the residual stresses in as welded and heat treated surfacing metal were measured using blind hole and X-ray method. The results reveal that the welding residual stresses are compressive at the surface of the weld and tensile at inner weld. However, after PWHT, the residual stresses at surface and inner weld change to the opposite state. Finite element simulations show that the differences of expansion coefficients between base metal and filler material are the main factor to the changes of stress state. The experimental results verify that the expansion coefficients of base metal and filler materials have been changed greatly after long soaking at high temperature.