Measurement of Residual Stresses in Stainless Steel Cladded Specimens

Residual stresses were measured in cladded steel specimens using deep hole drilling (DHD) and block removal and surface layering (BRSL) techniques. The samples consisted of a A533B steel substrate and cladded with Type 304 stainless steel using two different welding techniques; electro-slag (ESW) and submerged welding (SAW). Two SAW samples were created; one with a single layer of weld and a second with a double layer of welding. Only a single weld layer of ESW was used on another sample. All three samples were subjected to post-weld heat treatment prior to measurement. The measured residual stress distributions revealed (as expected) tensile stresses in the clad. However, the DHD method measured compressive stresses in the substrate adjacent to the clad for the single layer ESW and SAW welds. In contrast, the BRSL method found that the residual stresses in the substrate were close to zero or approximately tensile. The measurements are compared with results obtained from finite element (FE) simulations of the welding and PWHT treatment. The predicted tensile residual stresses in the clad were found to be larger than the measurements while in the substrate the FE analysis did not predict the measured compressive stresses.