Effect of Ultrasonic Impact Treatment on Fatigue Life in Butt Welded Joints of Austenitic Stainless Steel

Ultrasonic impact treatment (UIT), which is a type of peening method, is usually used as a post-weld treatment for mild steel in order to improve the fatigue strength of its welded joints. As there is insufficient fatigue data available on welded joints of austenitic stainless steel treated by UIT, the authors decide to conduct fatigue tests on butt welded joints of austenitic stainless steel treated by UIT. The results were compared with the fatigue lives of as-weld joints to investigate the effect of UIT on the fatigue lives of welded joints of austenitic stainless steel. The fatigue lives of butt welded joints treated by UIT were more than 1.5 times longer than those of as-weld joints. The following were considered as possible reasons for this improvement in fatigue life: change in residual stress near the weld toes, relaxation of stress concentration at the weld toes, and refinement of grains under the weld toes. The residual stress measured near the weld toes by using the X-ray diffraction method was transformed from tension to compression by the application of UIT. The stress concentration factors at the welded toes were reduced about 10% by the application of UIT.