Residual Stresses in Weld-Deposited Clad Pressure Vessels and Nozzles

Results of through-thickness residual stress measurements are provided for a variety of samples of weld-deposited 308/309L stainless steel and Alloy 600 cladding on low-alloy pressure vessel ferritic steels. Clad thicknesses between 5 and 9 mm on samples that vary in thickness from 45 to 200 mm were studied. The samples were taken from flat plates, from a spherical head of a pressure vessel, from a ring-segment of a nozzle bore, and from the transition radius between a nozzle and a pressure vessel shell. A layer removal method was used to measure the residual stresses. The effects of uncertainties in elastic constants (Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio) as well as experimental error are assessed. All measurements were done at room temperature. The results of this work indicate that curvature plays a significant role in cladding residual stress and that tensile residual stresses as high as the yield stress can be measured in the cladding material. Since the vessel from which the spherical and nozzle corner samples were taken was hydrotested, and the flat plate specimens were taken from specimens used in mechanical fatigue testing, these results suggest that rather high tensile residual stresses can be retained in the cladding material, even after some mechanical loading associated with hydrotesting.