Welding Inspector

Residual Stress & Distortion

Section 17

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 Residual stress
Residual stresses are undesirable because:

they lead to distortion

they affect dimensional stability of the
welded assembly
they enhance the risk of brittle fracture
they can facilitate certain types of
corrosion

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 Residual Stresses
The heating and subsequent cooling from welding produces
expansion and contractions which affect the weld metal and
adjacent material.
If this contraction is prevented or inhibited residual stress will
develop.
The tendency to develop residual stresses increases when the
heating and cooling is localised.
Residual stresses are very difficult to measure with any real
accuracy.
Residual stresses are self balancing internal forces and not
stresses induced whilst applying external load
Stresses are more concentrated at the surface of the
component.
The removal of residual stresses is termed stress relieving.
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 Stresses
Normal Stress
Stress arising from a force perpendicular to the
cross sectional area

Compression

Tension
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 Stresses
Shear Stress
Stress arising from forces which are parallel to, and
lie in the plane of the cross sectional area.

Shear Stress

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 Stresses
Hoop Stress
Internal stress acting on the wall a pipe or cylinder
due to internal pressure.

Hoop Stress
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 Residual Stresses
Residual stresses occur in welds in the following directions
 Along the weld – longitudinal residual stresses

 Across the weld – transverse residual stresses

 Through the weld – short transverse residual stresses

Longitudinal

Transverse

Short Transverse
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 Residual stress

Heating and
cooling causes
expansion and
contraction

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 Residual stress

In case of a heated
bar, the resistance
of the surrounding
material to the
expansion and
contraction leads
to formation of
residual stress

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 Summary
1. Residual stresses are locked in elastic strain, which is
caused by local expansion and contraction in the weld
area.
2. Residual stresses should be removed from structures
after welding.
3. The amount of contraction is controlled by, the volume of
weld metal in the joint, the thickness, heat input, joint
design and the materials properties
4. Offsetting may be used to finalise the position of the joint.
5. If plates or pipes are prevented from moving by tacking,
clamping or jigging etc (restraint), then the amount of
residual stresses that remain will be higher.

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 Summary
6. The movement caused by welding related stresses is
called distortion.
7. The directions of contractional stresses and distortion is
very complex, as is the amount and type of final distortion,
however we can say that there are three directions:
a. Longitudinal b. Transverse c. Short transverse
8. A high percentage of residual stresses can be removed by
heat treatments.
9. The peening of weld faces will only redistribute the
residual stress, and place the weld face in compression.

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 Types of distortion
Angular distortion

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 Distortion

Angular Distortion
Transverse Distortion

Bowing Distortion Longitudinal Distortion

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 Distortion
Factors which affect distortion
• Material properties and condition
• Heat input
• The amount of restrain
• The amount of weld metal deposited

Control of distortion my be achieved in the following way:

•The used of a different joint design
•Presetting the joints to be welded – so that the metal distorts
into the required position.
•The use of a balanced welding technique
•The use of clamps, jigs and fixtures.
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 Distortion
• Distortion will occur in all welded joints if the material are
free to move i.e. not restrained
• Restrained materials result in low distortion but high
residual stress
• More than one type of distortion may occur at one time
• Highly restrained joints also have a higher crack tendency
than joints of a low restraint
• The action of residual stress in welded joints is to cause
distortion

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 Distortion
Factors affecting distortion:

parent material properties

amount of restrain
joint design
fit-up
welding sequence

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 Factors affecting distortion
Parent material properties:
thermal expansion coefficient - the greater the value, the
greater the residual stress
yield strength - the greater the value, the greater the
residual stress
Young‟s modulus - the greater the value (increase in
stiffness), the greater the residual stress
thermal conductivity - the higher the value, the lower the
residual stress
transformation temperature - during phase
transformation, expansion/contraction takes place. The
lower the transformation temperature, the lower the
residual stress

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 Factors affecting distortion
Joint design:
weld metal volume
type of joint - butt vs. fillet, single vs. double side
Amount of restrain:
thickness - as thickness increase, so do the stresses
high level of restrain lead to high stresses
preheat may increase the level of stresses (pipe
welding!)
Fit-up:
misalignment may reduce stresses in some cases
root gap - increase in root gap increases shrinkage

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 Factors affecting distortion
Welding sequence:
number of passes - every pass adds to the total
contraction
heat input - the higher the heat input, the greater
the shrinkage
travel speed - the faster the welding speed, the
less the stress
build-up sequence

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 Distortion prevention

Distortion prevention by pre-setting

a) pre-setting of fillet joint to

prevent angular distortion
b) pre-setting of butt joint to
prevent angular distortion
c) tapered gap to prevent
closure

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 Distortion
Pre-set or Offsetting:
The amount of offsetting required is generally a function of
trial and error.

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 Distortion prevention
Distortion prevention by pre-bending using
strongbacks and wedges

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 Distortion
Clamping and jigging:
The materials to be welded are prevented from moving by the
clamp or jig the main advantage of using a jig is that the
elements in a fabrication can be precisely located in the
position to be welded. Main disadvantage of jigging is high
restraint and high levels of residual stresses.

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 Distortion prevention
Distortion prevention by restraint techniques

a) use of welding jigs

b) use of flexible
clamps
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 Distortion prevention
Distortion prevention by restraint techniques

c) use of strongbacks
with wedges

d) use of fully welded

strongbacks

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 Distortion prevention
Distortion prevention by design
Consider eliminating the welding!!

a) by forming the plate

b) by use of rolled or extruded sections
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 Distortion prevention
Distortion prevention by design

consider weld placement

reduce weld metal volume

and/or number of runs

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 Distortion prevention
The volume of weld metal in a joint will affect the amount of
local expansion and contraction, hence the more weld
deposited the higher amount of distortion

Preparation angle 60o

Preparation angle 40o

Preparation angle 0o

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 Distortion prevention
Distortion prevention by design
use of balanced welding

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 Distortion prevention
Distortions prevention by design
Allowances to cover shrinkage
- Transverse Shrinkage
Fillet Welds 0.8mm per weld where the leg length
does not exceed 3/4 plate thickness
Butt weld 1.5 to 3mm per weld for 60° V joint,
depending on number of runs
- Longitudinal Shrinkage
Fillet Welds 0.8mm per 3m of weld
Butt Welds 3mm per 3m of weld
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 Distortion prevention
Distortion prevention by fabrication techniques

tack welding
a) tack weld straight through
to end of joint
b) tack weld one end, then use
back-step technique for
tacking the rest of the joint
c) tack weld the centre, then
complete the tack welding
by the back-step technique

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 Distortion prevention
Distortion prevention by fabrication techniques

back to back assembly

a) assemblies tacked together

before welding
b) use of wedges for
components that distort on
separation after welding

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 Distortion prevention
Distortion prevention by fabrication techniques

use of stiffeners

control welding process by:

- deposit the weld metal as quickly as possible
- use the least number of runs to fill the joint
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 Distortion prevention
Distortion prevention by welding procedure

reduce the number of

runs required to make a
weld (e.g. angular
distortion as a function
of number of runs for a
10 mm leg length weld)

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 Distortion prevention

Distortion prevention by welding procedure

control welding techniques by use

balanced welding about the neutral axis
control welding techniques by keeping
the time between runs to a minimum

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 Distortion prevention
Distortion prevention by welding procedure

control welding techniques by

a) Back-step welding
b) Skip welding
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 Distortion prevention
Back-step welding technique

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Back-skip welding technique

1. 4. 2. 5. 3. 6.

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 Distortion prevention
Distortion - Best practice for fabrication corrective techniques

using tack welds to set up and maintain the joint gap

identical components welded back to back so welding can be
balanced about the neutral axis
attachment of longitudinal stiffeners to prevent longitudinal
bowing in butt welds of thin plate structures
where there is choice of welding procedure, process and
technique should aim to deposit the weld metal as quickly as
possible; MIG in preference to MMA or gas welding and
mechanised rather than manual welding
in long runs, the whole weld should not be completed in one
direction; back-step or skip welding techniques should be used
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 Distortion corrective techniques
Distortion - mechanical corrective techniques

Use of press to correct bowing in T butt joint

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 Distortion corrective techniques
Distortion - Best practice for mechanical corrective techniques

Use packing pieces which will over correct the distortion so

that spring-back will return the component to the correct shape
Check that the component is adequately supported during
pressing to prevent buckling
Use a former (or rolling) to achieve a straight component or
produce a curvature
As unsecured packing pieces may fly out from the press, the
following safe practice must be adopted:
- bolt the packing pieces to the platen
- place a metal plate of adequate thickness to intercept the
'missile'
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 Distortion corrective techniques
Distortion - thermal corrective techniques

Localised heating to
correct distortion

Spot heating for

correcting buckling

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 Distortion corrective techniques
Distortion - thermal corrective techniques

Line heating to correct angular

distortion in a fillet weld

Use of wedge shaped heating

to straighten plate

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 Distortion corrective techniques
Distortion - thermal corrective techniques
Wedge shaped heating to correct distortion

a) standard rolled b) buckled edge of c) box fabrication

steel section plate

General guidelines:
•Length of wedge = two-thirds of the plate width
•Width of wedge (base) = one sixth of its length (base to apex)
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 Distortion corrective techniques
Distortion - thermal corrective techniques
•use spot heating to remove buckling in thin sheet structures
•other than in spot heating of thin panels, use a wedge-shaped
heating technique
•use line heating to correct angular distortion in plate
•restrict the area of heating to avoid over-shrinking the component
•limit the temperature to 60° to 650°C (dull red heat) in steels to
prevent metallurgical damage
•in wedge heating, heat from the base to the apex of the wedge,
penetrate evenly through the plate thickness and maintain an even
temperature

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