Comparison between contact and immersion ultrasonic method to evaluate welding residual stresses of dissimilar joints

• Published in: Materials in engineering Vol. 47; pp. 473 - 482
• Main Authors: Javadi, Yashar, Najafabadi, Mehdi Ahmadi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.05.2013
• Subjects: Acoustoelastic constant; Contact; Contact stresses; Dissimilar welding; Finite element welding simulation; Heat affected zone; Immersion; Immersion ultrasonic method; Low carbon steels; Non-destructive stress measurement; Residual stress; Transducers; Ultrasonic testing; Welding; Welding residual stress; Dissimilar welding; Welding residual stress; Acoustoelastic constant; Non-destructive stress measurement; Finite element welding simulation; Immersion ultrasonic method
• ISSN: 0261-3069
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matdes.2012.12.069

► The main goal is comparison of contact and immersion method in stress measurement. ► Welding process of dissimilar plate and pipe is modeled by finite element analysis. ► Residual stresses are measured by contact and immersion ultrasonic transducers. ► The comparison between ultrasonic and FE results show an acceptable agreement. ► Considerable difference between using contact and immersion method is not observed. This paper presents a comparison of contact and immersion waves used to measure residual stresses. The residual stresses are produced due to a dissimilar welding of stainless steel (304) to carbon steel (A106). Longitudinal critically refracted (LCR) wave propagated by 2MHz contact and immersion ultrasonic transducers is employed to measure the residual stresses. A Finite Element (FE) model of welding process, which is validated by hole-drilling method, is used to verify the ultrasonic results while an acceptable agreement is achieved. The best agreement is observed in the parent material while the maximum difference is measured in the heat affected zone (HAZ). The results show no considerable difference between using contact and immersion transducers in ultrasonic stress measurement of dissimilar joints.