STRESS RELIEVING

BASICS

STRESS RELIEVING

BASICS

ir G Henderieckx
GIETECH BV

Ir G.D HENDERIECKX

GIETECH BV

January 2005

STRESS RELIEVING
BASICS

CONTENT
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

DEFINITIONS
CAUSES
STRESS RELIEVING
DANGER
CONCLUSION

1. DEFINITIONS
Stress relieving is the heat treatment that decreases stress that remained locked in
the component as consequence of the manufacturing.
Stress relieving is the heat treatment that consists of:
1. uniform heating of component or part of the component to a suitable
temperature, which is located below the transformation temperature (Ac1)
for non-austenitic materials
2. holding at this temperature for a predetermined period of time, called
dwelling time
3. uniform cooling to room temperature, to avoid the formation of new stress
during cooling.
Stress relieving is performed to avoid:
1. distortion
2. high initial stress level
3. stress corrosion cracking.

Ir G.D HENDERIECKX

GIETECH BV

January 2005

STRESS RELIEVING
BASICS
2.CAUSES
Residual stress can be generated by:
1. rolling, casting, forging
2. forming operations as are shearing, bending, machining
3. welding.
They are present whenever a material is stressed beyond its elastic limit and plastic
flow occurs.
Cold forming results in surface residual tensile stress at one side and compressive
stress at the other side (180 away).
Quenching of thick section results in a high residual compressive strength on the
surface, which is balanced by the residual tensile strength in the centre.
Grinding is also initiating a lot of residual stress, although present in a very thin layer.
Welding is the most stressing operation. If it is poorly performed, the residual stress
can approach the yield strength at room temperature.

2. STRESS RELIEVING

The yield strength for

3 types of steel is
given in next figure.

YIELD STRENGHT MPa

The stress relieving represent a stress-relaxation behaviour in which the material

undergoes a microscopic (sometimes macroscopic) creep at the stress relieves
temperature. This is difficult to estimate although the yield strength of the material at
the stress relieving temperature does give a good estimation. The temperature
should be raised to that level where the yield strength (at that temperature) does
approach the level of
the acceptable
Low alloyed steel
YIELD STRENGHT
Austenitic steel
residual stress level.
Carbon steel
Holding at this
temperature can, due
600
to the creep further
reduce the residual
500
stress level.
400
300
200
100
0
0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

TEMPERATURE C

Ir G.D HENDERIECKX

GIETECH BV

January 2005

STRESS RELIEVING
BASICS
The higher the creep resistance of a material, the more difficult it will be to reduce the
stress level!
Chromium bearing alloyed steels; molybdenum irons will need a higher
temperature to reduce the stress level in the equal amount compared to unalloyed
iron or steel.
Stress relieving of austenitic stainless steel on 400 C does nearly not decrease the
stress level.
The stress relieving is a time-temperature related phenomenon, to be calculated by
the following Larson Millar formula:

Effect = T (log t + 20)(10-3)

T is temperature in K
t is time in hours

The effect is shown in next figure for steel. The influence of the temperature is much
larger as those of the time.
The stress relieving of 6 hours at 510 C can be replaced by those on 600 C for 1
hour. The stress removal will be equal.
1 hour
4 hours
6 hours

RESIDUAL STRESS
(%)

RESIDUAL STRESS
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
300

400

500

600

700

TREATMENT TEMPERATURE (C)

Ir G.D HENDERIECKX

GIETECH BV

January 2005

STRESS RELIEVING
BASICS

3. DANGER
The stress relieving may not effect any other property of the material or component.
There is for a lot of materials a danger that the stress relieving does affect other
properties.
1. Introduction of brittleness if treated in the area of 475 C, especially for
chromium containing materials, non-austenitic structure and no or low
molybdenum level.
2. Decrease of hardness and strength for quenched and tempered metals if the
stress relieving temperature is higher as the tempering temperature.
3. Increasing strength and hardness for:
1. aging sensitive metals (aluminium, austenitic stainless steels)
2. materials with some residual austenitic structure at room temperature.
4. Loss of corrosion resistance due to the formation of carbides and other brittle
structures for austenitic materials.

4. CONCLUSION
Stress relieving is a very important heat treatment, necessary to have the best
condition for the material (component).
The temperature of the treatment has a larger effect as the dwelling time. But the
temperature should be chosen carefully and conform to the rules.
But it is necessary to perform it in a correct way to avoid unexpected consequences
like brittleness, loss of corrosion resistance

Ir G.D HENDERIECKX

GIETECH BV

January 2005