Proceedings of the WSE2013

Investigation of Influence of Phase Transformation on Welding Residual Stress in P91 Steel

Bi Tao*, Deng Dean*, Tong Yangang*, Liu Xiaozhan*, Zhou Yijun* * College of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University, No. 174, Shazhengjie, Shapingba, Chongqing, 400045, China KEY WORDS: (Phase transformation), (Residual stress), (Numerical simulation), (TRIP), (Laser Welding)

1. Introduction Ferritic-martensite steels containing 9-12 wt.% chromium have been widely used in high temperature service equipment manufacturing, because of their superior properties such as high thermal conductivity, low thermal expansion coefficient, and good resistance to stress corrosion crack [1]. However, the potential efficiency gains in using 9-12 wt.% steels are often impeded by premature failures in welded joints due to type-IV cracking. Recent research has shown that high tensile residual stresses are generated in the type-IV cracking [2] region in welded P91 boiler pipe girths, whereas such stresses can hardly be relieved by conventional post-weld heat treatment. In the current study, a computational approach based on SYWELD software was developed to simulate the welding residual stresses in P91 welded joint, particularly as such stresses might be affected by solid-state phase transformation taking place in the weld and the heat-affected zone. Three factors, namely, the volumetric change, the variation of mechanical properties, and the transformation induced plasticity (TRIP), are taken into account as the main factors that may significantly affect welding residual stresses via the processes of phase transformation. In this study, a finite element model was developed to simulate welding temperature field, residual stress field induced by laser beam welding in a butt welded joint. Meanwhile, the welding residual stresses predicted by the FEM were compared with the experimental results contacted by Residual stresses in laser welded ASTM A387 Grade 91 steel plates [3]. ] 2. Finite element model To investigate the influence of solid-state phase transformation on the formation of welding residual stress, a finite element model was developed. The finite element model is shown in Fig. 1. The thickness of the model is 9mm, and the total number of nodes is 66, 531, and that of element is 57,600. In this study, it was assumed that laser beam welding process was used to perform the welding. The welding parameters are shown in Table 1. SYSWELD software was used to simulate welding temperature field and residual stress field. In the thermal analysis, Goldak heat source model was used to simulate the heat input of laser welding, as shown in Fig.2. The thermal physical and mechanical properties of the weld metal were assumed to be the same as those of

base metal because filler wire was not used in the laser welding process. The temperature-dependent thermal physical properties are shown in Fig. 3. In the simulation, the K-M relationship was used to model the austenite-martensite transformation. In the mechanical analysis, the elastic strain-stress relationship was modeled using the isotropic Hookes law, and plastic behavior is considered through Von Misses criterion. The effect of work hardening was neglected in this study. The thermal strain was considered using thermal expansion coefficient. During the solid-state phase transformation, the variation of yield strength was considered. The temperature-dependent mechanical properties of base metal (tempered at 770) are shown in Fig. 4.

Welding Line

200 100

Fig.1 Finite element model

q=(x,y,z) b z c

a2 a1

x
Rear half ellipsolid Front half ellipsolid

Fig. 2 Heal flux distribution in Goldak heat source model

Influence of TRIP on calculated results of residual stress in a low temperature transformation steel joint 3. Simulation results and comparison with measurements 3.1 Results of thermal analysis The fusion zone simulated by the finite element model was shown in Fig.5. The picture of fusion zone [3] is shown in Fig. 6. Comparing Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, we can find that although the reinforcement and sunken of the weld bead were neglected in the numerical model, however the fusion zone of FEM is roughly similar to that of the experiment.

To examine the influence of TRIP (Transformation Induced Plasticity) on the welding residual stress, two cases were simulated in this study. These two cases are summarized in Table 2.

Fig. 3 Thermal physical properties of P91

Fig. 5 Fusion zone predicted by FEM

Fig. 6 Fusion measured by experiment Fig.4 Temperature-dependent mechanical properties of P91 3.2 Results of mechanical analysis Fig. 7 shows the contour of longitudinal residual stress distribution of the top surface in Case B. Fig.8 shows the longitudinal residual stress distribution of the middle cross-section of Case B. These two figures tell us that there are compressive longitudinal stress in the weld zone and the heat affected zone (HAZ). This information indicates that the phase transformation especially the volume change has a significant influence on the final longitudinal stress distribution. Volume change can largely reduce the accumulated longitudinal stresses before the start of austenite- martensite transformation. In this case, because the martensite start temperature is relatively low, the solid state phase transformation not only changed the magnitude of longitudinal stress but also altered its sign (tension /compression). Carefully observing Fig.8, we can find that the peak value of longitudinal residual stress appears at the regions near the HAZ, and it is larger than the yield strength of the base metal.

Table 1 Welding parameters welding current 300A arc voltage 25V welding speed 12.5mm/s arc efficiency 85%

Table 2 Simulation cases Case A B Volume change Yes Yes Yield strength change Yes Yes TRIP No Yes

Proceedings of the WSE2013

Fig. 7 Contour of longitudinal residual stress of top surface (Case B)

Fig. 11 Comparison of the simulation results and the measured data [3] distributions on the top surface of the middle cross-section predicted by these two cases and the measured data are plotted. From Fig.11, we can know that compared with Case A, the simulated results of Case B are closer to the experiment at and near the weld zone. Although the predictions of Case A generally match the measurements at and near the fusion zone, there are some discrepancies at the weld zone and the HAZ. On the whole, the compressive longitudinal stresses predicted by Case A are larger than those measured by experiment. This information suggests that to accurately simulate welding residual stresses in the fusion zone and the HAZ for alloy steels such as P91, the TRIP should also be considered in the numerical model. From the same figure, we can also obverse that there are errors between the predictions and the measurement in the ranges away from the weld zone. Generally, the simulated results are larger than the measured data. In the aspect of numerical model, perhaps the temperature-data mechanical properties used in the finite element model did not exactly reflect the real status of the experimental mock-up. In the aspect of experiment, the measuring method also has some shortcoming and can cause some systematic errors. In addition, there are initial residual stresses in the weldment due to manufacturing process before welding. In this study, we only considered welding process in the numerical simulation, but the other manufacturing processes were neglected completely. Generallywhen the distance from the weld zone is large, the initial residual stress is more difficult to be affected by welding process [4]. So, the discrepancies can also be caused by the initial residual stresses. 4. Conclusions In this study, we developed a computational approach based on SYSWELD software to simulate welding residual stress with considering solid-state phase transformation. Using the developed approach, we simulated the welding residual stresses induced by laser welding in P91 steel. In addition, we also compared the simulated results with the experimental measurements in the opening literature. We can draw the following conclusions: 1) Based on SYSWELD software, we have developed a

Fig.8 Longitudinal Mid-section (Case B)

residual

stress

distribution

of

Fig. 9 Contour of transverse residual stress of top surface (Case B)

Fig. 10 Transverse Mid-section (Case B)

residual

stress

distribution

of

Fig. 9 shows the contour of transverse residual stress of the top surface of Case B. From this figure we can see that there are compressive transverse stresses near the two ends of the FE model. Except for the two ends, there are relatively large tensile transverse stresses around the weld zone. On the whole, the transverse residual stresses are smaller than the yield strength of base metal. Fig. 10 shows the transverse residual stress distribution of Mid-section predicted by Case B. It is interesting that there are tensile transverse residual stresses near both the top surface and the bottom surface. In the inside of the plate, there are compressive transverse stresses near the weld beam. Fig. 11 compares the simulation results and the measured data [3]. In this figure, the longitudinal residual stress

Influence of TRIP on calculated results of residual stress in a low temperature transformation steel joint computational approach to simulate welding residual stress in P91 steel with considering solid-state phase transformation. 2) The simulated results show that the solid-state phase transformation has a significant influence on the welding residual stress, and it not only can change the magnitude of residual stress but also can alter the sign of longitudinal stress in the present study. 3) It seems that TRIP has influence on the welding residual stress in P91 steel. When this factor was considered in the numerical model, the predictions match the measurements better. Acknowledgements This research was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No.51275544), the Open-Fund Research of State Key Laboratory of Advanced Welding and Joining, Harbin Institute of Technology and by the fundamental Research Funds for Central University (Project No. CDJZR12130036).

References [1] J. A. Francis, W. Mazur, H. K. D. H. Bhadeshia, Review Type IV cracking in ferritic power plant steels, Science and Technology of Welding & Joining, Vol.22, No. 12, 2006, pp.1387-1395. [2] K. Laha, K. S. Chandravathi, P. Parameswaran, K. B. S. Rao, S. L. Mannan, Characterization of microstructures across the heat-affected zone of the modified 9Cr-1Mo weld joint to understand its role in promoting type IV cracking Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, 38A , 2007, pp. 5868. [3] Santosh Kumar, A.Kundu, K.A.Venkaka, C.E.Truman, J.A.Francis, Residual stresses in laser welded ASTM A387 Grade 91 steel plates, Materials Science & Engineering A. 575, 2013, pp.160-168 [4] D. Deng, S. Kiyohsima, Numerical simulation of residual stresses induced by laser beam welding in a SUS316 stainless steel pipe with considering initial residual stress influences, Nuclear Engineering and Design, Vol.240, Issue 4, 2010, pp.688696