Stress Relaxation Behavior in PWHT of Welded Components
This paper is focused on the discussion of weld residual stress relaxation in a uniform post weld heat treatment (PWHT). In particular, the paper is attempted to address a fundamental issue related to the PWHT stress relaxation behavior, i.e., what is the dominant stress relaxation mechanism in PWHT? Is it due to creep or material strength reduction at elevated temperature? The paper starts with a simplified 3-bar weld model to demonstrate how weld residual stress is developed and relaxed. It then follows with an example of thick section narrow groove weld to highlight the results and conclusions. The results clearly indicate that creep mechanism plays a dominant role in the stress relaxation of PWHT. Several other important observations related to the stress relaxation are also summarized.