| Abstract Scope |
The stress relief heat treatment has traditionally been applied in order to mitigate residual stresses generated by welding. Although this approach is normally carried out with success, it has some disadvantages, such as high cost, formation of undesirable oxides, metallurgical deterioration due to the thermal cycle and unfeasibility of use due to boundary conditions, such as use in submerged operations and equipment. Therefore, as an alternative, vibration stress relief treatment (TAT) has been proposed and it is an interesting approach for relieving stresses in very large parts/components, at a lower cost and with stricter dimensional tolerances. However, despite its motivating scenario, Vibrational TAT still has reservations, especially due to standardization, which requires further studies to prove its real effectiveness in mitigating residual stresses compared to the already consolidated TAT by Heat Treatment. Therefore, this paper presents a study on the use of Vibrational TAT in welded joints made of ASTM A131 EH36 material. Residual stresses before and after welding were measured using the Hole Drilling Technique, as well as after the vibration stress relief treatment. As a result, it was observed that the stress relief treatment by mechanical vibration managed to reduce the residual stresses measured after carrying out multi-pass welding, especially further away from the center of the weld bead. |