Finite Element Analysis of Residual Stress and Distortion in Laser Welded Stainless Plate

M. Sundar*, A. K. Nath1, D.K. Bandyopadhyay, S.P. Chaudhuri, P.K. Dey, D. Misra School of Laser Science & Engineering, USIC Building, Jadavpur University, Kolkata-700032, India 1 ICL, RRCAT, Indore, India

ABSTRACT Laser welding is used extensively in industry for joining metals of different thickness and lengths. Localized heating during welding, followed by rapid cooling, generates residual stress and distortion in the weld and base metal. Selection of the appropriate combination of input variables is one of the main criteria for achieving the required weld qualities without residual stress and distortion. In the last few decades various research efforts have been directed towards the control of welding process parameters aiming at reducing the residual stress and distortion. In the present work Finite Element Analysis (FEA) has been carried out on a single pass butt-welding model to illustrate the temperature distribution, distortion and residual stress field developed in the weldment. Thermo elasto-plastic analysis has been used to find the residual stress and distortion. It is found that with increase in laser power, residual stresses and distortion increase. In contrary as the speed increases distortion and residual stress decrease. As the thickness of the job increases there is a reduction of residual stress and distortion. Similarly, as the length of the job increases there is a reduction of residual stress and distortion. It is found that the geometric distortion and residual stress induced during welding can be minimized by selecting appropriate process parameters. It is therefore demonstrated that FEA can be used effectively for better understanding of the root cause of residual stress and distortion in laser welding and hence be a useful tool for further development.

Key words: Distortion, FEA, Temperature distribution, Welding.

Residual

stress,

1. INTRODUCTION Laser welding is widely used in many industrial fields such as spaceflight, aviation and automobile production because of its low heat input, high welding speed, high penetration, easy automation, high accuracy, etc. During laser welding, the weldment is locally heated by intense laser beam followed by melting and solidification. Due to the non-uniform temperature distribution during the thermal cycle, incompatible strains lead to thermal stresses. These incompatible strains due to dimensional changes associated with solidification of the weld metal, metallurgical transformations and plastic deformation, are the main sources of residual stresses and distortion. The effect of welding residual stresses in the neighborhood of the weldment has a great influence on brittle fractures, fatigue crack propagation and structural instability strength. Traditionally, welding residual stress analysis used non-destructive procedure or experimental methods, which consume huge time and resources. Using nondestructive process, only the stress state on the surface of the structure can be determined, and even by destructive procedures, the whole three-dimensional stress field cannot be accurately described. For these reasons a finite element modelling approach may be attractive in order to solve the residual stress problem.

Address correspondence to M. Sundar, School of Laser Science & Engineering, USIC Building, Jadavpur University, Kolkata-700032, India. E-mail: marimuthusundar@gmail.com

Finite Element Analysis of Residual Stress and Distortion in Laser Welded Stainless Plate

Whereas finite element analyses for traditional welding processes have been successfully used, to some extent, in recent past, finite element analyses for laser welding processes are only at an initial stage of development. The research on welding heat source models dates back to the early 1940s and Rosenthal /1/ first proposed a mathematical model of the moving heat source under the assumptions of quasi-stationary state and concentrated point heating in the 3D analysis. Experimental techniques for directly measuring residual stresses have been developed. These include the holedrilling method /2/, the X-ray diffraction method /3/, and the holographic interferometry method /4/, just to name the most popular. All experimental methods, though, have at least two disadvantages. First, they are expensive to apply and their application usually requires special equipment and personnel that are not usually associated with structural engineering. Second, residual stresses can most often be measured at discrete locations on a weld, usually close to the weld surface. A complete picture of the residual stress distribution in a general weldment is practically impossible to obtain by experimental techniques. Moreover, the results obtained for one particular weldment may not be directly applicable to other weldment. FEA of residual stress in welding process have been studied by various researches. However, most investigations have focused on traditional welding systems /5, 6/ and little attention has been paid to residual stress in laser welding. S. Sahin /7/ used FEA and experimentation technique to find residual and thermal stresses due to welding in a bimaterial joint. Josefson /8/ estimated residual stresses in a multi-pass weld and in a spot-welded box beam with solvia and Abaqus commercially available FEA codes for nonlinear analyses. Yang and Xiao /9/ proposed an analytical model to examine the residual stress distribution across the weld of panels welded with mechanical constraints. Furthermore, Ueda and coworkers /1012/ presented a novel measuring method of three-dimensional residual stresses based on the principle which is simplified by utilizing the characteristics of the distribution of inherent strains induced in a long welded joint. In recent years, advanced numerical analysis has

been applied to resolve these complex problems. The present study addresses the prediction of residual stress and distortion in laser welding process and discusses the effects of laser power and scanning speed on it. The transient heat flow phenomenon of the laser weld pool along with the non-linear structural analysis has been addressed A three dimensional welding model has been solved to find the resultant residual stress and distortion using Finite Element Analysis code ABAQUS. The distribution of residual stress in and surrounding a laserwelded joint is complex and depends on a number of factors, including material composition, thickness, applied restraint, and welding direction. Residual stress and distortion in weldment has been calculated using thermo-elastic-plastic finite element analysis. The simulation of laser welding process consists of two analyses; transient thermal analysis and elasto-plastic analysis. To simplify the simulation procedure, uncoupled numerical simulations have been used. In such uncoupled analyses, the results of the transient thermal analysis which include the temperature distribution, is used for the second analysis together with the temperature dependent mechanical properties of the material i.e., thermal expansion coefficient, modulus of elasticity, Poissons ratio, etc. Density in the elasto -plastic analysis is assumed to be constant.

2. GEOMETRY AND MATERIAL PROPERTIES It is argued that the three-dimensional model could accurately simulate the severe complexity of the phenomena involved in laser welding process. In this way, indeed, a more realistic three-dimensional transient thermal field can be applied to the model, which allows out-plane angular distortions of the plate to be calculated, a result not achievable by using simple bidimensional models. The material employed in this work is SUS304 and the properties of the material are at par with Table 1. A temperature dependent material property has been used for the analysis. Autogeneous weldment has been assumed. These means that weld metal, heat affected zone (HAZ), and base metal share the same mechanical properties.

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Table 1 The Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Weldment. Specific heat J/g oC 462 496 512 525 540 577 604 676 692 700 Thermal Expansion c-1 1.70E-05 1.74E-05 1.80E-05 1.86E-05 1.91E-05 1.96E-05 2.02E-05 2.07E-05 2.11E-05 2.16E-05 Youngs Modulus GPa 198.5 193 185 176 167 159 151 60 20 10 Poissons ratio 0.294 0.295 0.301 0.31 0.318 0.326 0.333 0.339 0.342 0.388

Temperature o C 0 100 200 300 400 600 800 1200 1300 1500

Conductivity Density W/mm oC g/mm3 146 15.1 16.1 17.9 18 20.8 23.9 32.2 33.7 120 7900 7880 7830 7790 7750 7660 7560 7370 7320 7320

Yield stress MPa 265 218 186 170 155 149 91 25 21 10

3. GRID STRUCTURE The accuracy of the finite element method depends upon the density of the mesh used in the analysis. Sensitivity analysis of mesh density has been performed and a satisfactory mesh is adopted for further studies, the higher is the heat input the higher is the number of nodes necessary to accurately interpolate high temperature gradient. The finite element model used for the analysis is shown in Figure 1. The model shown in Figure 1 is of width 50 mm, length 100 mm and thickness 3.5 mm.

4. FORMULATION

4.1 Thermal Analysis

Assumptions 1) The thermal properties are isotropic. 2) The analysis is based on quasi-steady state, i.e., the heat source is moving at a constant velocity. 3) The laser beam intensity distribution is of Gaussian mode. 4) Heat conduction in the specimen, free convection and thermal radiation to the surroundings are considered. 5) The heat produced due to the strain energy is neglected. To determine the residual stresses of the laser weldment, the thermal history in the laser-welded joint is calculated using transient heat flow analysis. The heat input from the laser beam has been modelled by using Gaussian heat flux as the input on the top surface. The heat loss was modelled using convection and radiation heat transfer. The convective coefficient was assumed to vary with temperature. The specimen with polished surface was assumed with a constant reflectivity of 0.70 in this study. The initial temperature T (x,y,z,0) is assumed to be the ambient temperature. The result of the heat transfer analysis is the time dependent temperature distribution at each node of the element. Q=Px,y(1-rf) (1)

Fig. 1: Model used for the analysis

Finite Element Analysis of Residual Stress and Distortion in Laser Welded Stainless Plate

The value of Px,y for TEM00 mode structure is that given by Gaussian power distribution such that
Px , y = Ptotal
2

Raphson method has been used in each time step for the heat balance iteration.

2r exp r2 rb b

(2)

4.2 Distortion and Residual Stress Analysis

In this analysis the following assumptions have been considered: 1. The material is isotropic. 2. The material is stress free initially. 3. There is no influence of strain rate on the material properties. In the second part of the analyses, a non-linear structural analysis has been carried out using the temperature distributions, which were obtained from the heat transfer analysis. The thermal strains and stresses are calculated at each time increment. The residual stresses from each temperature increment are added to the nodal point location to determine the updated behavior of the model before the next temperature increment. The material was assumed to follow the Von Mises yield criterion and the associated flow rules. The material properties that are required for the residual stress analysis are elastic modulus, plastic modulus, yield strength and thermal expansion coefficient. The solution domain for stress analysis is the same as that for heat flow analysis as shown in Figure 1. The boundary condition of stress analysis is shown in Figure 1. Displacements and rotations of the nodes at both the ends are fully constrained (U(x,y,z,t)=0) as shown in Figure 1. In this analysis, quasi-static equation of equilibrium is given by

r=(x2+y2)1/2

(3)

Heat loss due to convection and radiation is given by

K T = hc (T - T ) n

(4) (5)

hc = 24.1 10-4 T 1.61

The differential equation governing heat conduction in a solid body is given by

T T T T (K ) + (K ) + (K ) +Q= C x x y y z z t

(6)

In the finite element formulation, this equation can be written for each element as
[C ( T ) ] {T }+ [ K ( T ) ] {T } = {Q ( T ) }

(7)

The finite element equation is simply the vector and matrix form of three dimensional heat conduction equation. This analysis requires an integration of the heat conduction equation with respect to time. The Crank-Nicholson/Euler theta integration method is applied to solve these system equations. This implicit method is employed to discretize the governing equation with respect to time and solve the equation at discrete time points. The heat transfer analysis has been conducted using element type DC3D8 /13/. This element type has a three-dimensional thermal conduction capability and eight nodes with a single degree of freedom (temperature) at each node During welding phase a very low time step of 0.01 sec has been taken and progressively increased up to 10 sec once the welding had finished and continued till the plate reaches the room temperature. The time increments were automatically optimized for each time step by the computer program. The modified Newton

+ F = 0

(8)

Residual stresses are calculated by using the principle of virtual work. In this method, one considers infinitesimal nodes displacements {} imposed onto the body. This causes external total virtual work (this external virtual work is equal to the total internal virtual work which is defined by stresses {} and strains {}). By using FEM, straindisplacement can be expressed briefly as follows:

{ } = [ B ] { }e
The node displacement is obtained from

(9)

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International Journal for Manufacturing Science & Production

{ } = [ K ]1 ({R}T { R}P1 )

(10)

5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION To obtain information from the simulation result and to find the effect of speed, laser power, plate thickness and plate length on the residual stress and distortion, three cases with various speed, plate thickness and plate length have been considered for simulation as shown in Table 2. The plate width is constant throughout the analysis. Table 2 Process variables used for analysis Process Power Speed Length Thickness No (kw) (mm/sec) (mm) (mm) 1 2 20,30,40,50 100, 75, 50 2.5, 3.5, 5 2 3.5 20,30,40,50 100, 75, 50 2.5, 3.5, 5 3 5 20,30,40,50 100, 75, 50 2.5, 3.5, 5

The stress-strain relationship is defined as follows:

{ } = [ D ] { e }

(11)

For the deformation of metals, the Von Mises yield criterion is employed and the elastic strain is given by

e = pl th

(12)

In this analysis, the thermal element DC3D8 has been replaced by a three-dimensional (3-D) structural element C3D8. This element has eight nodes with three displacement degrees of freedom at each node. The analysis was performed for the time period between the start of welding and the end of cooling phase incorporating the thermal results. Within each time increment, the solution of the elastic-plastic problem was found by liberalizing the non-linear stress-strain relation in an incremental way. The analysis was performed and stresses and displacements were calculated by Newton-Raphson iterative process. The iterations were repeated until convergence is achieved. An important problem in the analysis of residual stress during welding is how stress develops in regions near the welding pool. When structural members are joined by fusion welding the material of the plates is heated to its melting point and then cooled again rapidly under restraint conditions imposed by the geometry of the joint. As a result of severe thermal cycles, the original microstructure and properties of the metal in a region close to the weld are changed. This part of the metal, or zone, is usually referred to as heat-affected zone (HAZ). The changes in the HAZ are also dependent upon the thermal and mechanical history of the metal. Therefore, after the welding process there will be different zones with different mechanical properties. In particular, there is a softening of the material in the HAZ, and there is a decrease of the mechanical properties of the material, i.e. yield strength, ultimate strength of the material, but the elastic modulus remains unaffected by the welding process.

5.1 Thermal Analysis

The typical thermal analysis results are presented in the form of temperature contours and graph (Figures 2 to Figures 5) for a laser power 3.5 kW, speed 40 mm/sec, work piece length 100 mm and thickness 3.5mm. Analysis shows that the isotherms expand as time progresses and they move with the beam along the y-direction. It is observed that, due to motion of the workpiece relative to the laser beam and as the heat flow occurs in the scanning direction, the peak temperatures at the workpiece surface appear near the trailing edge of the laser beam rather than at the beam centre. Figure 2 shows the nodal temperature distribution along the transverse direction (perpendicular to the weld direction and at the centre of the plate). The figure gives an idea of nature of the peak temperature at the weldment and how it reduces drastically as the distances increases towards the edge of the workpiece. Figure 3 shows the temperature along the Weldment line during and after welding. It shows the nature of laser beam movement and variation of temperature with time. Figure 4 show the surface temperature of the workpiece at 5 sec. The isothermal enclosures are moving with the arc along the welding direction. Because of the locally concentrated heat source, the temperature near the weld bead and HAZ changes

Finite Element Analysis of Residual Stress and Distortion in Laser Welded Stainless Plate

rapidly with the distance from the center of the heat source, i.e. the highest temperature limited to the domain nearest the heat source, with lower temperature zones fanning out. From this figure, it can be observed that the maximum temperature at the weld pool is 25900

C or so. This result agrees with the welding process in practice. Figure 5 shows the temperature distribution after the workpiece reaches the room temperature. This temperature is attained after a time step of 500 sec.

Fig. 2: Temperature distribution along transverse direction

Fig. 3: Temperature direction

distribution

along

longitudinal

Fig. 4: Temperature distribution at the top for time =5 sec

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International Journal for Manufacturing Science & Production

Fig. 5: Temperature distribution at the top for time =500 sec

5.2 Residual Stress and Distortion analysis

Reducing the residual stresses in weld structures during an early stage of design and fabrication is of priority concern. For this reason, the effects of welding process parameter on the residual stresses are characterized in the following. This research investigates the effect of welding speed, laser power, work piece thickness and work piece length on residual stress and distortion which have been obtained from the finite element elasto-plastic analysis. It is found that magnitude and distribution of residual stress is strongly affected by temperature gradient, temperature distribution through the thickness & length of the plates, thermal expansion coefficients of the materials and mechanical properties of material at elevated temperatures. According to the geometry and theory, larger residual stress and distortions are expected parallel to the weld direction and closer to the weld zone. This behavior is well evidenced from Figs. 6 to 33. Figures 6-9 shows the contours of residual stress and distortion for a laser power 3.5 kW, speed 40 mm/sec, work piece length 100 mm and thickness 3.5mm. Figures 10-33 show the graphical representation of residual stress and distortion for various laser power, speed, workpiece thickness and workpiece length. All the graphs are plotted by taking the values of each node along the direction perpendicular to the welding direction and 25 mm from the edge. Stress acting parallel to the direction of the weld bead is termed a longitudinal residual stress, as denoted by the letters Sy. The longitudinal residual stress

develops from longitudinal expansion and contraction during the welding sequence. The longitudinal residual stress distribution is shown in Figures.7, 12, 18, 24 and 30. It is worth mentioning that the residual stress distribution is strongly affected by the boundary conditions assumed. The stress acting perpendicular to the direction of the weld bead is known as an transverse residual stress, denoted by the letter Sx. Figures 6, 11, 17, 23 and 29 represent the distributions of the residual stress Sx along the X -direction. A very large tensile stress is produced near the surface of the plate. Owing to the locally concentrated heat source, the temperature near the weld bead and heat affected zone rapidly changes which leads to residual stress.

Fig. 6: Transverse residual stress

Fig. 7: Longitudinal residual stress

Finite Element Analysis of Residual Stress and Distortion in Laser Welded Stainless Plate

Effects of laser power

Laser power is one of the most important process parameters governing the heat input which in turn controls the weld response. It is directly proportional to energy supplied to the weldment. The most important characteristic of laser power is that it governs the cooling rates in welds, and thus affects the microstructure of the weld metal and the heat- affected zone. A change in microstructure directly affects the mechanical properties of welds. The effect of laser power on welding responses is evaluated by considering three different laser powers 2 kW, 3.5 kW and 5 kW. This evaluation has been carried out by considering the other parameter constants (welding speed = 40 mm/sec, length = 100 mm and thickness = 3.5 mm).

Fig. 8: Transverse displacement

Fig. 9: Longitudinal displacement

Fig. 10: Von Mises stress

Fig. 11: Transverse residual stress

Fig. 12: Longitudinal residual stress

Fig. 13: USUM displacement

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International Journal for Manufacturing Science & Production

Fig. 14: Transverse displacement

Fig. 15: Longitudinal displacement

The effect of varying laser power on the thermo mechanical responses is illustrated in Figures 10 -15. When the laser power increases, the responses such as residual stress and distortion also increase. This is due to increased supply of heat by the laser beam which results in slower cooling rate. Figure 11 shows that transverse displacement is more sensitive to laser power as compared to other directional displacements. Maximum Von Mises stress for power 5 kW is 5.5 mPa whereas for 2 kW it is 2.2 MPa. A 40% reduction in power leads to 50% reduction in Von Mises and 55 % reduction in transverse displacement. The maximum displacement occurs along cross section 30 mm from the weld line.

Effects of Welding Speed

Welding speed represents the distance traveled by the laser beam along the weld line per unit of time. Based on the theories the heat input is inversely proportional to the welding speed. Therefore, when the welding speed increases the heat input rate decreases. Four different speeds 10, 20, 30 and 40 mm/sec are used in this simulation. All other parameters are kept at constant value (laser power = 3.5 kW, length = 100 mm and thickness = 3.5 mm).

Fig. 16: Von Mises stress

Fig. 17: Transverse residual stress

Finite Element Analysis of Residual Stress and Distortion in Laser Welded Stainless Plate

Fig. 18: Longitudinal residual stress

Fig. 19: USUM displacement

Fig. 20: Transverse displacement Figures 16 21 show the effect of various welding speeds on residual stress and displacement. As the welding speed increases, the displacements and stresses decreases. This trend was expected since laser power is inversely proportional to welding speed. It is noted that the faster the welding speed is made, the less heat is absorbed by the base metal which leads to decrease in residual stress and distortion. This is because the increase in scanning speed reduce the interaction time of laser beam with the base metal. Therefore the heat input reduces, which leads to less volume of the base metal being melted. Moreover an important difference lies in the fact that the higher speed welding technique produced a slightly narrower isotherm. This isotherms width influences the transverse shrinkage of butt welds, accounting for why faster welding speeds generally result in less residual stresses. A reduction of 50 % of the welding speed, for instance, causes a decrease of 60 % of Von Mises stress and 66 % of Transverse displacement.

Fig. 21: Longitudinal displacement

Effects of work piece thickness

The effect of workpiece thickness on residual stress and distortion is found out by performing the analysis with three different work piece thickness i.e. 2.5, 3.5 and 5 mm, all other parameters are kept at constant values (Laser Power = 3.5 kW, welding speed = 40 mm/sec and length = 100 mm). From Figures 22 27, the effect of variable work piece thickness is well evidenced. As the thickness of the job increases there is a reduction of residual stress and distortion. Thin materials are easily distorted. A decrease of workpiece thickness from 5 mm to 2.5 mm causes an increase of Von Mises stress from 1.5 mPa to 8.5 mPa respectively. It is also found that, in thin material, the variation of displacement inside the material (from one edge to other perpendicular to the weld line) is high than the thick materials.

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International Journal for Manufacturing Science & Production

Fig. 22: Von Mises stress

Fig. 23: Transverse residual stress

Fig. 24: Longitudinal residual stress

Fig. 25: USUM displacement

Fig. 26: Transverse displacement

Fig. 27: Longitudinal displacement

Effects of work piece length

The effect of workpiece length on residual stress and distortion is found out by performing the analysis with

three different work piece lengths i.e. 100, 75 and 50, all other parameters are kept at constant values (laser power = 3.5 kW, welding speed = 40 mm/sec and thickness = 3.5 mm). From Figures 28 33, the effect of

11

Finite Element Analysis of Residual Stress and Distortion in Laser Welded Stainless Plate

variable work piece thickness is well evidenced. As the length of the job increases there is a reduction of 50 % in Von Mises stress and decrease of 75 % in Xstress. The Von Mises stress amount is 4 mPa for 100

residual stress and distortion. An increase of 50 % of the work piece thickness, for instance, cause a decrease of mm wide material whereas it is 8 mPa for 50 mm thick material.

Fig. 28: Von Mises stress

Fig. 29: Transverse residual stress

Fig. 30: Longitudinal residual stress

Fig. 31: USUM displacement

Fig. 32: Transverse displacement

Fig. 33: Longitudinal displacement

12

In the workpiece with lower length the rate of change of stress per unit length is higher than the workpiece with higher length. It is due to the fact that in high length material the stress is distributed over a higher area whereas in low length material the same amount of stress is accumulated in small areas which give rise to higher stress accumulation. Also for a constant power and speed, the energy absorbed per unit area is higher for the material with lower length which gives rise to a high temperature gradient. The same is true for displacement also. In small length plate the distortion and rate of change of distortion is higher per unit area.

As the length of the job increases there is a reduction of residual stress and distortion.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support (Sanction No. 2004/34/3-BRNS/275) given by the Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences, DAE, India, for carrying out the present research work.

REFERENCES 1. Friedman E (1975) Thermomechanical analysis of the welding process using the Finite Element Method, Transactions of the ASME, pp 206-213. 2. Schajer GS (1998) Measurement of non-uniform residual stresses using the hole-drilling method. Part I: stress calculation procedure, J. Eng Mater. Technol 110:338-343. 3. Weng CC, Prevey PS (1986) X-ray diffraction residual stress techniques, in: Mills K (Ed), Metals Handbook, 9th Edition, Vol 10, American Society for Metals, Metals Park, OH; pp 380-392. 4. Nelson D, Fuchs E, Makino A, Williams D (1994) Residual-stress determination by single-axis holographic interferometry and hole drilling - Part II: experiments, Exp. Mech. 34:79-88. 5. Yajiang LI, Wang JU, Chen M, Shen X Finite element analysis of residual stress in the welded zone of a high strength steel. 6. Deng D, Murakwawa H (2006) Numerical simulation of temperature field and residual stress in multi-pass welds in stainless steel pipe and comparison with experimental measurements, Computational Materials Science 37:269277 7. Sahin S, Toparli M, Ozdemir I, Sasaki S (2003) Modelling and measured residual stress in a biomaterial joint, Journal of Material Processing Technology 132:235-241. 8. Josefson BL (1993) Prediction of residual stresses and distortions in welded structures, ASME Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering 115:5257. 9. Yang LJ, Xiao ZM (1995) Elasticplastic modelling of the residual stress caused by welding, Journal of

6. CONCLUSIONS The following conclusions can be drawn from the simulation results: Based on the simulation results, distortion or shrinkage of the weldment can be predicted. Thus, the experimental analysis, which might be costly, can be avoided. The temperature near the weld bead and the HAZ decreases rapidly with the distance from the centre of the heat source. Laser power, welding speed, work piece thickness, and work piece length have a significant impact on the residual stress and distortion. The temperature history has significant effects in residual stress and distortion. The transverse residual stress is high near the weld and reduces as it moves further. This is because yield force immediately after welding is very low and a part of the specimen near the bead deforms plastically under very low external load. When the laser power increases, the responses such as displacements and residual stresses also increase. On the other hand, the opposite response behavior is observed when the welding speed increases. As the speed increases displacement and residual stress decreases. As the thickness of the job increases there is a reduction of residual stress and distortion.

Finite Element Analysis of Residual Stress and Distortion in Laser Welded Stainless Plate

Materials Processing Technology 48:589601. 10. Ueda Y, Fukuda K, Tanigawa M (1979) New measuring method of three dimensional residual stresses based on theory of inherent strain, Transactions of JWRI 8(2):8996. 11. Ueda Y, Fukuda K, Kim YC (1986) New measuring method of axisymmetric three dimensional residual stresses using inherent strains as parameters, ASME

Journal of Engineering Material and Technology 108:328334. 12. Ueda Y, Ma NX (1994) Measuring method of threedimensional residual stresses with aid of distribution function of inherent strain, Transactions of JWRI 23(1):7178. 13. ABAQUS 6.3 (1998) Users Manual-Volume II, H.K.S. Inc., Pawtuckett, RI.

Cs e F hc k Ptot Q r rb

rf t T T U X,Y,Z

NOMENCLATURE Specific heat Emissivity Body force e Combined convection and radiation heat transfer coefficient Thermal conductivity pl Total incident power in laser beam th Heat Flux Radial distance from the beam centre [C(T)] Gaussian beam radius defined as the radial distance at which the power density falls to [B] 1/e2 the central value Reflectivity of the workpiece {Q(T)} Time Temperature Ambient temperature Scanning Speed Coordinates Density

Stress Deferential operator Elastic strain Total strain Plastic strain Thermal strain Specific heat matrix Straindisplacement interpolation matrix Nodal heat flux vector Vector of time derivative of {T} Vector of nodal temperatures Displacement vector for an element Conductivity matrix Stress vector Stiffness matrix Elastic strain vector

{T }
{T} {}e [K(T)] { } [D] {e}

14