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 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.
YIELD STRENGHT MPa
400 300 200 100 0 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 TEMPERATURE C

The yield strength for 3 types of steel is given in next figure.

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 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 300 400 500 600

RESIDUAL STRESS (%)

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