Vibratory Stress Relieving

An Alternative to Thermal
Stress Relieving
Presented by

Vibratory Stress Relieving

(Africa)cc
Applications of Vibratory Stress Relieving

During Manufacture Types of Components

Before rough machining, milling or grinding Plate.
operations.
Bar.
Before final machining, milling or grinding
operations. Weldments.
Following various stages of fabrication. Castings.
On completion of fabrication & welding. Forgings.
Following heat treatment or hardening. Extrusions.
Following straightening operations Machined Components.
Following repairs and before reinserting into Fabrications. (up to 200t)
service.
Composites.
Periodically for preventative maintenance.
Plastics. (including pipe)

Benefits of using VSR include:

•It can give equal stress reduction and stability to thermal stress relieving.
•If applied after rough machining or semi-finishing, accuracy is only limited by the accuracy of the finishing method.
•It can be used upon materials not treatable by thermal stress relieving.
•Time savings of approximately 50:1.
•VSR is brought to YOU, the component does not have to leave your works.
•Treatment capabilities of up to 200t
•No distortion, loss of hardness or yield strength of materials
 Materials on which VSR can be used:
Low and medium carbon hot rolled steel.
Low and medium carbon steel alloys.
Tool steel alloys.
High strength steel alloys.
Cast irons including grey, nodular and mechanite
Aluminum and aluminum alloys.
Stainless steels.
Exotic metals including gold, titanium, inconel, and magnesium.
Powdered metals including tungsten carbide and stellite.

Poor Applications for VSR:

Cold rolled steel
Burned edges
Copper and high copper content alloys
Materials where mechanical properties need to be altered.
Severely cold worked steels.
 Vibratory Stress Relieving V’s No Stress
Relief
It has been estimated that 50% of all the components that should be stress relieved are not

Often the reason cited for skipping stress relieving is based upon the desire to avoid unwanted side effects associated with heat treatment.

Common unwanted side effects include:

► Distortion.
► Scaling.
► Change in material properties.
► Lengthy time restraints.
► Further reasons are time, cost and size limitations associated with furnace sizes.

Omitting stress relieving involves a risk.

► The risk is in hoping that no problems will arise normally cracking, distortion, or a reduction in the component life cycle.
► A bigger, often forgotten risk, is any of the above will often generate dissatisfied customers.
► As VSR does not cause any of the mentioned unwanted side effects and the process is virtually limitless in size and weight capabilities
not stress relieving is unnecessary.

Benefits of stress relieving (VSR) are many but briefly the common ones include:

► A reduction in distortion following machining (up to 93%).

► A reduction in machining time (up to 40%) by eliminating extra cuts or a lower cutting speed and rate due to distortion of the workpiece.
► Prevention of delayed distortion caused by a non stress relieved component undergoing an “ageing process” in service.
► A reduction in cracking, brought on by high residual stresses being reduced and a reduction in the “critical crack propagation rate”.
► Prevention of premature failure in service.
► Proven reductions in residual stress of up to 72% Redistribution of surface strains of 100%.
► Satisfied customers.
customers.
Apart from a proven track record dating back to the late 1930,s and many thousands of
satisfied users worldwide. (Our database of VSR users in South Africa exceeds 800!)

HOW DOES ONE KNOW THAT VSR WORKS?

The above bar diagram has been drawn from the original data in the DTI / ERA (UK)
research project which lasted almost two years and has been authenticated by Dr. Phil
Aplin of ERA .
This clearly shows the effectiveness of Vibratory Stress Relieving
Ongoing research and testing is being carried out both in
South Africa and overseas to prove the effectiveness of
VSR. Detailed here is some of the equipment and
components with strain gauges attached
Following are some photographic examples of some
of the many components treated on a daily basis by
our on site-service teams

The VSR service is available in all provinces of

South Africa
Treatment of various impellors following manufacture & prior to balancing
On-Site treatment of vibrating screens & feeder pans
Assorted Screen Components being VSR Treated
The treatment of machined components prior to final machining
A wide selection of components are treated
on a daily basis by our on-site service teams
Sections of an automotive body panel press
VSR treated in Durban for Toyota SA
Assembly tables and jigs fabricated VSR treated and then
machined customers include
Toyota SA, BMW, Delta, Land Rover , Audi and Delta
Heavy fabrications subjected to VSR treatment on completion of fabrication
Examples of various buckets VSR treated following repairs
Crusher sections after weld repairs VSR treated before machining
Sheave wheels rough machined VSR treated on-site
 Rough machined bases

•The largest component treated by VSR in South

Africa (and possibly worldwide) was a train tippler
manufactured by DCD Dorbyl for Saldanha Steel.
•Treatment of each item was before final machining.
•The main frame was 119,000kgs with each end
ring weighing 40,000kgs.
•VSR has the capacity to treat a 200t component but
this is normally impossible owing to lifting restraints
in workshops or in the field.

Rough machined bases

•Military and aerospace components make up some of the more interesting aspects of service work
in terms of the specialised materials used in their manufacture.
•VSR is utilised by most manufacturers of aerospace and military components worldwide owing to
the security classification of some of the components and the type of materials used in manufacture
 A Heavy Vehicle Simulator manufactured by Denel for the fatigue testing of road surfaces.
•One of these machines is often seen around the Johannesburg area testing major road surfaces.
•All critical load bearing items of this unit were treated using Vibratory Stress Relieving prior to
assembly.
Underground Mining Vehicles after repair / manufacture
 Roq Tuff 50B 43A

Owing to the mixture of materials used in their construction VSR offers the best option for the stress relieving of mining equipment
VSR is used extensively on lifting equipment from rope
drums to ladle lifting hooks and overhead crane sections
The effects of different
frequencies on a component
can often be seen by the
formation of “node lines”.
These can be highlighted by
scattering loose material
such as sand onto the
component whilst treatment
is in progress
Small and lightweight components are treated by means of a vibrating table
 Dead Sea Desalination Project (Sulzer)

Items for water plants manufactured both for SA and for export

Rand water Board (Batemans)

Ladles (cast & fabricated) and water cooled furnace sections
Haulage Equipment and wheel rims