Search

Most manufacturing processes, including welding, create residual stresses. Residual stresses can reduce material strength and cause fractures. For estimating the reliability and aging of a welded structure, residual stresses should be evaluated as precisely as possible. Optical techniques such as holographic interferometry, electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI), Moire interferometry, and shearography are noncontact means of measuring residual stresses. Among optical techniques, ESPI is typically used as a nondestructive measurement technique of in-plane displacement, such as stress and strain, and out-of-plane displacement, such as vibration and bending. In this study, ESPI was used to measure the residual stress on the welded part of butt-welded American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) A36 specimens with CO2 welding. Four types of specimens, base metal specimen (BSP), tensile specimen including welded part (TSP), compression specimen including welded part (CSP), and annealed tensile specimen including welded part (ATSP), were tested. BSP was used to obtain the elastic modulus of a base metal. TSP and CSP were used to compare residual stresses under tensile and compressive loading conditions. ATSP was used to confirm the effect of heat treatment. Residual stresses on the welded parts of specimens were obtained from the phase map images obtained by ESPI. The results confirmed that residual stresses of welded parts can be measured by ESPI.

Background: Residual stress always exists on any kind of welded area. This residual stress can cause the welded material to crack or fracture. For many years, the hole-drilling method has been widely used for measuring residual stress. However, this method is destructive. Nowadays, electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI) can be used to measure residual stress with or without the hole-drilling method. ESPI is an optical nondestructive testing methods that use the speckle effect. Mechanical properties can be measured by calculation of the phase difference by the variation of temperature, pressure, or loading force. Methods: In this paper, the residual stress on the butt-welded area is measured by using ESPI with a suggested numerical calculation. Two types of specimens are prepared. Type I is made of pure base metal part and type II has a welded part at the center. These specimens are tensile tested with a material test system. At the same time, the ESPI system was applied to this test. Results: From the results of ESPI, the elastic modulus and the residual stress around the welded area can be calculated and estimated. Conclusion: With this result, it is confirmed that the residual stress on the welded area can be measured with high precision by ESPI.