Study of Residual Stresses in Compact Tension Specimens Fabricated from Weld Metal

This paper describes a preliminary investigation into the residual stress levels in welded nickel alloy compact tension specimens used in stress corrosion cracking (SCC) growth rate experiments. Results from this work document the effect of specimen size and location on residual stress profiles. The methodology outlined in this paper is appropriate to determine the degree to which residual stresses affect crack growth measurements made in coupons containing welds. Slitting method residual stress measurements and finite element weld simulation have been conducted to evaluate both the residual stress intensity factor and residual stress profiles for two compact tension coupon blanks containing welds. The two compact tension coupon blanks were used and are similar to coupons used in on-going SCC studies in weld metal. The experimental data and finite element results are in reasonable agreement, showing similar trends in calculated residual stress profiles.