Residual Stress Evaluation In Austenitic Stainless Steel Butt Weld Joints By Ultrasonic Technique

This paper discusses the results of measurement of residual stress pattern across butt weld joints by ultrasonic velocity measurements in 15 mm and 47 mm thick AISI type 304 stainless steel plates. These are supplemented by results obtained from hole drilling strain gauge measurements. Pulse echo overlap technique was used to measure the through thickness longitudinal ultrasonic velocities. Acoustoelastic constant was determined to convert the change in ultrasonic velocities to residual stress values. The residual stress pattren obtained by the two techniques showed similar trends. Brief overview of various other residual stress measurement methods, and various techniques for ultrasonic velocity measurements are included in the paper.