Effects of initial stress state on the subsurface stress distribution after ultrasonic impact treatment on thick specimens

Abstract

Thick welded specimens with different initial stress states were prepared and treated with the ultrasonic impact treatment (UIT). The subsurface stresses before and after UIT were measured by the X-ray diffraction (XRD) method combined with layer removal. The measured results were corrected based on the finite element correction method. The effects of initial high tensile stress and low compressive stress on the in-depth after-UIT stress distributions were investigated. The results show that initial stress has no effects on the stresses induced by the UIT within 1 mm depth and within that depth, UIT can induce almost the same longitudinal and transverse stress curves beneath the surface with a peak compressive stress close to the material yield strength at the depth of near 0.6 mm and 0.8 mm. UIT induces almost the same longitudinal and transverse stresses along with the measured depth under initial low compressive stress state. While under the initial high tensile stress state, the initial stress dominates the final stress distribution over 1 mm depth. Initial high tensile stress (welding residual stress) can reduce the depth of the after-UIT compressive stresses to 62.5% to 75% of that under the initial low-compressive stress state.