An investigation of the welding speed on residual stress of EH36 steel with an account of phase transformation and transformation plasticity.

Residual stress is one of the critical issues for the welded structure. In order to ensure the quality and the productivity of welding process, it is necessary to control the process parameters based on understanding the underlying mechanism of residual stress generation. The welding process parameters are normally determined based on experience without optimization. Among such process parameters, the welding speed has significant effects on thermal history and phase transformation of material, which could lead to the formation of residual stress. In the present study, a finite element study has been performed to investigate the effects of welding speed on the residual stress in EH36 steel. Analyses suggest that (1) the residual stress decreases with increase of the welding speed (2) as the welding speed increases, the size of heat affected zone decreases and thus the influence of phase transformation on residual stress is also reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]