Measurement of internal stresses in a welded assembly made of 20 MND 53 ferritic steel. Stress relaxation

An assembly consisting of two flanged plates welded end to end was realized, the plates being made of 20 MND 53 ferritic steel. This grade of steel is used to fabricate PWR reactor vessels. At each important stage in the realization of the assembly, internal stresses were measured by X-ray diffraction techniques. These measurements showed that the finished realization manifested compression stresses in the main parts of its structure and large amplitude tensile stresses in the central weld seam. A heat treatment was performed (6150C - 17 hours). Stresses levels almost every where in the assembly dropped to practically zero. Although stress relaxation kinetics are probably slower in voluminous parts, this result and most of the results published in literature on this subject, indicate that such treatment notably diminishes internal welding stress even in thick parts