Residual Stress Map for 75Ni13.5Cr2.7B-3.5Si Clad 316 Stainless Steel

Plasma Transfer Arc (PTA) process uses the intense heat of electric arc to melt and fuse the 75Ni13.5Cr2.7B-3.5Si hard-facing alloy and the base metal. This process develops substantial residual stresses near the hard-faced surfaces during deposition and subsequent solidification and cool down. Furthermore, when a material interface is present, additional residual stress is formed because of the thermal strain mismatch of the dissimilar materials caused by their different thermal expansion coefficients. These stresses can cause cracks in the overlay during the component’s service life or even earlier during manufacturing which can lead to partial or total loss of the part structural integrity. To start optimizing the process to avoid these defects, it is necessary to know the residual stress distribution in the part and how it is related to the process parameters. Hard-faced components are having distinct microstructures with a step change in material properties, and this makes the residual stress measurement more challenging. This paper presents 2D residual stress maps of the deposit cross sections for PTA hard-faced samples using the contour method. This study is part of an ongoing research on the influence of process parameters on the residual stress and local microstructure of 75Ni13.5Cr2.7B-3.5Si clad 316 stainless steel.