Thermo-mechanical Analysis of TIG Welding of AISI 316LN Stainless Steel

Abstract

In this research, thermoelastoplastic analysis using finite element modeling was carried out to study the thermomechanical behavior of 316LN stainless steel during autogenous tungsten inert gas welding. The efficiency of nondestructive testing was explored by validating the numerical simulations. Online temperature measurements were performed using infrared thermography. A detailed study of surface and bulk residual stress was performed using numerical modeling, and stress profiles were validated using X-ray diffraction and ultrasonic testing, respectively. Distortion analysis was validated using mechanical measurement. Nondestructive testing was efficiently used to validate the numerically predicted thermo-mechanical behavior of welded components.