ARTICLE IN PRESS

International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 84 (2007) 298–303

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Effect of vibratory weld conditioning on the residual stresses and

distortion in multipass girth-butt welded pipes
Jijin Xu, Ligong Chen, Chunzhen Ni
Institute of Welding, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200030, China
Received 6 July 2006; received in revised form 7 November 2006; accepted 7 November 2006

Abstract

For a fully welded body valve, the last procedure is welding, so it is important to control the residual stress and distortion in order to
assure spool rotation, valve watertightness, stress corrosion resistance and non-deformability in active service. In this study, the effects of
vibratory weld conditioning (VWC) on the residual stress and distortion were studied in multipass girth-butt welded pipes through
comparison between VWC and normal submerged arc welding. The results show that VWC can reduce the residual hoop stresses at the
outer surface and the radial distortion significantly; but VWC has only a slight effect on the residual axial stresses at the outer surface and
axial distortion. Moreover, the residual stresses decrease and are lower than the yield strength using VWC, which decreases the
susceptibility of a weld to fatigue damage, stress corrosion cracking and fracture, and improves the safety of welded structures.
r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Vibratory weld conditioning; Residual stress; Welding distortion; Multipass welding; Girth-butt welded pipes

1. Introduction mental protection must be considered before selecting each

Welding is a reliable and efficient metal-joining process
widely used in industry. However, during the welding
process, due to the intense heat input, the regions near the
weld undergo severe thermal cycles, thereby generating
inhomogeneous plastic deformation and residual stresses in
the weldment. The residual stresses and plastic deformation
are generally detrimental, increasing the susceptibility of a
weld to fatigue damage, stress corrosion cracking and
fracture. Moreover, they also affect the machining
accuracy of a structure and its dimensional stability [1].
Therefore, it is important to control and decrease the
residual stresses and distortion arising from welding.
Many methods have been researched and used to control
the residual stresses and distortion, such as vibratory
stresses relief (VSR) [2,3], post-weld heat treatment
(PWHT) [4–6] and ultrasonic impact treatment (UIT)
[7,8]. However, each method has a limited scope of
application. The availability, cost, time taken and environ-
Corresponding author. Fax: +86 2162933403.
E-mail address: xujijin_1979@sjtu.edu.cn (J.J. Xu).
method. For a fully welded body valve, the temperature of
the rubber ring cannot exceed 150 1C in order to prevent it
from becoming damaged and to assure the valve water-
tightness and the service life of the valve. Therefore,
PWHT cannot be used to relieve the residual stresses.
Therefore, it is important to select a method to control the
residual stress and distortion in order to assure spool
rotation, valve watertightness, stress corrosion resistance
and non-deformability in active service.
Vibratory weld conditioning (VWC) is a new welding
technology, which vibrates the workpiece while welding by
a vibrator, which is developed based on VSR [9]. Its main
purpose is to refine the grains, relieve the residual stresses,
reduce welding deformation and improve the properties of
the welded joint. Compared with other methods, VWC has
the good qualities of less investment, more convenient
operation, no pollution and shorter manufacturing period.
At present, there is some literature on the effect of VWC
on residual stresses and distortion [9–14]. However, the
subject investigated was the effect of VWC on the residual
stresses and distortion in plate butt welding. There is
no published literature about the effect of VWC on the

0308-0161/$ - see front matter r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijpvp.2006.11.004
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J.J. Xu et al. / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 84 (2007) 298–303 299

residual stresses and distortion in girth-butt welded pipes. 788

In this study, the effects of VWC on the residual stresses
and distortion were studied in multipass girth-butt welded
pipes through a comparison between VWC and normal
submerged arc welding. The residual stresses were mea-
sured using the blind hole drilling method after welding
and cooling to room temperature. Welding distortion was
measured using a three-dimensional measuring instrument

813
with a measurement accuracy of 0.001 mm. The results are
discussed and analyzed.

2. Experimental work

2.1. The selection of welding parameters

Measuring points of Measuring points of
In order to compare VWC with normal welding, the residual stress distortion
same experimental material, geometry of the girth-butt
Fig. 1. The geometry of girth-butt welded pipes and the distribution of
welded pipes and welding process parameters were selected. measuring points.
The base material used was A105 forging steel. Its chemical
composition is shown in Table 1. Single-wire submerged
arc welding was selected. The filler wire used was H08MnA
vibratory parameters. For A105 forging steel, different
with a diameter of 1.6 mm. Table 1 shows its chemical
vibratory accelerations (0, 0.3g, 0.6g and 0.9g) were
compositions. The flux was OP122. This flux is an Al–Ca
selected to study the effect of vibratory accelerations on
basic agglomerated flux and has good automatic detach-
the residual stresses, distortion and micro-structure. The
ability. Table 2 shows its components.
test results show that 0.6g vibratory acceleration is a
Fig. 1 shows the geometry of the girth-butt welded pipes and
suitable parameter. Therefore, 0.6g vibratory acceleration
the distribution of measuring points for residual stress and
is selected in this study. The vibratory frequency can be
distortion. Fig. 2 shows the groove shape and the weld bead
calculated by the following equations:
sequence. In order to prevent molten metal from flowing into
the pipes during welding, an assembly groove with backing a ¼ A sinðot þ fÞ, (1)
was selected. Moreover, this groove is helpful for automatic
detachability. In order to avoid too high a temperature, o
f ¼ , (2)
welding process parameters, of, small welding current, small 2p
arc voltage and low welding speed were selected. Table 3 shows where a is instantaneous value of acceleration, A is the
the welding process parameters of each pass. maximum value of acceleration, f is frequency and o is
angular velocity.
2.2. VWC Fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of VWC. In order to
assure vibration, the test platform must be supported by
For VWC, the key technology is the selection of the four rubber pads prior to welding. The vibration was
vibratory parameters. Different materials have different realized through the rotation of an eccentric wheel. During
welding, vibratory acceleration was measured by an
acceleration sensor and was transmitted to a control
Table 1 casing. The vibratory acceleration was controlled by the
Chemical composition (wt%) of A105 forging steel and H08MnA filler control casing. Fig. 4 is the welding experimental appara-
wire tus.
C Mn Si Cr Mo Ni S P
2.3. Residual stress measurement
A105 0.24 0.68 0.21 0.023 0.012 0.03 0.01 0.015
H08MnA 0.007 1.13 0.32 0.03 0.01 0.03 0.01 0.02
The magnitude, nature (compressive, tensile, uniaxial,
biaxial, triaxial) and gradients of stress are important
parameters for the integrity of a component. For selecting
Table 2
Component (wt%) of OP122
the technique for residual stress determination, precision,
accuracy and resolution are important parameters [15].
SiO2+TiO2 CaO+MgO Al2O3+MnO CaF2 A suitable technique is the blind hole drilling method [16],
which is a semi-destructive residual stress measuring
15 40 20 25
method. The method has low cost and is a widely used
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5°

24 23
22 21
20 19
18 17
16 15
Thick wall pipe Thin wall pipe

42
14 13

44
12 11

52
10 9
8 7
6 5
4 3
2 1

R7

Fig. 2. Groove shape and the weld bead sequence.

Table 3
Welding process parameters of each pass 7

6
Welding Welding current, Arc voltage, U Welding speed, v
pass I (A) (V) (mm s1)
2
5
1 220 28 4
2 220 28 4
3 220 28 4
4 220 28 4
5 250 30 4 3
8
6 250 30 4
7 250 30 4
8 250 30 4
9 250 30 4
10 250 30 4
11 250 30 4 1 4
12 250 30 4
1— rubber pad 2—acceleration sensor 3 — vibrator 4— test platform
13 250 30 4
14 250 30 4 5 — welding workpiece 6 — welding torch 7— control casing 8 —carriage
15 250 30 4
16 250 30 4 Fig. 3. The schematic diagram of VWC.
17 250 30 4
18 250 30 4
19 250 30 4 The three gauge grids were wired and connected to a static
20 250 30 4
strain indicator. A shallow hole (depth was 2 mm and
21 250 30 4
22 250 30 4 diameter was 2 mm) was drilled incrementally at the center
23 250 35 5 of the rosette by carbide-tipped cutter. The strain readings
24 250 35 5 were used to calculate the residual stresses using a special
data reduction relationship [17].

2.4. Distortion measurement

modern technique for measuring residual stresses. The
measuring procedure has been standardized in ASTM
Standard Test Method E837-92 [17]. Therefore, the blind
hole drilling method was selected to measure the residual
stresses.
After welding and cooling to room temperature, the
residual stresses were measured on the outer surface of the
thick pipe. Six measuring points were made on the outer
surface. Fig. 1 shows the distribution of these measuring
points. There are two points on the bead, two points on the
fusion line, one point on the HAZ and one point on the
base metal. Fig. 5 shows the residual stress measurement by
the blind hole drilling method. Firstly, the specimen surface
was polished and cleaned. Then three element gauge
rosettes were cemented on to the cleaned specimen surface.
Methods for measuring welding distortion were graded
in term of two levels: dynamic measuring methods and
static measuring methods [18]. Dynamic measuring meth-
ods include strain-gage pickup, displacement sensor and
thermocouple. Static measuring methods include the fixed
points method, light interference method, photoelectric
displacement measuring method. When welding distortion
is measured using dynamic measuring methods, welding
temperature is also measured and then welding distortion is
calculated using numerical calculation. Welding distortion
can be measured directly using static measuring methods,
but real-time measurement cannot be realized.
In this study, only the final distortion is needed, so the
fixed points method was selected to measure welding
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3. Results and discussion

3.1. Effect of VWC on residual stresses

Fig. 6 shows a comparison of the residual stresses

between VWC and normal welding.
From Fig. 6, the following points can be observed:

(i) The residual axial stresses and residual hoop stresses at

the outer surface are tensile in thick wall multipass
girth-butt welded pipes. The peak value of the residual
stress is in the fusion zone.
(ii) VWC can reduce the residual hoop stress at the outer
surface by approximately 30%. However, VWC has
only a slight effect on the residual axial stress at the
outer surface. This is because during girth-butt
welding of pipes, there was no restraint in the axial
direction and the pipes can deform freely so that the
peak value of axial stress is small. The peak value of

a
200
Normal welding
The residual axial stresses, σZ (MPa)

180
VWC
160
Fig. 4. The welding experimental apparatus.
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
-20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Distance to weld centre line, mm

b
300
Normal welding
The residual hoop stresses, σθ (MPa)

270 VWC

240

210

Fig. 5. Measuring residual stresses by blind hole drilling method. 180

150

120
distortion. Prior to welding, the axial length and the radial
length were measured using a three-dimensional measuring 90
instrument (its measurement accuracy is 0.001 mm). After 60
welding and cooling to room temperature, the axial
-20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
length and radial length were measured again. The
Distance from weld centre line, mm
difference between the two measuring results is the welding
distortion. Fig. 6. Comparison of welding residual stresses between the two methods.
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axial stress is about 190 MPa in normal welding and is
lower than the yield strength (250 MPa). However,
weld metal was restrained in the hoop direction, which
results in contraction and plastic deformation, which
does not recover after cooling to room temperature.
The peak value of residual hoop stress is high. The
peak value is about 300 MPa and is in excess of the
yield strength. VWC uses the welding thermal field and
vibratory dynamic stresses to refine grains and
decrease the residual stresses during the solidification
process. Moreover, through VWC, a dynamic stress is
superimposed with the residual stress to the yield stress
and plastic deformation occurs at the local structure.
Plastic deformation occurs firstly at the maximum
residual stress. Therefore, VWC reduces residual hoop
stresses, hut has only a slight effect on the residual
axial stresses.
(iii) VWC makes the residual stresses decrease and their
peak values are lower than the yield strength. There-
fore, VWC can decrease the susceptibility of a weld to
fatigue damage, stress corrosion cracking and fracture,
and improve the safety of welded structures.
3.2. Effect of VWC on distortion
Table 4 shows the comparison of welding distortion
between VWC and normal welding. From Table 4, VWC
has a slight effect on axial distortion, but can reduce radial
distortion substantially. The radial distortion of a thin wall
pipe decreases by 61.5% and that of a thick wall pipe
decreases by 40%. This is partly because there was no
restraint in the axial direction and weld metal was
restrained in the hoop direction.
From Table 4, the radial distortion of a thin wall pipe is
lower than that of a thick wall pipe. This mainly results
from the backing groove. During welding, the radial
contraction of a thin wall pipe is larger than that of a
thick wall pipe, which makes the back generate the
compressive stresses and makes the thick wall pipe generate
bigger radial contraction distortion. Therefore, the radial
distortion of a thin wall pipe is lower than that of a thick
wall pipe.
In summary, VWC can reduce the residual stresses and
distortion, decrease the susceptibility of a weld to fatigue
Table 4
Effect of VWC on welding distortion
Welding Axial distortion, Radial distortion Radial distortion
method mm of thin wall pipe, of thick wall
mm pipe, mm
Normal 2.521 1.105 2.102
welding
VWC 2.338 0.425 1.259
damage, stress corrosion cracking and fracture and
improve the properties of a welded joint, its dimensional
stability and the safety of welded structures.
4. Conclusions
(1) VWC can reduce the residual hoop stresses at the outer
surface and the maximum residual stresses; but VWC
has only a slight effect on the residual axial stresses at
the outer surface. The residual stresses are lower than
the yield strength when using VWC, which improves
the safety of welded structures.
(2) VWC has a slight effect on axial distortion, but VWC
can reduce radial distortion by 50%. At the same time,
due to the backing groove, the radial distortion of a
thin wall pipe is lower than that of a thick wall pipe.
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