Effects of clad and base metal thickness on residual stress in the repair weld of a stainless steel clad plate

This paper used finite element method (FEM) to predict the residual stresses in repair weld of a stainless steel clad plate. The effects of clad metal thickness and base metal thickness on residual stresses have been investigated. The results show that large residual stresses have been generated in weld metal and heat affected zone (HAZ). The clad metal and base metal thickness have a great effect on residual stresses. With clad metal thickness increase, the deformation and plastic strain are increased to relax some residual stress, which leads to a decrease in residual stress. The repair structure has an angular deformation for the shrinkage of weld metal. The strength of base metal is great larger than that of clad metal, and therefore, the base metal has a constraint on the shrinkage of clad metal. As the base metal thickness increase, this constraint function is enhanced, which leads to an increase in residual stress, which provides a reference for the repair welding of stainless steel clad plate.