Butt-welding residual stress of heat treatable aluminum alloys

This study, taking three types of aluminum alloys 2024-T351, 6061-T6 and 7075-T6 as experimental materials, conducted single V-groove GTAW (gas tungsten arc welding) butt-welding to analyze and compare the magnitude and differences of residual stress in the three aluminum alloys at different single V-groove angles and in restrained or unrestrained conditions. The results show that the larger the grooving angle of butt joint, the higher the residual tensile stress. Too small grooving angle will lead to dramatic differences due to the amount of welding bead filler metal and pre-set joint geometry. Therefore, only an appropriate grooving angle can reduce residual stress. While welding, weldment in restrained condition will lead to a larger residual stress. Also, a residual stress will arise from the restraint position. The ultimate residual stress of weldment is determined by material yield strength at equilibrium temperature. The higher the yield strength at equilibrium temperature, the higher the material residual stress. Because of its larger thermal conductivity, aluminum alloy test specimens have small temperature differential. Therefore, the residual tensile stress of all materials is lower than their yield strength.