Fatigue strength improvement of stainless

steel using weld toes dressing with low

transformation temperature welding wire
L. Y. Xu1,2, Y. F. Wang1,2, H. Y. Jing1,2 and Y. D. Han*1,2
In the present study, low transformation temperature welding wire (LTTW), which can induce
residual compressive stress around 304L welded joints, has been developed to improve the
fatigue performance of welded joints. Procedure of design and chemical composition of weld
metal and deposited metal of LTTW are introduced. The microstructure of weld metal of LTTW is
composed of low carbon martensite and residual austenite. The residual stress distribution of a
single welding bead of LTTW was measured and the result shows that compressive residual
stress is generated. In addition, fatigue test was also carried out on no-load cruciform welded
joints of 304L stainless steel under three conditions: as welded, 308L dressing and LTTW
dressing. The result shows that the fatigue life of LTTW dressing joints (26106 cycles) is improved
by 14–23 times and 3–6 times compared with that of as welded joints and 308L dressing joints.
Keywords: Low transformation temperature welding wire, Stainless steel, Compressive residual stress, Fatigue strength

Introduction alloying elements in weld metal. Therefore, alloy

Welding has been widely used in manufacturing
industries. However, welded structures fracture acci-
dents often occur and 90% of them have been proved to
be fatigue failure.1 Hence, it is crucial to improve the
fatigue strength of welded joints. It has been acknowl-
edged that in the process of welding, residual tensile
stress and stress concentration are often generated at the
weld toe region, which is the main cause of low fatigue
strength of welded joints compared with that of base
metal.2–4
A few methods5 have been developed to improve the
fatigue strength of welded joints by modifying the
residual stress distribution, reducing residual tensile
stress and inducing compressive residual stress on
welded joints or reducing the stress concentration at
the fatigue critical area. For example, peening and
tungsten inert gas dressing6 are used to release and
reduce the residual tensile stress of welded joints.
Ohta et al.6 revealed that when the phase transforma-
tion of base metal from austenite to martensite starts at
a low temperature (approximately 200uC), the residual
tensile stress on welded joints could be reduced or
changed into compressive residual stress. The Ms
(austenite to martensite transformation start tempera-
ture) is affected by weight percentage of carbon and
1
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin
300072, China
2
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Advanced Joining Technology, Tianjin 300072,
China
*Corresponding author, email hanyongdian@tju.edu.cn
elements should properly keep the phase expansion to
a great extent when the transformation is finished. Liu
et al.7 revealed that all alloying elements such as Cr, Ni,
Mn, Si and Mo except Al and Co decreased Ms. Hence,
low temperature transformation welding wire (LTTW)
are developed and applied to generate the compressive
residual stress on welded joints. As shown in Fig. 1,8 for
LTTW, during transformation (begin around 200uC and
finish around ambient temperature), the expansion
dominates and compressive residual stress is introduced
in the welded joints. Recently, a few studies about
LTTW have been reported. For carbon steel, Thomas
and Liu9 studied the behaviour of low transformation
temperature welding consumables in terms of distortion
and residual stresses on various plate thicknesses. It was
observed that with higher chromium, equivalent pro-
moted greater compressive residual stresses in the weld
toe region which reduced distortion when compared to
the ones with higher nickel content. Zenitani et al.10
developed a low transformation temperature (LTT)
welding consumable to prevent cold cracking in high
strength steel welded joints without preheating. Cold
cracking is almost fully suppressed without preheating
under every joint restraint condition. Ramjaun et al.11
investigated the effect of interpass temperature on
residual stresses in multipass welds produced using a
low transformation temperature filler alloy. It was found
that the interpass temperature above the transformation
temperature of the weld metal can obtain the optimum
effect of the transformation plasticity. The effect of weld
filler metal austenite to acicular ferrite transformation
temperature on the residual stresses during gas metal arc

ß 2014 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining

Published by Maney on behalf of the Institute
Received 15 April 2014; accepted 26 July 2014
DOI 10.1179/1362171814Y.0000000240 Science and Technology of Welding and Joining 2014 VOL 19 NO 8 664

1 Variation of strain of weld metal during cooling process
welding of a low carbon steel has been examined using a
finite element model.12 Meanwhile, Dai and Francis13
measured the residual stress distribution in the welded
joints with LTT consumable and the results showed that
the compressive residual stress of welded joints with
consumable was induced. Wang et al.14 developed LTT
electrodes with phase transformation temperature of
190uC. However, the studies mentioned above only
focused on the LTTW applied to carbon steel. While for
the case of stainless steel, Bhadeshia et al.15 designed
stainless steel weld filler to mitigate residual stresses. It
was observed that the toughness is significantly better
than commercially available martensitic stainless steel
welding consumables, and the use of the new alloy
reduces distortion in the final joint. Besides Bhadeshia’s
study, literature search indicated that few studies have
been conducted to develop the LTTW to improve
the fatigue properties of stainless steel welded joints.
Therefore, study on LTTW applied to stainless steel to
improve the fatigue property has great significance.
Accordingly in the present study, several LTTWs for
stainless steel have been developed and the method of
weld toes dressing with newly developed LTTW is
applied to welded joints of 304L stainless steel to
improve fatigue performance. Meanwhile, the residual
stress distribution is estimated and fatigue test is also
carried out to prove the improvement effect.
Experimental
Design of LTTW
The design of LTTW complies with the following
principles:
(i) Ms should be controlled low enough to make
sure the phase expansion would sustain to
ambient temperature
Table 1 Welding parameters of mechanical property test
Mechanical Welding wire
property test diameter/mm Welding current/A
Composition 1?6 85
Residual stress 1?6 85
Fatigue 1?6 85
Xu et al. Fatigue strength improvement of stainless steel
(ii) the contents of Cr and Ni should be kept around
10% to make sure that the phase transformation
occurs around 200uC
(iii) the chemical composition of LTTW should be
properly designed to ensure good weldability and
mechanical properties
The chemical composition of LTTW is greatly related to
Ms and should be carefully designed. The content of C
should be less than 0?1% to ensure the mechanical
property of low carbon martensite. The contents of Cr
and Ni of weld metal should be between 8 and 13%,
which ensures the Ms at 100–300uC. The contents of Mn
and Si should be 0?5–2 and 0?2–1% respectively. The Mn
is an alloy agent and deoxidiser. It can reduce the
adverse effect of S and P. When the mass fraction of Mn
in the metal is less than 2%, the strength and toughness
of steel mechanical properties will be improved with
increasing Mn content. However, when the Mn content
is more than 2%, the hardening tendency will increase. Si
also has the function of deoxidising. The Ti and Nb are
microalloy strengthening elements. They can react with
the N and C and obtain the fine grain to improve the
weld metal mechanical properties. The Ti and Nb are
also added to reinforce the toughness of LTTW
deposited metal. And the content of them should be
less than 1%. Rare earth is also added to improve the
comprehensive performance of the welded joints. For
these flux cored wires, the coating material is low carbon
steel and the flux is made of the following alloy powder:
50–65%Ni, 2–5%Mn, 4–6%Mo, 4–7%Ti, 2–5%Nb and
the rest is Fe. As it is necessary to control the contents of
Cr and Ni around weld bead to get the LTT, chemical
compositions of weld bead and deposited metal of
LTTW were tested respectively. Welding beads and
deposited metal were welded on 304L stainless steel plate
with LTTW under given welding parameters (Table 1).
After polishing, the height of the deposited metal is
6 mm so as to exclude the effect of base metal as the
chemical composition between base metal and the
welding wire is very different. The height of welding
beads is 0?8 mm to simulate the situation of LTTW weld
toes dressing. Based on the theory mentioned above,
three kinds of LTTW were developed and marked as A1,
A2 and A3 respectively. In addition, another welding
wire named B1 was designed not to dress weld toes, but
to simulate the chemical composition of weld bead
of LTTW so that the specimen of thermal expansion
test can be fabricated from deposited metal of B1.
Furthermore, taking fusion ratio into consideration, the
chemical compositions of weld metal of LTTW under
different currents are measured.
Thermal expansion test
To examine whether a low temperature transformation
actually exists in the weld metal, thermal expansion test
was conducted. The specimen was cut from the
deposited metal of B1 whose chemical composition is
Welding voltage/V Travel speed/mm min21 Gas flow/L min21
8–12 40–45 10
10 90 10
10–12 40–60 10
Science and Technology of Welding and Joining 2014 VOL 19 NO 8 665

2 Specimen of residual stress test
similar to that of the weld bead of LTTW. The
dimension of the specimen was Q6630 mm. The speci-
men is heated up to 1400uC from ambient temperature
at speed of 30uC min21, then cooling down to 140uC at
speed of 10uC min21.
Microstructure
A single bead of A3 was welded on a 60630620 mm
304L stainless steel plate as a test specimen under the
parameters given in Table 1. After polishing and
etching, the microstructures of heat affected zone and
weld metal were observed under Olympus GX51 optical
microscope. At the same time, the phase of the weld
metal was analysed by DMAX-2500 X-ray diffraction
instrument.
Residual stress test
X-ray diffraction method was chosen to measure the
residual stress distribution on the surface of the weld
metal of LTTW.16–18 A specimen with dimension of
60660 620 mm was fabricated from 304L stainless
steel. A single weld bead of A2 was deposited using
GTAW method and the welding parameters are given
in Table 1. Six points in different positions of the
weld bead were chosen as measurement points, as shown
in Fig. 2. Before measurement, the weld bead was
mechanically polished and then electrolytically polished.
Then the residual stress was measured by Proto-iXRD
portable residual stress analysis system made in
Canada.19,20
Fatigue test
To test the effect of LTTW on the fatigue performance,
fatigue tests were conducted on three different no-load
cruciform 304L stainless steel welded joints named as
welded (AW), 308L stainless welding wire dressing joints
(3D) and LTTW dressing joints (LD). The specimens
were 5 mm thick plate with transversal attachment
Table 2 Chemical compositions of three materials (wt-%)
Materials C Si Mn S P
304L 0?016 0?410 1?630 0?002 0?033
308L 0?001 0?400 1?700 0?020 0?025
A3 0?036 0?196 0?810 0?004 0?0019
Science and Technology of Welding and Joining
Xu et al. Fatigue strength improvement of stainless steel
welded on the main plate. The specimens were welded
by manual arc welding with A3 under given welding
conditions (Table 1). The chemical compositions were
shown in Table 2. For as welded joints, each specimen
has four fillet weld lines welded with 308L stainless steel
welding wire, while each seam has two layers and the
interlayer temperature is about 100uC. For LTTW and
308L dressing joints, besides the process mentioned
above, four dressing lines were welded with LTTW and
308L respectively on weld toes of each specimen. The
fatigue specimens are shown in Fig. 3. Fatigue test were
carried out under the following conditions:
(i) nominal stress range (R50?1)
(ii) frequency: 110–120 Hz
(iii) testing machine: PLG-200C high frequency
fatigue test machine; loading capacity: 200 kN;
static load error for measuring range: ¡0?5%;
error of the dynamic load: ¡1%.
Results and discussion
Achievements of design
The chemical compositions of deposited metal and weld
bead of the three newly developed LTTW and B1 are
demonstrated in Tables 3 and 4 respectively. It can be
seen that the content of Cr of weld bead (A1) is 12?94%,
which exceeds the requirement. Hence, no more Cr
alloying is added to A2. However, the content of Cr of
weld bead (A2) is 12?36%, which is still higher than the
requirement. The content of Cr of deposited metal of A2
is 1?96%. This is caused by element transition during
welding process because the content of Cr of 304L
stainless steel is up to 18?07%. Therefore, taking the
fusion ratio into consideration, chemical compositions
of weld bead (A2) under various currents are tested and
the result is listed in Table 5. It is obvious to observe
that the content of alloying especially Cr is influenced by
the welding parameters. The content of Cr increases
from 9% to approximately 13% when the current varies
from 75 to 95 A. Therefore, it is important to control the
current, voltage and travel speed when using the weld
toe dressing method with newly developed LTTW.
From Table 5, it can be observed that the optimal
current to use this toes dressing welding wire is 80–85 A.
Compared with A2, Ti, Ni and rare earth were added to
A3 to improve the comprehensive performance of
welded joints. The contents of Cr and Ni of B1 are 8?9
and 8?74%, which are similar to those of LTTW. Hence,
it can be concluded that B1 is successfully designed to
simulate the weld bead of LTTW.
Analysis of thermal expansion
As shown in Fig. 4, it is apparent that the material
experiences a significant phase expansion at around
200uC after cooling from about 1400uC,. When cooling
from 200 to 140uC, the expansion is larger than the
shrinkage. Hence, compressive residual stress can be
induced. Owing to the limitation of test condition, the
Cr Ni Mo Ti Nb
18?070 8?010 … … …
20?500 9?900 0?047 … …
0?453 10?420 0?493 0?335 0?418
2014 VOL 19 NO 8 666
 Xu et al. Fatigue strength improvement of stainless steel

3 Fatigue specimen

ultimate cooling temperature is 140uC instead of
ambient temperature; it still can get a forecast that the
compressive residual stress can be introduced around
weld metal because of the low temperature transforma-
tion. Compared with the conclusion with correlative
literature, it can be concluded that the composition of
weld bead of LTTW is appropriate.
Analysis of microstructure
The mechanical property of weld bead is greatly affected
by the microstructure. The results are shown in Fig. 5. It
can be observed that the base metal and weld metal are
divided by fusion line, which is caused by the huge
composition difference (Fig. 5a). The microstructure of
weld metal of LTTW was lath martensite with residual
austenite, as shown in Fig. 5b). Furthermore, the XRD
pattern of weld metal of LTTW is shown in Fig. 6. It
can be obtained that the microstructure of weld metal is
a phase and c phase. Hence, it can be confirmed that the
microstructure of weld metal is composed of lath carbon
martensite with residual austenite among them. The lath
carbon martensite can make sure the high hardness and
strength of weld metal, while the residual austenite can
bring more plasticity to weld metal. It can also be seen
from the Fig. 5b that grains are relatively coarse and
have a significant orientation which results in possibility
of brittle fracture.
Residual stress analysis
For conventional welding wire, residual tensile stress is
often generated around weld metal after welding. It
decreases the fatigue strength of welded joints. However,
as indicated in Fig. 7, both longitudinal and transversal
residual stress around weld bead of A3 is compressive.
Among the six test points, the transversal residual stress
range from 2200 to 2400 MPa and the longitudinal
residual stress is from 280 to 2360 MPa. Hence, it can
be concluded that using A3 under the above mentioned
welding parameters can induce compressive residual
stress around weld metal. Although the residual stress
test is not conducted on fatigue test specimen, the type
of residual stress is mainly affected by composition of
weld metal under the same external restraints; it is still
reasonable to speculate that the compressive residual
stress would be introduced to LTTW treated toes.
Fatigue data analysis
Test results obtained from three kinds of specimens are
demonstrated in Table 6. It is worth to mention that
some specimens that fracture at base metal caused by the

Table 3 Chemical compositions of deposited metal of LTTW (wt-%)

Type C Si Mn S P Cr Ni Mo Ti Nb

A1 0?040 0?224 1?280 0?005 0?013 3?950 10?140 0?510 0?005 0?004
A2 0?037 0?112 0?750 0?005 0?015 1?960 9?690 0?462 0?001 0?004
A3 0?036 0?196 0?810 0?004 0?002 0?450 10?420 0?493 0?335 0?418
B1 0?037 0?376 1?300 0?005 0?015 8?900 8?740 0?235 0?210 0?184

Table 4 Chemical compositions of weld bead of LTTW (wt-%)

Type C Si Mn S P Cr Ni Mo Ti Nb

A1 0?031 0?301 1?450 0?004 0?022 12?940 8?860 0?272 0?007 0?006
A2 0?034 0?265 1?210 0?004 0?024 12?360 8?650 0?249 0?007 0?009
A3 0?036 0?294 1?230 0?004 0?002 11?390 8?820 0?251 0?137 0?183

Science and Technology of Welding and Joining 2014 VOL 19 NO 8 667

 Xu et al. Fatigue strength improvement of stainless steel

defects generating during manufacturing process are not

listed. It can be observed that the fatigue crack originate
at weld toes in most specimens. The test data in Table 6
are fitted according to the equation: lg N52lg SzA
where S is the stress range, N is the fatigue life, and A
and B are fitting constants. Comparing the three S–N
curves in Fig. 8, it can be seen that under the same stress
level, the fatigue life of LTTW dressing joints is the
highest among all three kinds of specimens. The fatigue
strength of LTTW dressing joints at the same cycles is
also the highest as well. Comparing the S–N curve of
308L dressing joints and as welded joints, it can be seen
that the fatigue performance of 308L dressing joints also
get an improvement which results from modification of
geometry of weld toes. Hence, the improvement of
LTTW dressing method does not just result from 4 Thermal expansion of B1
modification of geometry of weld toes.
Based on the test results in Table 6, the fatigue curves with slope of m and K times of plus–minus
strength at 26106 cycles and fatigue lives under variable standard deviation. The survival probability is 95% and
amplitude load are obtained according to the equation confidence is 75%. The fatigue data process in flowing
S m N~C steps:
(i) caculate the logarithm value of stress range Ds
where S is the stress range, N is the fatigue life, and C and cycle index N of all test data points
and m are fitting constant and listed in Table 7. (ii) caculate the constant m and lg C using the
The fatigue strengths of three kinds of welded joints at following equation
26106 cycles and the fatigue lives under certain strength
are listed in Table 7. It is clearly demonstrated that the lg N~lg C{m lg Ds (1)
fatigue strength of LTTW dressing joints at 26106 cycles
is 248?1 MPa, while for the case of 308L dressing and as
(iii) supposing that Xi is the logarithm of the testing
welded joints, the fatigue strengths are 234?4 and 230 MPa
respectively. When the stress range is 255 MPa, the fatigue record then figure out the mean Xm of lg C and
lives of LTTW dressing, 308L dressing and as welded Stdv through m obtained above using the
joints are approximately 1?066106, 2?96105 and 7?56104 following equtions
cycles respectively. Under condition of stress range P
n
270 MPa, the fatigue lives of three kinds of joints are Xi
2?826105, 2?826104 and 1?26104 cycles. The improve- Xm ~ i~1 (2)
n
ment of fatigue performance is listed in Table 8. It can be
concluded that the fatigue strength of LTTW dressing 2Pn 31=2
joints at 26106 cycles has been improved by 8 and 6% ðXm {Xi Þ2
respectively, compared with that of as welded and 308L 6 i 7
Stdv~6
4
7
5 (3)
dressing joints. The fatigue life of LTTW dressing joints n{1
under stress range 270 MPa is elongated by 23?4 and 3?6
times compared with that of as welded and 308L dressing
where n is the number of specimens.
joints. Under condition of stress range 255 MPa, the
(iv) figure out characteristic values Xk through
improvement is approximately 14 and 3?6 times respec-
following equation then caculate Cm and Ck
tively. Thus, it can be seen that the LTTW dressing method
through Xk and Xm
can significantly extend the fatigue life of welded joins
under variable amplitude loads. Xk ~Xm {kStdv (4)
To consider the dispersity of the fatigue data, a
statistic method recommended by IIW is used to analyse
the fatigue data. It is assumed that fatigue data are in (v) characteristic fatigue strength corresponding
accordance with Gaussian log normal distribution and a to Cm and Ck under N526106 cycles are
data dispersion zone is formed by two nominal S–N expressed as follows

Table 5 Chemical compositions of weld metal of A2 under various currents (wt-%)

Chemical composition

Current I/A C Si Mn S P Cr Ni Mo

70 0?039 0?223 1?110 0?005 0?019 9?360 8?750 0?317

75 0?034 0?238 1?120 0?006 0?021 9?040 8?860 0?314
80 0?033 0?251 1?120 0?005 0?018 10?040 8?770 0?316
85 0?034 0?265 1?210 0?004 0?024 12?360 8?620 0?249
90 0?028 0?255 1?240 0?005 0?024 12?560 8?530 0?227
95 0?037 0?272 1?300 0?007 0?025 12?790 8?470 0?207

Science and Technology of Welding and Joining 2014 VOL 19 NO 8 668


5 Morphology of a fusion zone and b weld metal of LTTW
 1=m
Cm
Dsm ~ (5)
2|106
 1=m
Ck
Dsk ~ (6)
2|106
Statistic process results are listed in Table 9. It is
obvious that under condition of 95% survival prob-
ability and 75% confidence the characteristic fatigue
strength obtained according to calculated m is higher
than that obtained through m53, which is recommend
by IIW. It also can be seen that when m is obtained
through calculation, the fatigue strength of LTTW
dressing joints is 226?6 MPa and those of 308L dressing
joints and as welded joints are 221 and 218?3 MPa
respectively. Figure 9 illustrates the nominal S–N curves
of the no-load cruciform welded joints under condition
of 95% survival probability and 75% confidence. The
three solid lines are fitted with slop m obtained through
caculation, while the other four lines are obtained when
test data are analysed according to m53. It can be seen
that in the condition of 95% survival probability and
75% confidence, the S–N curve of LTTW dressing joints
is located above that of two others, which means that no
matter under the same stress level or the same cycles, the
fatigue performance of LTTW dressing joints is the best
among all three kinds of joints. Contrast reslut indicates
that the LTTW dressing method can significantly
improve the fatigue perfomance of no-load cruciform
6 XRD pattern of weld metal of LTTW
Science and Technology of Welding and Joining
Xu et al. Fatigue strength improvement of stainless steel
joints of 304L stainless under stress ratio R50?1, even
considering the dispersity of testing data.
Mechanism of fatigue performance
improvement resulting from LTTW dressing
method
Lower the average stress
As the fatigue crack often initiates from the surface of
weld toe, the stress distribution especially average stress
around the surface layer of weld toes has great influence
on the fatigue strength of welded joints. The compres-
sive stress on the surface layer of weld toes generated
by LTTW dressing can lower the average stress and
enhance the fatigue strength.
Reduce the stress concentration
As previously mentioned, stress concentration is often
generated at the weld toe region which can lower the
fatigue strength of welded joint. The stress concentration
at weld toe region is generally caused by the changes of
weld toe geometry at the weld toe zone and welding
defects. Hence, for as welded joints, stress concentration
often exists at weld toe zone, which affects the fatigue
performance. Weld toe dressing method can improve the
fatigue geometry effect, as shown in Fig. 10. It can be
seen that for as welded joints the angle of weld toe
approximately varies from 30 to 45u. However, for the
case of weld toe dressing joints, the angle is between 20
and 25u. The stress concentration of weld toe dressing
joints can be reduced because of this angel reduction. The
fatigue performance improvement of 308L dressing joints
7 Result of residual stress test
2014 VOL 19 NO 8 669
 Xu et al. Fatigue strength improvement of stainless steel

8 S–N curves of fatigue test

also results from this angle reduction. Furthermore, the Conclusions

compressive residual stress at weld toe region can reduce
the effect of stress concentration and then reduce the
crack initiation which is often caused by welding defects.
Hence, compared with 308L dressing joints, the fatigue
strength of LTTW dressing joints is higher.
1. The weld metal with newly developed LTTW
experiences an apparent phase expansion at around
200uC during cooling. The microstructure of the LTTW
is composed of lath martensite and residual austenite.

Table 6 Fatigue test results

Specimen type No. Stress range Ds/MPa Fatigue life N/6106 cycles Position of fracture

1 243 0?669 Weld toe

2 234 0?268 Weld toe
3 225 5?071 No fracture
4 234 0?940 Weld toe
AW 5 225 4?968 No fracture
6 243 0?247 Weld toe
7 229?5 1?478 Weld toe
8 238?5 0?555 Weld toe
1 261 0?197 Weld toe
2 252 0?149 Weld toe
3 234 0?773 Weld toe
4 225 5?247 No fracture
5 261 0?265 Weld toe
3D 6 243 0?611 Weld toe
7 234 3?327 Weld toe
8 225 5?641 No fracture
9 243 1?123 Weld toe
10 252 0?309 Weld toe
11 243 0?476 Weld toe
12 234 2?327 Weld toe
1 261 0?574 Weld toe
2 243 5?110 No fracture
3 270 0?465 Weld toe
LD 4 252 1?449 Weld toe
5 252 0?430 Weld toe
6 256?5 0?247 Weld toe
7 247?5 0?812 Weld toe
8 243 5?160 No fracture

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 Xu et al. Fatigue strength improvement of stainless steel

9 Nominal S–N curves of no-load cruciform welded joints

Table 9 Statistic process results

2. Under variable amplitude loads and stress ratio 95% survival probability
equal to 0?1, the fatigue strengths of LTTW dressing
joints at 26106 cycles are improved by 8 and 8% Joints type m Ck Dsk
respectively compared to that of as welded and 308L
As welded mAW532?0 1?4261081 218?3
dressing joints. The fatigue life of LTTW dressing joints
m53?0 6?5861011 69?0
is improved compared to that of as welded and 308L 308L dressing m3D522?9 1?0161060 221?0
joints. The weld toe dressing method with newly m53?0 6?1461011 67?5
developed LTTW can improve the fatigue performance LTTW dessing mLD523?1 5?1161060 226?6
of 304L stainless steel joints significantly. m53?0 9?0461011 76?7

Table 7 Calculation results

Constant Fatigue lifeN/6106 cycles

Specimen type m c Fatigue strength Ds/MPa (26106 cycle) 270 MPa 255 MPa

AW 32 7?6761081 230?0 0?012 0?075

3D 22?9 3?7461060 234?4 0?079 0?290
LD 23?1 4?1261061 248?1 0?282 1?056

Table 8 Improvement analysis

Fatigue life at certain strength/times

Type comparing Fatigue strength at 26106 cycle/% 270 MPa 255 MPa

Compare 3D to AW 2 6?5 3?9

Compare LD to AW 8 23?4 14?0
Compare LD to 3D 6 3?6 3?6

Science and Technology of Welding and Joining 2014 VOL 19 NO 8 671


10 Angle changes of a as welded joints and b weld toe dressing joints
Acknowledgements
The present research work was financially supported by
the Project of the National Natural Science Foundation
of China (Grant No. 51275341), the Research Fund for
the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China
(20130032110005) and Promote the Ocean by Science
and Technology Project of Tianjin Oceanic Adminis-
tration (KJXH2012-08).
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