Residual Stress in a 34CrNi1Mo/Q355B Dissimilar Steel Butt Joint and the Effects of Post-Weld Heat Treatment on Residual Stress

doi:10.11900/0412.1961.2025.00249

Acta Metall Sin

2026, Vol. 62

Issue (1): 203-216 DOI: 10.11900/0412.1961.2025.00249

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Residual Stress in a 34CrNi1Mo/Q355B Dissimilar Steel Butt Joint and the Effects of Post-Weld Heat Treatment on Residual Stress

QU Tie¹, XIE Yang², WANG Chongyang³, LI Lixia¹, XU Xiajian¹, MAO Zhixu², LUO Wenze², HUANG Zhiquan³, DENG Dean²(

)

1 CITIC Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. , Luoyang 471039, China
2 College of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China
3 China Machinery General Institute Group Zhengzhou Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering Co. Ltd. , Zhengzhou 450001, China

Cite this article:

QU Tie, XIE Yang, WANG Chongyang, LI Lixia, XU Xiajian, MAO Zhixu, LUO Wenze, HUANG Zhiquan, DENG Dean. Residual Stress in a 34CrNi1Mo/Q355B Dissimilar Steel Butt Joint and the Effects of Post-Weld Heat Treatment on Residual Stress. Acta Metall Sin, 2026, 62(1): 203-216.

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Abstract

Residual stress generated during the welding of 34CrNi1Mo gear steel can lead to stress corrosion cracking and reduced fatigue strength. Therefore, the accurate prediction and effective control of residual stress in welded joints are of critical importance. In this study, a multipass butt joint with a plate thickness of 40 mm was fabricated using 34CrNi1Mo and Q355B steels. The residual stresses after welding and post-weld heat treatment were measured using the hole-drilling method. Based on the MSC.Marc software platform and the solid-state phase transformation characteristics of medium-carbon quenched and tempered steel (34CrNi1Mo steel), a thermal-metallurgical-mechanical multifield coupled finite element model was developed to simulate welding-induced residual stress. Additionally, a thermal-elastic/plastic finite element model that accounts for creep effects was developed to simulate stress evolution during post-weld heat treatment. This work primarily investigates the effects of solid-state phase transformation during welding on the distribution of residual stress as well as the effects of creep behavior during heat treatment on the degree of residual stress relaxation. A comparison of simulation results and experimental measurements indicates that solid-state phase transformation considerably affects the magnitude and distribution of longitudinal and transverse residual stresses in the heat-affected zone on the side of the medium-carbon quenched and tempered steel. When simulating heat treatment, the consideration of only the temperature-dependent variations in yield strength leads to considerable discrepancies between the predicted and experimental residual stress values. However, simulation results that incorporate the creep effect exhibit excellent agreement with the experimental data.

Key words: residual stress medium-carbon quenched and tempered steel solid-state phase transition creep effect numerical simulation

Received: 25 August 2025

ZTFLH:

TG404

Fund: National Natural Science Foundation of China(51875063)

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	Articles by authors
	QU Tie
	XIE Yang
	WANG Chongyang
	LI Lixia
	XU Xiajian
	MAO Zhixu
	LUO Wenze
	HUANG Zhiquan
	DENG Dean

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https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/10.11900/0412.1961.2025.00249 OR https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/Y2026/V62/I1/203

Table 1 Chemical compositions of 34CrNi1Mo and Q355B steel base materials and ER50-6 and H10Mn2 welding wires (mass fraction / %)

Fig.1 Thermal expansion curves of 34CrNi1Mo steel at different cooling rates (A_c1—austenitizing start temperature, A_c3—austenitizing end temperature, B_s—bainite transformation start temperature, M_s—martensite transformation start temperature)

Fig.2 Finite element model of butt joint

Fig.3 Thermal physical property parameters of 34CrNi1Mo steel

Fig.4 Simulated heat-affected zone (HAZ) continuous cooling transformation (SHCCT) curves of 34CrNi1Mo steel (Precent signs refer to the phase volume fractions)

Fig.5 Yield strengths of each phase in 34CrNi1Mo steel obtained by JMatPro software

Fig.6 Properties of Q355B (a) and 34CrNi1Mo (b) steels

Table 2 Simulation cases

Fig.7 Transient temperature distribution filed of butt joint (a), comparisons between cross-sectional morphology (b1) and temperature distribution (b2) of fusion zone in 34CrNi1Mo and Q355B butt joint

Fig.8 OM images of Q355B steel
(a) fusion zone (b) coarse grain HAZ (c) fine grain HAZ (d) base metal

Fig.9 OM images of 34CrNi1Mo steel
(a) coarse grain HAZ (b) fine grain HAZ (c) inter-critical HAZ (d) base metal

Fig.10 Phase volume fractions of martensite (a) and bainite (b) of 34CrNi1Mo and Q355B butt joint

Fig.11 Contours of longitudinal residual stress distributions on the top surface (a1, b1) and middle cross-section near the weld (a2, b2) of 34CrNi1Mo and Q355B butt joint in case A (a1, a2) and case B (b1, b2)

Fig.12 Comparisons of the longitudinal residual stress along the path L1 (indicated in the inset) between the calculated results in cases A and B and the experimental measurement results

Fig.13 Contours of transverse residual stress distribution on the top surface (a1, b1) and middle cross-sections near the weld (a2, b2) of 34CrNi1Mo and Q355B butt joint in case A (a1, a2) and case B (b1, b2)

Fig.14 Comparisons of the transverse residual stress along the path L1 (indicated in the inset) between the calculated results in cases A and B and the experimental measurement results

Fig.15 Contours of longitudinal residual stress distribution on the lower surface (a1-c1) and middle cross-section near the weld (a2-c2) of 34CrNi1Mo and Q355B butt joint in case B (a1, a2), case C (b1, b2), and case D (c1, c2)

Fig.16 Comparisons of longitudinal residual stresses along the path L2 (indicated in the inset) between the calculated results in Cases B-D and the experimental measurement results

Fig.17 Contours of transverse residual stress distribution on the lower surface (a1-c1) and middle cross-section near the weld (a2-c2) of 34CrNi1Mo and Q355B butt joint in case B (a1, a2), case C (b1, b2), and case D (c1, c2)

Fig.18 Comparisons of transverse residual stresses along the path L2 (indicated in the inset) between the calculated results in Cases B-D and the experimental measurement results

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