Analysis of Residual Stress by the Hole-Drilling Method and Hardness in Dissimilar Joints of Austenitic Stainless Steel AISI 316L and Inconel 718 Alloy by Autogenous GTAW Process

Stainless steel and nickel alloy have high corrosion resistance in high-temperature environments due to the high Cr content present in their chemical composition, being widely used in components of nuclear reactors, petrochemical industries, etc. Through proper processes and procedures, it becomes possible to join these alloys. However, this union can generate detrimental factors in its performance, among them, the residual stresses. In this work, the residual stresses generated by the autogenous GTAW process, due to different interpass temperatures on the weld bead geometry, were analyzed by the Hole-Drilling technique in dissimilar welding joints of stainless steel AISI 316L and Inconel 718 alloy. In addition, the Vickers microhardness measurements were carried out to evaluate the hardness profile in the cross section of the weld bead covering base metal (BM), heat affect zone (HAZ) and weld metal (WM). We found that in the interface region between BM and HAZ of each dissimilar joint metal, residual stresses increased above 300 MPa, while hardness increased above 160 HV.