Control of Welding Buckling Distortion in Thin Plates of High-strength Steels AH36 by TTT and Its Mechanism

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1004-132X.2025.12.028

Abstract

Abstract:

The welding buckling distortion in thin plates of high-strength steels AH36 seriously affected the manufacturing accuracy and was difficult to be completely eliminated by means of correction after welding. TTT was an effective method to control buckling distortion during thin plates welding. A TTT platform was built with induction heating as the auxiliary heat source to conduct conventional welding and TTT experiments in thin plates of high-strength steels AH36 . After the joints were cooled to room temperature， welding distortion was measured by the three-coordinate measuring machine. The maximum relative out-of-plane deformation is as 23.88 mm under conventional welding， and decreases to 13.68 mm under TTT processes. Subsequently， the FE model of butt welded joint was established and thermal elastic plastic FE analyses were carried out for conventional welding and TTT processes. The results are in good agreement with the measured ones. Meanwhile， the maximum relative out-of-plane deformation could be reduced to 4.42 mm with modifying the temperature during TTT processes. Finally， the causes of welding buckling distortion and the control mechanism of TTT during thin plates welding processes with high-strength steels AH36 were clarified based on the welding inherent strain theory. The thermal tensile action formed by the auxiliary heat source changes the constraint degree of the base materials on the weld， which results in less compressive plastic strain during the heating processes and more tensile plastic strain during the cooling processes， so that the inherent strain at the weld is decreased. The tendon force is reduced by 26.4%. The reduction of instantaneous deformation decrease the transverse inherent bending moment by 95.2%， which reduces the initial disturbance resulting in welding buckling distortions， so as to further control the welding buckling distortion of thin plate structures.

Key words: transient thermal tensioning（TTT）, inherent strain, welding buckling distortion, mechanism analysis, FE computation, high-strength steel AH36

摘要：

高强钢AH36薄板焊接失稳变形严重影响制造精度，且难以通过焊后矫形手段完全消除。随焊热拉伸工艺是一种有效控制薄板焊接失稳变形的方法。以感应加热为辅助热源搭建随焊热拉伸焊接试验平台，进行高强钢AH36薄板常规对接焊和随焊热拉伸工艺试验，待试板冷却至室温后，通过三坐标测量仪测量接头变形，在常规焊接下最大相对面外变形为23.88 mm，随焊热拉伸下减小至13.68 mm。随后建立接头有限元模型，进行热-弹-塑性有限元分析，计算得到的结果与测量结果十分吻合，且通过调整热拉伸温度，接头最大相对面外变形减小至4.42 mm。最后基于固有应变理论分析了高强钢AH36薄板焊接失稳变形产生的原因以及随焊热拉伸工艺的控制机理：辅助热源形成的热拉伸作用改变了母材对焊缝的拘束程度，导致升温过程中产生了更小的压缩塑性应变，而冷却过程中产生了更大的拉伸塑性应变，使得焊缝处固有应变减小，纵向收缩力减小26.4%；瞬时变形降低使得横向固有弯曲力矩减小95.2%，减小了失稳产生的初始扰动，进一步控制了薄板焊接失稳变形。

关键词: 随焊热拉伸, 固有应变, 焊接失稳变形, 机理分析, 有限元计算, 高强钢AH36

CLC Number:

TG442

Bin YI, Yanbin LIU, Ling FU, Dingqi XUE, Zhicheng LIU, Jiangchao WANG. Control of Welding Buckling Distortion in Thin Plates of High-strength Steels AH36 by TTT and Its Mechanism[J]. China Mechanical Engineering, 2025, 36(12): 3030-3039.

易斌, 刘延斌, 付玲, 薛丁琪, 柳志诚, 王江超. 高强钢AH36薄板随焊热拉伸焊接失稳控制及其机理[J]. 中国机械工程, 2025, 36(12): 3030-3039.

Figures/Tables 22

Fig.1 TTT experiment system for butt welded joint

Fig.2 Schematic diagram of TTT process during the experiment

Fig.3 The coordinate measuring machine

Fig.4 The measured out-of-plane displacement of butt welded joint

Fig.5 Flowchart of thermal elastic plastic FE analysis

Fig.6 Solid element FE model for butt welded joint

Fig.7 Volumetric heat source model

Fig.8 Comparison of weld pool shape and area of butt joint

Fig.9 Comparison of the highest temperature at the temperature measuring point

Fig.10 Computed contour of out-of-plane displacement for butt welded joint

Fig.11 Comparison of out-of-plane displacement for butt welded joint

Fig.12 Comparison of the maximum temperature on the cross section of joints with CW and different temperatures during TTT

Fig.13 Comparison of the welding out-of-plane displacement of joints with CW and different TTT temperatures

Fig.14 Schematic diagram of post-weld load on a typical welded structure

Fig.15 Stress and strain as a function of temperature in CW and TTT processes

Fig.16 Computed longitudinal plastic strain versus temperature for CW and TTT-2 processes

Tab.1 Related longitudinal plastic strain of CW and TTT-2 processes

数据点	点A		点B
工艺过程	CW	TTT-2	CW	TTT-2
升温过程中纵向压缩塑性应变	$-$ 0.0123	$-$ 0.0121	$-$ 0.0168	$-$ 0.0160
残余纵向压缩塑性应变	$-$ 0.0022	$-$ 0.0019	$-$ 0.0033	$-$ 0.0019
冷却过程中纵向拉伸塑性应变	0.0101	0.0102	0.0135	0.0141
最大纵向压缩塑性应变	$-$ 0.0225	$-$ 0.0207	$-$ 0.0206	$-$ 0.0194

Tab.1 Related longitudinal plastic strain of CW and TTT-2 processes

数据点	点A		点B
工艺过程	CW	TTT-2	CW	TTT-2
升温过程中纵向压缩塑性应变	$-$ 0.0123	$-$ 0.0121	$-$ 0.0168	$-$ 0.0160
残余纵向压缩塑性应变	$-$ 0.0022	$-$ 0.0019	$-$ 0.0033	$-$ 0.0019
冷却过程中纵向拉伸塑性应变	0.0101	0.0102	0.0135	0.0141
最大纵向压缩塑性应变	$-$ 0.0225	$-$ 0.0207	$-$ 0.0206	$-$ 0.0194

Fig.17 The curves of tendon force Ft for CW and TTT-2 processes

Fig.18 Comparison of transverse inherent strain on cross section under CW and TTT-2

Fig.19 Comparison of transverse inherent strain curves along the thickness direction under CW and TTT-2

Fig.20 Comparison of the thermal cycle in CW and TTT-2 processes

Fig.21 Instantaneous welding out-of-plane displacement curves at point C in CW and TTT-2 processes

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