A finite element study of thermal relaxation of residual stress in laser shock peened IN718 superalloy

The residual stresses in laser shock peened (LSP) Inconel 718 Ni-base superalloy and their thermal relaxation behavior were investigated based on three-dimensional nonlinear finite element analysis. To account for the nonlinear constitutive behavior, the Johnson–Cook model has been employed and the model parameters for high strain rate response of IN718 are calibrated by comparison with recent experimental results. Based on the LSP simulation, the thermal relaxation behavior was studied through coupled thermal-structure analysis in LS-DYNA. More specifically, the effects of test temperature, exposure time and degree of initial plastic deformation are analyzed and discussed. It is observed that stress relaxation mainly occurs during the initial period of exposure, and the relaxation amplitude increases with the increase of applied temperature and as-peened plastic deformation. Based on the simulation results, an analytical model based on Zener–Wert–Avrami function is proposed to model the thermal residual stress relaxation.