Stress measurements in welds: Problem areas

There have been many stress measurements on welds by neutron diffraction over the past 20 years but there are still a number of serious experimental issues that are often not addressed. The primary fact is that the microstructure generally changes across the weld and accompanying this may be a change in the concentration of strengthening elements in solution. This will lead to a shift in lattice spacing which may be incorrectly interpreted as a strain. Secondly, a gradient of plastic deformation near the weld may be expected. Since plastic deformation by application of a stress always generates intergranular (type-2) strains this may lead to a range of intergranular effects superposed on the conventional weld-related strains. The effects are illustrated by neutron diffraction studies of Zr-4, ferritic and austenitic welds where chemistry, intergranular effects and crystallographic texture can all play a role.