Effect of high frequency mechanical impact treatment on fatigue strength of welded 1300 MPa yield strength steel

High frequency mechanical impact (HFMI) is a recent post weld treatment method which can be employed to increase the fatigue strength of welded components. In this paper the fatigue strength of as-welded and HFMI treated fillet welds in a 1300 MPa yield strength steel was compared. Fatigue testing was done under fully reversed, constant amplitude bending load. Finite element analysis was used to calculate the stress distribution in the weld toe region to permit evaluation of the fatigue data with the effective notch stress approach. As-welded samples showed a mean fatigue strength of 353 MPa and a characteristic fatigue strength of 306 MPa. HFMI treatment increased the mean fatigue strength by 26% and the characteristic fatigue strengths by 3%. The weld toe radii in as-welded condition were large. HFMI only increased the weld toe radii slightly but resulted in a more uniform weld toe geometry along the weld. A depth of indentation in the base metal in the range of 0.15–0.19 mm and a width of indentation in the range of 2.5–3 mm, were achieved. Maximum compressive residual stresses of about 800 MPa in the longitudinal and 250 MPa in the transverse direction were introduced by HFMI treatment, adjacent to the weld toe. The surface hardness was increased in the entire HFMI treated region. It is concluded that the increase in fatigue strength is due to the combined effects of the weld toe geometry modification, increase in surface hardness and creation of compressive residual stresses in the treated region.