Fatigue Strength Assessment of Friction Welds under Consideration of Residual Stress

A reliable local-fatigue assessment approach for rotary friction-welded components does not yet exist. The scope of this paper is to present test results for the fatigue behaviour of rotary friction-welded solid shafts made of structural steel S355J2G3 (1.0570) and an approach to fatigue assessment considering residual stress. In contrast to fusion-welded joints, components made by rotary friction welding usually contain compressive residual stress near the weld, which can significantly affect the fatigue strength. For this purpose, specimens were welded and characterised, including metallographic micrographs, hardness measurements, and residual stress measurements. The fatigue tests were performed with a constant amplitude loading in tension/compression or torsion with R = −1. All specimens were investigated without machining of the weld flash, either in the as-welded state or after a post-weld stress-relief heat treatment. In addition, the friction welding process and the residual stress formation were analysed using numerical simulation. The characterisation results are integrated into a fatigue assessment approach. Overall, the specimens perform comparatively well in the fatigue tests and the experimentally observed fatigue behaviour is well described using the proposed local approaches.