TY - JOUR A1 - Tölle, Florian A1 - Gumenyuk, Andrey A1 - Rethmeier, Michael T1 - Reduction of residual stresses in laser beam welds by means of defocused laser beams JF - Science and technology of welding and joining N2 - Longitudinal residual stresses in beam welds ranging at the value of the local yield strength can diminish the lifespan of components. To extend the service life of welds special methods of welding residual stress reduction were developed earlier which are however not effective for beam welds in complex component geometries. Application of beam welding sources for postwelding heat treatment of components has become a flexible tool for reducing longitudinal stresses in beam welds. Such heat treatment in a specific transversal distance to the weld by a defocused beam results in huge stress reductions depending on the used process parameters. Experimental results for ferritic and austenitic steels reveal weld stress reductions to up to compressive stresses. For different materials and diverse material thicknesses special process parameter regions have to be used in this procedure. At a transmission component this procedure shows a stress reduction by >300 MPa. KW - Post-welding heat treatment KW - Stress reduction KW - Residual stress KW - Beam welding PY - 2012 DO - https://doi.org/10.1179/1362171812Y.0000000019 SN - 1362-1718 SN - 1743-2936 VL - 17 IS - 5 SP - 381 EP - 385 PB - Maney CY - London AN - OPUS4-26000 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -