Revealing the residual stress distribution in laser welded Eurofer97 steel by neutron diffraction and Bragg edge imaging

Eurofer97 steel is a primary structural material for applications in fusion reactors. Laser welding is a promising technique to join Eurofer97 plasma-facing components and overcome remote handling and maintenance challenges. The interaction of the induced residual stress and the heterogeneous microstructure degrades the mechanical performance of such fusion components. The present study investigates the distribution of residual stress in as-welded and post-heat treated Eurofer97 joints. The mechanistic connections between microstructure, material properties, and residual stress are also studied. Neutron diffraction is used to study the through-thickness residual stress distribution in three directions, and neutron Bragg edge imaging (NBEI) is applied to study the residual strain in high spatial resolution. The microstructures and micro-hardness are characterised by electron backscatter diffraction and nanoindentation, respectively. The M-shaped residual stress distribution through the thickness of the as-welded weldment is observed by neutron diffraction line scans over a region of 1.41 x 10 mm(2). These profiles are cross-validated over a larger area (similar to 56 x 40 mm(2)) with the higher spatial resolution by NBEI. The micro-hardness value in the fusion zone of the as-welded sample almost doubles from 2.75 +/- 0.09 GPa to 5.06 +/- 0.29 GPa due to a combination of residual stress and cooling-induced martensite. Conventional post weld heat treatment (PWHT) is shown to release similar to 90% of the residual stress but not fully restore the microstructure. By comparing its hardness with that of stress-free samples, it is found that the microstructure is the primary contribution to the hardening. This study provides insight into the prediction of structural integrity for critical structural components of fusion reactors. (C) 2022 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science & Technology.