Chemical composition of a workpiece does not impose a limitation on use of the vibratory stress relief process – any alloy can be treated.
Whether to use vibratory stress relief or thermal treatment is a decision that must consider the capabilities and limitations (and with thermal stress relief, its potential negative side effects: distortion, scale, and with certainly alloys, loss of strength or crack initiation. See “Thermal Stress Relief: Risks of PWHT on High-Strength, Lo-Carbon Steel Alloys”).
It should be understood that the vibratory stress relief cannot produce any metallurgical change. If such changes are required or desirable, and thermal treatment can achieve them, then the use of thermal stress relief could be warranted. If, however, metallurgical changes are undesirable, such as in the generation of sigma phase in stainless steel (which reduces the corrosion resistance stainless steel traditionally offers), use of the VSR Process systematically prevents such metallurgical damage.
Here is a list of alloys that are most frequently treated with resonant frequency vibration:
- Cast Steel
- Cast Meehanite & Nodular Irons
- Bi-Metallic & Multi-Metallic Workpieces
- Lo-Carbon, High-Strength Steels, eg, T1, HY80, etc.
- Exotic Metals & Alloys (Duplex Stainless Steel, Hastelloy, Inconel, Magnesium, Monel & Titanium)
- Mild Steel Weldments
- Stainless Steel Weldments
- Aluminum Weldments
- Forgings
