United States Patea (113,622,404
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UnitedO States Patea (113,622,404 72 Inventor Leonard E. Thompson FOREIGN PATENTS 961 N. W. Dale Ave., Portland, Oreg. 365,033 1/1932 Great Britain................ 148/2.9 97.229 365,034 1/1932 Great Britain................ 148/12.9 3. E. No. 969 Primary Examiner-L. Dewayne Rutledge 45 Patented Nov 23, 1971 Assistant Examiner-W. W. Stallard 0 aw Attorneys-Daniel P. Chernoff and Jacob E. Vilhauer, Jr. 54 METHOD ANDAPPARATUSFOR STRESS ABSTRACT: A method of stress relieving a workpiece by RELEVING AWORKPIECE BY WIBRATION vibrating the workpiece in the frequency range of each reso 8 Claims, 8 Drawing Figs. nant peak corresponding to each portion of the workpiece to 52) U.S. Cl........................................................ 148/12.9 cybe stressrange relievedof each andselected maintaining resonant the peak vibration while inthe the amplitude frequen 51 Int. Cl..... ... C2id 1104 of the peak increases, the power necessary to produce the 50) Field of Search............................................ 148/12.9 peak decreases, and the frequency range decreases until the power necessary to produce the amplitude has substantially 56) References (Cited stabilized. An apparatus for carrying out the method including UNITED STATES PATENTS a vibrator, an accelerometer and an electric control and moni 1,373,589 4/1921 Blood........................... 148/12.9 toring circuit comprising means for indicating the frequency and the amplitude of the vibration impressed on the work piece and the power needed to produce the amplitude. PATENTED NOY 23 197 3,622,404 SHEET 1 OF 2 FREQ. AMPLITUDE AMPS INVENTOR. LEONARD E. THOMPSON BY -&-e-ow 4-4 A2geosy. ATTORNEYS. PATENTED NOY 2397 3,622,404 SHEET 2 OF 2 O d H FIG.5 n > C FREQUENCY STRESSED SIMPLE WORKPIECE FIG6 UNSTRESSED SIMPLE WORKPIECE 7O FIG.7 STRESSED COMPLEX WORKPIECE 9 O FIG.8 UNSTRESSED COMPLEX WORKPIECE INVENTOR. LEONARD E. THOMPSON BY -a-uul, 7-té-wrote, -&-lee-owr-674 f2Cousy. ATTORNEYS. 3,622,404 1. 2 METHODANDAPPARATUS FOR STRESS RELEVINGA workpiece to relieve stresses in the strongest parts of the WORKPIECE BY WBRATION workpiece, it is possible that some of the very weak parts or BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION portions of the workpiece may be overworked. Therefore, the prior methods for vibratory stress relief have not been al 1. Field of the Invention together satisfactory. The field of this invention is a method and apparatus for Outside of the laboratory, there is no known way to accu stress relieving a workpiece by vibrating the workpiece. The rately know that stress relief has been attained during the re field of the invention is also that of a method for stress reliev lieving process using any of the stress relief methods in com ing a workpiece by vibrating the workpiece in the frequency mon practice today. The only way the workpiece can be range of each resonant peak for each part of the workpiece to 10 checked is by either cutting it apart to measure the movement be relieved. The field of the invention is also that of an ap of one portion of the workpiece with respect to another, or by paratus for vibrating a workpiece and for monitoring the subjecting the workpiece to subsequent machining operations frequency and amplitude of the vibration impressed on the to test the dimensional stability of the metal workpiece. workpiece and the power needed to produce the amplitude. In the past a part was sometimes stress relieved in different 2. Description of the Prior Art 15 ways to learn the best manner for stress relieving the work In all of the basic metalworking procedures such as forging, piece. After numerous workpieces had been treated in a par casting, welding and machining residual stresses are induced ticular manner, a historically vindicated pattern of treatment in the metal workpiece as a direct result of the work per has been established. Then it was assumed that if other identi formed upon the workpiece. These residual stresses represent cal workpieces were stress relieved in a similar manner stress a preload on the workpiece which limit the additional working 20 relief of the workpiece would be obtained. load capacity of the workpiece. They also materially increase However, all parts of a complicated structure do not always the rate of corrosion of the metal in a corrosive atmosphere contain stresses to the same level. Therefore, it is possible in and may lead to the distortion of the workpiece during sub the prior art methods of vibratory stress relief to treat one part sequent machining or fabrication operations due to the 25 of the workpiece more than is required to produce the degree residual stresses overcoming the natural resistance of the parts of stress relief required. In other words vibration suitable for of the workpiece to movement. stress relieving a highly stressed part of a workpiece may cold At one time, to relieve the stresses in metal workpieces, the work another part of the same workpiece to a degree which workpieces were placed in an outside yard for a period of ag will reintroduce stresses to an undesirable level in that other ing. Daily changes in the outside temperature would cause the 30 part of the workpiece. metal workpiece to expand and contract, e.g. it would expand during the day and contract at night. During this movement of SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION the metal the stresses were gradually relieved as the grain In view of the deficiencies in the prior art methods for stress structure assumed a stable position. However, this method of relieving a workpiece, it is one object of this invention to pro stress relieving took a very long time and one could not always 35 vide a method for separately relieving the stresses in each in be certain that all stresses were relieved. Furthermore, rust dividual part of the workpiece to be stress relieved. and other forms of corrosion would form on the part and had Another object of this invention is to provide a method for to be removed before the part could be incorporated in a final stress relieving a workpiece by tuning a vibrator connected to assembly. A faster, but still relatively slow method is by heat the workpiece to the resonant frequencies for the individual ing. However, some parts which cannot be adequately heat 40 parts of the workpiece to be stress relieved. treated are still stress relieved by placing them in an outside Another object of this invention is to provide a method for yard for a period of time. stress relieving a workpiece by vibration wherein one part of The most common means for stress relieving a metal work the workpiece can be vibrated more or less than another part piece is by heating. However, this method is time consuming, of the workpiece. costly and frequently creates additional problems in the 45 A further object of this invention is to provide method for dimensional stability of the workpiece and the preparation of stress relieving a portion of a workpiece by vibrating that por the surface of the metal for further working. Presently, stress tion of the workpiece in a direction parallel to the stress in that relief, redistribution or elimination by heating is obtained by portion of the workpiece. carefully heating the metal workpiece to a point where the 50 It is also an object of this invention to provide a method for metal becomes semiplastic whereby the stresses are able to stress relieving a workpiece by vibration which takes a move the grain structure sufficiently to relieve the stress. In minimum of time to carry out. this method the workpiece must be carefully supported in It is also an object of this invention to provide a method for place to keep the metal workpiece from "wilting' due to the stress relieving a workpiece by vibration wherein any stresses weight of the unsupported portions thereof. The workpiece is 55 induced into the workpiece by the vibration stress relief treat then cooled slowly. As it cools the thinner parts of the work ment can be easily detected and then relieved, thereby piece cool more rapidly and again a certain amount of stresses eliminating the danger of building up new stresses. are built back into the workpiece. At the conclusion of this A further object of this invention is to provide a method for process the metal workpiece must be cleaned to remove the stress relieving a workpiece by vibration wherein a continuous scales formed during the heat treatment. 60 record of the vibration treatment applied to the workpiece Another form of stress relief is by vibration. Vibratory stress and the results of the treatment is maintained so that stress re relief as practiced in the past has been only moderately effec lief of the workpiece can be verified. tive due to the fact that the frequency selected for treatment It is still another object of this invention to provide an ap was either a random frequency applied indirectly to the work paratus for stress relieving a workpiece by vibration which in piece through vibratory table, or the metal workpiece was 65 cludes means for indicating the frequency and amplitude of vibrated directly at the basic resonant frequency of the metal the vibration impressed on the workpiece and the power workpiece for an empirical and/or arbitrary period of time needed to produce the amplitude. based on the weight of the workpiece. The resonant frequency A still further object of this invention is to provide an ap is the frequency at which a part will vibrate or oscillate when paratus for stress relieving a workpiece having a continuous subjected to an impact or blow.