Stress Relief
Heat treatment aimed at reducing internal stresses through thermally activated creep and micro-plastic deformation without significant microstructural alterations. This prevents late distortions.
Residual stresses occur during welding due to uneven heating and cooling. If you want to relieve the stress, you bring the component to a temperature where the material becomes soft and the stresses can redistribute. This happens without significantly changing the structure. If you don't do this, the part can later distort or even crack, especially in rigid constructions. In the workshop, this means: heat the component slowly and evenly, hold it at temperature until the stress is relieved, and then let it cool very slowly. Simply heating it up and cooling quickly does nothing; you only make it worse.