Shot peening

Shot peening is a cold working process used to produce a compressive residual stress layer and modify the mechanical properties of metals and composites. It entails striking a surface with shot (round metallic, glass, or ceramic particles) with force sufficient to create plastic deformation. In machining, shot peening is used to strengthen and relieve stress in components like steel automobile crankshafts and connecting rods. In architecture it provides a muted finish to metal. Shot peening is similar mechanically to sandblasting, though its purpose is not to remove material, but rather it employs the mechanism of plasticity to achieve its goal, with each particle functioning as a ball-peen hammer. Peening a surface spreads it plastically, causing changes in the mechanical properties of the surface. Its main application is to avoid the propagation of microcracks in a surface. By putting a material under compressive stress, shot peening prevents such cracks from propagating. Shot peening is often called for in aircraft repairs to relieve tensile stresses built up in the grinding process and replace them with beneficial compressive stresses. Depending on the part geometry, part material, shot material, shot quality, shot intensity, and shot coverage, shot peening can increase fatigue life up to 1000%. Plastic deformation induces a residual compressive stress in a peened surface, along with tensile stress in the interior. Surface compressive stresses confer resistance to metal fatigue and to some forms of stress corrosion. The tensile stresses deep in the part are not as troublesome as tensile stresses on the surface because cracks are less likely to start in the interior. Intensity is a key parameter of the shot peening process. After some development of the process, an analog was needed to measure the effects of shot peening. John Almen noticed that shot peening made the side of the sheet metal that was exposed begin to bend and stretch. He created the Almen strip to measure the compressive stresses in the strip created by the shot peening operation.