Study of Relation between Shot Peening Parameters and Fatigue Fracture Surface Character of an AW 7075 Aluminium Alloy

Shot peening is a well-known surface treatment method used for fatigue life improvement of cyclically loaded structural components. Since three main variables are considered in the peening process (peening intensity, coverage and peening media type), there is no direct way to choose the best combination of treatment parameters for the best performance, thus it has to be based on experience and laboratory tests. When shot peening is performed with inadequate parameters, or the peening process is not stable in time (decrease of the peening pressure, deterioration of the peening media and so on), it can result in significant degradation of the treated component fatigue properties, what is commonly called as the "overpeening" effect. When a premature fatigue fracture occurs in operation, the fracture surface analysis is usually the most important method of revealing the damage mechanism. This work is aimed at the study of the relation between the shot peening parameters and the fatigue fracture surface character on an AW 7075 aluminium alloy with an objective of identifying marks of overpeening and investigating the fatigue crack initiation mechanism. After performing the tests, it was observed that shot peening with optimized parameters creates a surface layer that is able to change the mechanism of the fatigue crack propagation and improve fatigue strength. On the other hand, using extensive peening parameters decrease the fatigue strength due to the creation of surface cracks and surface layer delamination.