Source: DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURABILITY HANDBOOK

CHAPTER 8.7

SHOT-PEENED SURFACES
Henry O. Fuchs
Stanford University Stanford, California and Consultant and Former President Metal Improvement Co. Paramus, New Jersey

THE PROCESS
Shot peening produces a skin of compressively stressed metal by the impact of many small balls on the surface of the workpiece. The balls are impelled by air through a nozzle or by a wheel. For some special purposes, captive balls, resembling small ballpeen hammers, are used. Proper control of the process is all-important to obtain the desired results. Wheels provide a broad stream of medium and are used to peen large areas or large quantities of simple parts. They cannot reach the interior of deep holes or similar recesses. Nozzles are more flexible. They can peen even the inside of a small pressure vessel or different surfaces of a part to different specifications. Peening is normally the last operation before assembly, painting, or plating. Heating to too high a temperature or plastic deformation from forming or straightening operations usually destroys the effect of peening. Fine finishing after peening is permissible, provided it does not go below the bottom of the peening dimples and does not create excessive heat, as grinding often does. Shot peening is most often performed with cast-steel shot in screened sizes from 0.25-mm (0.010-in) to 1.5-mm (0.060-in) diameter. For larger shot, forged-steel balls from 1.5 mm (0.060 in) to 5 mm (0.200 in) are sometimes used. Shot made from cut wire is sometimes used, as are glass beads when very small shot is required. Special hard balls are used for hardened steel for greater effect and easier inspection. Peening balls break in time and must then be removed. Masking is sometimes employed when peening of selective areas is required. Plastic masks or resilient tape are two common methods.

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APPLICATIONS AND CHARACTERISTICS

Designers specify peening most often to increase the fatigue strength of parts. For example, the improvement that is obtained on notched parts of hard steel of 2000 MPa (290-ksi) tensile strength can be 300 percent and for smooth parts of the same material 40 percent. Similar improvements have been observed on other high-strength materials. On smooth specimens or softer material, the improvement is less. Static strength is not improved. The fatigue-strength improvement results from compressive stresses that are generated in a shallow surface layer of the workpiece. The compressive stress is greatest near the surface. It decreases to zero at a depth that depends on peening intensity. The compressive stresses prevent the growth of fatigue cracks as long as the applied tensile stress is less than the compressive self-stress. Shot peening thus compensates for the damaging effect of notches, surface weakness, roughness, chromium plating, or small cracks. Stress corrosion and intergranular corrosion are retarded or prevented by shot peening as long as the applied tensile stress is less than the compressive self-stress. Surface hardening can be accomplished by shot peening on certain materials that become harder by plastic deformation, e.g., austenitic stainless steel. The self-stresses produce a small amount of elongation and can produce a change of shape. If a part is peened on one side only, that side will expand and the part will bend. Forming of simple curves in slender or thin parts (e.g., aircraft wings as shown in Fig. 8.7.1) is an application of this effect. Salvaging of distorted parts is another.

FIGURE 8.7.1 Forming an aircraft-wing panel by peening. ( Courtesy Metal Improvement Co.)

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SHOT-PEENED SURFACES SHOT-PEENED SURFACES 8.117

Double curvatures and curving crosswise to ribs also can be achieved but not as easily as simpler bends. Surface modification by peening is used to improve the wear qualities of cams and seal seats, to change the quality of optical reflectors, and to close pores in cast vessels. The size of parts shot-peened varies from small valve springs to large bull gears. Portable peening equipment can be used for peening parts too large to be moved into the shop. Shot peening is not used to make surfaces smooth. It leaves instead a pattern of overlapping dimples. On tappets and under oil seals, the peened surface improves performance. Typical shot-peened parts include gears, coil and leaf springs, valve plates, shafts, crankpins, torsion bars, and other highly stressed components.

ECONOMIC PRODUCTION QUANTITIES

The quantity of parts to be processed is relatively unimportant in peening. Single special gears and millions of automobile transmission gears have been peened economically. When quantities are large, mechanized handling of parts and automatic operation of nozzles produce uniform repetitive results at low unit costs.

DESIGN RECOMMENDATIONS
Fillet Radii Shot must reach the surface to do its job. A fillet radius equal to the shot radius would barely permit shot to touch the bottom of the fillet; the close fit would diminish or prevent the desired plastic deformation. A good rule is to keep fillet radii larger than twice the shot diameter, as shown in Fig. 8.7.2. Note that small shot size limits the intensity which can FIGURE 8.7.2 Provide large-fillet radii, at be obtained. Figure 8.7.3 shows drawings of least two times the shot diameter. splines that gave trouble by fatigue failures as originally designed according to design a. They were satisfactory when the design was changed to design b. If a shoulder with very small radius is really necessary, it will be better to provide a separate part, mounted after peening the workpiece, as in Fig. 8.7.4.

Grooves A narrow, deep groove will prevent some of the shot from hitting the bottom. Width equal to depth is a good proportion for peening. Smaller widths or deeper depths can be handled by special setups, which may increase cost. (See Fig. 8.7.5.) Groove width should be more than four times the shot diameter.
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SHOT-PEENED SURFACES 8.118 FINISHES

FIGURE 8.7.3

Splines. Design a failed after short service; design b was satisfactory.

FIGURE 8.7.4

Avoid sharp internal corners.

FIGURE 8.7.5

Design rules for grooves that are to be shot-peened.

Holes Deep holes to be peened require the use of a lance nozzle, especially if the holes are blind. Shallow through holes with a depth no greater than the diameter can be peened without using lances.

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SHOT-PEENED SURFACES SHOT-PEENED SURFACES 8.119

Sharp Edges A peened surface tries to expand. When two such surfaces meet at a sharp edge, they will push material out to form a fin. Sharp edges should therefore be broken before peening.

Selective Peening When only certain areas of a part require peening, the least expensive job will result if areas that must be peened are specified and shot impressions on other areas are permitted but not required. The cost of masking is thus avoided. Careful definition of the transition zone between peened and unpeened areas is seldom required. There is no evidence of adverse product performance from such transition zones or from scattered shot impressions.

Peening Intensity Saturation of peening should be specified for most general applications unless cost or performance dictate otherwise. Saturation is indicated by near-maximum deformation of a thin strip-test specimen subjected to the same processing conditions as the workpiece. With uniform impingement by uniform shot, one can use coverage of the surface as a sign of saturation. It is checked by magnified viewing or by coating parts before peening with adherent fluorescent dye, which is removed by peening impacts, and by checking under ultraviolet black light. Sometimes it is necessary to limit the intensity of peening to avoid deformation. Crankshafts are an example. Specification of the process conditions and effect on Almen* test strips are the common methods for specifying peening intensity because inspection of finished parts for depth of compressive stress is destructive and expensive.

TOLERANCE RECOMMENDATIONS
A tolerance of 15 percent Almen intensity* is reasonable on most parts. A typical roughness value for steel of hardness 400 BHN peened with hard-steel shot of 1-mm (0.039-in) diameter would be 2.5 m (100 in) rms. For equal intensity, a harder workpiece or a larger shot size would produce less roughness. Softer shot would produce less roughness, but it would be difficult to check coverage visually. Peening smooth surfaces to low intensities, as with glass shot, produces a satin finish of low roughness, typically on the order of 1 m (40 in) rms. Close-tolerance specifications on the location of masking will increase costs. A tolerance of 1 mm (0.039 in) is quite close, while 2 mm (0.079) is easy.

*Almen intensity is the standard method of specifying shot peening. See military specification S-13165 or SAE Standard J442.

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SHOT-PEENED SURFACES

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