Fatigue behaviors of foreign object damaged Ti-6Al-4V alloys under laser shock peening

Two-sided and simultaneous laser shock peening (TSLSP) was used to strengthen the Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy. The fatigue crack growth rate of the specimens was investigated by fatigue test. The results show that both direct TSLSP (TSLSP-D) and indirect TSLSP (TSLSP-I) can reduce the fatigue crack growth rate by producing high magnitude compressive residual stress. The maximum fatigue life increases by 94% (TSLSP-D) and 169% (TSLSP-I) compared with the original specimens. Moreover, the TSLSP-D results show decreased resistance to foreign object damage because of decreased plasticity while the TSLSP-I simultaneously achieves superior foreign object damage resistance and fatigue performance.