Fatigue Crack Retardation in LSP and SP Treated Aluminium Specimens

Highly loaded aircraft components have to fulfill strict fatigue and damage tolerance requirements. For some components besides the crack initiation mainly the fatigue crack propagation behavior is the main design criteria. To improve the crack propagation behavior of a component several methods are known or have been described in literature. For thin aircraft panels i.e. the application of crenellations [I] or bonded doublers [2, 3] can be a solution. For thick structures mainly the introduction of compressive residual stresses is beneficial. In this paper the potential of compressive residual stresses obtained by Laser Shock Peening (LSP) and Shot Peening (SP) is investigated. By means of Laser Shock Peening the residual compressive stress field can extend much deeper below the treated surface than that produced by conventional Shot Peening (i.e. with steel or ceramic balls) [4, 5]. The effect of such deep compressive stress profile results in a significantly higher benefit in fatigue behavior after Laser Shock Peening or after the combination of Laser Shock Peening and Shot Peening on top. The measurement of residual stresses as a depth profile has been performed by incremental hole drilling (TOAD) and contour method. Finally crack propagation tests have been carried out to validate the process technology approach.